Applied Thermal Engineering 135 (2018) 66–73

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Research Paper

300 MW boiler design study for coal-fired supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle T
⁎
Wengang Bai, Yifan Zhang, Yu Yang, Hongzhi Li , Mingyu Yao
National Energy R&D Center of Clean and High-efficiency Fossil-fired Power Generation Technology, Xi'an Thermal Power Research Institute Co. Ltd, Xi'an 710054,
People’s Republic of China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Supercritical CO2 (S-CO2) Brayton power cycle has been considered as a promising alternative choice of con-
S-CO2boiler ventional steam cycle for coal-fired power plants. A conceptual design of the boiler is conducted for a 300 MW
Brayton cycle single reheated recompression S-CO2 Brayton cycle for coal-fired power plant with turbine inlet parameters of
Conceptual design 32 MPa/600 °C/620 °C. The conventional economizer (ECO) is replaced with the split heater (SH) to reduce the
Heat transfer
inlet temperature of cooling wall of the furnace as well as to recover the flue gas heat The technology adaption of
S-CO2 power cycle for coal-fired power plant has been evaluated in terms of specific design of the 300 MW coal
fired boiler as well as the whole thermodynamic cycle layout. The boiler design and off-design thermal calcu-
lation results show that the S-CO2 boiler proposed in this paper can match well with the entire coal-fired S-CO2
Brayton cycle power generation system and has a good boiler variation performance.

1. Introduction It was recommended that a recompression cycle was mandatory for

Coal is expected to remain the main fuel source of power generation
for a long time in the world [1,2]. Unfortunately, air pollution and
global warming problems caused by SO2, NOx, CO2 and dust emission
from coal combustion should be seriously addressed [2–4]. Thus, it is of
great importance to increase energy conversion efficiency and in turn to
reduce the fuel consumption and air pollutants emission.
Up to now, steam Rankine cycle has dominated absolutely in coal
power plants to convert thermal energy to electricity. However, it is
very difficult to improve the power conversion efficiency further, as it is
a great challenge to increase the turbine inlet steam temperature up to
700 °C [5,6]. Although new nickel-based superalloys can be used in the
steam parameters of 32–37 MPa and 700–720 °C, it is not economic
affordable considering the high components manufacturing costs [7].
A great effort has been made to look for more effective alternative
methods of convert thermal energy to electricity [1,8–12]. Among
various candidates, the supercritical CO2 (S-CO2) Brayton closed-loop
power cycle has been considered as a promising alternative choice
[1,10,11,13,14]. The advantages of the S-CO2 cycle are high efficiency
and compact physical devices such as small turbomachinery and heat
exchangers. Compared to the steam Rankine cycle, the S-CO2 Brayton
cycle can achieve higher thermal power conversion efficiency at mod-
erate turbine inlet temperatures, while the turbomachinery is 10 times
smaller than that of the steam Rankine cycle[1,15]. Therefore, the
SeCO2 Brayton cycle can improve the system efficiency and the eco-
nomic performance of power plants.
the application of S-CO2 cycle, as shown in Fig. 1 [1], because it can
increase the efficiency by 4.5%pt up to a standard S-CO2 cycle (without
recompression). Besides, it can also mitigate the pinch-point problem in
the recuperators [1,8,9,14]. Although the concept of the S-CO2 power
cycle is not new and has been widely proved by previous studies in
recent years, compared with a large amount of studies focused on nu-
clear and concentrating solar power (CSP) applications, the studies on
utilization of S-CO2 power cycle for coal-fired power plants was rela-
tively limited. More specific system layout and key components design
analysis is still imperative to demonstrate the technology feasibility and
commercial viability of large scale utility.
Furthermore, the coal-fired boiler is significantly different from
nuclear and CSP heaters. The S-CO2 power cycle must be tailored to
deal with coal-fired system integration constraints. For instance, the
inlet temperature of the working fluid entering coal-fired boiler in S-
CO2 cycle (about 500 °C [16]) is much higher than that in steam cycle
(about 283 °C, as shown in Fig. 2), as the working fluid is preheated
sufficiently by the high temperature turbine exhaust CO2 in re-
cuperators before entering the boiler. In this case, the exhaust heat of
coal-fired boiler flue gas cannot be fully utilized itself. The high boiler
inlet temperature brings a big challenge to the design of the S-CO2
boiler, such as the arrangement of the boiler heating surfaces, the se-
curity of the furnace radiation heating surfaces, and the recovery and
utilization of a great deal of flue gas heat to increase the boiler thermal
efficiency Thus, it is of great importance to study on how to make good
use of the exhaust heat of the flue gas from the perspective of cycle

