Computers and Chemical Engineering 35 (2011) 25–40

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Computers and Chemical Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compchemeng

Modeling and simulation of an oxy-fuel combustion boiler

system with flue gas recirculation
Ade Haryanto a,1 , Keum-Shik Hong b,∗
a
School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, 30 Jangjeon-dong, Gumjeong-gu, Busan 609-735, Republic of Korea
b
Department of Cogno-Mechatronics Engineering (W.C.U. program), Pusan National University, 30 Jangjeon-dong Gumjeong-gu, Busan 609-735, Republic of Korea

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper, a mathematical model of an oxy-fuel combustion boiler system with flue gas recirculation
Received 6 April 2009 is investigated. The reduction of CO2 emission from coal-fired power plants is an important research
Received in revised form 27 February 2010 issue in alleviating the global warming. The entire dynamics are decomposed in two main parts; fire-
Accepted 1 May 2010
side dynamics and water-side dynamics. The fire-side dynamics consist of the mass and energy balance
Available online 12 May 2010
equations in the furnace (combustion process) and the flue gas dynamics represented by the mass balance
equations of five gases (O2 , CO2 , SO2 , H2 O and NO2 ). The water-side dynamics include a drum pressure
Keywords:
equation and a steam temperature equation. To validate the developed models, the real experimental
Oxy-fuel combustion boiler
Coal power plant
data in Karakas, Koumanakos, et al. (2007) are used. To investigate the local behavior near an operating
Modeling point, a linearization method at its steady-state condition is pursued. The time responses of the entire
Simulation dynamics using step inputs (the oxygen mass flow rate, the coal mass flow rate, the primary air mass
Mass and energy balance flow rate, etc.) are also discussed.
Model validation © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Global warming is currently one of the most serious environ-
mental challenges in the world. The increase of carbon dioxide
(CO2 ) in the atmosphere is a dominating factor to global warming.
Carbon dioxide is emitted to the atmosphere through combustion
of fossil fuels in power plants, automotive engines, industrial pro-
cesses, and other heating processes. Most power plants still depend
on the use of fossil fuels and will continue to do so for a long
time, due to the lack of effective alternative energy sources. Lately,
concerns over the role of greenhouse gases in increasing global
warming have led to international agreements like the Kyoto Proto-
col, which sets targets for controlling CO2 emission. The measures
in these agreements force power plants to operate their steam gen-
eration systems more efficiently and closer to the admissible level
of the operating region to minimize operation cost as well as to
supply more electricity with less CO2 emission.
This paper focuses on the oxy-fuel combustion of pulver-
ized coal power plants. In conventional coal-fired combustion,
Abbreviations: ESP, electrostatic precipitator; RFG, recycled flue gas; FG, flue
gas; ASU, air separation unit; RC, raw coal.
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 51 510 2454; fax: +82 51 514 0685.
E-mail addresses: a.haryanto@pusan.ac.kr (A. Haryanto),
kshong@pusan.ac.kr (K.-S. Hong).
1
Tel.: +82 51 510 7326; fax: +82 51 514 0685.
ambient air is used for burning fuel (coal). Recently, studies on
CO2 capturing technologies (Buhre, Elliot, Sheng, Gupta, & Wall,
2005; Karakas, Doukelis, Giannakopoulos, & Koumanakos, 2007;
Zanganeh & Shafeen, 2007) indicated that oxy-fuel combustion
might be a favorable option for retrofitting the conventional coal-
fired power plant. In this type of combustion, coal is burned with
nearly pure oxygen to produce a flue gas that is mostly CO2 .
Practically, coal combustion in pure oxygen generates very high
temperatures in the furnace (Katsuki et al., 2009). To regulate the
high temperature and to compensate the volume fraction of miss-
ing N2 that ensures sufficient gas to carry heat through the boiler,
part of the flue gas (mostly consisting of CO2 , H2 O, and some excess
oxygen) is recycled back to the burner.
To maintain a high performance in oxy-fuel combustion boilers,
an effective control system is needed. The design and implementa-
tion of such a control system for an oxy-fuel combustion boiler
requires mathematical models that can adequately capture the
behaviors and dynamics of the combustion and boiler. The develop-
ment of dynamic models of oxy-fuel combustion for control system
design purposes has not been sufficiently studied; in fact, no liter-
ature exists about the modeling of oxy-fuel combustion for control
design purposes. Most literatures (Chui, Douglas, & Tan, 2003; Chui,
Majeski, Douglas, Tan, & Thambimutu, 2004; Li, Wei, & Jin, 2003)
discuss modeling issues of the conventional (and/or oxy-fuel) com-
bustion for the purpose of computational fluid dynamics analysis,
not for the purpose of control. These models are relatively complex
and not adequate for control system design.

0098-1354/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.compchemeng.2010.05.001
26 A. Haryanto, K.-S. Hong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 35 (2011) 25–40

Fig. 1. Schematic of a typical oxy-fuel combustion boiler system with flue gas recirculation.

