In today's power generation market, steam power plants are focused on

identifying ways to operate more efficiently and effectively to reduce losses,

maximize reliability and boost revenue. Due to continually changing demands by
environmental and governmental authorities as well as consumers, plant
operators and engineers are continuously seeking more effective and
sophisticated technologies to support this focus and gain an edge in meeting
today's complex electricity generation market.
Intelligent combustion optimization is one method proven to accomplish plant
performance improvements such as increased efficiencies, reduction in
emissions, improved availability and greater fuel flexibility. Advancements in
today's optimization technologies are allowing plant operators to achieve their
changing objectives while also strategically controlling plant emissions and
overall operating efficiency.
Improving the Technology
Since optimization technology was introduced nearly 15 years ago, there have
been misconceptions among some that combustion optimization systems are
perhaps an outdated approach to increasing plant efficiency and improving plant
availability. Currently, these misconceptions are being dispelled due to improved
technology generating new and better results. Researchers and engineers at
energy supply companies across the globe are discovering that they now have
the ability to strategically assess operational data and functionality at each
individual plant before the optimization process begins. This allows operators to
determine the best optimization approach based on the plant's goals.
A goal of operating at the most profitable level demands a high degree of
flexibility, high efficiency, high availability and low emissions. One of the most
cost-effective and common ways to improve boiler efficiency is to apply primary
measures based on optimized combustion adjustments. However, this
optimization approach is usually restricted by the power plant operator's limited
knowledge of actual combustion conditions. These uncertainties about the actual
combustion process lead to situations where operators keep most boiler settings
constant, although considerable variations occur with respect to fuel properties,
fuel flow rate imbalances, load range or air flow disturbances.
In general, insufficient monitoring and control means that the operation of the
boiler is based on the use of certain combinations of global or indirect variables,
derived either from the recommendations of the boiler manufacturer or from the
accumulated experience of the operators of the specific plant. Combustion
optimizer technology was designed to give operators a better understanding of
the plant's data and how to prioritize it to increase overall efficiency, but it's the
proper application of that data that makes or breaks the optimization process.
Today, more sophisticated technologies exist that allow software providers to
work with operators at the onset of the problem, looking at data differently to
produce better, faster and smarter result to combustion variables.
Variables in Application
Though initially well received, early optimizers began exhibiting systematic issues
and operators began turning them off. Today, the importance of these tools is
being realized and efforts are underway to improve the older technology and
provide engineers and plant operators a reason to trust the systems once more
to improve heat rate, lower emissions and improve availability. Newer optimizer
systems feature more advanced controls, control more data and are more
adaptable to changing conditions. Simply stated, newer upgrades feature a
carefully constructed "recipe" emphasizing only the most relevant data and
minimizing the rest.
Modern combustion optimization technologies provide closed-loop optimization of
fuel and air mixing by manipulating fuel and air levels to balance combustion in
the furnace. They are software-based solutions that require no more than minor
modifications to mechanical equipment and are relatively straightforward when it
comes to operations and maintenance training. Each system is comprised of
measurement systems and combustion optimization controls. Some companies,
such as Siemens Energy, use modules for laser-based measuring technology,
distribution calculation based on computer-aided tomography (CAT) procedure
and combustion optimization controls based on both mathematical modeling and
neural networks.
But the tools are only part of the trade. The key factor in promoting cleaner, more
efficient power plant operations while still leaving space for more flexible
operation is to truly take into account the appropriate recipe of data and control to
properly determine the best optimization approach.
Major strides have been made in this realm. Offering qualitative and quantitative
audits of system controls at the onset of the problem was discovered to be the
best way to ensure plants are producing the correct data to determine the best
application for the use of technology. For instance: if a plant operator is aware of
a very specific operational problem - such as slagging, derates or heat rate gain -
and has data that can pinpoint it, he or she can rely on classic optimization
controls to alleviate the issue.
However, immediate availability of such precise data is rarely the case. When
little can be directly measured on a plant operation, more advanced solutions are
needed to help solve what is a far more complicated problem. In this situation,
laser-based or even hybrid measurement systems in unison with the appropriate
"closed-loop" combustion optimization solutions will produce the maximum
achievable benefits.
Applications in Action
In recent years, a growing number of modernized combustion optimization
success stories have been surfacing around the world, delivering renewed and
warranted faith in the technology. From the U.S. to Germany and to China, plant
operators are realizing the benefits of using intelligent combustion optimization