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: lihongzhi@tpri.com.cn (H. Li).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2018.01.110
Received 26 September 2017; Received in revised form 29 January 2018; Accepted 29 January 2018
Available online 13 February 2018
1359-4311/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
W. Bai et al. Applied Thermal Engineering 135 (2018) 66–73

0
Nomenclature ΔαIca air leakage enthalpy
c
Qadd hypothetical convection heat transfer of the additional
S-CO2 supercritical CO2 heating surface
CSP concentrating solar power D mass flow rate of the working fluid
ECO economizer Qr radiant heat transfer from the upper heating surface
SH split heater α1 convection heat transfer coefficient for the flue gas side
SCR selective catalytic reduction ξ correction coefficient (a correction taking into account the
CCS CO2 capture and storage reduction of heat absorption due to imperfect sweeping of
PSH platen superheater heating surface by flue gases)
EDF Electricite De France αc convection heat transfer coefficient
APH air preheater αr radiation heat transfer coefficient
MC main compressor Re Reynolds number
TPRI Xi'an Thermal Power Research Institute Co. Ltd. Pr Prantle number
LTR low temperature recuperator λ heat conduction coefficient
RC recompression compressor Cs correction factor for tube bundle arrangement
HT high pressure turbine Cz correction factor of tube rows in flue pass
LT low pressure turbine ay flue gas emissivity
HTR high temperature recuperator Ty average flue gas temperature
PC pre-cooler Thb ash layer outside surface temperature
SWH spiral wall heater ags tube bundle emissivity
LSH low temperature superheater ab tube wall emissivity
HSH high temperature superheater α2 convection heat transfer coefficient for the working fluid
WRH wall re-heater side
LRH low temperature reheater K heat transfer coefficient
HRH high temperature reheater δh ash layer thickness
FEGT furnace exit gas temperature λh ash layer heat conduction coefficient
φ heat retention coefficient ε fouling factor (the reduction of the heat absorption of
Bj calculation fuel consumption rate tubes owing to the rise of outside surface temperature and
Qheat balance heat transfer in furnace the decrease of emissivity because of the ash buildup on
Q1 available heat tube outside wall)
Qraiation radiant heat transfer in furnace Δt heat transfer temperature difference
Il″ furnace exit gas enthalpy Δtd the larger one of the initial temperature difference and the
Tll adiabatic flame temperature final temperature difference between the hot fluid and the
Tl″ furnace exit gas temperature cold fluid
VCpj average specific heat capacity Δtx the smaller one of the initial temperature difference and
σ0 blackbody radiation constant the final temperature difference between the hot fluid and
al furnace emissivity the cold fluid
ψ furnace thermal effectiveness factor Qctr heat transfer calculated by heat transfer equation
qyx1 radiosity of flame to furnace wall H area of heating surface
qyx2 radiosity of furnace to flame d dl characteristic dimension
Fl furnace wall area Ct correction factor taking into account the impact of the
Thy average flame temperature tube wall temperature on the fluid properties
Qc convection heat transfer Cl correction factor with respect to relative length, which
I′ heating surface inlet gas enthalpy takes into account the impact of the inlet heat transfer
I″ heating surface outlet gas enthalpy effect on α2

layout. That is the most important contribution of the present work.
In the present study, a 300 MW single reheated recompression coal-
fired S-CO2 Brayton cycle power generation system is proposed and the
Precooler
Boiler
research work is focused on the conceptual design of the boiler, in-
cluding thermodynamics analysis, heating surfaces arrangement and
the coordination between the boiler and the other components in the S-
CO2 cycle system. The technology adaption of S-CO2 power cycle for
coal-fired power plant has been evaluated in terms of specific design of
a 300 MW large scale coal fired boiler as well as the whole thermo-
dynamic cycle layout.