In this paper, dynamic/mathematical models of the fire-side
(including the recycling part) and water-side of an oxy-fuel power
plant are investigated. The models are obtained by applying the
mass and energy conservation laws and chemical reaction equa-
tions. The fire-side models include the dynamics (char, sulfur, and
solid/gas temperatures) in the furnace and the flue gas emissions at
the boiler exit (O2 , CO2 , SO2 , H2 O and NO2 ). The water-side models
consist of the drum pressure dynamics, the mass flow rate of the
main steam and the temperature equation of the steam product. To
investigate disturbance effects as well as the plant normal behavior,
the paper also considers additional stochastic disturbances in the
forms of coal quality changes, recycled flue gas (RFG) fluctuations,
and oxygen production fluctuations from the air separation unit
(ASU). The disturbances become crucial if their appearance affects
the stability and thermal efficiency of the boiler system.
The contributions of this paper are the following. This is the first
work on the development of mathematical models of an oxy-fuel
combustion boiler system. Using the data in Karakas, Koumanakos,
Doukelis, Giannakopoulos and Vorrias (2007), an operating point
of the developed model (which corresponds to the steady-state
condition of Greenfield power plant) is established. To investigate
input–output characteristics at the steady-state operation, the non-
 A. Haryanto, K.-S. Hong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 35 (2011) 25–40
Fig. 2. Oxy-fuel combustion process with CO2 recirculation.
linear furnace dynamics are linearized at its operating point. A state
equation that relates four inputs (coal mass flow rate, primary air
mass flow rate, secondary air mass flow rate, and oxygen mass
flow rate) to four outputs (char mass, sulphur mass, solid particle
temperature in the furnace, and gas temperature in the furnace)
is derived. Since the plant will operate mostly at its steady state,
this linear analysis will give a good intuition on what parameter
to change to improve the steady-state performance. To verify the
global behavior of the plant, the time responses of the entire non-
linear equations are also investigated: In this case, the used two
inputs are the coal mass flow rate and the primary air mass flow
rate, whereas the obtained four outputs are the gas temperature,
the char mass, the steam temperature, and the drum pressure. Also,
the consistency of the obtained results with the real experimental
data in Karakas, Koumanakos, et al. (2007) is confirmed. The inves-
tigation on the concentration changes of O2 , CO2 , H2 O and NO2 in
the flue gas upon the step change of the mass flow rate of the RFG
is another meaningful work. The disturbance effects in obtaining a
stable gas temperature that are caused by O2 concentration changes
from the ASU, CO2 concentration changes in the primary air, and
coal quality changes are addressed as well. Most of all, the devel-
oped model can be used for a model-based control system design.
The paper is structured as follows. In Section 2, the basic
principles and nonlinear characteristics of the fire-side in oxy-
fuel combustion are described. In Section 3, the dynamics of the
water-side are discussed. In Section 4, a linear analysis and the
steady-state behavior analysis of an oxy-fuel furnace are presented.
In Section 5, simulations of the full dynamics including disturbance
effects are conducted and discussions are drawn. In Section 6, con-
clusions are made.
2. Fire-side dynamics: combustion and flue gas
2.1. Oxy-fuel combustion boiler
Fig. 1(a) shows the typical oxy-fuel combustion boiler system
with flue gas recirculation (with some simplifications for modeling
purposes) considered in this study. Fig. 1(b) adopted from Karakas,
Koumanakos, et al. (2007) depicts a process flow diagram. The oxy-
gen (O2 ) is separated from the air in the cryogenic ASU and then
mixed with a recycled stream of the flue gas (RFG ), which comes
from the boiler exit. The mixture of RFG plus O2 is referred to as
synthetic air. The primary synthetic air (pri ) transports the pul-
verized coal into the furnace at the mass flow rate coal,in , while
the secondary synthetic air (scn ) enters the furnace to provide the
higher mass and volumetric flow. To improve the flame stability
and to decrease the unburnt carbon content of the ash, pure O2 is
injected (oxy ) at the centre of the burner (Kimura, Omata, Kiga,
Takano, & Shikisima, 1995; Nozaki, Takano, Kiga, Omata, & Kimura,
1997).
27
As shown in Fig. 2, the constituents of the flue gas (O2 , CO2 , H2 O,
SO2 and N2 ) emitted from combustion process can be monitored by
using a flue gas analyzer. In the oxy-fuel combustion, about 70–80%
of the total CO2 emission is recycled into the burner, and the non-
condensable CO2 is stored in the carbon capture and storage (CCS)
system.
2.2. Mass and energy balance in the furnace
Coal combustion is usually modeled based on the assumption
that coal is converted in three steps: pyrolysis of raw coal, com-
bustion of volatiles, and char (carbon reach solid residue) burnout
(Chomiak, 1990). When coal is heated in the temperature range of
200–1200 K, it decomposes into hydrogen rich fraction, volatiles,
and char. This process is called pyrolysis, which produces three
main products of coal combustion: char, tar (Cx Hy Oz with an H/C
molar ratio of 1.1 and an O/C molar ratio equal to the parent coal)
and gas (Solomon, Serio, & Suuberg, 1992). In this paper, a number
of mathematical models are derived by assuming that the incoming
solid components into the furnace consist of char and sulphur. The
reactivity and structure of chars depend on the type of coal, tem-
perature of pyrolysis, heating rate, particle size, and the residence
time of the coal particle in the reactor (Yu, Lucas, & Wall, 2007).
Dynamics models of the combustion in the furnace and of the
flue gases at the boiler exit are based on the mass and energy bal-
ance and the chemical reactions of coal combustion. Under the
assumption that the furnace is a stirred reactor in which het-
erogeneous (solid–gas) reactions take place, the mass and energy
balances for the solid components in the furnace are given by
dmchar
= wt 
char coal,in
− char,react − char,out , (1)
dt
dmsulp
= wt 
sulp coal,in
− sulp,react − sulp,out , (2)
dt
d
(m C (Ts − T0 ) + msulp Cp,sulp (Ts − T0 ))
dt char p,char
= wt  C (T
char coal,in p,char coal
− T0 ) + wt 
sulp coal,in
× Cp,sulp (Tcoal − T0 )
− char,out Cp,char (Ts − T0 ) − sulp,out Cp,sulp (Ts − T0 )
− char,react Cp,char × (Ts − T0 ) − sulp,react Cp,sulp (Ts − T0 )
− pri Cp,FG (Ts − Tpri ) + char,react LHV HLHV + sulp,react Hsulp
+ qrad , (3)
where mchar and msulp are the total masses of the char and sulphur
particles in the furnace (kg), respectively; coal,in is the mass flow
rate of the inlet coal (kg/s); char,out and sulp,out are the mass flow
rates of the unconverted char and generated sulphur that leave the
furnace through the ash (kg/s), respectively; char,react and sulp,react
28 A. Haryanto, K.-S. Hong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 35 (2011) 25–40
are the mass reaction rates of the char and sulphur particles (kg/s),
respectively; wt
char
and wt
sulp
are the mass fractions of the char and
sulphur in the coal (wt%), respectively; Cp,char , Cp,sulp and Cp,FG are
the specific heat capacities of the char, sulphur particle and the
flue gas (kJ/kG K), respectively; T0 is the environment (reference)
temperature (298 K), and Ts and Tg are the temperatures of the solid
and the gas phases of the coal in the furnace (K), respectively. The
terms char,react LHV HLHV and sulp,react Hsulp in (3) describe the
energy released from the char and sulphur reactions, respectively,
where LHV is the energy distribution factor, HLHV is the lower
heating value of the coal (kJ/kG) and Hsulp is the specific enthalpy
of the sulphur reaction (kJ/kg).
The term qrad in (3) indicates the radiative heat flux from the
gas to the char particles, and the linearized form of qrad is given by
Hottel and Sarofim (1967)
qrad = A˛(εg Tg − ˇg Tchar ),
where
AT
A=
(1/εg ) + (1/Cs εchar ) − 1
and A is the burning area (m2 ); AT the total furnace envelope area
(m2 ); ˇg is the absorptivity of the gas; εg and εchar are the emissiv-
ities of the gas and char, respectively; Cs is the sink fraction of the
total furnace envelope area, and ˛ is the convective heat transfer
coefficient (W/m K). ˛ can be obtained from the Nusselt number
(Nu) equation as follows:
kf
˛ = Nu , (6)
L
where kf is the thermal conductivity of the gas (W/m K) and L is the
characteristics length (m) of the furnace. In this paper, to reduce
computation, a fixed Nusselt number (0.036, Karlekar & Desmond,
1977) is used throughout the combustion process by assuming that
the temperature difference between the bulk fluid and the heat
transfer surface is minimal (i.e., /s ≈ 1, where  is the fluid vis-
cosity at the bulk fluid temperature and s is the fluid viscosity
at the heat transfer boundary surface temperature). For detailed
combustion modeling (for instance, in computational fluid dynam-
ics), varying Nusselt numbers can be incorporated by taking into
account of the viscosity changes ( and s ).
Under the assumption that the amounts of the unconverted char
and generated sulphur leaving the furnace through the ash are very
small (char,out , sulp,out ≈ 0), the substitution of (1) and (2) into (3)
results in the following equation of the energy balance:
dTs
(Cp,char mchar + Cp,sulp msulp )
dt
= (wt C
char p,char
+ wt C
sulp p,sulp
)coal,in (Tcoal − Ts ) − pri Cp,FG
× (Ts − Tpri ) + char,react LHV HLHV + sulp,react Hsulp + qrad . (7)
According to the principle of pulverized coal combustion (Smoot
& Smith, 1985), the total reaction rate of the char particle is deter-
mined not only by the rate of chemical reactions, but also by
the intensity of the oxygen mass supplied to the reaction zone.
Assuming that char is pure carbon (C), the total reaction rate coeffi-
cient of the char particle (kchar,react ) can be calculated based on the
diffusive-kinetic theory of combustion below.
YO2
kchar,react =
1/kr,char + 1/kd
where YO2 is the molar concentration of O2 near the char particle
surface (kmol/m3 ), kd is the diffusion parameter of mass transfer
(m/s), and kr,char is the reaction rate parameter of the char particle
in kinetic regime (m/s) given by Arrhenius expression. That is,
 
