MCE 4805 Power Plant Engineering

Pulverized Coal Fired Boilers

Introduction
By the 1950s, pulverized coal firing was the main method of coal firing,
leading to the construction of large, efficient, and reliable steam generators
and power plants.

In pulverized coal firing, fine particles of coal are easily moved by the flow of
air and products of combustion through parts of the furnace.
Combustion takes place in the furnace space within a very short time (1-2 s)
of the presence of particles in the furnace.

The process of pulverization includes two stages.

In the first stage, raw coal is crushed to a size of not more than 15-25 mm.
The crushed coal is then delivered into raw-coal bunkers and transferred to
pulverizers, where it is ground to a fine particle size.
COMBUSTION OF PULVERIZED COAL
Burning a coarse ground coal reduce the efficiency of the boiler, increase
emissions of pollutants, and in certain cases may damage the boiler or its
auxiliaries. When coal is ground to the fineness of flour, the ground coal will
flow in pipes like oil and burn in furnace like gas. To arrive at such fineness, it
is essential to dry and pulverize the coal using special equipment.

Efficient combustion of pulverized coal depends on following characteristics

of coal:
i. Grinding and abrasion properties
ii. Volatile matter yield
iii. Ignitability and flame stability
iv. Reactivity and burnout
v. Fouling and slagging due to the presence of ash
vi. SOX and NOX emission
COMBUSTION OF PULVERIZED COAL
When combined with air in a furnace, pulverized coal first passes through the
stage of thermal preparation, which consists of the evaporation of residual
moisture and separation of volatiles.

Once these minute particles enter the furnace at a temperature of 1200-1500

K (depending on the type of fuel) and are exposed to heat, their temperature
rises and the volatile matter distills off within a fraction of a second.

To facilitate transport of pulverized coal, adequate quantity of primary air (20-

30% of total combustion air) is introduced at the burner to dry and carry the
pulverized coal from pulverizers to the burner or the bin.
This air intimately mixes with the stream of coal particles to burn gas resulting
from distillation of each particle in the stream.
COMBUSTION OF PULVERIZED COAL
Fuel particles are heated to a temperature 673-873 K at which volatiles are
evolved intensively in a few tenths of a second.

Volatile matter, mostly hydrocarbons, ignites more easily than the carbon
components of the coal, and heating the latter produces coke.

The intensive burning of the volatiles takes 0.2-0.5 s .

A high yield of volatiles produces enough heat through combustion to ignite

coke particles.

When the yield of volatiles is low, the coke particles must be heated
additionally from an external source.
COMBUSTION OF PULVERIZED COAL
The final stage is the combustion of coke particles at a temperature above
1073-1273 K. This is a heterogeneous process whose rate is determined by
oxygen supply to the reacting surface.

Secondary air (70-80% of total combustion air), introduced around the

burner, sweeps past and scrubs the hot carbon particles and gradually burns
them.
The burning of a coke particle takes up the greater portion of the total time of
combustion, which may be of the order of 1.0-2.0 s, depending on the kind of
fuel and the initial size of particles.
For efficient combustion of pulverized coal two basic factors need to be
considered:
a. Pulverized coal must be fed without segregation, and
b. the mixture of pulverized coal and air fed to the burners should permit
stable ignition.
COMBUSTION OF PULVERIZED COAL
For better flame stability the required coal-primary air ratio generally
increases with decreasing grindability.

Complete burnout of pulverized coal particles depends on physical and

chemical properties of the resultant char, individual boiler design, and boiler
operating conditions.
NOX production from a pulverized coal-fired boiler is dependent on coal
characteristics, boiler and burner design, and operating conditions.
During combustion of coal particles the reacting mechanism between carbon
and oxygen takes place in two stages.
Oxygen is adsorbed on the surface of particles and reacts chemically with
carbon to form CO.
Carbon monoxide then reacts with oxygen within the boundary gas film to get
oxidized to CO2.
PULVERIZER PERFORMANCE
The factors that affect pulverizer-grinding performance along with its
processing capacity are as follows.

- Raw-coal size
- Fineness
- Volatile matter
- Grindability
- Moisture
- GCV (HHV) of coal
- Abrasive index
- Extraneous materials
Raw-coal size
Normally plants receive run-of-mine coal, although in certain plants washed
coal is also supplied.

While using run-of-mine coal, it is important to make feed size as uniform as

possible, since pulverizer performance is strongly influenced by raw coal size.