Recompresssing ~620
2. S-CO2 Brayton cycle for coal-fired power plants
compressor ~500

As for S-CO2 Brayton cycle for coal-fired power plant, a large

Main Turbine
amount of flue gas heat (＞550 °C) could not be effectively used because
compressor
of the high temperature of S-CO2 entering the boiler. This is the primary
problem for developing S-CO2 Brayton cycle for coal-fired power plant.
To solve this problem, a S-CO2 cycle with a new boiler layout
Low T recuperator High T recuperator scheme was proposed by Electricite De France (EDF)[1]. Fig. 3 shows
the process flow diagram of the EDF’s S-CO2 Brayton cycle for coal-fired
Fig. 1. A simple S-CO2 recompression cycle layout for coal-fired power plant.
power plant. The flue gas (from 550 °C to 110 °C) in the boiler is divided

67
W. Bai et al.
Fig. 2. The heating surface arrangement of a conventional 300 MW supercritical steam
boiler.
into two streams. One stream enters the air preheater (APH), and the
other enters the boiler bypass, where the heat of the flue gas is re-
covered by a fraction of CO2 stream extracted from the outlet of the
main compressor (MC). In the APH, the primary air and the secondary
air are heated to about 110 °C and 510 °C, respectively, while the flue
gas is cooled to about 110 °C. In the bypass, the flue gas is cooled
from > 550 °C to about 110 °C by releasing heat to the split CO2 flow
from the MC outlet.
It is well known that selective catalytic reduction (SCR) NOx re-
moval equipment is indispensable in modern coal-fired power plants to
realize ultra-low emission and its optimal reaction temperature range is
from 350 °C to 400 °C.[17,18] Considering the employ of SCR in the
coal-fired boiler, the authors put forward a new kind of S-CO2 Brayton
cycle for coal-fired power plant, as shown in Fig. 4. The main char-
acteristics of this cycle system are as follows: (1) a fraction of CO2
stream is split after the merge point of the recompression compressor
(RC) outlet and the cold side outlet of the low temperature recuperator
Fig. 3. EDF’s S-CO2 Brayton cycle for coal-fired power plants.
68
Applied Thermal Engineering 135 (2018) 66–73
(LTR), which has little effect on the LTR’s heat transfer effectiveness
and can ensure a relatively low hot side exhaust temperature of LTR; (2)
the heating surfaces arrangement in the boiler are appropriate and
there is suitable temperature range for the optimal SCR reaction; (3) the
ECO in the conventional steam boiler is replaced with a S-CO2 split flow
(∼10%) heater, the S-CO2 main stream (∼90%) flows into the furnace
radiation heating surface directly, thus the temperature level of the
furnace radiation heating surface can be significantly reduced so that
the security problems can be alleviated to some extent.
Fig. 5 shows the specific process flow diagram of a 300 MW coal-
fired S-CO2 Brayton cycle power generation system with turbine inlet
parameters of 32 MPa/600 °C/620 °C proposed by the authors. The
design parameters of the S-CO2 coal-fired power cycle are presented in
Table 1. The system is made up of a main compressor (MC), a re-
compression compressor (RC), a high pressure turbine (HT), a low
pressure turbine (LT), a high temperature recuperator (HTR), a low
temperature recuperator (LTR), a pre-cooler (PC) and a coal-fired
boiler. The CO2 stream out of the LTR hot side is divided into two
streams. The hot side herein refers to heat releasing side of the working
fluid. The main stream (∼68.3%) enters the PC to be cooled to 31.5 °C,
then enters the MC to be compressed from 7.6 MPa to 34.1 MPa. The
other stream (∼31.7%) enters the RC and is compressed from 7.65 MPa
to 34.05 MPa. By adjusting the split-flow ratio to the MC loop, the pinch
point problems in the recuperators can be alleviated. Fig. 6 shows the
internal temperature profiles of the working fluids both in the hot and
cold sides of the LTR. It can be seen that the temperature difference at
the inlet or the outlet of the LTR is smaller than that in the middle of the
LTR. The temperature difference along the flow path is always larger
than 5 °C. The CO2 stream out of the MC is heated in the LTR and then
mixes with the CO2 stream from the RC. The mixed flow is then split
into two streams, one steam is heated in the HTR, and the other is
heated in the split heater (SH). Finally, the two steams mix together
before entering the boiler radiation heating surface. After entering the
boiler, the primary CO2 flow is heated by the spiral wall heater (SWH),
the low temperature super heater (LSH), and the high temperature
super heater (HSH) in sequence. The design parameters of the CO2
stream out of the boiler is 32 MPa and 600 °C and then the CO2 flow
with high temperature and high pressure is introduced into the HT to
convert thermal energy to mechanical power. After expanding in the
HT, the CO2 stream out of the HT is introduced into the boiler again to
be reheated in order to increase the cycle efficiency further and this
reheated CO2 stream is also referred to as the secondary CO2 stream.
The secondary CO2 stream is heated in the wall re-heater (WRH), low
temperature re-heater (LRH) and the high temperature re-heater (HRH)
successively to 620 °C, and then the CO2 flow is introduced into the LT
W. Bai et al. Applied Thermal Engineering 135 (2018) 66–73

