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Basics of Steam Generation PDF
Basics of Steam Generation PDF
In an industrial/technical context, the concept steam boiler (also referred to as steam generator)
includes the whole complex system for producing steam for use e. g. in a turbine or in industrial
process. It includes all the different phases of heat transfer from flames to water/steam mixture
(economizer, boiler, superheater, reheater and air preheater). It also includes different auxiliary
systems (e. g. fuel feeding, water treatment, flue gas channels including stack). [1]
The heat is generated in the furnace part of the boiler, where fuel is combusted. The fuel used in a
boiler contains either chemically bonded energy (like coal, waste and biofuels) or nuclear energy.
Nuclear energy will not be covered in this material. A boiler must be designed to absorb the
maximum amount of heat released in the process of combustion. This heat is transferred to the
boiler water through radiation, conduction and convection. The relative percentage of each is
dependent upon the type of boiler, the designed heat transfer surface and the fuels that power the
combustion.
If more fuel is combusted, more heat is generated and transferred to the water. Thus, more steam is
generated and pressure rises inside the boiler. If less fuel is combusted, less steam is generated and
the pressure sinks.
TH TC T Cold reservoir Qc
max = =1 C (1) (Temperature Tc)
TH TH
To give a practical example of the use of this Figure 3: Carnot efficiency visualized
theory on steam boilers, consider the Rankine
cycle example presented in Figure 2. The Hot reservoir Qh
temperature of the hot reservoir would then be (temperature Th)
0,3
Properties of water and steam
0,2
Introduction 0,1
Temperature [C]
equipment, it is necessary to thoroughly 120
understand the properties of the working 100
fluid steam, the use of steam tables and the
use of superheat. These fundamentals of 80
Boiling of water
Water and steam are typically used as heat carriers in heating systems. Steam, the gas phase of
water, results from adding sufficient heat to water to cause it to evaporate. This boiler process
consists of three main steps: The first step is the adding of heat to the water that raises the
temperature up to the boiling point of water, also called preheating. The second step is the
continuing addition of heat to change the phase from water to steam, the actual evaporation. The
third step is the heating of steam beyond the boiling temperature of water, known as superheating.
The first step and the third steps are the part where heat addition causes a temperature rise but no
phase change, and the second step is the part where the heat addition only causes a phase change. In
Figure 6, the left section represents the preheating, the middle section the evaporation, and the third
section the superheating. When all the water has been evaporated, the steam is called dry saturated
steam. If steam is heated beyond its saturation point, the temperature begins to rise again and the
steam becomes superheated steam. Superheated steam is defined by its zero moisture content: It
contains no water at all, only 100% steam.
Evaporation
During the evaporation the enthalpy rises drastically. If we evaporate the water at atmospheric
pressure from saturated liquid to saturated vapour, the enthalpy rise needed is 2260 kJ/kg, from 430
kJ/kg (sat. water) to 2690 kJ/kg (sat. steam). When the water has reached the dry saturated steam
condition, the steam contains a large amount of latent heat, corresponding to the heat that was led to
the process under constant pressure and temperature. So despite pressure and temperature is the
same for the liquid and the vapour, the amount of heat is much higher in vapour compared to the
liquid.
Superheating
If the steam is heated beyond the dry saturated steam condition, the temperature begins to rise again
and the properties of the steam start to resemble those of a perfect gas. Steam with higher
Pressure [bar]
corresponding temperature when a phase 10
change occurs are called the saturation
temperature and saturation pressure. During 1
the evaporation process, pressure and 0 100 200 300 400
temperature are constant, but if the
vaporization occurs in a closed vessel, the 0,1
expansion that occurs due to the phase change
of water into steam causes the pressure to rise
0,01
and thus the boiling temperature rises.
Temperature [C]
Basics of combustion
Principles
The process of combustion is a high speed, high
temperature chemical reaction. It is the rapid
union of an element or a compound with oxygen
that results in the production of heat -
essentially, it is a controlled explosion.
Combustion occurs when the elements in a fuel
combine with oxygen and produce heat. All
fuels, whether they are solid, liquid or in
gaseous form, consist primarily of compounds
of carbon and hydrogen called hydrocarbons.
Sulphur is also present in these fuels.
