THE BOILER OPERATORS HANDBOOK SECOND EDITION Premier12 re. NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL FUEL EFFICIENCY SERVICE LTD Graham & TrotmanGraham & Trotman Limited Kiuwer Academic Publishers Group Sterling House 101 Philip Drive 66 Wilton Road Assinippi Park London SW1V 1DE Norwell, MA 02061 UK USA ISBN 1 85333 285 2 © National Industrial Fuel Efficiency Service Ltd, 1959, 1969, 1981, 1989 First published in 1959 as the New Stoker's Manual and in 1969 as The Boiler Operators Handbook Revised first edition published in 1981 by Graham & Trotman Limited Reprinted 1985 Second edition 1989 Reprinted 1991 British Library and Library of Congress CIP data Is available from the publisher. This publication is protected by international copyright law. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers. Computer typeset in Times 2 New Roman by Microgen (UK) Ltd, Welwyn Garden City, Herts. Printed and bound in Great Britain by Bell & Bain Ltd, GlasgowChapter | CONTENTS List_of Figures viii Listof Tables 4.||.|1—1 CK Foreword Acknowledgements xi xii Fuels in Common Use Chapter 2 Liquid Fuels. Gaseous Fuels. Coal. Calorific Value. Si h. Moi Talk Combustion ll Chapter 3 Combustion in practice. Burning oil. Gas burning. Combustion of coal on a grate. Flames. Flame type. Sulphur corrosion. Water and Steam 23 Chapter 4 Steam raising. Definition of terms. Water. Priming. Bumping. Foaming. Carry-over. Effects of scale. Corrosion. Water treatment systems. Blowd Ht boilers. P ear Feed water and treatment. Boiler Efficiency and Heat Transfer 37 Boiler thermal efficiency. Gross or higher calorific value, Heat losses. Heat loss in flue gases. Air supply. Dirty heat transfer surfaces. Unburned fuel loss. Radiation and other losses. tiny efficiency, Heat transfer, Boiler heat recovery plant. On line cleaning. General fuel efficiency ithin the boilerChapter 5 Chapter 6 Boiler Types Shell boilers. Water tube boilers. Sectional boilers. Magazine boiler. Boiler auxillaries. Solid Fuel Firing 49 67 Chapter 7 Principles. Fuel characteristics. Coal storage and handling. Ash handling. Fuel bed thickness. Types of mechanical stoker. Maintenance. Automatic controls. Pulverised Fuel Firing 81 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Drying the fuel. Conveyor and storage. Pulverised fuel burners. Ash handling. Liquid Fuel Firing Delivery, storage and handling. Fuel oil systems. Atomisation. Liquid fuel burners. Burner maintenance. Carbon deposit. Gaseous Fuel Firing Delivery, storage and handling. Combustion characteristics. Types of gas burners, High pressure burners. Gas circuit components. Burner maintenance. Automatic Control and Instruments Automatic control. Safety function. Functional control. Off7On control. High/Low/Off control. Modulating control, Anticipatory and sequential control. Oxygen trim control. Instrumentation. Fuel monitoring. Combustion efficiency. Heat exported. General instrumentation. Boilerhouse log sheets. Start-Up Procedures Precautions before lighting up. Procedure when lighting up and warming through a boiler. Procedure for bringing a boiler on line. Procedure for warming through steam pipework. General precautions, Warning—Water hammer. vi 87 99 107 119Chapter 12 Safety 125 Principle safety equipment for boiler plant. Steam boilers. Hot water boilers. Automatic controls and safety. Inspection and testing. Water gauges. W; : treatment. Safe isolation. Permit to work. Safety equipment. Fuel safety. General! safety points. Conclusions. Chapter 13. The Clean Air Act 143 Smoke. Smoke control areas. Grit emission and dispersion of combustion products. Chimney height. Acid smut formation. Grit arrestor. Efficiency of of grit arrestors. Index 185 vii1. Percentage of carbon dioxide in flue gas by volume 12 2. The combustion ofcoal 3.