To develop a Predictive Tool for Boiler Tube Failure

3. Description of 210 MW PCF Boiler under Study

Nashik Thermal Power Plant is located at Eklahare village near Nashik in
Maharashtra. The power plant is one of the coal based power plants of
MAHAGENCO. Nasik Thermal Power Station comprises of 2x140 MW and 3x210
MW units with total installed capacity of 910 MW. The first 140 MW unit was
synchronized on 16th August 1970 followed by second unit on 21st of March 1971.
Boilers are front fired type from Babcock Wilcox France. Turbines are also from
France.
NTPS Stage-II comprises of three units of 210 MW each of BHEL Make. The
first 210 MW unit was synchronized on 26th April 1979. The next two units i.e. Unit
No. 4 and 5 of 210 MW were commissioned on 10th July 1980 and 30th January 1981
respectively. Boilers are corner fired of American design. Turbines are of Russian
design.

3.1 Introductory overview

In a coal based power plant (Fig. No. 3.1) coal is transported from coal mines
to the power plant. Coal is unloaded from the wagons to a moving conveyor belt. This
coal is taken to the Crusher house and crushed to a size of 20mm. From the crusher
house the coal is either stored in dead storage( generally 40 days coal supply) which
serves as coal supply in case of coal supply bottleneck or to the live storage (8 hours
coal supply) in the raw coal bunker in the boiler house. Raw coal from the raw coal
bunker is supplied to the Coal Mills by a Raw Coal Feeder. The Coal Mills or
pulverizer pulverizes the coal to 200 mesh size. The powdered coal from the coal
mills is carried to the boiler in coal pipes by high pressure hot air. The pulverized coal
air mixture is burnt in the boiler in the combustion zone.
Generally in modern boilers tangential firing system is used i.e. the coal nozzles/ guns
form tangent to a circle. The temperature in fire ball is of the order of 1300 oC. The
boiler is a water tube boiler hanging from the top. Water is converted to steam in the
boiler and steam is separated from water in the boiler Drum. The saturated steam from
the boiler drum is taken to the Low Temperature Superheater, Platen Superheater and
Final Superheater respectively for superheating. The superheated steam from the final
superheater is taken to the High Pressure Steam Turbine (HPT). In the HPT the steam
pressure is utilized to rotate the turbine and the resultant is rotational energy. From the
HPT the out coming steam is taken to the Reheater in the boiler to increase its

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temperature as the steam becomes wet at the HPT outlet. The reheated steam is taken
to the Intermediate Pressure Turbine (IPT) and then to the Low Pressure Turbine
(LPT). The outlet of the LPT is sent to the condenser for condensing back to water by
a cooling water system. This condensed water is collected in the hot well and is again
sent to the boiler in a closed cycle. The rotational energy imparted to the turbine by
high pressure steam is converted to electrical energy in the Generator.

3.2 Nashik Thermal Power Station at a Glance

The plant features a tangentially fired balanced draught natural circulation
direct fired Pulverized coal boiler each for a unit. At full load the unit generates 700
tons of steam per hour with steam condition of 540° C and 137 kg/cm2 before the inlet
to the high pressure turbine. Four bowl mills grind coal from calories of south eastern
coal mill, western coal mill and coal imported from Indonesia to 200 µm mesh size.
Primary air flow is provided by PA radial fans.
For each stage there is a set of high pressure (HP), intermediate pressure (IP)
and low pressure (LP) turbines. HP turbine is single flow. Its first stage is impulse
type and remaining are reaction stages. It has 12 stages. IP turbine is single flow
reaction type. It has 11 stages. LP turbine is double flow reaction type with 4 stages in
each flow. The plant employs a regenerative feed heating system, in which a small
fraction of steam expanding through the turbine is bled off from different stages of
turbine before reaching the condenser and used to heat the condensed feed water from
condenser in low and high pressure heaters (LP and HP heaters). Some torque is
sacrificed in the process, but the energy is saved.
The residual heat from the flue gases is used to preheat the air in air heaters to
enhance the combustion process. The ambient air at 38 ° C is preheated to 336° C.
The environmental control equipment consists of electrostatic precipitator.
The flue gas after air heaters is let into the precipitator where the fine ash particles are
absorbed to reduce the emissions. Finally the flue gases are emitted into the
atmosphere through the 80m height chimney.
The 210 MW units studied as part of BTL project have boiler flow path as
shown in Fig. 3.2 below. The main sections of boiler includes furnace, water wall,
platen water wall, drum, platen superheater, cold reheater, hot reheater, final
superheater, low temperature superheater, economizer etc.

