1.

COMBUSTION PRINCIPLE
& FLUE GAS ANALYSIS
_______________________________________________________________

Presentation for the Knowledge Sharing on

the Heat Rate and Efficiency Optimizing – PT. PJB

PLTGU Muara Karang

Jakarta, 16-18 Sep 2015

Prepared & Presented By :

Youdhiyan Prasetyo
youdhiyan.prasetyo@gmail.com
+62-811886021

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 1/42

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 2/42

1
Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 3/42

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 4/42

2
Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 5/42

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 6/42

3
800
O
C
Char
burning Heat
production
Ignition

200-
300
Pyrolysis Heat consumption

105
Volatiles Char
Moisture
80-90 % 10-20 %
evaporation
Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 7/42

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 8/42

4
 13 Essentials of Optimum Combustion
Fuel Preparation

1. Fuel feed quality and size shall be consistent.

2. Fuel feed shall be measured and controlled as accurately as possible.
Load cell equipped gravimetric feeders are preferred.
3. Fuel line fineness >75% passing a 200-mesh screen, and 50 mesh
particles <0.1%.

Distribution to Burners

4. Primary airflow shall be accurately measured and controlled to ±3%

accuracy.
5. Primary air to fuel ratio shall be accurately controlled when above
minimum.
6. Fuel line minimum velocities shall be ~ 15m/s.
7. Fuel lines shall be balanced by “Clean Air” test to within 2% of
average.
8. Fuel lines shall be balanced by “Dirty Air” test to within 5% of average.
9. Fuel lines shall be balanced in fuel flow to within 10% of average.
Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 9/42

13 Essentials of Optimum Combustion (cont.)

Combustion

10. Over-fire air shall be

accurately measured and
controlled to ±3% accuracy.
11. Furnace exit shall be
oxidizing; 3% oxygen is
preferable.
12. Mechanical tolerances of
burners and dampers shall
be ±1/4’’.

13. Secondary air distribution
to burners shall be within 5-
10% of average.

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 10/42

5
 Furnace Residence Time

Flame Quench Zone

Point at
which
combustion
should be
complete

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 11/42

What is combustion ?
Combustion, or burning, is the
combination of Oxygen with Fuel,
resulting in the release of Heat

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 12/42

6
 What is a Flame ?
Flame Front
Combustion reaction occurs at a
rate the produces visible radiation,
fuel-air mixture and combustion
process.

Flame Envelope
Contour along which the
combustion starts, dividing line
between the fuel-air mixture and
the combustion process.

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 13/42

Flame Safeguarding Definition

A system which is detects the
presence or absence of a flame in
burner in order to prevent
uncontrolled combustion .

Every Burner
Needs A
Detector!!!

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 14/42

7
 Types of Radiation in Combustion

• UV = least available (1%).

• Visible = 10% of flame.

• Infrared = 90% of flame.

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 15/42

Flame Discrimination Defined

Background Flame

Target Flame

Field of
View

Detector

DISCRIMINATION :
The ability to distinguish the target flame from all other flames in
the furnace and the Background

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 16/42

8
 Applications of the Combustion Equation
• Stoichiometric proportions for finding the correct air
supply rate for a fuel.
• Composition of the combustion products is useful
during the design, commissioning and routine
maintenance of a boiler installation.
• On-site measurements of flue gas composition and
temperature are used as a basis for calculating the
efficiency of the boiler at routine maintenance
intervals.

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 17/42

Combustion Air Requirements : Gaseous Fuels

• Calculating the air required for gaseous fuels
combustion is most convenient to work on a
volumetric basis.
• The stoichiometric combustion reaction of methane
is :
CH4 + 2O2 → CO2 + 2H2O
which shows that each volume (normally 1 m3) of
methane requires 2 volumes of oxygen to complete
its combustion.

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 18/42

9
 • If we ignore the components which are present in
the parts per million range, air consists of about
0.9% by volume argon, 78.1% nitrogen and 20.9%
oxygen (ignoring water vapor). Carbon dioxide is
present at 0.038%.
• For the purposes of combustion calculations the
composition of air is approximated as a simple
mixture of oxygen and nitrogen:
oxygen 21%
nitrogen 79%

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 19/42

Flue Gas Composition : Gaseous Fuels

• The composition of the stoichiometric combustion
products of methane is:
1 volume CO2
7.52 volumes N2
2 volumes H2O
• Given a total product volume, per volume of fuel
burned, of 10.52 if water is in the vapor phase, or
8.52 if the water is condensed to a liquid.
The two cases are usually abbreviated to “wet” and
“dry”.

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 20/42

10
 • The proportion of carbon dioxide in this mixture is
therefore
1
100%  9.51% wet and
10.52
1
100%  11.74% dry
8.52
• The instruments used to measure the composition of flue
gases remove water vapor from the mixture and hence give
a dry reading, so the dry flue gas composition is usually of
greater usefulness.

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 21/42

• Considering the combustion of methane with 20% excess air,

the excess air (0.2×9.52) of 1.9 volumes will appear in the flue
gases as (0.21×1.9)=0.4 volumes of oxygen and (1.9-0.4)=1.5
volumes of nitrogen.
• The complete composition will be:
constituent vol/vol methane
CO2 1
O2 0.4
N2 9.02
H2O 2
giving a total product volume of 12.42 (wet) or 10.42 (dry).

