Abstract
Coal-fired boilers equipped with Low NOx Burner (LNB) and Overfire Air (OFA) are challenged with maintaining good combustion conditions. In many cases, the significant increases in carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned carbon levels can be attributed to local poor combustion conditions as a result of poorly controlled fuel-air distribution within the furnace. The ZonalTM combustion monitoring and tuning system developed by GE is available to detect and correct the furnace air-fuel distribution imbalance. The system monitors the boiler excess oxygen (O2) and combustible gases, primarily carbon monoxide (CO), by using spatially distributed multipoint sensors located in the boiler’s high temperature upper convective backpass region. At these locations, the furnace flow is still significantly stratified allowing tracing of poor combustion zones to specific burners and OFA ports. Using a model-based tuning system, operators can rapidly respond to poor combustion conditions by redistributing airflows to select burners and OFA ports.
By improving combustion at every point within the furnace, the boiler can operate at reduced excess O2 and reduced furnace exit gas temperature (FEGT) while also reducing localized hot spots, corrosive gas conditions, slag formation, and carbon-in-ash. Benefits include improving efficiency, reducing NOX emissions, increasing output and maximizing availability. This chapter presents the results from implementing the Zonal combustion monitoring and tuning system on a 460 MW tangential-fired coal boiler in the Western United States.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
The Babcock & Wilcox Company. Steam/its generation and use. 40th ed. London: The Babcock & Wilcox Company; 1992.
Widmer NC, Draxton D, Xu G, Moyeda DK. Zonal™ combustion tuning systems for improving coal fired boiler performance. ISA Power Industry Division symposium, Scottsdale, AZ, June 2008.
Widmer NC, Newell R, Xu G, Moyeda DK. Zonal™ combustion tuning systems for improving T-fired boiler performance. 52nd annual ISA POWID/ERPI symposium, Chicago, IL, May 2009.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg & Tsinghua University Press
About this paper
Cite this paper
Xu, G., Zhou, W., Widmer, N.C., Moyeda, D.K. (2013). The Application of Zonal™ Combustion Monitoring and Tuning System to Coal Boilers for Efficiency Improvement and Emissions Reduction. In: Qi, H., Zhao, B. (eds) Cleaner Combustion and Sustainable World. ISCC 2011. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30445-3_48
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30445-3_48
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-30444-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-30445-3
eBook Packages: EnergyEnergy (R0)