__ The relationship between CO2, CO and QO; in combustion 15 4. The principle of coal burning on a chaingrate stoker 8 5. Acid dewpoint and corrosion 20 6. Properties of steam 25 7. Solubility of O2 in water at atmospheric pressure 31 8. Nitrogen _pressurisation 35 9. Diaphragm air cushion pressurisation 35 10. Continuous running pump pressurisation Ll. Boundary layers—gas side 46 12. Packaged boiler (Courtesy Babcock Robey Ltd) 31 13. Three-pass, wet-back economic boiler (Courtesy Babcock 52 Robey Ltd) 14. Two-pass, dry-back economic boiler 53 15. Reverse-flame boiler (Courtesy Babcock Robey Ltd) 54 16. Lancashire boiler 55 17. Vertical smoke tube boiler 57 L8._Two-d fer tube boiler with 1 wall 58 19. Three-drum water tube boiler with refractory walls 59 20°F i circulation boil 60 21. Steam generator _ 61 23. Magazine boiler 64 24, Underfeed and overfeed principles of combustion 68 25. Vekos boiler (Courtesy British Coal/College of Fuel Tech 7 (London)) 26, Chain grate stoker 72 27. Ram type coking stoker 75 vill28. Principle of fluidised bed combustion 77 29. Fixed grate sprinkler stoker (Courtesy Saacke Ltd) 78 30. Underfeed stoker (Courtesy British Coal/College of Fuel 79 Tech (London)) 31. Pulverised fuel system 83 32.__ Parallel flow pulverised fuel burner 85 33. Fuel oil tank 88 34, Fuel oil ring main system (Courtesy Saacke Ltd) 91 35, Pressure jet burner nozzle 93 36. Low pressure air burner 95 37, Sectional view of rotary cup burner 95 38. Atmospheric injector burner 102 39. Dual fuel burner 104 40. Components in a 2MW gas train 105 41. Diagram of burner control sequence 109 42. Gas burner sequence operation 1 43. Fyrite flue gas analyser 117 44, Blowdown steps in gauge glass sequence 131 45. Automatic sequencing blowdown valve 133 47. Ringlemann chart 146 48. Simple grit arrestor 152 49. Multicell grit arrestor 153 50. Electrostatic precipitator 154 ixTABLES General fuel analysis Classification and properties of fuel oils Properties of natural gas and LPG Proximate analyses of typical British coals Sizes ofeoals 0. CT Flue gas analyses—theoretical and Practical 14 tn] eel ta! oe Constants for Siegert’s formula 40 Percentage heat loss to moisture 4l Radiation etc. losses Typical boiler efficiencies 45 Relationship between burning rate and draught 16 Flame speed and propagation for gases 100 Requirements for safety shut off valves 105 Allowances for dark smoke 144FOREWORD The popularity of the Boiler Operators Handbook has prompted the issue of another revised edition, The' previous edition was issued in 1981 with an emphasis on coal-fired boilers, The trend over the last decade has been towards oil and gas firing and this emphasis is now reflected in the new edition. : The good management of boiler plant should ensure the production of good quality steam in a safe and fuel efficient manner. If this is achieved, air pollution is minimised. All these aspects are emphasised throughout this new edition. The Boiler Operators Handbook is intended to help the operator carry out his important work with skill and efficiency. It is not a textbook nor does it go into great detail, However, it does contain sufficient information to encourage the operator to study the subject more extensively. An essential management responsibility is to ensure that operators are well trained to perform their functions both safely and efficiently. Because of this need the NIFES Consulting Group have been running regular training courses in Boiler House Management since 1954, This book is issued as the standard text on such courses. Any of NIFES offices will be able to give details of future courses, It is hoped that this new edition will help operators, supervisors and managers understand the principles that will result in the safe and efficient operation of their plants.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The cover photograph and Figures 12 and 15 are reproduced courtesy of Babcock Robey Ltd. Figures 29 and 34 are reproduced courtesy of Saacke Ltd. Figures 25 and 30 are reproduced courtesy of British Coal/College of Fuel Technology (London). Figure 18 is reproduced courtesy of Longman Group UK Ltd from Industrial Boilers by Gunn and Horton (1989), The content of Chapter 11 (Start-Up Procedures) is reproduced courtesy of the Property Services Agency. Extracts from M and E Engineering Guide Crown Copyright. xii