1 CIRCULATING FLUIDISED BED COMBUSTION (CFBC) TECHNOLOGY: For fuels with high moisture content and low heating

value such as biomass, municipal wastes, paper & pulp industry wastes, sludge etc. and small capacities, bubbling fluidized bed technology is recommended. The circulating fluidized bed technology is considered suitable for waste fuels with a high percentage of non-combustibles(heating value 5- 5!"#$g%. The &irculating Fluidized 'ed &ombustion technology is environmentally benign. The process employs a &irculating fluidized bed combustor that operates at a temperature of around ())-*)))&. The fuel(crushed coal% along with the sorbent (limestone% is fed to the lower furnace where it is $ept suspended and burnt in an upward flow of combustion air. The sorbent is fed to facilitate capture of sulfur from the coal in the bed itself resulting in conse+uent low sulfur emission. The combustion air is fed in two stages - ,rimary air direct through the combustor and -econdary air, way up the combustor above the fuel feed point. .ue to high gas velocities the fuel ash and unburnt fuel are carried out of the combustor with the flue gases. This is then collected by a recycling cyclone separator and returned to lower furnace. The heat transfer surfaces are usually embedded in the fluidized bed and steam generated is passed through the conventional steam cycle operating on /an$in &ycle. 0lternatively, without the Fluid 'ed 1eat 23changer, the heat transfer surface may be distributed over the combustor and the convective pass.

The features of !r u"at!#$ f"u!%!&e% 'e% 'o!"er are %es r!'e% 'e"o()
1. 4ide range of fuel adaptability5 &onventional boilers for power generation can use only fossil fuel such as high grade coal, oil, and gas. The &F'& also uses low grade coal, biomass, sludge, waste plastics, and waste tire as fuel. 6. 7ow pollution 2missions of pollutants such as 893 and -93 are significantly decreased without adding special environment measures. For the case of fluidized bed boiler, the desulfurization is intrafurnace desulfurization using mainly limestone as the fluidizing material. For the denitration, ordinary boilers operate at combustion temperatures from :,;))9& to :,5))9&, and the circulating fluidized bed boiler operates at lower temperatures ranging from (5)9& to *))9& so that the thermal 893 emissions (generated 893 depending on temperature% are suppressed. <n addition, the operation of circulating fluidized bed boiler is conducted by two stage combustion5 the reducing combustion at the fluidized bed section= and the o3idizing combustion at the freeboard section. Then, the unburnt carbon is collected by a high temperature cyclone located at e3it of the boiler to recycle to the boiler, thus increasing the denitration efficiency. . 1igh combustion efficiency 1igh combustion efficiency is attained by e3cellent combustion mechanism of circulating fluidization mode. ;. -pace saving and high maintenance ability -pace saving is attained because there is no need of separate desulfurization unit, denitration unit, and fuel finely crashing unit. 0ccordingly, sections of trouble occurrence become few, and maintenance becomes easy.

A%*a#ta$es of C!r u"at!#$ F"u!%!&e% Be% Co+'ust!o# Te h#o"o$,:

Fue" F"e-!'!"!t,: The relatively low furnace temperatures are below the ash fusion temperature for nearly all fuels. 0s a result the furnace design is independent of ash characteristics which allows a given furnace to handle a wide variety of fuels. 7ow grade coals, high
1

ash re>ects, high sulfur coals, lignite, biomass, wastes & other difficult fuels can be burnt easily in the &F'& boiler. Fluidized 'ed &ombustion ,rocess .iagram (7a$eland, ?-0 &F'&%5

<mproved &ombustion 2fficiency5 The long residence time in the furnace resulting from collection#recirculation of solid particulate via the cyclone, plus the vigorous solids#gas contact in the furnace caused by the fluidization airflow, result in high combustion efficiency, even with difficult-toburn fuels. *(-**@ carbon burnout has been achieved. The very high internal & e3ternal recalculating rates of solids result in uniform temperatures throughout the combustor. <n-situ ,ollution &ontrol & /educed 2missions5 .esulphurization is accomplished in the combustion zone itself by addition of limestone in the bed. -96 removal efficiency of *5@ and higher has been demonstrated along with good sorbent utilization. 7ow furnace temperature plus staging of air feed to the furnace produce very low 893 emissions. &hlorine & Fluorine are largely retained in ash. 9perating Fle3ibility5 &an be designed for cyclic or base load operation. ,art loads down to 65@ of !&/ and load change rates of up to A@ per minute are possible. -implified Fuel Feeding5 Fuel pulverization not re+uired and only crushing is sufficient for fuel feed. ,roven Technology5

Foster 4heeler has more than :5) &F' steam generators in operation. The commercial availability of most of these units e3ceeds *(@.

CFBC S,ste+ Co+.o#e#ts

The &F'& systems comprise of the following ma>or components5 Fluidised 'ed &ombustor & associated systems Fluid 'ed 1eat 23changer -olids separation system - /ecycling &yclone, ?-beam particle separators &onventional steam turbine systems Fuel ,reparation & Feeding -ystem 0sh /emoval -ystem

Fue" Fee% S,ste+

Fuel feed system is either pneumatic or wet type. 8ormally coal is fed as coal -water mi3ture as they have demonstrated to burn more evenly. The optimum system design depends upon ash and sulfur content in coal. For fuels with low ash contents, coal-water mi3ture has found favours since large +uantities of water are needed for coals with high ash, which affects its efficiency. The fuel is fed in the form of coal-water paste with 65@ water by weight. The fuel feed size is lower than ).A5 in.

