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Heat Transfer Engineering

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An Integrated Approach to Online Monitoring of Fouling

in Coal-Fired Power Plants
a
Stephen A. Idem
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering , Tennessee Technological University , Cookeville,
Tennessee, USA
Published online: 05 Oct 2011.

To cite this article: Stephen A. Idem (2007) An Integrated Approach to Online Monitoring of Fouling in Coal-Fired Power
Plants, Heat Transfer Engineering, 28:2, 73-75, DOI: 10.1080/01457630601023203

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 Heat Transfer Engineering, 28(2):73–75, 2007
Copyright 
C Taylor and Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0145-7632 print / 1521-0537 online
DOI: 10.1080/01457630601023203
editorial
An Integrated Approach to Online
Monitoring of Fouling in Coal-Fired
Power Plants
Downloaded by [Anna University] at 23:35 03 December 2014
STEPHEN A. IDEM
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, Tennessee, USA
A pulverized coal boiler (PCB) is designed to generate steam
at high temperature and pressure in order to produce electricity
via the turbine/generator assembly. Energy for steam production
is derived from a combustion process that takes place within
the boiler furnace. However, coal combustion results in ash or
slag deposits that can foul the steam-generating sections of the
boiler. Such fouling inhibits heat transfer and thus reduces boiler
effectiveness. If allowed to accumulate, these deposits limit the
ability of plant operators to control steam temperature. The foul-
ing may become so firmly bonded to the boiler wall tubes that
subsequent cleaning is ineffective, such that the boiler cannot be
restored to design performance levels. Heavy slag falling from
the upper furnace walls or pendant surfaces have been known
to cause significant damage to floor tubes on impact, thereby
causing outages and requiring costly repairs.
In order to keep the steam-generating sections clean, soot
blowing equipment is employed. In the convection passes of
boilers, this equipment is usually retractable steam or air blow-
ers, whereas high-pressure water canons are employed on the
water walls of the furnace. Frequently, many existing power
plants perform soot blowing on a regular schedule, regardless of
measured plant parameters. This often results in a lack of clean-
ing in some areas or excessive cleaning in other areas. Such time-
based cleaning can result in blowing when it is not necessary,
such that steam is wasted and tube surfaces are unnecessarily
eroded.
Address correspondence to Professor Stephen Idem, Department of Mechan-
ical Engineering, Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, Tennessee
38505 USA. E-mail: sidem@tntech.edu
73
Ideally soot blower control could also be initiated by moni-
toring steam conditions in each section of the boiler and blow-
ing when temperatures fall outside acceptable limits. However,
most power plants do not directly acquire sufficient data to assess
heat transfer rates in each portion of the boiler. Very commonly,
coal-fired boilers measure only steam-side pressures and tem-
peratures entering/leaving the high- and low-pressure turbines
and the economizer. Other steam-side thermodynamic data must
generally be deduced from design values, or by interpolation of
available plant data. Gas-side temperature measurement loca-
tions are typically limited to the air preheater and the econo-
mizer exits. Because direct visual observation of fouling is sel-
dom practical in large coal-fired boilers, other approaches must
be employed to regulate soot-blowing intervals.
Several general methods to monitor slagging are currently in
use. One approach uses heat flux-measuring devices attached to
the water walls of the furnace, thereby enabling localized mea-
surements. These devices respond to changes in plant load and
slag coverage, such that as the wall develops a layer of slag or ash,
the measured heat flux decreases. The heat fluxes measured for
a particular boiler load can be compared with the stored “clean”
values obtained under similar circumstances. Clean boiler heat
transfer rates are obtained experimentally after each blowing
episode. As a result, heat flux sensors are able to infer the clean-
liness of different sections of the water wall and thus inform the
operators when and where to clean.
Another approach to assessing the extent of fouling in the
convection passes of the boiler uses strain gauges, which can
be mounted on the hangar rods of the pendant superheater or
reheater sections. As the ash or slag builds up, weight gain is
 74 S. A. IDEM
registered by the strain gauges. The weight increase indicated by
each gauge assembly can be used to identify the extent of fouling
on that particular pendant section. The effects of individual soot
blowers can also be monitored by the strain-measuring system
such that as the blowers are operated, the amount of ash removed
from each segment is indicated by the resulting weight loss.
It is evident that these measurement approaches have sev-
eral shortcomings when used for slag monitoring. For example,
local heat flux measurements may not be representative of a
considerable portion of the convection surface if fouling is not
evenly distributed on that section. In order to provide enough
information for selective cleaning, a large number of measuring
locations is needed, and it may be difficult or impractical to lo-
cate measuring devices on all heat transfer surfaces. Moreover,
their long-term viability in such a harsh environment is unclear.
Online slag monitoring programs constitute an alternate ap-
proach, designed to provide boiler operators with reliable in-
Downloaded by [Anna University] at 23:35 03 December 2014
dications of the amounts and locations of slag buildup so as
to initiate effective cleaning action. One method that has been
used with success [1, 2] is described herein. The method relies
on the calculation of the heat absorption in different sections
of the boiler. Input data required by the model includes boiler
geometry, coal composition, available steam-side pressure and
temperatures, and limited continuous emissions monitoring sys-
tems (CEMS) information. The performance calculations are
used to determine the local working fluid temperatures, com-
ponent heat transfer, or surface cleanliness, and are iterative in
