Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ma 2007
Ma 2007
www.elsevier.com/locate/fuproc
Abstract
RMT, Inc., a subsidiary company of Alliant Energy Corporation, and the University of North Dakota Energy and Environmental Research
Center (EERC) have developed an ash behavior prediction tool, called AshProSM, to assess slagging and fouling in coal-fired boilers. This tool
integrates boiler computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations with ash behavior models including ash formation, transport and deposition, as
well as deposit growth and strength development. AshProSM was applied to a 512-MW tangentially-fired boiler at Wisconsin Power & Light's
Columbia Energy Center to evaluate the localized slagging on furnace walls and fouling in convective pass. The predicted boiler ash deposition
pattern is reasonably consistent with that observed on the furnace walls and super heater division panels. The prediction of slag state transition
(solid/liquid) through deposit viscosity was verified by the observation in the plant.
© 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
0378-3820/$ - see front matter © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.fuproc.2007.06.025
1036 Z. Ma et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 88 (2007) 1035–1043
Fig. 2. Deposit thickness (mm) on furnace rear wall close to corner 3 SOFA and furnace wall picture at a similar location.
and Environmental Research Center (EERC) have developed an 2. Ash behavior models and the integration with CFD
ash behavior prediction tool to assess slagging and fouling in simulations
coal-fired boilers called AshProSM. The development of this
tool combines EERC's coal ash behavior expertise and RMT The inorganic coal components undergo complex physical
SmartBurn®'s expertise in combustion, CFD modeling and and chemical transformations during combustion to produce
boiler operation. AshProSM integrates ash behavior models vapors, liquids, and solid phases in the flame. The abundance
including ash formation, transport, deposition, and growth with and chemical characteristics of these phases depend on how
boiler CFD simulations [3]. A unique advantage of AshProSM is the inorganic species are associated in the fuel and on
that it can be used to evaluate the localized slagging and fouling combustion conditions. The partitioning of the inorganic
problems that are related to actual operating conditions. There- components into the various phases during combustion and
fore, it can be used to identify the major causes of ash deposition gas cooling involves a continuum of complex interrelated
so that measures to reduce the problem can be implemented. chemical reactions and physical transformations. The
Fig. 3. Ash impaction (kg/m2–s), deposit thickness (mm), temperature (K), deposit strength (Pa) on the furnace walls.
Z. Ma et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 88 (2007) 1035–1043 1037
Fig. 4. Deposit thickness (mm) on super heater division panel and plant picture at a similar location.
processes have been described in detail in previous reports formation due to low melting point minerals, mineral-mineral
and include vaporization/gas phase reactions along with reactions, and mineral-organically associated element reac-
condensation, nucleation and agglomeration; liquid particle tions; and solid particle formation, which involves mineral
Fig. 5. Heat flux comparison between prediction and sensor readings (E2 and E3).
1038 Z. Ma et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 88 (2007) 1035–1043
grains having high melting points and solidification of liquid levels of silicate phases that bond the deposit together. High
particles during gas cooling. temperature and low oxygen levels can result in the formation of
Combustion conditions in the boiler also influence the phy- reduced oxides, metals, and sulfide based deposits. Lower-
sical transformation of the inorganic constituents. As a result of temperature deposits that form in the convective passes of utility
these interacting mechanisms, the ash size distribution is mul- boilers have high levels of sulfate phases that bond the particles
timode with a sub-micron fraction, intermediate fraction (1 to together. The deposit heterogeneity changes with temperature
5 μm), and a larger super-micron fraction at about 10 to 15 μm. and location in the boiler.
The sub-micron fraction mostly generated from the homoge- The EERC developed an ash transformation (ATRAN) com-
neous condensation of flame-vaporized inorganic elements and puter model, which is a sub-module of AshProSM, to predict the
very small mineral grains. The intermediate size fraction is PSCD of ash produced during the combustion of coal [4–6].
derived from organically associated elements such as calcium This technique uses advanced analytical characterization data,
and magnesium and is typical of low rank coals. The larger ash boiler parameters, and a detailed knowledge of the chemical and
fraction stems from the discrete mineral grains. The types of physical transformations of inorganic components during com-
phases that are responsible for the liquid-phase components are bustion to predict the PSCD of the resulting ash. The PSCD of
dependent upon the initial components present in the coal and the ash directly impacts deposit growth, deposit strength de-
the operating condition of the plant. The abundance and sta- velopment, and ash collectability.
