Paper No.

FBC99-0087

Advancement of 10T/H Fluidized Bed Boiler Burning

Fujian Anthracite With Extremely Low Volatile

Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on

Fluidized Bed Combustion
May 16 - 19, 1999
Savannah, Georgia

Copyright 1999 by ASME

Advancement of 10T/H Fluidized Bed Boiler Burning

Fujian Anthracite With Extremely Low Volatile
Changsui Zhao, Yufeng Duan, Xiaoping Chen, Xin Wu, Shuzhi Wu,
Wenxuan Wang and Chao Huang
Thermoenergy Engineering Research Institute
Southeast University
Nanjing 210096, P. R. China
Telephone: +86(0)25-3793453
Telefax: +86(0)25-7714489
E-mail: cszhao@seu.edu.cn

ABSTRACT
The anthracite in Fujian Province, China with extremely low volatile content about
2%~4% is very difficult to burn in grate firing boilers, and operation conditions are very
poor, such as steam output well below the nominal capacity and very low burning-out
rate. Burning Fujian anthracite in specially designed bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) boilers
with capacities between 4 T/H and 20 T/H are still unsatisfactory. In order to increase
boiler output and utilize local coal more efficiently, a 10 T/H BFB boiler burning Fujian
anthracite was retrofitted with several special techniques, in terms of underbed feeding of
recycling fly ash, vortexing secondary air injection, continuous bottom ash removal and
adding immersed tube surface. The boiler performances before and after the retrofitting
were measured and compared. The experimental results indicate that steam output of the
boiler is boosted from 7~8 T/H to more than 14 T/H, unburned carbon content (UBC) in
ash from the convective banks drops from 31.39% to 3.89%, UBC in ash from the
multicyclone drops from 38.87% to 22.19%, and UBC in fly ash drops from 35.3% to
18.07%. The boiler thermal efficiency increases from 67.27% to 82.93%. Boiler operation
becomes more stable. Particulate emission is substantially lessened because of separation
by the vortexing secondary air. The retrofitting was completely successful. The technique
used and experiences obtained in the retrofitting can be widely applied in industrial BFB
boilers.
INTRODUCTION
There is abundant anthracite reserve in China. Fujian Province is one of the provinces
where the largest amount of anthracite reserve is. In addition, there is not any bituminous
reserve. Fujian anthracite has extremely low volatile content, typically 2%~4% on dry ash
free basis. It is a very difficult task to utilize local anthracite for industrial, residential and
institutional needs efficiently and reliably. Traditionally, a lot of industrial grate firing
boilers are specially designed for burning Fujian anthracite. But the situation is very
disappointing, steam output is well below the nominal capacity and unburned carbon
content in both bottom ash and fly ash is quite high, in extreme case even high than fixed