110~120

APH

SCR
350~400

PC

Flue gas LT
RC

HT

Boiler
HTR LTR MC

Fig. 4. TPRI’s double reheated single recompression S-CO2 cycle for coal-fired power plants.

Fig. 5. Layout of the 300 MW coal-fired S-CO2 Brayton cycle power generation system.

to convert thermal energy to mechanical power. As discussed above, the
temperature of the CO2 stream out of the LT is relatively high. There-
fore, two recuperators (HTR and LTR) are adopted to recover the heat
by cold CO2 stream.
From Fig. 5, it can be observed that the boiler for S-CO2 cycle power
generation system is significantly different from the conventional steam
boiler. The layout of the boiler proposed by the authors can be used to
the entire S-CO2 Brayton cycle system and can also address the waste
heat recovery problem of the flue gas (> 550 °C).
3. Design methodology
3.1. Calculation of furnace heat transfer and furnace exit gas temperature
The determination of furnace heat transfer is identical to the de-
termination of the furnace exit gas temperature. The value of the fur-
nace exit gas temperature governs the quantity of heat distributed to
the furnace.
The basic equations for furnace heat transfer are the heat balance
equation, i.e. (1) and the radiant heat transfer equation governed by the
furnace emissivity, i.e. (2)[19]:
Q heat balance = φBj (Q l−Q l″) = φBj VCpj (Tll−Tl″) (1)
4
Qradiation = σ0 al ψFl Thy (2)

As we know, the fundamental principles of boiler thermal design are where ψ is furnace thermal effectiveness factor, which is defined as
the First Law of Thermodynamics and the basic rules of heat transfer follows:
[19,20]. The thermal calculation of a boiler is composed of furnace qyx1−qyx2
radiation heat transfer and convection heat transfer of the convective ψ=
qyx1 (3)
heating surfaces.

