Workshop on Efficient Operation & Maintenance of Boilers

COMBUSTION OF COAL
Stoichiometric Air requirement

Coal of a particular composition requires a specific quantity of air for complete

combustion. A kg of coal will typically require 7-8 kg of air depending upon the
carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur content for complete combustion.
This air is also known as theoretical or stoichiometric air.

If for any reason the air supplied is

inadequate, the combustion will be
incomplete. The result is poor
generation of heat with some portions of
carbon remaining unburnt (black smoke)
and forming carbon monoxide instead of
carbon dioxides.

As in the case of oil, coal cannot be

burnt with stoichiometric quantity of air.
Complete combustion is not achieved
unless an excess of air is supplied.

The fuel and air must be brought into

intimate contact under the following
circumstances: Coal Combustion
An adequate quantity of air at the right place throughout the fuel bed

Adequate TIME and TURBULENCE must be provided

at a TEMPERATURE sufficiently high, to ensure that Primary air is mixed with
fuel at the grate
the chemical reactions involved are completed within
the available space for ‘combustion’. Secondary air is brought
in over the grate through
Primary air is supplied below the grate and secondary the openings in furnace or
air is supplied over the grate to ensure complete door
combustion as shown in the Figure.

Measures for Improvement

 Supply of primary and secondary air should be regulated with the coal bed
thickness.
 Proper sizing and even bed thickness should be maintained
 Secondary air should be so provided as to create sufficient turbulence inside
the combustion chamber.
 Quantity and pressure of secondary air should be adequate.
 Clinkers to be removed as and when it is formed.
 Tools in hand-firing steam boilers
 A shovel spreads fresh fuel on the fire and loads coal or ashes if they are
handled by wheelbarrow.

National Productivity Council, Gandhinagar

 Workshop on Efficient Operation & Maintenance of Boilers

 A slice bar, before the fire is cleaned, breaks up clinkers that adhere to the
grate. With the alternate method of cleaning fires, the bar sweeps fire from
one side of the grate to the other.
 A hoe pulls out ashes from the top of the grate when the fire is being cleaned,
and cleans out the ash pit.
 A rake cleans fires and spreads fuel evenly over the grate.
 A lazy bar is a short bar whose ends are hooked over the door hinge and
latch of the fire door and ash pit door. It supports hoe and rake when they
clean the fire and ash pit.

Types of hand-firing systems

Spreading Method

Cost is spread in an even layer over the entire grate at each firing, usually
commencing at the back of the grate and working out toward the fire door. Coal
must be fired frequently in small quantities.

Alternate method

Each side of the grate is fired alternately so that the volatile gases distilled from fresh
fuel will be ignited by the bright fire on the other side of the grate.

Coking method

Coal is fired at the front of the grate and allowed to coke there. Afterward it is
pushed back and spread over the grates, and more coal is fired at the front. Thus
the hot gases distilled from fresh fuel at the front of the grate ignite and burn as they
pass over the glowing fire to the rear of the grate.

The alternate and coking methods are preferable to the spreading method when coal
is high in volatile matter, since they do not lower the furnace temperature by
blanketing the entire fire surface with fresh fuel at any one time. Also, there is less
heat loss from volatile gases passing to the chimney unburned.

The spreading method, thought probably most generally used, is efficient only when
firing and frequent so as not to reduce the furnace temperature below the ignition
point of the gases distilled from the fuel. Covering the entire fire surface at
infrequent intervals with a thick layer of fresh fuel is most wasteful and inefficient.

Regulation of the size of air spaces in a coal-burning grate

The main factors regulating their size are the kind of coal being burned and the
nature of the draft. Much coal is lost if a wide air space is used in grate burning
slack or fine coal. Air openings can also be smaller if mechanical draft is used. In
general, air spaces run from ¼ to 3/8 in. for small coals and from ½ to ¾ in. for larger
sizes. The quantity of ash in the fuel and the coking or non coking properties of the
coal also have a bearing on the proper size of air space to use.

National Productivity Council, Gandhinagar

 Workshop on Efficient Operation & Maintenance of Boilers

Advantages of Mechanical stokers over hand firing

Less labor and attendance are needed to operate mechanical stokers cheaper
grades of fuel are burned successfully. More fuel can be burned per square foot of
grate surface. Much higher efficiencies can be attained. Better furnace conditions
can be maintained. Production of smoke can be eliminated. Firing conditions can
be controlled more exactly to meet varying loads, and overloads can be carried that
would be impossible with hand firing.

Types of Mechanical Stoker Arrangement

Most stokers in common use fall into one or the other of these classifications:
(1) sprinkler stoker, (2) traveling or chain-grate stoker, (3) overfeed stoker,
(4) underfeed stoker.

Sprinkler stoker May be used in conjunction with stationary grates, shaking grates,
or even chain grates. In the last-mentioned case, these is no need to open fire doors
or clean good results are claimed for this combination. The sprinkler stoker spreads
coal over the grate much the same as an expert hand fireman does with his shovel.
It may be mounted on the boiler front above the fire doors leaving them clear for
cleaning fires if the grates are stationary or for hand firing if the stoker should break
down on be cut out for repairs.

Traveling or chain-grate stoker Coal is fed into the front of a revolving grate, and
burns as it travels toward the real of the grate where the ashes are dumped over the
back.

Overfeed stoker Coal is fed onto a stepped reciprocating grate, either at the front or
the side, and is gradually consumed as it travels toward the rear or the bottom of the
grate.

Underfeed stoker

In one from, coal is fed into one or more deep retorts by power-driven rams and
overflows onto side grates or dead plates, which slope downward to dump plates
that can be tilted to dump ashes when necessary. In the other type, grates slope
from front to rear, and coal is also fed by power-driven rams into narrow retorts
between the grate bars, whence it flows oiver onto the grates. The grates have a
reciprocating motion that moves the coal downward to dump plates at the bottom
that discharge the ashes to an ash pit or hopper.

Chain-grate and overfeed stokers in small or medium-sized power plants may

operate on natural, induced, or forced draft. Traveling or chain-grate stokers in large
plants are usually constructed for forced-draft operation. Because of the thick fuel
bed, the underfeed stoker is essentially a forced draft stoker.

National Productivity Council, Gandhinagar

 Workshop on Efficient Operation & Maintenance of Boilers

The control of Excess Air in relation to Flue gas Composition

There exists a definite relationship between the excess air supplied for combustion
and the carbon dioxide and oxygen percentages of the resultant flue gas. It is
important to note that the percentage of carbon dioxide and oxygen in flue gas for a
bituminous coal varies in relation to the excess air as given in Table 1.

Table 1 Excess air in relation to flue gas composition

% CO2 % Excess Air % O2

18.6 0 0
16 16 2.8
14 33 5
12 55 7.7
10 86 10.1
8 132 12.2
6 210 14.4

A measure of CO2 or O2 in the flue gas can be used to indicate the quantity of excess
air being supplied into the furnace.

National Productivity Council, Gandhinagar