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 22/42

11
 • The resulting composition of the flue gases,
expressed as percentage by volume, is:
Constituent % vol (dry) % vol (wet)
CO2 9.6 8.1
O2 3.8 3.2
N2 86.6 72.6
H2O – 16.1

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 23/42

Combustion Air Requirements : Solid and Liquid Fuels

• The way in which the combustion equation is used
reflects the available information on the analysis of
the solid or liquid fuels.
This takes the form of an element-by-element
analysis (referred to as an ultimate analysis) which
gives the percentage by mass of each element
present in the fuel.
• An example of an ultimate analysis of a liquid fuel (oil)
might be :
Component % by mass
Carbon (C) 86
Hydrogen(H2) 14

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 24/42

12
 • Each constituent is considered separately via its own
combustion equation.
For the carbon:
C + O2 → CO2
12kg 32kg 44kg
or for 1 kg of fuel
32 44
0.86  0.86   0.86  (kg)
12 12
• So each kg of oil requires 2.29 kg oxygen for
combustion of its carbon and produces 3.15 kg CO2
as product.

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 25/42

• Similarly
H2 + ½ O2 → H2O
2kg 16kg 18kg
or per kg of fuel
16 18
0.14  0.14   0.14  (kg)
2 2
• In order to burn the hydrogen content of the oil 1.12
kg oxygen are needed and 1.26 kg water is formed.

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 26/42

13
 • The total oxygen requirement is thus (2.29 + 1.12) or
3.41 kg.
A given quantity of air consists of 21% by volume of
oxygen.
• We can simply transform to a mass basis thus:
Component vol fraction(vf) vf × MW Mass fraction
Oxygen 0.21 6.72 6.72
 0.233
28.84
Nitrogen 0.79 22.12 22.12
 0.767
28.84

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 27/42

• We can now establish that 3.41 kg oxygen, which is

the stoichiometric requirement, will be associated
with:
0.767
3.41  11.23 kg nitrogen
0.233
• The stoichiometric air-to-fuel ratio is thus 3.41 +
11.23 = 14.6 : 1

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 28/42

14
 Combustion Products : Solid and Liquid Fuels

• The stoichiometric combustion products from

combustion of the oil are:
CO2 3.15 kg
H2O 1.26 kg
N2 11.23 kg
• The combustion products would normally be needed
as a volume percentage, so the reverse operation to
that which was performed for air above is required.

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 29/42

Combustion Calculation for a Coal.

An example of coal has the following ultimate analysis:
% by mass
Carbon 90
Hydrogen 3
Oxygen 2.5
Nitrogen 1
Sulfur 0.5
Ash 3

Calculate:
(a) the volumetric air supply rate required if 500 kg/h
of coal is to be burned at 20% excess air.
(b) the resulting %CO2 (dry) by volume in the
combustion products.
Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 30/42

15
 • Solution:
Lay out the calculation on a tabular basis using 1 kg coal:
Mass (per kg) O2 Required Products
32 44
Carbon 0.9 0.9   2.4 0.9   3.3
12 12
16 18
Hydrogen 0.03 0.03   0.24 0.03   0.27
2 2
32 64
Sulfur 0.005 0.005   0.005 0.005   0.01
32 32
Oxygen 0.025 -0.025 -
Nitrogen 0.01 - 0.01
Ash 0.03 - -

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 31/42

• (a) Oxygen required to burn 1 kg coal = 2.4 + 0.24

+ 0.005 - 0.025 = 2.62 kg.
2.62
 11.25 kg
Air required = 0.233
Actual air supplied = 11.25 × 1.2 = 13.5 kg
Assuming a density for air of 1.2 kg/m3, the flow rate
will be: 500
13.5   1.56 m3 /s
1.2  3600

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 32/42

16
• (b) To get the %CO2 in the combustion products we need
to know the amounts of oxygen and nitrogen in the flue
gases.
Air supplied = 13.5 kg per kg coal, of which oxygen is
13.5 × 0.233 = 3.14 kg, and nitrogen
13.5 – 3.14 = 10.36 kg.
• The combustion products will thus contain:
3.14 – 2.62 = 0.52 kg O2 and
10.36 + 0.01 = 10.37 kg N2.

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 33/42

• A second tabular procedure can now be used for the volumetric composition of the
flue gases:
Product Mass/kg coal Mol. Wt. kmoles/kg coal %volume
CO2 3.3 44 0.075=(3.3/44) 16.25=(0.075/0.4614)
SO2 0.01 64 0.000156 0.03
O2 0.52 32 0.0162 3.51
N2 10.37 28 0.37 80.20
0.4614

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 34/42

17
 COMBUSTION PROBLEM ??

FOULING

SLAGGING

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 35/42

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 36/42

18
Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 37/42

ASH FUSE TEMPERATURE TO FORM SLAGGING

W=H

H = 19
H H H = 1.5 MM

IT. ST HT FT
6.35 W=H W = 2H

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 38/42

19
 1900 - 2200 0F
1038 - 1204 0C

1-2 S

3000 0F
1649 0C

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 39/42

SLAGGING / FOULING IMPACT

TO THE HEAT ABSORPTION PROCESS

t1 t1

L1 L2
T2’
T2

SLAGGING ( MASSIVE ) FOULING ( POROUS )

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 40/42

20
EXCESS AIR REQ. COAL COMPARASION
% MILL TEMP.

HOT AIR REQUIRED

C
B

5.1 % A

MOISTURE
FLAMMABILITY LIMITS
PERCENTAGE OF STOICHIOMETRIC AIR
FUEL MINIMUM MAXIMUM
NATURAL GAS 64 % 247 %
OIL 30 % 173 %
COAL 8% 425 %
Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 41/42

Thank You……..

Combustion Principle & Flue Gas Analysis Youdhiyan Prasetyo © 2015 42/42

21