69
W. Bai et al. Applied Thermal Engineering 135 (2018) 66–73

Radiative heat transfer in the furnace is predominant and the heat performed using the S-CO2 boiler Thermal Calculation (TC) software,
transfer proportion by convection is very small (no more than 5%) and developed by Xi'an Thermal Power Research Institute Co. Ltd. (TPRI)
can be ignored. Therefore, according to the First Law of [20]. The software is a modified version of steam boiler, which has been
Thermodynamics, Q heat balance = Qradiation, then φBj VCpj (Tll− widely used in practical engineering applications and shows excellent
4
Tl″) = σ0 a1 ψF1 Thy . From this equation, the furnace exit gas temperature agreement with the operational data. We developed the S-CO2 boiler TC
can be obtained. software by replacement of the steam physical properties with the su-
percritical CO2 physical properties. The physical properties of super-
3.2. Heat transfer calculation of convective heating surfaces critical CO2 were from NIST REFPROP V9.0 [21].
The value of α2 is calculated based on the heat transfer correlations
Calculations steps of convection heat transfer are as follows[19]: obtained by experiments, and the selection of the heat transfer corre-
lations is based on the Reynolds number (Re) [22]. According to the
(1) Under the condition of the known flue gas inlet temperature and heat transfer correlations, when single phase fluid flows turbulently
working fluid inlet temperature (or outlet temperature), the outlet inside tube, the inside surface heat transfer coefficient is obtained as
temperature of the heating surface is assumed and then, the heating follows:
surface outlet gas enthalpy can be obtained. λ
(2) According to the heating surface outlet gas enthalpy, the convection α2 = 0.023 Re 0.8 Pr 0.4Ct Cl,
d dl (9)
heat transfer (Qc) of the heating surface can be obtained by the
following equation: In the present paper, we assume the relevant correction factors (Ct
0 c
and Cl) in the heat transfer correlations for S-CO2 boiler convection heat
Qc = φ (I ′−I + ΔαIca )−Qadd (4) surfaces are the same as those of steam boiler. This assumption is rea-
sonable since the thermal properties of working fluids have little effect
(3) According to the First Law of Thermodynamics, the heat release for on the correction factors.
the flue gas side is equal to the heat absorption for the working fluid
side. Therefore, Qc =
D (i″ − i′)
−Qr , and then, the working fluid outlet 4. Results and discussion
B j
enthalpy and temperature can be obtained.
4.1. Arrangement of the heating surfaces
(4) Calculating the convection heat transfer coefficient α1 for the flue
gas side. It is calculated as follows:
As mentioned above, the S-CO2 boiler is significantly different from
α1 = ξ (α c + α r ) (5) the conventional steam boiler. Table 2 shows the proximate and ulti-
mate analyses of the design coal as a base used in the thermal design
When the flow between the flue gas and heating surface is cross
calculation. The design parameters of a 300 MW S-CO2 boiler are shown
flow and the heating surface is in-series tube bundle, the convection
in Table 3. It can be seen that the boiler inlet temperature is as high as
heat transfer coefficient α c is calculated as follows:
493 °C. If the conventional ECO is employed in the S-CO2 boiler to
λ preheat the working fluid, the inlet temperature of furnace radiation
α c = 0.2Cs Cz Re 0.65 Pr 0.33
d (6) heating surface will be up to about 570 °C, assuming the ECO tem-
perature-pinch value is 30 °C, which might result in serious furnace
radiation heating surface security problems. Therefore, the ECO is re-
a y ags σ0 (Ty4−Thb
4
) moved and the S-CO2 working fluid enters the furnace radiation heating
αr =
Ty−Thb (7) surface directly, which can reduce the temperature level and alleviate
the furnace radiation heating surface security problems Moreover, the
where ags is the tube bundle emissivity, which is calculated as fol- split heater (SH) is employed in the design of the S-CO2 boiler to re-
lows: cover the flue gas heat and ensure suitable reaction conditions for SCR.
1 + ab The layout of the 300 MW coal-fired S-CO2 boiler is illustrated in Fig. 7
ags = and the geometry sizes of the furnace structure and the various heating
2 (8)
surfaces are also shown in the figure.
The basic dimensions of the S-CO2 boiler are 12.5 m × 12.5 m ×
(5) Calculating the convection heat transfer coefficient α2 for the 52.2 m (Depth × Width × Height). The furnace volume heat load, the
working fluid side. furnace cross-section heat load and the burner region cross-section heat
1
(6) Then calculating the heat transfer coefficient K, K = 1 δh 1 . In load are 90 kW/m3, 4.00 MW/m2 and 1.03 MW/m2, respectively. The
+ +
α1 λh α2
the thermal calculation of a boiler, following practical equations are ratio of coal to working fluid and flue gas damper are combined to
used to determine K. When solid fuel is fired and tubes are in control the flue gas temperature. As for the thermal design calculation
1 of the S-CO2 boiler, the flue gas proportion of the main flue gas (LRH
staggered arrangement, K = 1 1 , where ε is the fouling factor,
α1
+ε+
α2 side) is 59%.
heat absorption by heating surface
ε= heat striking heating surface
. When solid fuel is fired and tubes are
1 4.2. Thermal performance analysis
in in-line arrangement, K = ψ 1 1 .
+
α1 α2
(7) Calculating the heat transfer temperature difference Δt , which is Fig. 8 shows the flue gas outlet temperature of each heating surface
calculated by logarithmic mean temperature difference, of the designed S-CO2 boiler. It can be obtained that the furnace exit gas
Δt − Δt temperature (FEGT) of the S-CO2 boiler is 1025.0 °C, and the SH exit gas
Δt = d Δtd x .
ln temperature is 361.4 °C, which is within the optimal reaction tem-
Δtx
(8) Calculating the convection heat transfer by the equation of perature range of SCR (350–400 °C). Moreover, it can also be observed
KH Δt
Qctr = B . If the error between Qctr and Qc is in a reasonable range, that the boiler exhaust temperature (the APH exit gas temperature) is as
j
such as less than 2%, the calculation process is over, or repeat the low as about 110 °C, which ensures a relatively high boiler thermal
above calculation process. efficiency.
The working fluid (S-CO2) temperature and the heat absorption of
The S-CO2 boiler design process presented in this article is the S-CO2 boiler various heating surfaces are presented in Table 4. It