bility of the phases are dependent upon temperature and oxygen The transport of intermediate ash species (i.e., inorganic
environment. The types of phases include oxides, sulfides, vapors, liquids, and solids) is a function of the state and size of
silicates and sulfates. Higher-temperature deposits contain high the ash species and system conditions such as gas flow patterns,
gas velocity, and temperature. The primary mode of particle of the particle on a surface, is a function of several variables such
transport to heat-transfer surfaces is inertial impaction. The as surface tension, kinetic energy, and viscosity. The overall
PSCD of ash predicted by ATRAN sub-module of AshProSM is sticking efficiency, which decides whether an impacting particle
incorporated with a boiler CFD model to simulate ash particle is captured or not, is also related to the stickiness of the surface,
transport behavior and to estimate ash impaction rates on boiler which is coupled with the deposit surface properties. Once the
heat transfer surfaces. overall sticking efficiency and ash impaction rate are obtained,
The combination of the CFD and ATRAN models provide the deposition rate is estimated by AshSlagging sub-module of
predictions of ash impacting on the furnace walls, the particle AshProSM to predict deposit growth and heat transfer through
temperature and velocity, and PSCD. Upon impaction on the the deposit. In addition, deposit strength development and
heat-transfer surfaces, ash particles may be captured or rebound deposit removability are also estimated using AshSlagging sub-
depending on the overall effective stickiness, which is a function module of AshProSM.
of impacting particle stickiness and existing deposit surface In the current CFD model, tube banks in the convective pass
stickiness. The stickiness of ash particles upon impaction on a are modeled as porous media that allow prediction of gas flow
heat-transfer surface, defined as the probability of the retention resistance, gas temperature, and heat flux because of the
Fig. 8. a: Impact of soot-blowing frequency on deposit thickness (mm). b: Impact of soot-blowing frequency on furnace wall heat flux (kW/m2).
1040 Z. Ma et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 88 (2007) 1035–1043
complex geometry. Therefore, it does not provide detailed 3. Results and discussion
information about ash particle trajectories in the convective pass
of the boiler. To predict fouling deposit formation in this region, A CFD model was developed for Wisconsin Power & Light's
the CFD model is used to obtain the spatial distribution of ash Columbia Unit 1 [7,8], a tangentially-fired (T-fired) 1975-vin-
particles in a plane at the boiler nose. This information, along tage 512 MW boiler. Columbia Unit 1 was one of the first-
with gas velocity and temperature, is used by the FOULER sub- generation T-fired units designed to burn Powder River Basin
module of AshProSM to predict high-and low-temperature foul- (PRB) coal and therefore has a small firebox with a high heat
ing. FOULER is a mechanistic model developed by the EERC release. The geometry of the boiler CFD model is illustrated in
to predict the fouling that occurs in the convective pass of a Fig. 1. The results from the CFD model provide the basic
coal-fired utility boiler. information used in the ash behavior model.
AshProSM results in localized ash deposition prediction, Fig. 2 shows the deposit thickness prediction from Ash-
which is used to guide changes in boiler operations to take Slagging sub-module of AshProSM on the furnace rear wall and
corrective action with various coal feeds to maximize unit a picture of deposit at a similar location taken from the boiler.
availability, by minimizing ash-related forced outages, and op- The deposit pattern is reasonably consistent, particularly in the
timize soot-blowing effectiveness in the boiler to minimize near separated over-fired air (SOFA) region. This indicates that
operating cost. the model is providing the right prediction although the
Fig. 9. Side view of ash impaction (kg/m2–s) on the furnace rear wall from individual and all corners.
Z. Ma et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 88 (2007) 1035–1043 1041
Fig. 12. Fouling evaluation with input from CFD results on SH Platen pendants.
the larger aluminum-and silicon-rich particles are deposited, the first and second corner upstream to the specific wall (corner
and the deposit will approach the bulk composition of the ash. 4 and corner 3). High ash impaction from corner 4 has signi-
This is the reason that the deposit composition becomes stable ficant contribution to the deposit formation near corner 3 upper
although the deposit is continuing to grow and the deposit SOFA port. This demonstrates that the AshSlagging sub-
temperature is changing. The deposit composition changes module of AshProSM could be used to identify the causes to the
slightly when soot-blowing occurs. There is also some dif- slagging problem in the specific region of the furnace wall so
ference of composition between the deposit at the two locations. that measures to reduce the problem can be implemented.
The fraction of magnesium and aluminum in the deposit at E2 With the input information of ash particle spatial distribution,
location is lower than at E3 location while the fraction of flue gas velocity, and flue gas temperature from CFD
sodium and silicon in the deposit at E2 location is higher than at
E3 location. These difference may be attributed to the different
particle size and composition of the incoming ash particles and
will impact the viscosity of the deposit.
Fig. 8a and b demonstrates soot-blowing impact on deposit
thickness and heat flux on rear and right furnace walls after 6 h
of operation. Soot-blowing effectiveness at a 3-hour cycle is
worse compared to a 2-hour cycle, and results in less heat being
transferred to the wall. Optimized soot-blowing scenarios can
be implemented at the plant to ensure higher frequency cleaning
in the region of high ash impaction and less frequency cleaning
in the lower ash impaction region. This strategy helps the plant
to optimize soot-blowing usage to improve heat transfer to the
furnace walls, while maintaining the same cost and avoiding
over soot-blowing.