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To develop a Predictive Tool for Boiler Tube Failure

Fig. 3.1: A Typical Coal Based Thermal Power Plant

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3.2.1 Details of 210 MW Boiler

Basically the system functions as follows:
Feed water is supplied to the steam drum, from the economizer through the
economizer outlet links. The water side of the steam drum is connected with the
furnace bottom water wall headers through down comers, and the water wall platen
inlet headers for units provided with water wall platens only, through water platen
inlet links.

HPT I PT L PT
GEN.

ST EA M
F L UE GAS

HPH COND.
DEAE.
BOI L ER
CHI M. F ST
A B CEP
BF P A B
FG L PH WAT E R

COAL + AI R
F AN MI L L
F DA A
A AH A
B
F DB AI R B
I DA
B

A B ESP C
I DB C

D
D COAL
F ROM BUNK ER

Fig. 3.2 Line Diagram of Thermal Power Plant

The front and rear wall bottom headers feed the front and rear furnace wall
tubes, the furnace side walls are supplied by the two side wall bottom headers. All the
bottom headers are connected together in the form of a ring. Some tubes of the
furnace rear wall form the supply tubes to the extended side wall inlet headers. The
extended side wall tubes terminate in the rear section of the side wall top headers.
The water in the furnace walls, front and rear water walls and the extended
side walls absorbs heat. The resulting mixture of water and steam is collected in the
outlet headers and discharged into the steam drum through a series of riser tubes. In
the steam drum separation of water and steam takes place. The boiler water mixes
with the incoming water. The saturated steam through turbo separators is led to the
super heater connecting tubes.
Passing through the various stages of super heaters, the steam is superheated
to the design temperature.

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FROM HPT TO HPT

TO I PT

DRUM
ROOF

WW
P C H F
FG R R
S S

EN
H H H H FG

AT
PL
W W
A FG A LTSH1
T L WATER
LTSH2
E L
R STEAM
ECONOMI SER
AI R+PF COAL FLUE GASES
FURNACE
FG TO AI R
PREHEATER

WI ND BOX

BOTTOM ASH

Fig. 3. 3. Water, Steam and Flue Gas Flow Path

From the super heater outlet header the superheated steam is led to the turbine
via the main stream lines. Water, Steam and Flue Gas Flow Path is shown in Fig. 3.3
3.2.2 Boiler Pressure Parts
a) Furnace: Furnace is the primary part of boiler where the chemical energy
available in the fuel is converted to thermal energy by combustion. Furnace is
designed for efficient and complete combustion of the worst coal. Major factors that
assist for efficient combustion are time of residence (fuel) inside the furnace,
temperature inside the furnace and turbulence which causes rapid mixing between
fuel and air. The furnace is constructed from fusion welded panels of 63.5 mm
diameter tubes (water wall tubes) at 76.1 mm centre. This type of construction
provides a gas tight combustion chamber and has reduced thermal insulation due to
minimum insulation material requirements. The water wall or furnace wall system
design ensures a natural circulation. The overall size of furnace is 24.024 m x 13.868
m X 19.417 m.
b) Superheaters and Reheater: The super heater system consists of three
stages viz, low temperature super heater (LTSH), pre final or platen super heater
(PSH) and final super heater (FSH). The location of these SH w.r.t the gas flow
direction will be in the order of PSH, FSH and LTSH. The Re heater is composed of
two stages, the Front RH or cold RH (CRH) and the Rear RH or Hot RH (HRH). The