EA,char
kr,char = k0,char exp − , (9)
Ru Tg
where k0,char is the pre-exponential factor of char particle reaction
(m/s), Ru is the universal gas constant (J/kmol K), and EA,char is the
activation energy of char particle reaction (J kmol). Therefore, the
char particle reaction rate (char,react ) in (1) can be calculated as
char,react = kchar,react achar mchar
YO2 , (10)
= achar mchar
1/kr,char + 1/kd
where achar is the interfacial surface area of the char particle
(m2 /kg).
In combustion systems, radiation is a major heat transfer
(4)
mechanism among the solid particles in combustion. For detailed
combustion modeling, the radiation fluxes may have to be com-
puted using both diffusivity and scattering coefficients. However,
in this paper, as done in Yang, Ryu, Khor, Sharifi, and Swithenbank
(5)
(2005), we assume that the scattering coefficient is very small (i.e.,
close to zero). Therefore, the radiation flux is given as a function of
only the diffusivity coefficient. The parameter kd in (8) is given as a
function of the non-dimensional Sherwood number Sh as follows:
D
kd = Sh , (11)
dp
where dp is the diameter of the char particle (m) and D is the
diffusion coefficient of O2 in air, which is given as an empiri-
cal expression for high temperature combustion products (K−1 )
(Smoot & Smith, 1985):
D = 9.8 · 10−10 Tg1.75 . (12)
Based on the investigation of Várheyi & Till (1999), the kinet-
ics of a solid particle with O2 reaction is not influenced by the
presence of high amounts of CO2 both in atmospheric thermo-
gravimetry and in pressurized thermogravimetry. This means the
rate of char particle combustion (char,react ) of (8) can be used for
describing oxygen-mixed CO2 combustion (oxy-fuel combustion
with CO2 recirculation).
The total mass balance of the gas phase is straightforward and
can be integrated in the energy balance of the gas phase as follows:
dTg
g Vg Cp,g = oxy Cp,FG (Toxy − Tg ) + pri Cp,FG (Ts − Tg )
dt
+ scn Cp,FG (Tscn − Tg ) + char,react Cp,FG (Ts − Tg )
+ char,react (1 − LHV )HLHV − qrad , (13)
where g is the gas density (kg/m3 ),
Vg is the gas volume Cp,g m3 ,
is the specific heat capacity of the gas (J/kg K), Toxy and Tscn are the
O2 injection and synthetic secondary air temperatures (K), respec-
tively. The first to the fourth terms of the right-hand side of (13)
describe the contributions of the convective heat from the oxygen
injection and from the primary and secondary synthetic airs, and
from the amount of solid material converted into gas, respectively.
The last term char,react (1 − LHV )HLHV describes the released heat
by gas reaction.
2.3. Dynamics of the flue gases
This subsection describes the dynamics of the flue gases (O2 ,
CO2 , SO2 , H2 O and N2 ). During the change of constituents of the flue
(8) gas, a complex connection of gases will occur due to the chemical
reactions between O2 and the other components of the flue gas. The
combustion of the coal in its simplest form is a high temperature
oxidation of carbon into CO2 at the particle surface, as expressed by
 A. Haryanto, K.-S. Hong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 35 (2011) 25–40 29

Fig. 3. Carbon reaction processes in the furnace.