carbon content in raw coal unthinkably. Since 1970's, hundreds of bubbling fluidized bed
boilers with capacities between 4 T/H and 20 T/H have been developed and operated in
Fujian province. In order to burn local anthracite with low reactivity, boilers are designed
to have following features. The freeboard is almost adiabatic except for a small amount of
water tubes on the roof of the furnace. The gas velocity in the freeboard is very low,
typically less than 1m/s. The freeboard temperature can be kept at high level. Particles
from the bed have long residence time in the freeboard. There is a U-shaped inertial
separator at the exit of the furnace. Fly ash particles escaped from the furnace burn further
and are collected in the separator and then recycled back into the furnace. There is a
multicyclone between the convective banks and the economizer. Fly ash particles collected
in the banks and the multicyclone are supposed to be recycled back into the bed surface
separately. Unfortunately, ash particles from the banks and the multicyclone can not be
recycled because of lack of effective way. Operation conditions of the fluidized bed boilers
are still unsatisfactory and boiler performances are below expected. Major common
problems for the boilers are inadequate steam output, poor boiler thermal efficiency and
low availability. As demonstration of modification, a 10 T/H fluidized bed boiler in an
agricultural chemical company was retrofitted with fly ash underbed feeding, vortexing
secondary air and continuous bottom ash removal. The measurements show that there is a
big improvement in boiler performances, in terms of load, thermal efficiency and
availability of the boiler.
BOILER DESCRIPTION
Boiler unit 3 in Shanming Agricultural Chemical Company Lt. is a bubbling fluidized bed
boiler with the capacity of 10 T/H. The design fuel is Fujian anthracite with volatile
content Vdaf of 2.84%. The schematic diagram of the boiler is shown in Fig. 1. The cross
section of the bed is 2.4m1.38m and expanded to 4.6m3.9m in the cross section of the
freeboard with a transition section. The total height of the furnace from the distributor to
the roof is 7.85m. Two rows of vertical immersed tubes are arranged on each side of the
bed. There is not any water-wall tube in the furnace. Only are 18 water tubes located on
the furnace roof and four connecting water tubes across the freeboard. The U-shaped flue
gas duct just located at the furnace exit separates coarser fly ash particles from the gas by
inertial force when particle laden flue gas takes a U-turn there and the gravity. Collected
particles are sent back to the freeboard via nozzles. Some particles are separated by the
gravity in a convective bank section between two drums. Finer particles are collected in a
honeycombed multicyclone. Fly ash particles collected in the banks and the multicyclone
are supposed to be recycled back into the bed surface to get higher burn out rate. Passing
through an economizer and two sets of air preheaters in the back pass, the flue gas is vent
into the atmosphere through an induced fan.
The ultimate analysis and low heating value of the design coal as received by weight are
listed in Table 1. The specifications of the boiler are shown in Table 2. No limestone is fed
into the bed for desulfurization because of very low sulfur content in the coal fired.

Table 1.
C
%
73.3

Coal ultimate analysis(*dry ash free basis)

H
O
N
S
M
A
%
%
%
%
%
%
1.18
0.58
0.14
0.15
10.8
13.85

Volatile*
%
2.84

LHV
kJ/kg
25197

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the 10T/H boiler

Table 2. Boiler specifications

Steam output
T/H
Steam pressure
Mpa
Steam temperature C
UBC in bottom ash %
UBC in fly ash
%
Fraction of bottom ash
Fraction of fly ash
Exhaust gas(EG) temperature C
Excess air coefficient in EG
CO content in EG
%
Heat loss due to EG
%
Heat loss due to CO
%
Heat loss due to UBC %
Combustion efficiency %
Boiler thermal efficiency %

Design
data
10
1.3
194
2
42
0.44
0.56
157
1.6
NA
7.61
1
7.44
91.56
81.62

Operation data
before retrofitting
9.63
1.06
185.5
3.16
35.3
0.48
0.52
204.8
2.2
0.0139
13.8
0.10
16.94
82.96
67.27

Operation data
after retrofitting
14.4
1.3
194
2.86
18.07
0.42
0.58
151
1.6
0.17
7.48
0.87
5.42
93.71
82.93

