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Design Theory of C FB Boilers
Design Theory of C FB Boilers
cn
ABSTRACT
Studies on circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boilers have being conducted at the Tsinghua
University (TH) for about two decades and much of works are done to link the fundamentals with
practical application. A full set of design theory was developed and some key elements of this
theory are presented in this paper.
First, a classification of state of the solid-gas two-phase flow in CFB boiler is given. TH’s
studies validated that a CFB boiler can be generally described as the superposition of a fast bed in
the upper part with a bubbling bed or turbulent bed in the bottom part. A concept model of
material balance for the open system of CFB boiler was developed and later improved as a more
comprehensive 1-D model taking ash formation, particle attrition and segregation in bed into
account. Some results of the models are discussed.
Then the concept of State Specification of a CFB boiler is defined and discussed. The State
Specification is regarded as the first step to design a CFB and a base to classify different style of
CFB boiler technologies for various CFB boiler manufacturers. The State Specification adopted
by major CFB boiler makers is summarized and associated importance issues are addressed.
The heat transfer model originally developed by Leckner and his coworkers is adopted and
improved. It is further calibrated with experimental data obtained on the commercial CFB boiler
measurements. The principle, improvements and application of the model are introduced. Some
special tools developed for heat transfer field test are also given.
Also, combustion behaviors of char and volatile content are studied, and the combustion
difference between a CFB boiler and a bubbling bed is analyzed. The influence of volatile content
and size distribution is discussed. The concept of vertical distribution of combustion and heat in
CFB boiler furnace is introduced and discussed as well.
In the last, the suggested design theory of CFB boiler is summarized.
Keywords: circulating fluidized bed boilers, design theory, state specification, fast bed
INTRODUCTION
Circulating fluidized bed (CFB) technology has gained a great progress in coal-firing boilers
since the successful operation of the world’s first demonstration of circulating fluidized bed (CFB)
boiler in Germany [1]. The largest CFB boiler, a supercritical unit with capacity of 460MWe made
by Foster Wheeler Corporation, is under construction in Lagisza, Poland [2]. In China, the number
of commercial CFB boilers that have been put into operation is over 800, among which the units
with capacity 100-150MWe are near 30 [3]. The first 300MWe CFB boiler (Alstrom licensed) is
in construction [3].
Studies on CFB boilers have being conducted at the Tsinghua University (TH), Beijing,
China since 1985, in both fundamental research and commercial development. A series of CFB
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boilers with capacities ranging from 20t/h to 460t/h have been put into commercial operation and
some other units with larger capacities and higher steam parameters are under design or feasibility
study [4,5,6], based TH’s research and development (R&D) achievements. In this paper, a
summary of the two-decade R&D works on CFB boilers by the TH research group, especially
those works linking the fundamentals with practical application is to be given.
Pneumatic Transport
Al2O3 Beads
dp=52µm
ρp=3580kg/m3
vp: particle velocity, m/s
uf (m/s)
Figure 1 Fluidization regimes for Al2O3 particles- bed voidage vs. superficial velocity [7]
However, in the upper part, the main portion and so-called free board of the bed, the
classification of its fluidization regime has been an argument in CFB boiler research community
for a long time. Since the bulk density of most coal-fired CFB boiler furnaces (tens of kg/m3 or
even less) [8] is much smaller than that of fast bed reactors in chemical engineering process (in the
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range of hundreds of kg/m3) [3], it was easily intended to classify the fluidization regime as
pneumatic transport. However, the authors suggest that the upper part of a CFB boiler still belongs
to fast bed rather than pneumatic transport.
As we known, the most distinguished feature of a fast bed is the formation of cluster in the
riser, resulting in strong vertical mixing. According to our observation, temperature distribution is
rather uniform in the bed not only in the core region in radial direction but also along the furnace
height, even the combustion keeps going in the gas-solid flow and the furnace is surrounded by
water-cooled membrane. Such temperature uniformity can be only maintained by the existence of
strong vertical solids mixing and thus the existence of clusters.
During the CFB boiler evolution history in China, a CFB boiler was once regarded as nothing
else than the traditional bubbling bed boiler with an extended free board. However, the
fluidization regime inside a bubbling bed boiler is totally different from that inside a CFB boiler.
In a bubbling bed, only small amount of particles are entrained into the free board so that
combustion fraction in the dense bed is about 75-85%, and a rather amount of immersed tube has
to be arranged there. However, in a CFB boiler, much more particles are entrained into the free
board so that combustion fraction in the dense bed only occupies about 50-60%, and no
convective heat transfer surfaces are necessary to be arranged there. It was found that for a
bubbling bed boiler retrofitted with fly ash recirculation, if the recirculation flow rate is above a
critical amount, the hydrodynamic and thus combustion and heat transfer behaviors inside the bed
become CFB-alike and qualitatively different from bubbling bed. The temperature in the dense
bed can be even too low to keep stable combustion.
Given the upper part of a CFB boiler is a fast bed, shown in Fig. 1, for certain particles, flow
dynamics of the two-phase flow, or called hydrodynamic state can be defined by two parameters:
superficial velocity uf (m/s) and solid circulating rate Gs (kg/m2⋅s). For engineering simplicity, Gs
is also assumed to be the solid flux at the separator entrance.