C + O2 → CO2 (exothermic reaction). However, the actual chemical reactions in Fig. 3, the balance equation of O2 can be written as
reaction even on a non-porous char particle may not be as simple
as the above reaction. Other possible stages may exist: pyrolysis dMO2
= FO2 ,in − FO2 ,cons − FO2 ,FG . (14)
of raw coal, combustion of volatiles, and char burnout. A detailed dt
description of these stages can be found in Smoot and Smith (1985).
The reaction models of carbon particles in oxy-fuel combustion Eq. (14) means that the change of the total molar number of O2
can be described as shown in Fig. 3: The rate equations and the MO2 , kmol is equal to the sum of the total molar flow rate of O2 at
parameters of the reactions are summarized in Table 1 (Badzioch & the furnace inlet (FO2 ,in ), the molar consumption rate of O2 in the
Hawksley, 1970; Förtsch, Kluger, Schnell, Splietheff, & Hein, 1998; furnace (−FO2 ,cons ), and the outgoing molar flow rate of O2 from the
Serio, Peters, & Howard, 1987; Zimonth & Trushin, 1967). furnace (−FO2 ,FG ).
The pyrolysis process consists of the primary reaction {C1 } Based upon the evaluation of the residence time obtained from
yielding three main products, namely, char, tar, and gas, followed by (7) and (13), the accumulation of O2 in the furnace can be neglected.
secondary reactions {C2 }, {C3 } and {C4 } yielding soot (C), hydrogen The residence time of the char particle ( char ) in the furnace is much
(H2 ), light hydrocarbons, and carbon monoxide (CO). The com- longer than that of the gas particle ( g ), that is,
bustible gaseous products of the pyrolysis (H2 , Cm Hn , and CO) are
Cp,char mchar
converted via {C5 }, {C6 }, {C7 } and {C8 } reactions. Soot particle reac- char =  g
tion {C9 } is treated as a gaseous reaction in combustion (Magnussen coal,in Cp,char − pri Cp,FG + A˛ˇg
& Hjertager, 1976). All the homogenous reactions {C1 }–{C9 } are g Cp,fg Vg
treated as irreversible reactions, and the heterogenous reaction of = . (15)
(pri + scn + oxy )Cp,FG − A˛εg
char burnout {C10 } is assumed to be a surface reaction of the C
particle.
Since the gas emissions in combustion are of our interest, the For this reason, the O2 balance is straightforward as follows:
dynamics of the flue gases are derived based on their combustion
reactions and mass balance principles as follows. According to the FO2 ,in − FO2 ,cons = FO2 ,FG , (16)

Table 1
Carbon reaction equations and parameter values.

Rate equations Parameter values

dmcoal
{C1 } dt
= k0,c1 · exp(−EC1 /RT ) · mcoal k0,C1 = 1.5 × 105 s−1
EC1 /R = 8.9 × 103 K
dYtar
{C2 } dt
= k0,c2 · exp(−EC2 /RT ) · Ytar k0,C2 = 5.02 × 108 s−1
EC2 /R = 2.39 × 104 K
dYtar
{C3 } dt
= k0,c3 · exp(−EC3 /RT ) · Ytar k0,C3 = 5.42 × 104 s−1
EC3 /R = 1.21 × 104 K
dYtar
{C4 } dt
= k0,c4 · exp(−EC4 /RT ) · Ytar · YO2 k0,C4 = 3.8 × 107 m3 /(kmol s)
EC4 /R = 6.67 × 103 K
dYCm Hn
{C5 } dt
= k0,c5 · T 0.5 exp(−EC5 /RT ) · YCm Hn · YO2 k0,C5 = 3.8 × 107 m3 /(kmol s)
EC5 /R = 6.67 × 103 K
dYCO
{C6 } dt
= k0,c6 · exp(−EC6 /RT ) · YCO · YO2 0.5 · YH2 O 0.5 k0,C6 = 1.3 × 1011 m3 /(kmol s)
EC6 /R = 1.51 × 104 K
dYH
{C7 } dt
2
= k0,c7 · YH2 · YO2 k0,C7 = ∞
dYCm Hn
{C8 } dt
= k0,c8 · exp(−EC8 /RT ) · YCm Hn · YH2 O k0,C8 = 4.4 × 1011 m3 /(kmol s)
EC8 /R = 1.51 × 104 K
k1 ·exp(−E1 /RT )·p2
k1 = 3.05 × 10−3
dmsoot
{C9 } = Asoot
dt 1+k2 ·exp(−E2 /RT )·p2
k2 = 3.1 Pa−2
E1 /R = 2.9 × 104 K
E2 /R = 2.93 × 104 K
{C10 } Eq. (9)
30 A. Haryanto, K.-S. Hong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 35 (2011) 25–40

Fig. 4. Nitrogen reaction processes in the furnace.

where the O2 consumption (FO2 ,cons ) follows directly from (9) as Also, the CO2 concentration of the flue gas can be simply con-
follows: sidered as the accumulation of CO2 ( CO2 ) that comes from the
gas phase reactions (in Fig. 3) and some CO2 contributions from the
FO2 ,cons = YO2 kr,char achar mchar
YO2 achar mchar RFG. A similar mechanism also applies to the H2 O concentration of
=  . (17) the flue gas.
1/kd + k0 exp −EA,char /(Ru Tg ) After O2 and CO2 dynamics are obtained, the production of
other combustion gases is considered. In the combustion process,
The molar flow rate of the incoming O2 is given by
nitrogen dioxide (NO2 ) can be formed by the fixation of molecular
(pri + scn )YO2 ,in + oxy YO2 ,ASU nitrogen in the combustion air or by the nitrogen chemically bound
FO2 ,in = , (18) in the coal. The reaction models of coal-nitrogen in the oxy-fuel
air
combustion furnace can be presented as shown in Fig. 4: The rate
and the molar flow rate of O2 of the flue gas is calculated as equations and the parameters are summarized in Table 2 (Chen,
FG Smoot, Hill, & Fletcher, 1996; Cheng, Kirsch, & Lester, 1989; Miller
FO2 ,FG = YO ,FG . (19) & Bowman, 2003; Mitchel & Tarbell, 1982). The coal-nitrogen reac-
FG 2
tions consist of the decay of the CN subsystem initiated by attacking
Hence, the molar concentration of O2 of the flue gas can be oxygen-containing species {N1 }, oxidation of NHi {N2 }, reduction
computed as follows: of NO {N3 }, reburning of nitric oxide {N4 }, further destruction of
  NO by soot {N5s } and char {N5c } and nitrogen thermal mechanism
(pri + scn )YO2 ,syn + oxy YO2 ,ASU /air {N6 }.
YO2 ,FG = , (20)
FG
+
achar mchar Finally, sulphur compounds are formed through a series of
FG 1/kd +k0 exp(−EA,char /Rg Ts )
reactions involving the organically bound sulphur and the sulphur-
where YO2 ,syn and YO2 ,ASU are the molar concentration of O2 from bearing inorganic compounds in the mineral matter (e.g., pyrites)
the synthetic air and from the ASU (kmol/m3 ), respectively. The of coal particles. The predominant combustion product is sulphur
mass balance of the gas phase in the furnace holds in general as dioxide (SO2 ) with small amounts of sulphur trioxide (SO3 ). A con-
follows: siderable amount of sulphur (approximately about 15%) is retained
in the residual coal ash. The formation of sulphuric pollutants
dmg during combustion is depicted in Fig. 5. The reactions of sulphur
= pri + scn + oxy + char,react − FG . (21)
dt involving O2 yield the major sulphuric product, SO2 , during com-
However, considering the fact that s  g (i.e., dmg /dt ≈ 0), the bustion via {S1 } and {S5 }, and a small amount of retained sulphur
mass flow rate of the flue gas (FG ) can be assumed as is formed by reaction {S7 }. The rate equations and the parameters
of the sulphur reactions in the furnace are summarized in Table 3
FG = pri + scn + oxy + char,react . (22) (Dowling & Clark, 1999; Dowling, Hyne, & Brown, 1990; Gómez,