Types of combustion
There are three types of combustion:
Perfect Combustion is achieved when all the fuel is burned using only the theoretical
amount of air, but as we said before perfect combustion cannot be achieved in a boiler.
Complete Combustion is achieved when all the fuel is burned using the minimal amount of
air above the theoretical amount of air needed to burn the fuel. Complete combustion is
always our goal. With complete combustion, the fuel is burned at the highest combustion
efficiency with low pollution.
Incomplete Combustion occurs when all the fuel is not burned, which results in the
formation of soot and smoke.
Combustion of coal
Oil and gas are always combusted with a burner, but there are three different ways to combust coal:
In a fire tube boiler the flue gases from the furnace are
conducted to flue passages, which consist of several
parallel-connected tubes. The tubes run through the
boiler vessel, which contains the feedwater. The tubes
are thus surrounded by water. The heat from the flue
gases is transferred from the tubes to the water in the
container, thus the water is heated into steam. An easy
way to remember the principle is to say that a fire tube Figure 10: Fluidized bed combustion.
boiler has "fire in the tubes".
Figure 11: Schematic of a Hyrytys TTK fire tube steam boiler [Hyrytys].
General
If a modern water tube boiler utilizes a furnace, flue gas
the furnace and the evaporator is usually the
same construction the inner furnace walls
process steam
consists solely of boiler tubes, conducting feed
water, which absorbs the combustion heat and
evaporates.
T-Q diagram
A useful tool for designing a heat exchanger is
the T-Q diagram. The diagram consists of two
axes: Temperature (T) and transferred heat (Q).
The hot stream and the cold stream are
represented in the diagram by two lines on top
of each other. If the exchanger is of parallel- Figure 14: A heat exchanger (also furnace).
flow type, the lines proceed in the same
T
direction (Figure 15). If the exchanger is a
counter-flow (or cross-flow-combination, like a T1 hot stream
boiler), the lines points in the opposite direction
(Figure 16). The length of the lines on the Q-
T2
axis shows the transferred heat rate and the T- t2
axis the rise/drop in temperature that the heat
transfer has caused.
17). Q
deltaQ
t1
T1
Tpinch
T2
t1
We start with the heat exchanger unit, where the evaporation occurs the evaporator. Assuming
that water enters the evaporator as saturated water and exits as saturated steam, the heat transferred
from the flue gas is the required heat to change the phase of water into steam. The phase change
occurs (water boils) at a constant temperature, and therefore the steam/water stream temperature
wont change in the evaporator.
In order to preheat the water for the evaporator, another heat exchanger unit is needed. This unit is
called economizer, and is a cross-flow type of heat exchanger. It is placed after the evaporator in the
flue gas stream, since the evaporator requires higher flue gas temperature than the economizer.
The heat exchanger unit that superheats the saturated steam is called superheater. The superheater
heats the saturated steam beyond the saturation point until it reaches the designed maximum
temperature. It requires therefore the highest flue gas temperature to receive heat and is thus placed
first in the flue gas stream. The maximum temperature of the boiler is limited by the properties of
The result is a heat exchanger cascade of a HRSG (with a single pressure level), which can be found
in Figure 18. The T-Q diagram of the model is visualized in Figure 19.
Economizer
water
Superheater
Q
Figure 18: Heat exchanger model of the HRSG. Figure 19: T-Q diagram of the HRSG model in
Figure 18.
In a boiler with a furnace, adequate cooling has to be maintained and material temperature should
not exceed 600C. Thus the evaporator part of the water/steam cycle is placed in the furnace walls,
since the heat of the evaporation provides enough cooling for the furnace, which is the hottest part
of the boiler.
Since the furnace is inside the boiler, high flue gas temperatures (over 1000C) are obtained. After
the flue gas has given off heat for the steam production, it is still quite hot. In order to cool down
the flue gases further to gain higher boiler efficiency, flue gases can be used to preheat the
combustion air. The heat exchanger used for this purpose is called an air preheater.
Eco
Air out
Eva Sup Air
T
Air in
Air preheater
2. Combustion Engineering. Combustion: Fossil power systems. 3rd ed. Windsor. 1981.
3. Esa Vakkilainen, lecture slides and material on steam boiler technology, 2001