Operational practice showed that outer row of vertical inbed tubes on each side of the
bed could not be vigorously scoured by the bed materials. Inbed heat transfer surface area
of 12.9 m2 is not sufficient for the nominal capacity of the boiler. The bed level can not be
increased further because of limited pressure head of the forced fan. Normally, the steam
output of the boiler is about 7 T/H to 8 T/H. Unfortunately, it is failed to recycle the ash
particles collected in the tube banks and in the multicyclone back into the furnace due to
lack of effective recycling device, such as J-valve, L-valve and non mechanical loop seal
and lack of conveying air with high enough pressure head. Even if the particles can be
recycled into the bed surface, it is still useless to increase the burning out rate of the
particles. The reason is that the temperature of the particles is only 200C , and it takes
quite long time to increase particle temperature to the point at which unburned carbon
starts to burn. Within their residence time in the freeboard, the particles are carried out of
the furnace before being heated up to burning temperature. Measurement results before
retrofitting shown in the middle column of Table 2 indicate that unburned carbon content
in fly ash is 35.3%. The ash particles collected in the tube banks and the multicyclone are
neither recycled nor discharged. The heat loss caused by UBC in fly ash is 16.94%.
Therefore, the combustion efficiency of Fujian anthracite in the boiler is only about 83%,
the boiler thermal efficiency is as low as 67%. Furthermore, the bottom ash is manually
disposed every two hours. The air static pressure in wind box, i.e., the bed level is
periodically varied. The range of variation in the bed height is up to 200 mm. It causes
periodical variation in the flow rate of the primary fluidizing air, which is harmful to stable
and complete combustion in the bed. Operation conditions under full load and overload
also show that the temperature in the freeboard is very high, sometimes reaches 1100C,
which is close to the softening temperature of coal ash, that causes slagging on the roof.
RETROFITTING
In order to increase steam output of the boiler to meet the company's need for process
steam and to utilize local coal more efficiently, several modification measures are taken for
the boiler. First of all, the vertical immersed tube bank of 12.9 m2 is replaced by inclined
immersed tube bank of 18.39 m2 with 15 related to the horizon. In that case, heat transfer
coefficient between the immersed tubes and the bed increases. Second, two new fly ash
underbed recycling systems (Lan et al.,1987) are installed for sending the fly ash particles
collected in the convective banks and in the multicyclone, respectively. The system
consists of the ash hopper, the stand pipe, the U-shaped valve, the injector, the underbed
recycling nozzle and the Roots fan. The ash particles from the hopper and the stand pipe,
controlled by the U-shaped valve, are injected into the bed via pneumatic conveying pipes
and the underbed feeding nozzle which is located just above the air distributor. After
getting into the bed, ash particles at the temperature of 200 C are heated up very quickly
because intensive heat and mass transfer between ash particles and high temperature bed
materials in the dense phase bed. During the residence time period in the bed, unburned
carbon in ash particles starts to burn and continues to burn in the freeboard. In this way
very high burning out rate can be reached when particles are recycled once. On the other
hand, recycling of the fly ash particles collected in the convective banks exposes the

formerly immersed part of the banks. It contributes to the increased output of the boiler
and also the restrained abrasion of the banks. Thirdly, the vortexing secondary air
technique (Nieh et al., 1992, Xu et al.,1993) is employed. Four nozzles of secondary air
from the forced fan are arranged on both side walls in the freeboard at the proper
elevation. The secondary air jets injected from the nozzles are tangential to an imaginary
circle. The nominal ratio of the flow rate of the secondary air to the total flow rate is
12.5%. Swirling flow formed by the secondary air with high velocity causes entrained
particles move towards the wall. Therefore, an internal recirculation of coarse particles is
formed and the residence time of finer particles is prolonged. As a result, the burning out
rate of entrained particles increases and particle elutriated from the furnace in the flue gas
is lessened. The flue gas temperature can be controlled by the flow rate of the secondary
air injected. Finally, an air-cooled vibratory feeder is refitted for bottom ash removal. The
flow rate of bottom ash removal can be regulated by the current of the vibrator. Automatic
continuous removal of the bottom ash makes it possible to keep the bed level constant,
and thus combustion process in the bed becomes stable. It also diminishes the possibility
of bed collapsing induced by manual disposal.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The comparison tests were carried out in February 1989 before retrofitting and in March
1998, respectively. The experimental results are shown in the right two columns of Table
2. The ultimate analysis and the low heating value of coal tested before retrofitting are
listed in Table 3. The proximate analysis and the low heating value of coal tested after
retrofitting is listed in Table 4.
Table 3. Coal analysis data as received
C
H
O
S
N
%wt
%wt %wt %wt %wt
54.09 1.01
2.57
0.98
0.50