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 To develop a Predictive Tool for Boiler Tube Failure

CRH and HRH are located between PSH and FSH. The geometrical construction of
SH and RH are shown in figures 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7 & 3.8 below.
c) Economizer: The purpose of the economizer is to preheat the boiler feed-
water before it is introduced into the steam drum and to recover some of the heat from
the flue gases leaving the boiler. The economizer is located in the boiler rear gas pass
below the rear horizontal superheater. Each section is composed of a number of
parallel tube circuits. All tube circuits originate from the inlet header and discharge
into the outlet header through economizer intermediate headers and economizer
hanger tubes. Feed-water is supplied to the economizer inlet header via the feed stop
and check valves. The feed-water flow is upward through the economizer, that is, in
counter flow to the hot flue gases. From the outlet header the feed-water is led to the
drum via the economizer outlet links.

457.2 FSH
323.9 FSH
O/ L HDR
I / L HDR

47.63X7.1 T22 47.63X10 T22

47.63X7.1 T22 47.63X8.6 T22

ROOF

47.63X6.6 T22

47.63X7.1 T22

47.63X7.6 T22
47.63X7.6 T22
47.63X6.6 T22

ALL DI M ARE I N MM
NO. OF ASSYS: 119
SPACI NG: 114.3

Fig. 3.4. Final Superheater

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273 OD SH PEND 323.9 OD SH PEND

INLET HDR OUTLET HDR
38X5.6 T22

38X3.6 T11 54X8.8 T22

51X8.8 T11 54X6.3 T11

51X5.0 T11 54X8.8 T22 51X7.1 T22

ROOF
51X5.6 T11
51X7.6 T22

51X4.5 T11 51X8.8 T22

51X5.6 T11 51X10 T22

51X5.6 T22
51X7.6 T11

51X5.6 T11

51X7.6 T22

51X5.6 T11

51X4.5 T11 51X8.8 T22

51X7.1 T11
51X7.6 T22

51X7.1 T11
ALL DIM ARE IN MM
NO. OF ASSYS: 29

Fig. 3. 5. Pre-final Superheater

5 5 8 .8 OD RH F RONT
I / L HDR

5 4 X5 .0 T 11

ROOF
5 4 X4 .5 T 11

5 4 X3 .6 T 11 5 4 X4 .5 T 11

5 4 X3 .6 T 11
5 4 X3 .6 T 11

5 4 X3 .6 T 11

AL L DI M ARE I N MM
5 4 X4 .5 T 11 NO. OF ASSYS: 5 9
SPACI NG: 2 2 8 .6

Fig .3.6. Cold Reheater

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323.9 LTSH O/ L HDR

44.5x5 T11
ROOF
44.5x5 T11

44.5x5 T11

44.5x4.5 T1

44.5x4.5 T11

44.5x4
T1
44.5x4.5 SA 210 Al
44.5x4.5
SA210Al

44.5x4
SA 210 Al NO. ASSYS: 134
ALL DIM IN MM
323.9 LTSH SPACING: 101.6
I/ L HDR

Fig. 3. 7. Low Temperature Superheater

Boiler Drum: The function of the steam drum internals is to separate water and
steam from the mixture generated in the furnace walls. The steam purification
primarily depends on the extent of moisture removal, since solids in steam are carried
by the moisture associated with it. The drum internals reduce the dissolved solids
content of the steam to below the acceptable limit. Wet steam entering the drum from
the riser tubes and furnace walls is collected in a compartment called separating
chamber formed by internal baffles. From this compartment the steam is first led
through two rows of turbo- separators. Each turbo-separator consists of a primary
stage and a secondary stage. The primary stage is formed by two concentric cans.
Spinner blades impart a centrifugal motion to the mixture of steam and water flowing
upward through the inner can, thereby throwing the water to the outside and forcing
the steam to inside. The water is arrested by a skim-off lip above and flows down
through the annulus between the two cans. The steam proceeds up to the secondary
separator stage. The secondary stage consists of two opposed banks of closely spaced