Then the onset superficial velocity of fast bed for certain size particle is defined as uc [9]:
uc=(3.5-4)ut (1)
where, ut is the terminal velocity of particle, m/s.
The minimum solid circulating rate to enter the fast bed regime Rmin can be estimated by [7]:
uc2.25 ρ f1.627
Rmin = (2)
0.164[gd p (ρp − ρf )]0.627
where, ρf is the gas density, kg/m3; ρp is the particle density, kg/m3; and g is the gravity, m/s2.
It can be seen from (2), for a certain uf, CFB boiler can operate at various states in fast bed
regime because the bed inventory in CFB boiler is composed of different size particles.
E(i)× X(i)
the separator top for blowing fly ash, as shown in Fig.2
[11]. Gin(i)
Efficiency ηi %
is larger than the peak value, ηm is 60
uf d50 d99
shown in Figure 4, for three different 0.5 m/s µm µm
5.5 17 110
ufs while the ash drain efficiency ηo is
0.4 5.5 27 160
the same. It can be seen, as the
material balance is built up, the size 5.0 17 110
0.3
distributions of bed inventory are 5.0 27 160
remained. For a separator with better 0.2 4.5 17 110
performance, namely smaller d50 and 4.5 27 160
0.1
d100, the particle size corresponding to
the peak value of the size distribution
0
curves is smaller. This result is 0 200 400 600 800
straight forward since more fine Particle size d i µm
particles are captured if separation Figure 4 Size distribution of bed inventory for
efficiency increases. For the same different cyclone efficiencies
separator, for different ufs, the particle
size corresponding to the peak values on the frequency distribution curves are nearly constant. As
uf increases, more fine particles are entrained into and stored in the free board. At the same time,
Gs increases and the amount of returning particles increase, forcing more ash particles including
the particles less than d100 are drained from the bottom. As a result, the mean particle size
decreases and fewer particles can be entrained and thus Gs decreases. When balance is reached,
more particles around the mean value are drained, and consequently the overall distribution of the
particles becomes wider though the mean particle value keeps nearly the same.
It is clear that although the size of feeding particles into system is widely distributed, the CFB
boiler system behaves like size selection machine. Coarse particles which can not be entrained are
drained out from bottom of bed, and very fine particles which are difficult to be capture by the
separator are carried out the system by flue gas. Only those particles that can be entrained by the
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flue gas and also be captured by the separators are retained in system for circulating. The results
indicate that the average size of bed inventory (bed quality) and the circulating rate of ash are
depending on the performance of separator and bed ash drain characteristics, besides the
superficial velocity and ash formation characteristics of coal and limestone. Thus the overall
system efficiency, especially the efficiency for circulating ash (near the d99 of separator) is very
important and sensitive for the circulating rate. Our studies on the commercial CFB boilers
showed that Gs is typically in the order of 103 larger than the feeding rate of such size particles, so
the efficiency near this size should be over 99.7%. This result is not only important for the design
of separator but also important for determination of bed ash drain characteristics. In engineering
practice, sometimes, ash drain facilities with specific size classification, combined with ash cooler,
are needed to keep fine circulating ash in bed.
.012
compares the size distributions of fly
Frequence (%/micron)
.010
ash between the data measured in the
field of this boiler and those predicted .008
.006
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efficiency, ash drain efficiency and solid inputs in the open system. For an industrial combustion
process, the operating state has to be controlled to a stable state.
1.0 1 .0
Case1 Case 2
Dot: measurements Dot: measurements
0.8 Line: Model Prediction Line: Model Prediction
0 .8
Dimensionless Height
Dimensionless Height
0.6 0 .6
0.4 0 .4
0.2 0 .2
0.0 0 .0
0.0 0.5 1.0 0 .0 0 .5 1 .0
Dimensionless Pressure D im e n s io n le s s P re s s u re
Figure 6 Comparison of model prediction on the pressure drop profiles along the
furnace height with the data measured in the field for a 250MWe CFB boiler
In case that the feedings of particles such as coal, limestone or make-up sands are varying,
the state of a CFB boiler might keep changing as well if Gs can not be controlled. Consequently,
the heat transfer coefficients between water-wall membrane and solid-gas flow in furnace, which
strongly depends on the bulk density [14], and the fractional fuel heat releasing along the furnace
height could not be kept stable during
operation. Fortunately, as we 1
discussed in the material balance
section, Gs can be manually 0.8
Dimensionless height
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the CFB boiler, namely to perform State Specification for a CFB boiler. After State Specification
(with fixed uf and Gs), designers started to collect much referential data such as heat transfer
coefficients and fractional heat releasing along height of furnace, mainly from the field test on
demonstration boilers collaborated with laboratory researches. This accumulation is actually a
long-term R&D work. Based on State Specification and the following data accumulation, a
program, so-called Design Code, would be developed to design the layout and components of the
CFB boiler. Once CFB boilers designed by the Design Code are put into commercial operation,
more data are provided to improve and mature the Design Code. As a result, on one hand, each
CFB boiler manufacturer owns a specific Design Code as a commercial secret and makes CFB
boilers in different styles; on the other hand, it is also very difficult and challenging to change the
Design Code once it becomes a design standard because all design data based on a specific state of
a CFB boiler need to be re-accumulated. Consequently, special cautious should be paid in State
Specification.