70
W. Bai et al. Applied Thermal Engineering 135 (2018) 66–73

Table 1 Table 2
Design parameters of TPRI’s 300 MW S-CO2 coal-fired power cycle. Proximate and ultimate analyses of the design coal.

Parameter Unit Value Designed Coal

Main compressor inlet temperature °C 31.5 Proximate analysis (wt.%, air-dry) Volatile matters 20.43
Main compressor inlet pressure MPa 7.6 Fixed carbon 54.33
Main compressor outlet pressure MPa 34.1 Ash 12.54
Re-compressor inlet temperature °C 84.1
Ultimate analysis (%, dry and ash-free) Carbon (C) 81
Re-compressor inlet pressure MPa 7.65
Hydrogen (H) 4.8
High pressure turbine inlet temperature °C 600
Oxygen (O) 12.5
High pressure turbine inlet pressure MPa 32
Nitrogen (N) 0.9
Low pressure turbine inlet temperature °C 620
Surfer (S) 0.8
Low pressure turbine inlet pressure MPa 17.8
HTR pinch temperature °C 5 Net heating value (kJ/kg, as received) Heating value 22,800
LTR pinch temperature °C 5
PC pinch temperature °C 5
High pressure turbine isentropic efficiency % 92
Low pressure turbine isentropic efficiency % 92
Table 3
Main compressor isentropic efficiency % 90
Design parameters of the 300 MW S-CO2 boiler.
Re-compressor isentropic efficiency % 90
Number of reheat stages – 1
Primary S-CO2 mass flow rate t/h 7150.2
Number of recompression stages – 1
Primary S-CO2 pressure MPa 32.0
Cycle thermal efficiency % 50.03%
Primary S-CO2 temperature °C 602
Secondary S-CO2 mass flow rate t/h 7150.2
Secondary S-CO2 inlet pressure MPa 18.7
Secondary S-CO2 outlet pressure MPa 17.8
Secondary S-CO2 inlet temperature °C 527.4
Secondary S-CO2 outlet temperature °C 622
Mass flow rate in the SH t/h 715.0
Boiler inlet temperature °C 493
Ambient air temperature °C 25
Hot air temperature °C 338
Boiler exhaust temperature °C 110
Boiler thermal efficiency % 94.3
Fuel mass consumption rate t/h 98.8

Fig. 6. Temperature profile of the working fluid in the LTR.

can be obtained that the primary S-CO2 temperature and the secondary
S-CO2 temperature can meet the design value.
Fig. 9 shows the area of the S-CO2 boiler various heating surfaces.
The heat absorption of the S-CO2 boiler primary S-CO2 heating surfaces
and secondary S-CO2 heating surfaces is shown in Table 5.

4.3. Thermal calculation under off-design conditions

The proximate and ultimate analyses of the off-design coal is shown

in Table 6. By adjusting the ratio of coal to CO2 and the flue gas
damper, the designed S-CO2 boiler presented in this paper can meet the
design parameters (primary S-CO2 temperature and secondary S-CO2
temperature) when burning the off-design coal, and the flue gas pro-
portion of the main flue (LRH flue) is 56%. The boiler exhaust tem-
perature is 112 °C, and the boiler thermal efficiency is 94.1%. The
working fluid (S-CO2) temperature and the heat absorption of various
heating surfaces in the S-CO2 boiler when burning the off-design coal
Fig. 7. Layout of the 300 MW coal-fired S-CO2 boiler.
are presented in Table 7.