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thin corrugated sheets which direct the steam through a tortuous path and separate the
remaining entrained water. Since the velocity is relatively low, this water does not get
picked up again, but runs down the plates and flows off the second stage lips at the
outlets. From the secondary separators the steam flows uniformly and with relatively
low velocity upward to the series of screen dryers, extending in layers across the
length of the drum. These screens perform the final stage of separation

5 5 8 .8 OD RH
OUT L ET HDR

4 7 .6 3 X5 .0 T - 2 2

4 7 .6 3 X3 .4 T - 2 2

4 7 .6 3 X3 .4 T - 2 2
ROOF

4 7 .6 3 X4 .0 T P- 3 04 - H

5 4 X3 .6 T - 2 2

5 4 x 4 .5 T - 11

5 4 x 3 .6 T - 11
4 7 .6 3 X3 .4 T - 2 2

AL L DI M I N MM
5 4 x 4 .5 T - 2 2 NO. OF ASSYS: 8 9
SPACI NG: 2 2 8 .6

Fig. 3.8. Hot Reheater

3.2.3 Boiler Specifications

Table 3.1 Boiler Specifications
Tangentially Fired, Balanced Draught, Natural Circulation, Direct Fired
Boiler Type
Pulverized Coal with Bowl Mills.
Width: 13.868 m Depth: 10.592 Volume:5200m3
Furnace
Type: Fusion Welded Panels
Type H.S. in m2
Low
Superheater Stage I 6360
Temp.SH(LTSH)
(SH)
Stage II Platen SH (PSH) 1010
Stage III Final SH(FSH) 1040
Medium of
Type No. of Stages
Attemperator Spray
Spray One Feed Water
2
Reheater(RH) Type Total H.S. in m Control

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Pendant 2720 Burner Tilt

2
Type Total H.S. in m No. of Stages
Economizer
Continuous Finned Tube 5690 One
Burners Tilting Tangential Burners
No./ Boiler
Main Burners 24
Warm up Guns 12 (Located in corners of furnace)
Fuel Burning Oil Burners 12
Equipment Igniters 12
Mills XRP 763 Bowl Mills
Type Pressurized Primary Air System
System 31.4 T/Hr. for coal with grind ability
Capacity index 50. 70% Through 200 µm Mesh
Power Consumption 320kW, 990 rpm
Medium Design Motor
Type No. Qty. Pres. Temp. Control
3 kW rpm
m /sec mmwc °C
Variable
Axial
F.D Fan 2 110 520 40 750 990 Pitch
Reaction
Fans Control
Inlet
P.A Fan Radial 2 66 1375 40 1250 1490 Vane
Control
Inlet
Axial
I.D Fan 2 230 350 150 1300 990 Vane
Impulse
Control
Location Qty./Boiler Medium
Furnace 56 Steam
Soot PSH, FSH, RH Zone 20 Steam
Blower
Economizer Nil Steam
Air Heater 2 Steam
Type No. per Boiler
Dust Collectors
Electrostatic Precipitator 2

3.3 Boiler Performance

The temperature and pressure distribution for steam and flue gases is shown in
figure 3.8 and 3.9 below.