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approximately parallel to the Gs axis stand for the erosion limitation for lignite combustion and
hard ash content coal combustion respectively. These limitations are from our observation for a
group of CFB boilers with different design statuses and for burning different coals in China.
According to our observation, the hardness of ash and the superficial velocity have more
significant impact on erosion than the circulating rate. We have to point out here, for some CFB
boiler technologies of which uf is near or over 6m/s, serious erosion has been found on the vertical
water wall in furnace within limited operating period burning lean coal, bituminous or anthracite
coal. As shown in Fig. 8, those CFB boilers are operating at the states near to the erosion line.
Although, no erosion problem on vertical water wall has been reported for the boilers using same
technology while lignite is burning, it is safer for the designers to select uf to be lower than 5.5m/s
in case fuel quality can not be guaranteed.
30
(Two stage cyclone)
A F
25 Limits for erosion
B G
Ash circulating rate GS kg/(m2⋅s)
protection
C H
20 D I
E One stage cyclone
15 Commended
10
Fast bed limit
5 Soft coal
Hard coal
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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where, T and ε denote for temperature emissivity respectively, and the subscripts of b and w
denote respectively the suspension and water wall.
Later on, the heat transfer model was improved by taking the geometric factor of water
membrane into account. TH’s heat transfer mode has been proved to be simple and with satisfied
accuracy for engineering purpose, and it has been practiced in the design of more than one
hundred units of CFB boilers with different capacities.
More detailed information about the model can be found in other publications [24].
COMBUSTION IN CFB
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Coal combustion modeling and bench-scale experiments also have been extensively
conducted at TH. It was found that the coal particles, as soon as fed into CFB boiler furnace,
experience a primary fragmentation by devolatilization or by thermal stress, and then a secondary
fragmentation by combustion of char [25]. The volatile combustion occurs mainly in bubbles in
the dense bed and in dilute phase in the freeboard. The char combustion occurs in emulsion phase
in the dense bed and also in dilute phase in the freeboard. The combustion rate of char is
controlled by both reaction kinetics and gas diffusion.
Our studies also found that the combustion occurring in the dense bed of a CFB boiler is in
fuel lean condition, which is on opposite of a bubbling bed boiler [26]. The result matched the
experimental observation by Leckner [27], who reported the vigorous fluctuation of oxygen in bed.
Our later research proved such phenomena is contributed to the average particle size in CFB
boilers (around 200µm) is much smaller than that in bubbling bed (around 1mm) [28]. Compared
with bubbling bed boilers, in CFB boilers, the fraction of fluidization air into emulsion phase is
smaller and the resistance of gas exchange between bubble phase and emulsion phase bed is
stronger. Char combustion mostly occurs in emulsion phase in the dense bed, consuming most of
oxygen over there. Since oxygen can not be compensated from bubbling phase, the CO
concentration on the boundary of dense bed of CFB boiler is very high [29]
Again, the combustion theory was applied to the commercial CFB boiler design. The
concept so-called “vertical distribution of combustion and heat in furnace” was introduced by TH
[28]. This concept is useful for boiler designers to arrange heating surfaces in furnace and it was
also validated by gas sampling along the furnace height of some commercial CFB boilers. The
field test data of vertical distribution of combustion and heat were also used to correlate the 1-D
combustion model developed by TH. Figure 12 shows the experimental results of accumulative
heat released along the 1.0
height of a bench scale CFB
apparatus.
Accumulative combustion heat fraction
0.8
Both modeling and
measurement showed that
the vertical distribution of 0.6
combustion and heat in CFB
boilers are strongly impacted 0.4
by the volatile content and
size distribution of fuel. The
0.2
results shown in Fig.13
indicate that volatile matter
prefers to be burnt in the 0.0
upper part of the furnace and 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
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Accumulative combustion
0.8
explained before, and also tells us 0.6
heat fraction
why we have to put certain amount of 0.4 Vdaf 34.4%
immersed heating surface in bubbling 0.2 Char
bed to keep heat balance, but it is not
0
needed for CFB dense bed. 0 1 2 3 4 5
Height h m
CONCLUSIONS 1
Accumulative combustion
A set of design theory for CFB 0.8
heat fraction
boiler has been developed by the 0.6
0.5~0.6mm
researchers at Tsinghua University, 0.4
experimental studies were conducted on the coal combustion in CFB boilers indicated that volatile
matter prefers to be burnt in the upper part of the furnace and so does fine char particles. Therefore,
proper size distribution of specific feeding fuel is required to satisfy a uniform temperature
distribution in CFB boiler furnace.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Financial supports of the present investigation by EDF and Chinese National Key Projects of
Tenth-Five Plan are gratefully acknowledged.
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Note: Will be published in the 18th International Conference on Fluidized Bed Combustion,
Toronto Canada, 2005
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