Sor'e#t Fee% S,ste+

-orbents are not combustibles and are generally fed either continuously or intermittent. <n the latter case, loc$hoppers are used. The sorbent is crushed to around mm top size, dries and fed in loc$ hoppers

Te h#o"o$! a" A%*a# e+e#ts

<n addition to e3ternal particle recirculation &F', internal recirculation &F' has been developed. <nternal recirculation &F' uses ?-'eam separators installed in the flue gas e3it path to collect and recycle the solids directly to the bottom of the furnace. ?-beams are a staggered array of stainless steel channels in the furnace e3it plane which capture most of the solids suspended in the flue gas. <n addition, the multi cyclone dust collector captures finer solids which pass through the ?-beam and recycles them to the lower furnace in a controlled manner. The regulation of this secondary recycle system offers furnace temperature control resulting in improved boiler performance. The manufacture claim to achieve B**.(@ particle collection efficiency for the two-stage particle separation system. The </-&F' operates at low flue gas velocities of ( m#s as compared to 6A m#s with e3ternal recirculation &F'. This reduces erosion problems in the furnace which are a ma>or cause for maintenance problems in &F'&. This design uses significantly less amount of refractory due to elimination of hot gas cyclone path. This </-&F' technology is e3clusively patented by 'abcoc$ & 4ilco3. The &F'& process has been integrated with 0dvanced ,ressurised Fluidised 'ed &ombustion system. The fuel & sorbent are fed into a ,F' either &irculating or 'ubbling. &ombustion is aided by compressed air usually under a pressure of :) to :; bars at around (A:)&. 0 cyclone separates particulate from pressurised flue gas stream and returns them to the bed. The flue gas undergoes a final clean-up through ceramic candle filters before entering the combustion turbine at around (:C)&. The waste heat from the combustion turbine is recovered in a 1/-D that generates steam to drive the steam turbine of the combined cycle. ,ressurised &irculating Fluidised 'ed (,&F'% process has been preferred by Foster 4heeler over the 'ubbling bed. <t offers higher combustion efficiency due to more

carbon burnout in circulating mode. 7ow sorbent consumption for the same sulfur removal because of increased efficiency. 'etter 893 control from ease of staged combustion, since a circulating unit is taller and more slender. 0 higher velocity in the circulating mode results in units of smaller size for the same capacity.

Te h#o"o$, Status

&F'& technology has been proven for all type of fuels including high ash coal, lignite, wood wastes, refinery residue etc. There are over :) operating &F'& boilers worldwide. Foster 4heeler has more than :5) &F' steam generators in operation. The commercial availability of most of these units e3ceeds *(@. !#s 7urgi 7ent>es 'abcoc$ 2nergietechni$ Dmbh (77'%, Dermany has ;6 &F'& steam generators (B(A)) !4% in operation worldwide. !#s 'abcoc$ & 4ilco3 have about ;) operating &F' units worldwide. COSTS The investment costs of pro>ects based on the &F'& technology are much lesser than the conventional ,& based plants. (E*))-E*5)#$4%

I#%!a# S e#ar!o

Fluidised 'ed &ombustion is a proven & established technology (not new, in contrast to general perception%. ,ilot and e3perimental F'& boilers were in operation as early as :*AA in <ndia at '127, Trichy = &F/<, .hanbad etc. 0ll these plants are still in operation. 1owever F'& plants are economical only for poor +uality fuels which can not be fired in conventional boilers. <nitially these boilers were used for co-generation and process gas#steam applications at industrial installations. 7ater small size captive power plants also used F'& boilers. The common <ndian fuels used include high ash coals, coal washery re>ects, biomass and lignite. 0ll initial F'& boilers, before :**6, were invariably supplied by '127 and based on obsolete 7urgi bubbling bed F'& technology licensed to '127 by 7urgi 7ent>es 'abcoc$. 7ater Foster 4heeler, ?-0 supplied few &irculating F'& boilers in :**6-*5 through its <ndian licensee, <-D2& "ohn Thompson. &urrently Foster 4heeler is directly e3ecuting two new orders from /ain &alcining, Fizag(65!4, petroleum co$e% and !ysore ,aper !ills, 'hadravati(6)!4, multi-fuel%. 'abcoc$ & 4ilco3 has also supplied few bubbling bed F'& boilers in <ndia since :**6. The most important of these is the Ganoria &hemicals, /enu$oot (:!4 captive power plant based on the most advanced <nternalparticle recirculation F'&. <nterestingly, '&4 currently does not have any new order on hand in <ndia. 0nother notable fact is that '&4 does not have any e3perience with petroleum-co$e fired F'& within or outside <ndia. /ecently, '&4 has formed a >oint venture with Therma3 7td. to supply '&4 boilers of all types in <ndia as Therma3 'abcoc$ & 4ico3 7td. This company has supplied the F'& boilers to Ganoria &hemicals, /enu$oot and &entral ,ulp !ills, -urat. &urrently most <ndian oil refineries are planning to set up refinery residue fired captive power plants. Foster 4heeler is the only e3perienced pet-co$e fired &F'& supplier in <ndia, currently. 1owever with pet-co$e, <D&& is also techno-economically competitive with F'&. .ue to this 2ssar 9il, had floated an open tender for their proposed power plant with options both for F'& & <D&&. The bidders include <1<, -namprogetti for <D&& and Foster 4heeler, 7urgi for F'&. 9ther ,-? oil companies are planning on similar lines. 1,&7Hs proposed refinery at 'hatinda in ,un>ab plans to go for <D&