nature. Initially, gas-side temperatures are guessed for each in-
dividual component of the boiler. These temperatures are used
to establish the thermophysical properties, calculate the mean
temperature differences, and solve for the heat transfer and out-
let temperature of each component. Calculations are continued
until the sum of gas-side component heat transfer rates equals
the known steam heat transfer.
Thermal modeling of the boiler requires the balanced reaction
equation for the combustion of coal with moist air. Simplifying
assumptions are made in order to solve for all terms in the bal-
anced reaction equation. The fuel composition is assumed to be
known from an ultimate coal analysis. It is further assumed that
an excess of air is supplied. The formation of NOx is disregarded,
and unburned carbon is also assumed to be known. From these
assumptions, and by using the CEMS data available for % O2
and ppm CO in the flue products, the molar coefficients of the
product gases can be calculated. Performing an energy balance
on the product gases and comparing it to the measured enthalpy
change on the steam-side yields sufficient information to infer
the mass flow rate of both the coal and the product gases.
When calculating the heat transfer in the furnace, it is mod-
eled as a six-sided rectangular enclosure. Vertical surfaces are
treated as planar surfaces to model convection heat transfer. Tur-
bulent flow from the leading edge is assumed, and the surface
area is taken as a projected flat plate. Gas radiation to the water
walls is modeled using curve fits to the Hottel charts. The empir-
ically determined radiation heat transfer coefficient is a function
of the partial pressure of CO2 and H2 O, which are taken to be
heat transfer engineering
the only radiating species. In solving for the gas radiation, it
is assumed that the combustion products are well-stirred with
a uniform temperature and composition, wherein the adiabatic
flame temperature is employed in the calculations. Downstream
of the first pendant convection pass, however, gas radiation is
neglected.
The convection passes are modeled as tube banks in cross-
flow. The surface area of the tube bank available for heat transfer
is determined by the actual boiler geometry. Correlations avail-
able in the literature are used to predict the average external heat
transfer coefficient over each convection pass section. This im-
plies that detailed knowledge of the boiler component geometry
must be available. The correlations employ the Reynolds number
based on the maximum core velocity, which is assessed using
the gas-side mass flow rate deduced from the thermodynamic
calculations. Likewise, internal heat transfer coefficients are cal-
culated using readily available correlations for fully developed
turbulent flow in tubes and knowing the steam-side mass flow
rate. This provides sufficient information to assess the overall
heat transfer coefficient of each tube bank.
In order to solve for the component heat transfer rate in the
convection passes, average steam-side thermal properties are
evaluated in each boiler component. It is assumed that steam-
side temperature gradients transverse to the gas flow direction
are negligible, such that the log-mean temperature difference
calculation does not require a correction factor. Therein the
convection heat transfer rate is calculated by an iterative log-
mean temperature approach, using the predicted overall heat
transfer coefficient. The gas-side outlet temperature is guessed,
and convergence is obtained when the guessed temperature
equals the calculated temperature based on the gas-side energy
balance.
Heat transfer rates for each section of the boiler are therein
calculated for the “clean” condition, obtained immediately after
soot blowing. Subsequently, these stored values are compared
to the actual component heat transfer rates achieved under cur-
rent conditions. The ratio of the actual component heat transfer
rate to the clean heat transfer rate is defined as the cleanliness
factor. In principle, cleanliness factors should be calculated at
the same conditions of inlet water/steam temperature, steam and
gas flow rates, etc. In practice, however, the cleanliness factor
concept provides a useful means of assessing the performance
of a convection surface, provided that the boiler load is the same.
The use of an online monitoring program provides an overall
indication of surface cleanliness for each component in a PCB
power plant. This is important when the plant is not equipped
with the necessary instrumentation to determine local heat trans-
fer rates. Direct heat flux and strain gauge measurements pro-
vide a level of detail that is not obtainable from sectional heat
transfer computations. The two approaches complement one an-
other, however. The determination of slag buildup based on the
heat transfer performance of individual boiler sections does not
distinguish between moderate general fouling and locally se-
vere conditions. Hence, an integrated approach is generally pre-
ferred, using information obtained from a combination of heat
vol. 28 no. 2 2007
 S. A. IDEM
flux gauges, strain gauges, and thermal models so as to operate
the cleaning system only when and where cleaning is neces-
sary. By cleaning selectively, it is possible to conserve energy
used for soot blowing while maintaining heat transfer effective-
ness and minimizing tube erosion. Such measurements form the
basis for effectiveness measurements for individual soot blow-
ers and leads to the ability to optimize the frequency of blower
operation.
REFERENCES
[1] Zibas, S. J., and Idem, S. A., Boiler Heat Transfer Modeling Using
CEMS Data with Application to Fouling Analysis, Proc. Interna-
Downloaded by [Anna University] at 23:35 03 December 2014
heat transfer engineering
75
tional Joint Power Generation Conference, Houston, Texas, vol. 2,
pp. 655–661, 1996.
[2] Clark, C., Breeding, C., and Shah, S., Intelligent Soot Blowing In-
stallation Experience at Homer City, Electric Power 2005, Chicago,
Illinois, April 5–7, 2005.
Stephen Idem is a professor in the Department of
Mechanical Engineering in Tennessee Technological
University, Cookville, Tennessee, USA. In 1986, he
received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from
Purdue University. His current research interests in-
clude the numerical and experimental scale modeling
of energy systems.
vol. 28 no. 2 2007