The contribution of ash particles from each individual corner
to deposit formation and growth on a specific furnace wall is
evaluated and shown in Fig. 9. The fire ball rotation is counter
clockwise: from corner 1 to corner 4, corner 3, and corner 2, as
illustrated in Fig. 10. The ash impaction on the lower furnace
walls (burner region) are mostly contributed by ash particles
from the first corner upstream to the furnace wall (corner 3). On
the upper furnace walls, most of the ash impaction comes from Fig. 13. Impact of soot-blowing cycle on fouling deposit removal.
Z. Ma et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 88 (2007) 1035–1043 1043
simulations, the FOULER sub-module of AshProSM was used accuracy of the prediction from this tool through fine-tuning of
to predict high-and low-temperature fouling at some specific the ash behavior models and better integration of CFD simu-
locations of convective pass pendants. Fig. 11 depicts the lations and the ash behavior models.
typical mechanism of upstream and downstream ash deposit on
convective pass pendants as compared to the plant picture of the Acknowledgements
deposit.
Fig. 12 indicates that the flue gas temperature at the top and The Authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from
middle sections of SH platen bank are much lower than the Alliant Energy Corporation and the information provided by the
bottom section, which falls to low temperature fouling category. plant engineers at Columbia Energy Center.
The high calcium content in the PRB coal used in this unit has
significant impact on this low temperature fouling. As the References
temperature increases, the fouling deposit is much easier to
remove due to the decomposition of the sulfate-based deposit. [1] S.A. Benson, E.N. Steadman, C.J. Zygarlicke, T.A. Erickson, Ash for-
The downstream deposit is less compared to the upstream mation, deposition, corrosion, and erosion in conventional boilers, in: L.
Baxter, R. DeSollar (Eds.), Applications of Advanced Technology to Ash-
deposit. The lower flue gas velocity in the middle bank section Related Problems in Boilers, Plenum Press, New York, 1996, pp. 1–15.
causes less downstream deposit as compared to the top and [2] S.A. Benson, E.A. Sondreal, Impact of low-rank coal properties on ad-
bottom bank section due to a weaker eddy effect. vanced power systems, Ash Chemistry: Phase Relationships in Ashes,
The impact of the soot-blowing cycle on the fouling deposit Special Issue of Fuel Process. Technol., 56 (1-2), 1998, pp. 129–142.
removal in the middle section of SH platen is shown in Fig. 13. [3] E. Vásquez, Z. Ma, S.A. Benson, Advanced Prediction Tools for Ash
Formation and Deposition in Coal-Fired Boilers, Clearwater, April 18-22
As the cleaning frequency decreases (longer soot-blowing 2004, The Clearwater Coal Conference, Florida, USA.
period), the permanent deposit remaining on the tubes increases [4] E.N. Steadman, C.J. Zygarlicke, S.A. Benson, M.L. Jones, A Micro
and the soot-blowing effectiveness is deteriorated. analytical Approach to the Characterization of Coal, Ash, and Deposits,
Seminar on Fireside Fouling Problems; ASME Research Comm. on Cor-
rosion and Deposits from Combustion Gases: Washington, DC, 1990.
4. Conclusion
[5] Zygarlicke, C.J. Predicting Ash Behavior in Conventional and Advanced
Power Systems: Putting Models to Work. In Impact of Mineral Impurities in
The integration of CFD simulations with ash behavior mo- Solid Fuel Combustion; Gupta, R. Ed.; Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publish-
dels enables AshProSM to provide a qualitative and quantitative ers: New York, 1999; pp 709–722.
description of the fireside slag formation and deposition pro- [6] L. Yan, R.R. Jensen, J.D. Laumb, S.A. Benson, Predicting ash particle size
cesses within the coal fired boiler. As a result, the prediction tool and composition distribution from coal biomass cofiring, Proceedings of
Engineering Foundation Conference, Production in the 21st Century:
can be used to determine the deposit thickness, chemical com- Impacts of Fuel Quality and Operations, Snowbird, Utah, October 28
position, physical properties and heat transfer properties in a November 2 2001.
specific region of the furnace wall and convective pass. It [7] E. Vásquez, R. Sears, Combustion control techniques achieve 0.15 lbs/
provides the engineer or researcher a powerful tool to assess the MMBtu NOx levels without SCR, Power Engineering, vol. 107 (1), January
combined impact of ash formation and deposition phenomena 2003, pp. 39–42.
[8] E. Vásquez, F. Mara, D.J. Maas, Z. Ma, K. McQuistan, H. Gadalla, F. Iman,
on power plant performance and can be used to assess the Application of SmartBurnSM Technology for NOx Control in Tangentially
impact of fuel quality, ash properties, fouling, slagging, etc. in Fired Coal Boilers, PowerGen International, December 9-11 2003, Power
the operation of coal-fired power plants for design and opera- Gen International Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada USA.
tional purposes. Further efforts are making in improving the