The smaller the size the better the performance.

For small mills top size usually falls between 15 and 25 mm. For medium and
large mills, the desired top size of coal may be up to 30 mm and 55 mm,
respectively.

However, for a particular type of mill, the size of the coal to be used as mill
input should conform to the coal size recommended by the manufacturer.
Fineness
The degree of fineness of pulverized coal depends to a
large extent on coal characteristics. The desired fineness
is also determined by the way it affects the coal
combustion in the furnace.

For pulverized coal testing, the percentage of pulverized

coal passing through a sieve of size 50 mesh (which
corresponds to a 297 µ opening) is classified as oversize
and through a sieve of size 200 mesh (which corresponds
to a 74 µ opening) is considered as coal dust.

To burn pulverized coal successfully in a furnace, the following two requirements must
be met:
a. Large quantities of very fine particles of coal, typically 70% of coal that will pass
through a 200-mesh screen to ensure ignition because of their large surface-to volume
ratios.
b. Minimum quantity of coarser particles, at least 98% of coal that will pass through a
50-mesh screen, to ensure high combustion efficiency.
Volatile Matter
It is known that high-volatile coal ignite more readily than low volatile coal.
Hence, high-volatile coal requires less pulverization than low-volatile coal.
Contrary to this, low-volatile coal, except for anthracite, has higher
grindability, because it is softer.

As a result, the balance between these two characteristics determines the

pulverizer output.

In practice, with volatile content above 22%, the fineness can be kept
between 65 and 70% passing through 200 mesh to ensure ignition stability;
while with less than 18% volatile matter content the fineness has to be
increased to 80% or above through 200 mesh.
Grindability
This term is used to measure the ease of pulverizing a coal. Unlike moisture,
ash, or heating value, this index is not an inherent property of coal.

Grindability should not be considered as synonymous with the hardness of

coal.

Anthracite is a very hard coal, whereas lignite is soft; however, both are
difficult to grind.

The hardness of coal is generally in the range 10-70 kg/mm2, depending on

rank, with a minimum near 20% volatile matter. Its index is generally given as
the Hardgrove Grindability Index (HGI). The higher the index of coal the
softer it is to pulverize.
Grindability
It is generally considered that for a desired coal fineness and selected feed
size, the mill capacity has a direct relationship with grindability; however, this
capacity is significantly influenced by the moisture content of the coal.
Moisture
The moisture content of coal significantly influences pulverizer performance. It
is the surface moisture (SM) that affects pulverization the most; inherent
moisture (IM) has little or no effect.

If the temperature of the surface moisture in the coal fed to the pulverizer is
below its dew point, agglomeration of fines in the pulverizing zone will take
place that adversely affect pulverizer capacity.

Agglomeration of fines has the same effect as coarse coal during the
combustion process. Hence, during the process of pulverization coal must be
dried enough to make it free of surface moisture.
GCV (HHV) of Coal:
The heating value of coal also influences the pulverizer output. Pulverizer
design output is guaranteed under certain specified GCV. Any deviation in
GCV will cause a change in design output.

Hence for deviations in GCV, it is imperative to correct the measured output

using the correction factor to get the design output.

For maintaining the same steam generating capacity, the higher the heating
value, the lower the required pulverizer output.
Abrasive Index (YGP - Yancy, Geer, and Price - Index):
Pulverizing results in an eventual loss of grinding-element material.
Balls, rolls, rings, races, and liners gradually erode and wear out as a result of abrasion
and metal displacement in the grinding process.
The wear rate is linearly related to the mineral content of coal.
Two basic mechanisms of mechanically induced wear are present in the grinding zone.
The first mechanism is abrasion and the second basic mechanism is impaction erosion
wear, the effect of which is considered to be negligible.
The YGP Index typically indicates the abrasive characteristic of coal.

Extraneous Materials:
The wear life of pulverizer-grinding rings, balls, etc., is influenced by coal-feed size,
and the presence of extraneous materials such as rock, slate, sand, stone, pyrite,
quartz, etc., which are quite abrasive. The effect of coal feed size (larger than 25 mm
or so) on wear rate is small.

Wear rate is greatly influenced by quartz and pyrite particles.

COAL BURNERS
After pulverization, coal is transported pneumatically to the burners through
pipes.