technology to fix specific problems or even to ensure their plant is running more
cleanly and efficiently.
Application 1: Lowering Coal-Fired NOx with Robus Hybrid Optimization
In 2011, operators at Kansas City Power & Light's (KCP&L) LaCygne Unit 2
Power Plant were looking for a way to reduce stack emissions of NOx. This 30-
plus-year-old 720-MW balanced draft, Carolina-type, B&W wall-fired unit has
seven MPS-89 pulverizers, each having eight coal outlets that make up an
individual row of burners. The burners are second-generation, dual-register, low-
NOx burners. There are seven rows of burners, each with a compartmental wind
box that has two controllable dampers. The unit did not have an overfire air
(OFA) system.
LaCygne operators turned to Siemens to address their concerns. In this instance,
the optimization process used a hybrid structure of closed loop controls with
neural network optimization technology, integrated with a laser-base combustion
measurement system.
The integration process began first with the installation of the laser measurement
grids inside the combustion chamber. Next, parametric testing was done on the
conditions of the boiler - followed by deduction and analysis of spatial
distributions - to determine the required controlled variables for the closed loop
controls engineering. Finally, the Siemens combustion optimization control
system was integrated into LaCygne's existing plant DCS System.
Model Based Controls Target Emission Reductions under Strict
Operational Restraints
The laser-based measurement system maps the concentration of in-furnace CO,
O2, H2O and temperature simultaneously in real time and directly in the furnace.
Laser transmitters and receivers are arranged outside the boiler resulting in a
grid of laser beams crisscrossing the furnace. Each path measures an average
value for temperature, O2, H2O and CO simultaneously, and together the paths
are used to create a tomographic image of this plane in the boiler that is also
displayed to the operators directly in the control room.
Temperature and concentration distributions are calculated from the measured
path averages with the aid of the CAT procedure. CAT algorithm was used for
calculating certain characteristic distribution data, e.g. values at different grid
points, averages, minimum and maximum values for different paths in the
distribution, skewness, etc.
The laser measurement system is integrated into the Siemens Optimization
System Server, which is in turn connected to the ABB Infi90 Plant DCS. These
connections permit access to measured data from the existing DCS, such as coal
and airflows or CO and NOx in the flue gas, by the combustion optimization
process and also facilitated the optimization of process signals back to the DCS.
A watchdog signal allows communication verification between the optimizer and
the DCS. The process measurements from the DCS along with the laser
measurements data from the boiler are used to calculate the optimized values
within the Siemens optimizer. These values are integrated into the plant DCS as
biases to the existing setpoints in the DCS, which are transferred to the basic
underlying controls and to the field.
Safety measures are followed in sequence for incoming setpoint biases before
they are used in control and boiler processes. The operator can smoothly switch
the optimizer controls with the ON/OFF switch. If the optimizer loses connection
to the DCS, the control interface design automatically transfers control back to
the plant DCS and control room operators without introducing a transient
condition.
Distributing air properly is a critical step in combustion optimization. The objective
behind CO balancing is to uniformly spread the CO distribution across the boiler.
In wall-fired units, the countermeasures involved in lowering NOx include air and
fuel staging. This methodology reduces stoichiometry during combustion and
minimizes the formation of both unburned fuel and thermal NOx, improving the
completion of the combustion process in the boiler. Hence the staged
combustion helps in better completion of the combustion process in the boiler. At
LaCygne, the staged combustion technique for NOx control involved the re-
distribution of secondary air (staged air) from the main combustion zone to the
top levels while reducing air in the bottom levels of the furnace. This moves the
compartment air to the "air-starved" regions in the furnace, and improves the
air/fuel mix within all regions.
Neural Networks Control Multiple Variables
Neural network technology can be viewed as a multivariate nonlinear non-
parametric estimation tool. It shares a descriptive term from biology in that they
are represented as networks of simple neuron-like processors. This highly
adaptive technology uses a unique combination of neural network and complex
systems algorithms to learn the complex interactions of process variables from
historical data.
The manipulated variables for the neural model used at LaCygne Unit 2 were
secondary air north/south damper positions, compartment airflow setpoint and
feeder speeds. Some of the input variables comprise of laser measurement
readings of temperature, O2 and CO profiles, and unspecified basic conditions
such as load. The output variables include the stack CO measurement. The
primary target value for LaCygne was the Stack NOx.
With the help of the neural network, the optimum manipulated variables for the
specified target of NOx reduction are determined with due consideration of
constraints. The constraints were related to maximum allowable stack CO and
opacity. The other modeling constraints were to keep the total air and the sum of
feeder speeds constant, at a given load condition.
Optimized Results
With the use of the SPPA-P3000 Combustion Optimization technology, LaCygne
saw significant NOx reductions while improving the overall combustion and unit
heat rate.
Additional benefits of using Combustion Optimizer at LaCygne Unit 2 Power
Plant included:

 Enhanced and balanced combustion

 Significant improvements in boiler slagging
 Better CO distribution in boiler
 Supplementary O2 reduction based on the balanced combustion
 Improved unit heat rate
 Better centralization of the fireball
 Staged combustion achieved emission reductions
These improvements were attributed largely to the combustion balancing
controls, fuel/air staging controls and O2 reduction controls. Coal and airflow
staging control solutions for controlling the distribution of air and pulverized coal
flow to individual boiler level resulted in lower emissions. O2 setpoint reductions
proved to boost the benefits of staged combustion producing even lower NOx
emissions.
Application 2: Enhanced Plant Performance with Combustion Optimization
A SPPA-P3000 Combustion Optimization System was also installed almost
identically in 2011 at Unit 4 of Huaneng Rizhao Power Plant, P. R. China and has
already boasted significant performance improvements. This unit is a 660-MW
tangentially-fired, supercritical boiler using soft-coal fuel. To balance the
combustion, a closed-loop optimization is delivered by manipulating fuel and air
levels with the help of laser measurements, which provide the key combustion
components O2, CO, H2O and temperature simultaneously, directly in the
furnace.
Parametric Testing Leads to Improvements in Boiler Behavior
During the parametric testing phase, the behavior of the Rizhao boiler was
observed by changing and adjusting individual secondary air, secondary auxiliary
air, and SOFA dampers. The testing and combustion analysis showed that the
unit's fireball was often not in the center of the boiler where it belonged, creating
an unbalanced heat transfer to water wall and heaters. This also increased the
production of slagging for parts of the water wall. Testing also confirmed that the
non-homogeneous distribution of excess air in the boiler led to efficiency loss in
regions with too much air and bad combustion in regions of starved of air. The
combustion optimization controls at Rizhao allowed for a number of situational
improvements in the boiler to improve efficiency. Secondary auxiliary air dampers
helped to center the boiler's fireball for improved heat transfer and reduced
slagging. Improved control of SOFA dampers facilitated a proper O2 balance for
more uniformed distribution, reduced O2 and lower emissions. Secondary
boundary air dampers created an improved air-to-fuel ratio for more uniform
combustion.
The fireball centering, O2 distribution and combustion balancing controls each
helped to allow the reduction of the excess O2 for increased boiler efficiency
overall. This additional logic using CO concentration was implemented to
determine the O2 setpoint correction dependant on the actual combustion
situation in the boiler. The CO values in the furnace measured by the laser
measurements, and the CO after boiler from the DCS, were used to determine
the rated CO concentration. The CO setpoint to the integral control was
determined as a function of the unit load. The optimization controller was
restricted by the lower limit for O2 reduction, which was based on the function of
unit load and had an absolute lower limit from the O2 setpoint characteristics
from the DCS. A reduction in O2 was achieved when the optimizer was switched
ON.
An Improvement in Overall Efficiency
The combustion optimizer was tested for different plant conditions like that of
different unit loads, different coal etc.
Additional results of using this optimizer were clearly discovered:

 Better centralization of the fireball

 Better O2 distribution in boiler
 More O2 reduction based on the balanced combustion, normally
the O2 reduction is 0.7~1.1
 Reduced auxiliary power, reduced coal consumption and
increased boiler efficiency
At the request of the management at the Rizhao Power Plant, a third-party
evaluation of boiler efficiency improvement achieved by Combustion Optimizer
was administered by Xi'an Thermal Power Research Institute Co, Ltd. (TPRI).
TPRI conducted a boiler efficiency test using GB 10184-88 standard
methodology at full load and at partial load to compare the boiler efficiency with
combustion optimizer 'OFF' and 'ON'. Performance improvements attributed to
combustion balancing but not included in the TPRI boiler efficiency calculation
such as lower auxiliary power requirements (from induced, forced and primary air
fan loads) and increased steam enthalpy were also calculated using TPRI test
data and ASME 4.1 standards.
The combustion optimizer improved the performance by a total of 0.57 percent at
full load. A more balanced combustion was achieved permitting the excess O2 to
be reduced by 0.93 percent based on the DCS setpoints. This resulted in the
decrease of fan loads (induced/forced draft and primary air), which further
diminished the auxiliary power requirements by 293 KW/hr, or 0.05 percent of the
load. This reduction in auxiliary power led to the increase in the amount of
electricity available for sale by the plant.
Also, at full load the steam enthalpy increased as superheater and reheater
steam temperatures were enhanced as a result of better combustion which
increased the steam turbine output by 0.07 percent overall. In addition, NOx
levels were reduced by 14.4 percent as a result of lower excess O2 while the CO
and LOI did not materially change.
Revalidating the Need for Optimization
The experiences at Unit 2 in LaCygne and Unit 4 in Rizhao have shown that the
appropriate use of real-time combustion optimization technology in a coal-fired
plant can definitively improve combustion and heat rate while reducing emissions
and the potential for lost generation. Both plants experienced documented,
improved efficiency through optimizing their combustion. If the technology is
properly designed and applied, plant operators and engineers can make
appropriate adjustments to improve unit performance with minimal training and
eliminating the need for costly mechanical changes. Improvements to
combustion optimization through the years have validated a second look at the
software-based tools as a means of improving plant efficiency and lowering
emissions.