Table 2
Nitrogen reaction equations and parameter values.

Rate equations Parameter values

dXHCN
{N1 } dt
= k0,N1 · exp(−EN1 /RT ) · XHCN · XO2 k0,N1 = 1.94 × 1015 s−1
EN1 /R = 3.95 × 104 K
k0,N ·X b
dXNH 2 O
{N2 } dXNH
3
= k0,N ·XNO
2
· exp(EN3 /RT − EN2 /RT ) k0,N2 = 2.8 × 1010 s−1
3 3
{N3 } k0,N3 = 3.0 × 1012 s−1
EN2 /R = 3.37 × 104 K
EN3 /R = 3.02 × 104 K
dXNO
{N4 } dt
= −k0,N4 · exp(−EN4 /RT ) · XNO · XCm Hn k0,N4 = 9.2 × 104 s−1
EN4 /R = 9.46 × 103 K
k0,N5s = 4.47 × 10−7 m3 /(kmol s)
dMNO
{N5s } dt
= −k0,5s · exp(−EN5s /RT ) · pNO · Asoot
EN5s /R = 9.65 × 103 K
k0,N5c = 4.18 × 10−4 m3 /(kmol s)
dMNO
{N5c } dt
= −k0,5c · exp(−EN5c /RT ) · pNO · Apar
EN5s /R = 1.75 × 104 K
dXNO 0.5
{N6 } dt
= k0,N6 · exp(−EC6 /RT ) · XN2 · (XO2 · g ) k0,N6 = 1.0 × 1013 m1.5 /(kg0.5 s)
EN6 /R = 6.81 × 104 K
 A. Haryanto, K.-S. Hong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 35 (2011) 25–40 31

Fig. 5. Sulphur reaction processes in the furnace.

Fueyo, & Tomás, 2007; Karan, Mehrotra, & Behie, 1998; Westley,
1980).
According to the reactions described in Figs. 3–5 for carbon,
nitrogen and sulphur, respectively, we derive the mass and vol-
ume balances for flue gases NO2 , SO2 , CO2 , and H2 O to obtain the
equations of flue gas dynamics. The general gas balance equation
for each gas constituent in the furnace can be written as
d cific enthalpies of the water in the boiler section and the feedwater
(Mg Xi ) = Fi,in − Fi,FG + Fi,gen − Fi,cons + Fi,RFG ,
dt
where Mg is the total molar number of the gas in the furnace
(kmol), Xi is the mole fraction of the ith gas species in the furnace
(kmol/kmol), Fi,in is the molar flow rate of gas species i in the air
feed flow (kmol/s), Fi,FG is the molar flow rate of the flue gas species
i out of the furnace (kmol/s), Fi,gen is the molar generation rate of gas
species i from reactions (kmol/s), Fi,cons is the molar consumption
rate of gas species i by reactions (kmol/s), and Fi,RFG is the molar
flow rate of gas species i from the RFG (kmol/s).
3. Water-side dynamics
3.1. Drum pressure
In a power plant, the heat released from the combustion pro-
cess is used to convert feedwater into steam in the boiler system.
The steam is used by the turbine to generate electricity. Recent lit-
eratures have reported several models of water-tube boilers (e.g.
Aström & Bell, 2000; Leva & Maffezzoni, 1999). These models were
developed by utilizing the basic laws of mass, energy and momen-
tum balances as well as the thermodynamic properties of the
water-steam mixture.
For the drum pressure, the following differential equation was
derived by Aström and Bell (2000):
dp
e = Q − fw (hw − hfw ) − steam hc , (24)
dt
where p is the pressure of the drum boiler (kPa), Q is the heat trans-
ferred from the gas phase of the furnace to the boiler section (kJ),
steam is the steam mass flow rate (kg/s), hw and hfw are the spe-
(23)
(kJ/kg), respectively, while hc represents the condensation enthalpy
(kJ/kg). fw (hw − hfw ) represents the increase of the enthalpy of
the feedwater entering the boiler section. The e term results from
the relation between the internal energy of the feedwater and the
enthalpy of the steam. A good approximation of e (Aström & Bell,
2000) is
∂hw dTsteam
e ≈ w Vw + mmetal Cp,metal , (25)
∂p dt
where Vw represents the total volume of the water in the system
(m3 ), mmetal is the total mass of the metal of the drum boiler and the
evaporators section (kg), and Cp,metal is the specific heat capacity of
the metal of the drum and evaporators (J/kg K), and Tsteam is the
steam temperature (K). Eq. (25) shows that the dynamics of the
evaporators-drum system is determined by the energy of the water
and the total mass of the metal in the system.
3.2. Steam product
Since the amount of the steam product is our interest, (24) has
to be connected with a hydrodynamic relationship for the steam
flow. The amount of the required steam is determined by the user.
To simplify the analysis, the steam turbine can be regarded as a

Table 3
Sulphur reaction equations and parameter values.