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DM WATER
700 T/ Hr .
247° C
150 bar

ECO

DRUM PRESSURE 277° C

148 bar

341° C 423° C 516° C 540° C

DRUM LTSH PSH FSH
148 bar 143 bar 139 bar 134 bar
SAT. STEAM SUPERHEATED
332° C
STEAM
341° C 277° C HPT IPT TO LPT
RECIRCULATION

26 bar
WATER
WALL
CRH 540° C
24 bar

HRH
NOTE: PRESSURE VALUES ARE
GAYGE READINGS

Fig. 3.9 Temperature and Pressure of Steam within Various Zones of Boiler
SEC. AIR

675.5T/ Hr .
327° C 140mmwc
1123° C 1012° C CRH 831° C HRH 750° C
FUR. PSH FSH
- 5mmwc - 6mmwc - 14mmwc

209.3Y/ Hr . 706° C
PRI. AIR
336° C ,228mmwc - 20mmwc

PUL. COAL
107.2T/ Hr .
143° C 368° C 459° C
TO ESP AH LTSH
- 184mmwc - 54mmwc ECO. - 37mmwc

NOTE: PRESSURE VALUES ARE

GAUGE READINGS

Fig. 3.10 Temperature and Pressure of Flue Gases within Various Zones of Boiler
3.3.1 Full and Part Load Performance
Thermal power plants operate over a range of loads depending on the load
requirement from distribution grid. The performance of boiler at full load is referred as
Maximum Continuous Rating (MCR). The other part load performances are typically referred
in relation to the MCR load. Table 3.2 provides the boiler performance parameters for MCR
and 60% MCR conditions.

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Table 3-2: Performance Values of Boiler, Stage II

S.
Description Unit MCR 60% MCR
No.
I. Flow
1 Steam
Superheater Outlet T/Hr. 700 420
Reheater Outlet T/Hr. 580 375
2 Water
Feed Water T/Hr. 700 371
3 Air
Air heater outlet
T/Hr. 209.3 156.7
(Pri.)
Air heater
T/Hr. 675.5 454.8
outlet(Sec.)
Total Comb. Air T/Hr. 907.5 634.3
4 Fuel
Coal T/Hr. 107.2 69.4
II. Temperature
S.
Description Units MCR 60%MCR
No.
1 Steam
Sat, Temp. in
°C 341 334
Drum
LTSH Outlet °C 423 430
SH Platen Outlet °C 516 515
Final SH Outlet °C 540 540
RH Inlet °C 332 293
RH Outlet °C 540 540
2 Water
Eco. Inlet °C 247 220
Eco. Outlet °C 277 260
3 Air
Ambient °C 38 38
AH Outlet (Pri.) °C 336 311
AH Outlet(Sec.) °C 327 307
4 Gas
SH Platen Inlet °C 1123 1116
CRH Inlet °C 1012 980
HRH Inlet °C 831 780
FSH Inlet °C 750 698
LTSH Inlet °C 706 659
Eco. Inlet °C 459 436
AH Inlet °C 368 835

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III. Pressure(Steam & Water)

S.
Description Unit MCR 60% MCR
No.
1 Pressure
SH Outlet kg/cm²(g) 137 132
LTSH Outlet kg/cm²(g) 146 135.5
Drum kg/cm²(g) 150.7 137.4
Eco. Inlet kg/cm²(g) 152.8 139.1
RH Outlet kg/cm²(g) 24.5 14.9
RH inlet kg/cm²(g) 26.4 16
2 Pressure Drops
SH System kg/cm²(g) 13.7 5.35
RH System kg/cm²(g) 1.9 1.1
Eco. System kg/cm²(g) 2.1 1.75
IV. Pressures & Draft(Air & Gas)
S.
Description Unit MCR 60% MCR
No.
1 Primary Air
PA Fan Outlet mmwc 738 698
AH Inlet mmwc 727 691
AH Outlet mmwc 672 661
Mill Inlet mmwc 634 634
Mill Outlet mmwc 228 228
2 Secondary Air
FD Fan Outlet mmwc 317 213
AH Inlet mmwc 282 198
AH Outlet mmwc 193 162
Wind box Pressure mmwc 140 140
Wind box to Fur. Diff mmwc 140 140
3 Gas
SH Platen Inlet mmwc -5 -4
RH Inlet mmwc -6 -5
FSH Inlet mmwc -14 -9
LTSH Inlet mmwc -20 -12
Eco. Inlet mmwc -37 -20
AH Inlet mmwc -54 -31
ESP Inlet mmwc -184 -84
ID Fan Inlet mmwc -242 -128
V. Fuel
S.
Description Unit Value
No.
1 Fuel-Coal
Fixed Carbon % 37.3
Volatile Matter % 27.7
Moisture % 10
Ash % 25
Higher Heating Value kJ/kg 1196
Size of coal to mill mm 20