Air and fuel are supplied to the furnace in a manner that permits:
i. Stable ignition
ii. Effective control of flame shape and travel
iii. Thorough and complete mixing of fuel and air
COAL BURNERS
The air that transports coal
to the burner is called the
primary air, while secondary
air is introduced around or
near the burner. The burners
impart a rotary motion to
the coal-air mixture in a
central zone, and the
secondary air around the
nozzle – all within the burner.
The rotary motion provides
pre-mixing for the coal and
air along with some
turbulence.
COAL BURNERS
In steam generators burners may be installed on a front wall or on front and
rear (opposed) walls or on furnace corners.
Front-wall burners are provided with either internal ribs or circular registers
that impart a rotary motion to coal-air mixture that produces turbulence.
Opposed-wall burners throw their flames against each other to increase
turbulence.
Tangential or corner-fired burners produce inherently turbulent flame.
The total air-fuel ratio in coal burners is greater than the stoichiometric
requirement but just enough to ensure complete combustion without wasting
energy by adding too much sensible heat to the air.
The initial ignition of coal burners is accomplished with the help of a
sustained flame of light fuel-oil burner.
The control equipment of coal burners ranges from manual to a remotely
operated programmed sequence.
CLASSIFICATION OF PULVERIZERS
A pulverizer, also known as a grinding mill, is the main equipment associated
with a pulverized coal-fired boiler.
Grinding inside a pulverizer is realized by impact, attrition, crushing, or a
combination of these.
Based on their operating speed, pulverizers/mills are classified as “low,”
“medium,” and “high” speed mills.
Depending on the pressure existing inside the grinding zone, pulverizers may
be categorized as the suction type or the pressurized type.
For both types, the pulverizing of coal is accomplished in the following two
stages:
Feeding System: This system must automatically control fuel-feed rate
according to the boiler-load demand and the air rates required for drying and
transporting pulverized coal to the burner.
Drying: One important property of coal being prepared for pulverization is
that it has to be dry and dusty.
COAL PREPARATION SYSTEMS
There are two basic types of fuel preparation systems,

the bin system and

direct firing system,

that have been used for the processing, distributing, and burning of
pulverized coal.
Bin System
In the bin system coal is processed at a location away from the furnace, and
the coal is pulverized in mills.

The resulting pulverized coal-primary air mixture is pneumatically conveyed

to a cyclone separator and/or fabric bag filter that separate and exhaust the
moisture laden air to the atmosphere and discharge the pulverized coal to a
pulverized coal bunker/bin near the furnace. The stored coal from the
pulverized coal bunker is fed to the burners through the respective pulverized
coal feeders and conveyed by primary air. Additional vapor burners are
provided in this system to burn the escaping coal dust (2-3%) after the
cyclone separators.
Bin System
The stored coal from the
pulverized coal bunker is fed to the
burners through the respective
pulverized coal feeders and
conveyed by primary air.
Additional vapor burners are
provided in this system to burn the
escaping coal dust (2-3%) after the
cyclone separators.
Because of the many stages of
drying, storing, transporting, etc.,
the bin system is subject to fire
hazards from spontaneous
combustion. Nevertheless, it is still
in use in many older plants.
Direct Firing System
The bin system has been overshadowed by the direct-firing system because
of greater simplicity, lower initial investment, lower operating costs, less space
requirement, and greater plant cleanliness.

The pulverizing equipment developed for direct-firing systems permits

continuous utilization of raw coal directly from the bunkers through a feeder,
pulverizer, and primary-air fan, to the furnace burners.

There are two direct-firing methods in use - the pressure type, where the
primary-air fan is located at the pulverizer inlet, and the suction type, where
the primary-air fan is located downstream the pulverizer.

In either type, the coal is delivered to the burners with air as the transport
medium.
Direct Firing System
Direct Firing System
The only disadvantage of this system is any outage in the pulverizer system
immediately affects unit output, even though spare pulverizers are usually
provided. Fuel feed is regulated to load demand by a combination of controls on
the feeder and the primary-air fan to give fuel-air ratios in accordance with
variations in steam generation. Large steam generators are provided with more
than one pulverizer system, each feeding a number of burners, so that a wide
control range is possible by varying the number of pulverizers and the load on
each.The advantages of the direct firing system are:
i. Low investment cost
ii. Low operating cost
iii. Convenience of installation
iv. Safety from fire hazard
v. Flexibility of operation
vi. Reliability of operation
vii. Less space requirement
viii. Greater plant cleanlines