4.4. Boiler part load performance
Table 8 shows the calculation results of the S-CO2 boiler part load
performance. Three kinds of boiler loads are selected, which are 100%,
70% and 50%. The boiler part load performance calculation is based on
three assumptions: (1) the designed coal is employed; (2) the boiler
inlet temperature remains constant; (3) variable pressure operation
mode is employed. It can be obtained from the table that the boiler
FEGT decreases with the boiler load. By adjusting the ratio of coal to
CO2 and the flue gas damper, the primary S-CO2 temperature and the

71
W. Bai et al. Applied Thermal Engineering 135 (2018) 66–73

Table 5
Heat absorption of primary S-CO2 heating surfaces and secondary S-CO2 heating surfaces.

Primary S-CO2 heating surface MW 276.5

Secondary S-CO2 heating surface MW 234.3

Table 6
Proximate and ultimate analyses of the off-design coal.

Off-design Coal

Proximate analysis (wt.%, air-dry) Volatile matters 26.49

Fixed carbon 31.88
Ash 33.13

Ultimate analysis (%, dry and ash-free) Carbon (C) 83.9

Hydrogen (H) 4.8
Oxygen (O) 9.0
Nitrogen (N) 1.2
Fig. 8. Flue gas outlet temperature of each heating surface. Surfer (S) 1.1

Net heating value (kJ/kg, as received) Heating value 18,640

Table 4
Working fluid temperature and heat absorption of boiler various heating surfaces.

Heating Inlet Outlet Temperature Heat absorption Table 7

surface temperature (°C) temperature (°C) increment (°C) (MW) Working fluid temperature and heat absorption of boiler various heating surfaces when
burning off-design coal.
SWH 493.0 565.8 72.8 184.7
WRH 527.4 566.1 38.7 95.0 Heating Inlet temperature Outlet Temperature Heat absorption
HSH 572.6 602.0 27.4 74.2 surface (°C) temperature (°C) increment (°C) (MW)
HRH 576.3 622.0 43.7 113.9
LRH 566.1 576.3 10.2 25.5 SWH 493.0 566.2 73.2 185.8
LSH 565.8 572.6 6.8 17.6 WRH 527.4 566.6 39.2 96.6
SH 230.3 493.0 262.7 79.5 HSH 572.3 602.0 29.7 74.3
HRH 575.7 622.0 46.3 116.5
LRH 566.6 575.7 9.1 22.5
LSH 566.2 572.3 6.1 45.5
SH 230.3 493.0 262.7 78.9

Table 8
Calculation results of the S-CO2 boiler part load performance.

Parameter Boiler load

100% 70% 50%

Flue gas proportion of the main flue 59% 65% 73%

Furnace exit gas temperature 1025.0 °C 976.6 °C 855.8 °C
Primary S-CO2 temperature 602.0 °C 602.3 °C 622.6 °C
Secondary S-CO2 temperature 622.0 °C 620.3 °C 614.5 °C
Boiler exhaust temperature 110 °C 103 °C 97 °C
Boiler thermal efficiency 94.30% 94.60% 94.93%

Fig. 9. Area of boiler heating surface.
secondary S-CO2 temperature are not higher than the design tempera-
ture and the overheating problem of boiler tubes can be eliminated well
under the off-design conditions.
radiation heating surface; (2) employing the split heater in the boiler to
recover the flue gas heat and ensure suitable reaction conditions for
SCR; (3) the total heat absorption of the primary working fluid is close
to that of the secondary working fluid. In addition, the calculation re-
sults of boiler off-design and part load performance indicate that the
boiler has a reasonable good off-design performance.

5. Conclusions and perspectives Acknowledgements

In the present study, the conceptual design study of the boiler is
carried out for a 300 MW single reheated recompression S-CO2 Brayton
cycle tailored for coal-fired power plant. Arrangement of the boiler’s
heating surfaces is conducted, which make the S-CO2 boiler suitable
with the whole coal-fired S-CO2 Brayton cycle power generation
system. The main characteristics of the S-CO2 boiler are as follows: (1)
removing the conventional ECO to reduce the inlet temperature of
The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51706181
and 51406166), Key Programs of China Huaneng Group (Grant No.
HNKJ15-H07) and Basic Research Plan of Shaanxi Natural Science
(Grant No. 2017JQ5124).