Rate equations Parameter values

dMS −ES
{S1 } dt
= k0,S1 · exp RT
1
· MS k0,S1 = 1.4 × 1012 s−1

ES1 /R = ±50 K
dYS
{S2 } dt
= k0,S2 · exp(−ES2 /RT ) · YS · YCO2 k0,S2 = 1.3 × 1012 m3 /(kmol s)
ES2 /R = 37, 600 K
k0,S3 = 1.3 × 10−1 m3 /(kmol s)
dYS
{S3 } dt
= k0,S3 · exp(−ES3 /RT ) · YS · YH2 O
ES3 /R = 0 K
dYH S
{S4 } dt
2
= k0,S4 · exp(−ES4 /RT ) · YCO2 · YH2 S k0,S4 = 4.0 × 1012 m3 /(kmol s) ES5 /R = 66, 530 K
dYH S
{S5 } dt
2
= k0,S5 · exp(−ES5 /RT ) · YSO2 · YH2 O k0,S5 = 6.3 × 1012 m3 /(kmol s) ES5 /R = 200 ± 150 K
dYH S
{S6 } dt
2
= k0,S6 · exp(−ES6 /RT ) · YCO · YCOS k0,S6 = 1.3 × 1012 m3 /(kmol s) ES6 /R = 37, 600 K
dYCOS
{S7 } dt
= k0,S7 · exp(−ES7 /RT ) · YH2 S · YCS2 k0,S7 = 1.7 × 1012 m3 /(kmol s) ES7 /R = 2050 ± 230 K
dYCS
{S8 } dt
2
= k0,S8 · exp(−ES8 /RT ) · YCS2 k0,S8 = 3.9 × 1011 m3 /(kmol s)
ES8 /R = 0 K
32 A. Haryanto, K.-S. Hong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 35 (2011) 25–40

Table 4
Coal (dried lignite) data used in simulation (Karakas,
Koumanakos, et al., 2007).

Components Values

C 36.5 wt%
H 2.9 wt%
S 0.8 wt%
O 17.2 wt%
N 1.1 wt%
Ash 29.5 wt%
H2 O 12.0 wt%
LHV 13,025 kJ/kg

throttle valve. Inside the valve, the amount of the produced steam
is dependent on the drum pressure and the extent of superheat-
Fig. 7. The conversion rates of char and sulphur used in simulation: The curves are
ing. When the steam is saturated, it behaves like water, and when obtained by solving (30) and (31) under the steady-state operation assumption.
it is superheated extensively, it behaves like an ideal gas (Leva &
Maffezzoni, 1999). The Instrument Society of America introduced
the following relationship for moderate superheating of steam flow rate of the steam.
(Leva & Maffezzoni, 1999). 1
p
ı d
0 steam
e = Q − fw (hw − hfw ) − steam hc . (28)
kvalve steam dt
steam = kvalve p(1−ı) steam
ı
, (26)
The amount of heat transferred from the gas phase in the com-
where kvalve is the system dependent constant (valve area, adia- bustion process to the boiler (Q) can be related to the gas phase
batic index amongst others), steam is the steam density at the valve temperature by the convective heat transfer equation as follows:
inlet (kg/m3 ), p is the steam drum pressure (kPa), and ı is a con-
stant between 0 and 0.5 (ı = 0 for saturated steam and ı = 0.5 for Q = FG Cp,FG (Tg − Tsteam ), (29)
superheated steam).
where  is the efficiency factor regarding the heat losses in the
The linearization of (26) around an equilibrium value results in
boiler (%).
the following equation:

steam = kvalve (1 − ı)p0 −ı steam

ı
(p − p0 ), (27) 4. Linear analysis of furnace dynamics

which is allowed for most practical situations (Leva & Maffezzoni, For dynamical analyses, the equations developed in Sections 2
1999). Rearranging (27) and substituting it into (25) results in the and 3 for the considered oxy-fuel combustion boiler system with
following first order differential equation for calculating the mass flue gas recirculation are re-arranged as follows:

Fig. 6. Simulink block diagram for simulating the developed models.

 A. Haryanto, K.-S. Hong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 35 (2011) 25–40 33

Table 5
Heat and mass balance data used in simulation (Karakas, Koumanakos, et al., 2007).

Plant unit Symbol in Fig. 1(a) p(bar) T (◦ C)  (kg/s) h (kJ/kg)

Air A1 1.01 15.0 319.8 15.2

Oxygen from ASU A8 1.03 350.0 76.4 337.1
Dried coal for combustion F3 1.02 106.0 69.1 174.3
Flue gas (FG) G1 1.02 1701.5 390.0 2424.4
Recycled flue gas (RFG) G8 1.03 369.2 265.0 430.1
Un-recycled flue gas G9 1.03 260.8 132.8 295.2
Feedwater S3 232.1 320.8 257.5 1445.5
Steam from drum S4 227.7 404.9 257.5 2736.8

Furnace Water steam

dmchar dp
= wt  − char,react , (1) e = Q − fw (hw − hfw ) − steam hc , (24)
dt char coal,in dt
1
p
ı d
dmsulp 0 steam
e = Q − fw (hw − hfw ) − steam hc . (28)
= wt 
sulp coal,in
− sulp,react , (2) kvalve steam dt
dt
To verify the applicability of the developed models above,
dTs the Greenfield (oxy-fuel combustion) pulverized power plant in
(Cp,char mchar + Cp,sulp msulp )
dt Karakas, Koumanakos, et al. (2007) is adopted, because it exhibits
the real mass and energy balance data of an oxy-fuel combustion
= (wt C
char p,char
+ wt C
sulp p,sulp
)coal,in (Tcoal − Ts ) − pri Cp,FG
process. The process flow diagram of the Greenfield plant is shown
× (Ts − Tpri )+char,react LHV HLHV + sulp,react Hsulp + qrad , (7) in Fig. 1(b). The main difference between the conventional and
oxy-fuel combustion systems is the existence of some additional
operation units (i.e., an ASU, a RFG system and some operation units
dTg
g Vg Cp,g = oxy Cp,FG (Toxy − Tg ) + pri Cp,FG (Ts − Tg )
dt
+ scn Cp,FG (Tscn − Tg ) + char,react Cp,FG (Ts − Tg )