A
%wt
32.57

Table 4. Coal analysis date, as received

fixed carbon ash content moisture
63.53%
24.89%
6.92%

volatile
4.66%

M
%wt
8.28

LHV
kJ/kg
18976

low heating value

22181kJ/kg

Some findings can be drawn from Table 2. Steam output of the boiler is almost doubled,
from 7~8 tons per hour just before the retrofitting to over 14 tons per hour at the nominal
steam parameters, over 2 tons per hour more than the objective output. Controllable and
stable fly ash recycling leads to notable drop of unburned carbon content in fly ash from
35.3% to 18.07% and the boiler thermal efficiency increases by 15.66%. The gas
temperature at the exit of the furnace is controlled between 930 C and 950 C at the
maximum load of the boiler. No slagging problem on the furnace roof exists anymore.
Sure enough, firing Fujian anthracite in circulating fluidized bed with high recirculation
rate may reach better combustion efficiency more than 94% and better boiler thermal
efficiency more than 83%, but for small-scale industrial boiler the capital cost and

operation cost of CFB boiler are higher than bubbling fluidized bed boiler. Successful
retrofitting of the 10 T/H BFB boiler sets an example for hundreds of industrial BFB
boilers firing local anthracite in Fujian or other low volatile anthracite in China.
In the test before retrofitting, four kinds of fly ash particles collected in the U-shaped
inertial separator, the convective banks, the multicyclone and the water-membrane
separator were sieved. Their particle size distributions are shown in Fig.2. The size
distribution of fly ash particles collected in the water-membrane separator after retrofitting
is shown in Fig.3. The cut sizes d50 and d99 for 99% separation of four kinds of collected
ash before retrofitting and the ash collected in the water membrane separator after retrofitting are listed in Table 5. It can be seen that the ash collected in the multicyclone is
the finest, ts d50=67m and d99=190m. Two kinds of ash collected
Table 5. The cut sizes d50 and d99 of fly ash particles
before retrofitting
Retrofitted
U-separator convective banks multicyclone water membrane Water membrane
118
117
67
99
93
d50, m
384
398
231
520
330
d99, m

80

80

Accumulative passing weight (%)

100

Accumulative passing weight (%)

100

60

40

20

60

40

20

0
10

100

1000

dp( m)

fly ash collected in (before retrofitting)

the water-membrane separator
the convective banks
the multicyclone
the U-shaped inertial separator

Figure 2. Ash particle size distribution

10

100

1000

dp( m)

fly ash collected in(after retrofitting)

the water-membrane

Figure 3. Ash particle size distribution

in the U-shaped separator and the convective banks by the gravity and the inertia are the
coarsest, corresponding d50 are 118m and 117m, their d99 are 384m and 231m,
respectively. The fly ash in the water membrane separator is quite coarse because when
the ash hoppers for previous two stage separators are full and no ash is removal, some

coarse ash particles are collected in the final stage separator. After retrofitting d50 and d99
of the fly ash in the water membrane separator are still not satisfactory. It indicates that
the separation performance of the multicyclone is not very good. The particle size
distributions of fly ash can also be expressed in form of probability density of particle size
P(d), as shown in Fig.4 and Fig.5.The peak probability density is located at 70m for the
multicyclone ash and 100m for the other three kinds of ash before retrofitting. The peak
probability density for the water membrane separator ash after retrofitting is about 95m.
14.0

16.0

fly ash collected in (before retrofitting)

the water-membrane separator
the convective banks
the multicyclone
the U-shaped inertial separator

12.0

8.0

6.0

fly ash collected in (after retrofitting)

the water-membrane

12.0

P(d) (1/ mm)

P(d) (1 / mm)

10.0

8.0

4.0
4.0
2.0

0.0

0.0
0

200

400
dp( m)

600

800

Figure 4. Probability density distribution

of particle size

200

400

600

800

dp( m)