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VI. Mill & Burner Performance

S.
Description Unit MCR 60% MCR
No.
1 No. of Burners in Operation 16 12
2 Burner Tilt Degree 0 30
3 No. of Mills in Operation 4 3
4 Mill Loading % 85 72
5 Air Flow per Mill T/Hr. 52.3 52.3
6 Air Temp. at Mill Inlet °C 195 176
7 Mill Outlet Temp. °C 77 77
8 Fineness % Thru. 70 70
200 Mesh
VII. O2, CO2 (By Volume) & Excess Air
S.No. Description Unit MCR 60% MCR
1 O2 In Gas at Eco. Outlet % 4.3 5.5
2 CO2 in Gas at Eco. Outlet % 14.8 13.7
3 Excess Air in Gas at % 25 35
VIII. Heat Balance
S.No. Description Unit MCR 60% MCR
1 Dry Gas loss % 4.55 4.3
2 H2O &H2 in Fuel Loss % 5.55 5.4
3 H2O in Air Loss % 0.2 0.2
4 Carbon Loss % 2 2
5 Radiation Loss % 0.2 0.3
6 Unaccounted Losses % 1.5 1.5
7 Total Losses % 14 13.7
8 Efficiency % 86 86.3
9 Guaranteed Efficiency % 86

3.3.2 Ultimate Analysis and Proximate Analysis of Coal

The Table 3-3 below provides the ultimate analysis of the coal being fired at 210 MW
units. The ultimate analysis is for the duration starting 14-Dec-09 to 15-Jan-2010. Table 3.4
gives the proximate analysis of coal.
Table 3-3: Ultimate analysis of the coal being fired at 210 MW units
S. No. Colliery Moist % MM % C% H% N% TS% O%
1 Rajur 6.4 34 50.82 2.81 0.32 1.26 4.39
2 Wani 6.4 31.6 49.67 3.00 0.34 1.10 7.89

Table 3-4: Design Condition for Coal (Proximate Analysis) Bunkered Coal
Stage VM% M% Ash% FC% CV kcal/kg
140 MW 26.2 9 20 44.5 5900
210 MW 25 10 25 37 5000
VM= Volatile Matter; M= Moisture; FC= Fixed Carbon; TM= Total Moisture

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Table 3-5: Proximate Analysis for Different Collieries of India

Colliery M% Ash% VM% FC% GCV kcal/kg HGI
Wani 8.2 31.2 25.4 35.2 4380 96
Umere 10.6 24.4 24.7 40.3 4670 98
Chargaon 9.1 28.1 25.4 37.4 4500 95
Korea 6.5 19.7 25 48.8 5700 76
Duman Hill 7.5 17.6 26.8 48.1 5760 68
NCPH 6.7 22.9 24.9 45.5 5390 87
Source: Mineral Exploration Corporation of India Ltd.

3.3.3 Fly Ash Analysis

The Table 3.6 provides the fly ash analysis of the coal fired at two different
units.
Table 3-6 Fly Ash Analysis for 210 MW
% Unit III Unit IV
SiO2 62.46 65.4
Al2O3 25.04 23.34
Fe2O3 3.63 3.27
TiO2 1.45 1.29
CaO 2.11 2.11
MgO 0.59 0.5
Na2O 0.23 0.15
K2O 1.46 1.62
SO3 0.56 0.54
P2O5 0.2 0.2
MnO 0.09 0.05
LOI 1.14 0.46
Cu 0.011 0.011
Specific Gravity 2.14 2.11
Moisture 0.4 0.25

A sample daily data of reports collected is attached in the Annexure I

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