Improving the Boiler Efficiency by Optimizing the Combustion Air

Abstract:

Air pre-heater and economizer are heat transfer surfaces in which air temperature and water temperature are raised by transferring heat from other media such as flue gas. Hot air is necessary for rapid combustion in the furnace and also for drying coal in milling plants. So an essential boiler accessory which serves this purpose is air pre-heater. The air pre-heater is not essential for operation of steam generator, but they are used where a study of cost indicates that money can be saved or efficient combustion can be obtained by their use. The decision for its adoption can be made when the financial advantages is weighed against the capital cost of heater. The efficiency of the boiler increases with the increase in the temperature of the combustion air used in the furnace. This is achieved by the increased temperature of the flue gas in the air preheater and economizer zone. This paper deals with the different ways to obtain the maximum heat from the flue gas travelling through the air preheater and the economizer zone to improve the boiler efficiency.

• Periodical: Applied Mechanics and Materials (Volume 787)
• Pages: 238-242
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.787.238
• Online since: August 2015
• Authors: R. Pachaiyappan, J. Dasa Prakash
• Keywords: Air Preheater, Economizer, Flue Gas, Heat Conductivity, Heat Exchangers, Optimum Air, Seal Leakages

References

[1] H.H. Vishwanath, Thamaiah Gowda, S.D. Ravi, Heat transfer analysis of recuperative air preheater, International journal of innovative research in science, Engineering and Technology. 2 (7) (2013) 2319-8753.

[2] V. Mallikarjuna, N. Jashuva, B. Rama Bhupal Reddy, Improving boiler efficiency by using air preheater, International journal of advanced research in engineering and applied sciences. 3 (2) (2014) 2278-6252.

[3] R.F. Storm, T.J. Reilly, Coal fired boiler performance improvement through combustion optimization, ASME journal. 87-JPGC-PWR-G.

[4] P. Juangjandee, T. Sucharitakul, Air Heater Performance and Enhancement under low-Rank Coal, 16th Conference of Electric Power Supply Industry, Mumbai, India, (2006).

[5] Harish Ghritlahre, Tej Pratap Singh, Effect of Excess Air on 30 TPH AFBC Boilers on dry Flue Gas Losses and its Efficiency, International Journal of Research in Advent Technology. 2 (6) (2014) 2321-9637.

[6] R. Sengupta, R. Chakraborty, Assessment of thermal performance of semicircular fin under forced air convection, Energy procedia 54 (2014) 479-493.

DOI: 10.1016/j.egypro.2014.07.290

[7] A.S. Verissimo, A.M. A Rocha, M. Costa, Importance of inlet air velocity on the establishment of flameless combustion in a laboratory combustor, Experimental thermal and fluid science. 44 (2013) 75-81.

DOI: 10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2012.05.015

[8] Kevin Carpenter, Chris Schmidt, Common boiler excess air trends and strategies to optimize efficiency, ACEEE summer study on energy efficiency in buildings. (2008).

[9] Combustion analysis basics, TSI Incorporated, (2004).

[10] P.K. Nag, Power Plant Engineering, nineteenth ed., Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi, (2008).

[11] P. Chattopadhyay, Boiler Operation Engineering, Tata McGraw-Hill Publication, (2008).

[12] Tai Lv, Linghao Yu, Jinmin Song, A research of simplified method in boiler efficiency test, International conference on Future electrical power and energy systems, 17 (2012) 1007 - 1013.

DOI: 10.1016/j.egypro.2012.02.200

[13] Pawan Kumar, Training manual on energy efficiency, 92-833-7084-8, (2010).

[14] Information on www1. eere. energy. gov.