Figure 5. Probability density distribution

of particle size

Unburned carbon contents in collected ash are analyzed with the particle size and shown
in Fig.6 and Fig.7. Figure 6 shows that the diameter of the particles with the maximum
carbon content is about 30m for the ash in the water membrane separator and that is
between 50m and 60m for the other kinds of ash. When the size is smaller than the
peak, the carbon content decreases obviously. When the size exceeds the size related to
the peak value, the carbon content drops sharply first. After reaching a valley size,
it increases gradually. Plotting multiplication of the size probability density and the
carbon content versus the particle size, we can get distribution of the unburned carbon
loading P(d)C(d) with the particle size. The carbon loading curves for the tests before
and after the retrofitting are depicted in Fig.8 and Fig.9, respectively. It implies that the
heat loss due to unburned carbon is mainly caused by the ash particles with the diameters
between 40m and 120m. Therefore, the key to creasing the combustion efficiency
further is to manage to separate more effectively the ash particles with the size mentioned
above and recycle them to the bed. It seems that the existing multicyclone of the boiler is
supposed to be improved.

60

60

fly ash collected in(before retrofitting)

the water-membrane separator
the convective banks
the multicyclone
the U-shaped separator

50

50

40

C(%)

C(%)

40

fly ash collected in (after retrofitting)

the water-membrane

30

30

20

20

10

10

0
0

200

400

600

800

200

Figure 6. Unburned carbon content

distribution

600

800

Figure 7. Unburned carbon content

distribution

fly ash collected in (before retrofitting)

the water-membrane separator
the convective banks
the multicyclone
the U-shaped inertial separator

P(d)C(d) (1/mm)

P(d)C(d) (1/mm)

400

dp( m)

dp( m)

fly ash collected in(after retrofitting)

the water-membrane

0
0

200

400

600

800

dp( m)

Figure 8. Unburned carbon loading curves

200

400

600

800

dp( m)

Figure 9. Unburned carbon loading curves

CONCLUSIONS
1. The retrofitting of the boiler with several practical techniques is very successful. Its
experiences can be applied to hundreds of industrial BFB boilers firing Fujian anthracite
and other small- scale BFB boilers firing low volatile anthracite in China.
2. The performances of the retrofitted boiler are very satisfactory. The steam output is
almost doubled and beneficial to meeting the need of the company for process steam. The

combustion efficiency and the boiler efficiency increase by 10.75% and 15.66%,
respectively.
3. The unburned carbon loading distribution curves indicate that for the boiler tested the
heat loss due to UBC is mainly caused by the fly ash particles with the diameter between
40m and 120m.
4. The effect of the vortexing secondary air is manifested as increasing combustion
efficiency, lessening particulate emission from the furnace as well as controlling freeboard
temperature.
5. Stable and continuous bottom ash removal is beneficial to stability of both steam
parameters and the coal combustion.
REFERENCES
Lan Jixiang, et al., The Experimental Investigations of Fine Ash Recycle in a AFB Burning
Lean Coal. Proc. of 9th Int'l Conf. on FBC, 1987:10961100.
Nieh S.,et al, Measurements of Gas-Particle Flows and Elutriation of a 18'' I. D. Cold
Vortexing Fluidized-Bed Combustion Model. Powder Technogy, 1992, 69:139146.
Xu Yiqian, et al., Combution Characteristic and NOx Emission Control in Vortexing
Fluidized Bed. Proc. of 12th Int'l Conf. on FBC, 1993: 123128.
NOMENCLATURE
A
C
C(d)
CO
dp
d50
d99
H
LHV
M
N
O
P(d)
S

Ash content, %
Carbon content, %
Carbon content in particles eith diameter of d, %
Carbon monoxide, %
Particle diameter, m
Cut size, m
Particle diameter for 99% separation, m
Hydrogen content, %
Low heating value, kJ/kg
Moisture content, %
Nitrogen content, %
Oxygen content, %
Probability density of particle with mean diameter of d
Sulphur content, %