+ char,react (1 − LHV )HLHV − qrad , (13)

Flue gas

Fi,in = Fi,FG + Fi,gen − Fi,cons + Fi,RFG , (14)

Fig. 8. Nyquist plots of the transfer function (32) from oxy to Tg : Comparison of two
different char conversion rates. Fig. 9. Time responses of Tg when a step change of oxy occurs at time 5 min.
34 A. Haryanto, K.-S. Hong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 35 (2011) 25–40
Fig. 10. Fire-side (gas temperature, char mass) and water-side (drum pressure, steam temperature) dynamics when coal,in changes 10% suddenly (step increase or step
decrease) at time 10 min.
for carbon capture and storage). The Greenfield plant uses a typi-
cal low grade coal (Lignite) as fuel, whose dried lignite ultimate
analysis is provided in Table 4.
The developed models were implemented in Matlab/Simulink,
version R2008b: Fig. 6 shows the overall scheme of simulation. The
aims of this simulation are to investigate an open-loop dynamic
behavior of the oxy-fuel combustion system with the change(s)
of parameter(s) of the plant (for instance, conversion rate, oxygen
mass flow rate, coal mass flow rate, etc.) and to develop a control-
oriented model for a model-based control (but the control issue is
not addressed in this paper yet).
4.1. Steady-state characteristics
In this paper, as user-defined optimal conversion rates, 95% con-
version rate of char and 80% conversion rate of sulphur are chosen
(which is based upon the data from Karakas, Koumanakos, et al.
(2007)). The steady-state conditions (material balances) for char
and sulphur in the furnace are obtained as follows (by putting the
right-hand sides of (1) and (2) equal to zero).
YO2 achar kd  
0 =mchar,in − mchar k0,char exp −EA,char /Ru Tg
kd + k0,char exp(−EA,char /Ru Tg ) , (30)
= mchar,in (1 − char )fchar (Tg )
0= msulp,in − msulp k0,sulp exp(−EA,sulp /Ru Tg )
, (31)
= msulp,in (1 − sulp )fsulp (Tg )
where char = 1 − mchar /mchar,in (char conversion rate) and sulp =
1 − msulp /msulp,in (sulphur conversion rate). Fig. 7 summarizes the
conversion rate vs. the gas temperature (by solving (30) and (31))
as a chart for simulation. It can be seen that the optimal 95% char
conversion rate and 80% sulphur conversion rate are obtainable at
about 1700 ◦ C (in relation to the steady-state design of Greenfield
 A. Haryanto, K.-S. Hong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 35 (2011) 25–40 35

Fig. 11. Fire-side and water-side dynamics when pri changes 10% suddenly at time 10 min.

power plant), and for any other conversion rate that is lower or
higher than these values, two solutions (temperatures) are avail-
able.
4.2. Linearization of the furnace dynamics
Considerable insight into the dynamic behavior of the oxy-fuel
combustion system can be gained by exploring the effects of various
parameters on a linearized version of the system equations: (1),
(2), (7) and (13). Dynamic features such as the speed of response
and the (local) stability can be clearly revealed using this linear
model. The nonlinearities occur in the solid and gas temperature
equations in the furnace and in the exponential temperature term
of reactions. Expanding these nonlinear terms in a Taylor series
and truncating the higher order terms after the first term gives
the state space equation (A9) in Appendix A. The corresponding
steady-state conditions of the Greenfield power plant (for instance,
Tg = 1700 ◦ C, oxy = 77.4 kg/s, and see Table 5 for others) are chosen
as an operating point in the linearization of the nonlinear equations,
(1), (2), (7), and (13).
36 A. Haryanto, K.-S. Hong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 35 (2011) 25–40

Table 6
Flue gas composition data used in simulation (Karakas,
Koumanakos, et al., 2007).

Components Values (wt%)

N + Ar 8.29
CO2 65.96
H2 O 18.80
SO2 0.80
O2 1.28
Ash 4.87

follows:
Tg (s) m3 s3 + m2 s2 + m1 s + m0
=
oxy (s) s4 + n3 s3 + n2 s2 + n1 s + n0
⎧ 0.0002146s3 + 4.33e − 8s2 + 0.034s + 0.13
⎪
⎪ ,
⎪
⎪ s4 + 1.305s3 + 0.0352s2 + 0.002983s + 5.942e − 7
⎪
⎪
⎨ for char = 95% (32)
=
⎪
⎪ 0.000614s3 +1.471e − 7s2 +0.00231s+0.025
⎪
⎪ ,
⎪
⎪ s 4 +0.004401s3 +1.507e − 7s2 +4.005e − 9s+0.014

⎩
for char = 80%

where
m3 = b44 , m2 = −(a11 + a22 + a33 )b44 ,

m1 = (−a11 − a22 + a11 a22 )b44 , m0 = −a11 a22 a33 b44 ,

n3 = −(a11 + a22 + a33 + a44 ),

n2 = ((a11 + a22 )(a34 + a44 ) + a33 a44 + a11 a33 − a24 a42 ),

n1 = (−a33 a44 (a11 + a22 )

− a11 a33 (a33 + a44 ) − a24 a42 (a11 + a33 ) − a24 a32 a43 ),
n0 = −a11 a24 a33 a42 − a11 a24 a32 a43 + a11 a233 a44 − a11

and aij are defined in (A9). Fig. 8 depicts the Nyquist plots of the
transfer function from oxy to Tg for two cases: 95% and 80% char
conversion rates. Fig. 8(a) shows a stable Nyquist plot when the
char conversion rate is 95%, whereas Fig. 8(b) depicts an unsta-
ble Nyquist plot when the char conversion rate is set to 80%. Fig. 9
compares the time responses of the gas temperature Tg when a step
change of the oxygen mass flow rate oxy occurred at time 5 min.
Fig. 9(a) depicts the case of 10% increase of oxy , whereas Fig. 9(b)
shows the case of 10% decrease. An unstable behavior of 80% char
conversion rate is shown in both cases. Now, with the above linear
analyses, the usability of the developed models is clearly demon-
strated.