72
W. Bai et al. Applied Thermal Engineering 135 (2018) 66–73

Appendix A. Supplementary material concentrated solar power, J. Supercrit. Fluids 76 (2013) 54–60.
[10] S.A. Wright, R.F. Radel, M.E. Vernon, et al., Operation and analysis of a super-
critical CO2 Brayton cycle, 2010.
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in the [11] Y.L. Moullec, Conceptual study of a high efficiency coal-fired power plant with CO2
online version, at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2018. capture using a supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle, Energy 49 (2013) 32–46.
01.110. [12] C.S. Turchi, Z. Ma, T.W. Neises, Thermodynamic study of advanced supercritical
carbon dioxide power cycles for concentrating solar power systems, J. Sol. Energy
Eng. 135 (4) (2013) 123–129.
References [13] Y. Ahn, J. Lee, S.G. Kim, et al., Design consideration of supercritical CO2 power
cycle integral experiment loop, Energy 86 (2015) 115–127.
[14] S. Wright, J. Pasch, D. Fleming, et al., Performance characteristics of an operating
[1] M. Mecheri, Y.L. Moullec, Supercritical CO2 Brayton cycles for coal-fired power
supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle, J. Eng. Gas Power 134 (2012) 135–146.
plants, Energy 103 (2016) 758–771.
[15] H. Li, Y. Zhang, W. Gao, et al., Preliminary design study on a multi-megawatts
[2] G. Scheffknecht, L. Al-Makhadmeh, U. Schnell, et al., Oxy-fuel coal combustion—a
fossil-based supercritical CO2 recompression and reheat integral test facility. In:
review of the current state-of-the-art, Int. J. Greenhouse Gas Control 5 (2011)
The 5th International Symposium – Supercritical CO2 Power Cycles, San Antonio,
16–35.
Texas, 2016.
[3] A.A. Bhuiyan, J. Naser, CFD modelling of co-firing of biomass with coal under oxy-
[16] Y. Yang, W. Bai, Y. Wang, et al., Coupled simulation of the combustion and fluid
fuel combustion in a large scale power plant, Fuel 159 (2015) 158–176.
heating of a 300 MW supercritical CO2 boiler, Appl. Therm. Eng. 113 (2017)
[4] W. Bai, H. Li, L. Deng, et al., Air-staged combustion characteristics of pulverized
259–267.
coal under high temperature and strong reducing atmosphere conditions, Energy
[17] Z. Li, J. Jiang, Z. Ma, et al., Effect of selective catalytic reduction (SCR) on fine
Fuels 28 (2014) 1820–1828.
particle emission from two coal-fired power plants in China, Atmos. Environ. 120
[5] A. Robertson, S Goidich, Z. Fan, 1300 °F 800MWe USC CFB boiler design study. In:
(2015) 227–242.
Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Fluidized Bed Combustion:
[18] J. Jiang K.F. Shang N. Lu High-efficiency removal of NOx from flue gas by multi-
Xi'an, China, 2009.
tooth wheel-cylinder corona discharge plasma facilitated selective catalytic reduc-
[6] C. Schuhbauer, M. Angerer, H. Spliethoff, et al., Coupled simulation of a tangen-
tion process. IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 44(11) (2016) 132–142.
tially hard coal fired 700 °C boiler, Fuel 122 (2014) 149–167.
[19] D. Che, Boilers—Theory, Design and Operation, Xi'an Jiaotong University Press,
[7] S.J. Patel, J.J. deBarbadillo, B.A Baker, et al., Nickel base superalloys for next
Xi'an, 2008.
generation coal fired AUSC power plants. In: 6th International Conference on Creep,
[20] Thermal Calculation (TC) Software for Supercritical CO2 Boiler. CN: Xi’an Thermal
Fatigue and Creep-Fatigue Interaction, 2013.
Power Research Institute; 2014.
[8] Y. Ahn, S.J. Bae, M. Kim, et al., Review of supercritical CO2 power cycle technology
[21] https://www.nist.gov/node/580426.
and current status of research and development, Nuclear Eng. Technol. 47 (2015)
[22] S. Yang, W. Tao, Heat Transfer (in Chinese), Higher Education Press, Beijing, 2006.
647–661.
[9] P. Garg, P. Kumar, K. Srinivasan, Supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle for

73