5. Simulations and discussions

5.1. Step responses

The main purpose of this section is to validate the developed

Fig. 12. O2 , CO2 , NO2 , and H2 O concentration changes (vs. Tg ) when RFG increases
5%.
Now, we want to know the influence of design parameters
(for instance, char conversion rate, coal mass flow rate, primary
air mass flow rate, etc.) to the open-loop behavior of the plant.
Using (A9), the transfer functions from oxy to Tg is obtained as
models in Sections 2 and 3. As starting values (initial conditions),
the mass and energy balance data (steady-state conditions) of the
selected units from the Greenfield plant given in Table 5 are used.
Fig. 10 compares the fire-side dynamics (the gas temperature in the
furnace, the char mass of char) and the water-side dynamics (the
drum pressure, the steam temperature) when the coal mass flow
rate coal,in changes 10% suddenly (step increase or step decrease)
at time 10 min. Similarly, Fig. 11 repeats those of Fig. 10 when the
mass flow rate of primary air pri changes 10% suddenly at time
10 min. In this simulation, we assume that the throttle valve open-
ing of the turbine is constant, and the mass flow rate of feed water
and that of recycled flue gas are assumed constant as well. The
observation in Figs. 10 and 11 concludes that when the coal feed
 A. Haryanto, K.-S. Hong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 35 (2011) 25–40
Fig. 13. The time responses of Tg in the presence of disturbances (O2 concentration, primary air feed, CO2 concentration, and coal quality).
rate increases suddenly, more heat is produced in the furnace and
is absorbed by the waterwall. As a result, the gas pressure in the
steam drum and the steam temperature increase correspondingly.
When the coal feed rate decreases, the pressure in the steam drum
and the steam temperature decrease. Also, the main steam temper-
ature and the drum pressure increase when the mass flow rate of
primary air decreases. This is related to the heat transfer process in
the furnace, as discussed in Kimura et al. (1995), in which it was
shown that the CO2 recycled stream (CO2 contained in primary
air) absorbs the heat from combustion. When the CO2 volume in
the furnace decreases, the combustion temperature increases as a
result of coal combustion using pure oxygen. More heat is absorbed
by the steam, and consequently, the steam temperature increases
correspondingly.
As discussed in Section 4, the setting of a char conversion rate
is an important factor in designing a stable furnace. The Green-
field power plant revealed a (optimal) conversion rate, which is
95%. All process variables revealed a stability behavior when the
char conversion rate was 95%. A degradation of furnace stability
occurred when the char conversion rate was set to below 95%.
From this context, it may be concluded that 95% char conver-
37
sion rate is set as a control objective in the future control system
design.
Fig. 12 shows the flue gas dynamics (O2 , CO2 , NO2 , H2 O con-
centration changes in comparison with the change of Tg ) when the
mass flow rate of the recycled flue gas increases 5%. Overall, the CO2
contained in the recycled flue gas has an important role in reducing
the furnace gas temperature and in monitoring the flue gas concen-
tration at the furnace exit. Correspondingly, all the input variables
that influence the gas temperature will affect the concentrations of
the flue gases in the furnace exit.
5.2. Disturbances
The developed models in (1), (2), (7), (13), (14), (24), and (28)
are deterministic equations that do not take into account of distur-
bances (for instance, coal composition, coal humidity, char particle
size, oxygen concentration fluctuation from the ASU, CO2 concen-
tration fluctuation in the RFG, etc.). In this subsection, the effects
from four disturbances (O2 purity from the ASU, primary air feed,
CO2 fluctuation in the flue gas, and coal quality) to the nonlinear
models are discussed. Fig. 13(a) show the time responses of Tg when
38 A. Haryanto, K.-S. Hong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 35 (2011) 25–40

O2 concentration from the ASU, primary air feed, and CO2 concen- where
YO achar mchar kd
tration in the RFG are disturbed by 15% (decrease) at time 20 min. f1 (mchar , Tg ) = 2
k
kd +k0,char exp(−EA,char /Ru Tg ) 0,char
The high purity of O2 concentration from the ASU and the high vol-
umetric O2 contained in primary air contribute to the increase of exp(−EA,char /Ru Tg ), f2 (msulp , Tg ) = k0,S1 · exp(−ES1 /RTg ) · msulp ,
the temperature in the furnace. To avoid superheating, it is seen
wt Cp,char +wt Cp,sulp Cp,FG
that the CO2 from the FG should be recycled to the furnace. k1 = C sulp
, k2 = ,
(Cp,char mchar +Csulp msulp ) (Cp,char mchar +Csulp msulp )
Fig. 13(c) shows the time response of Tg upon the variation of
coal quality (coal humidity, coal particle size, calorific value of coal, LHV HLHV Hsulp
k3 = (Cp,char mchar +Csulp msulp )
, k4 = (Cp,char mchar +Csulp msulp )
,
etc.). The simulation result of ±2.5% coal quality variation reveals
that the coal quality has to be controlled to keep the furnace tem- A˛ Cp,FG (1−LHV )HLHV
k5 = (Cp,char mchar +Csulp msulp )
, k6 = , k7 = , and
perature. g Vg Cp,g g Vg Cp,g

A˛
5.3. Further discussion k8 = g Vg Cp,g
.
Using the Taylor series expansion and truncating the higher
With the developed models, it is possible not only to study the order terms, the linearized dynamics of (A1)–(A4) around the
process behavior and the emission characteristics of the power steady-state values (mschar , mssulp , Tss , Tgs ) are given as follows:
plant but also to design the appropriate control system. The main
results of the simulations well match with the provided data of d(mchar − mschar )
= −ḟ1,mchar (mschar , Tgs )(mchar − mschar )
the Greenfield power plant of (Karakas, Koumanakos, et al., 2007; dt
Karakas, Doukelis, et al., 2007). The significant results were partially
− ḟ1,Tg (mschar , Tgs )(Tg − Tgs )
attributed to the dynamics of the gas temperature, steam mass flow
rate, steam temperature and dynamics of the flue gas emissions at + wt
char
s
(coal,in − coal,in ), (A5)
the boiler exit. The CO2 capture efficiency is strongly related to the
flue gas composition at the boiler exit, which is provided in Table 6. d(msulp − mssulp )
= −ḟ2,msulp (mssulp , Tgs )(msulp − mssulp )
The higher content of condensable CO2 at the boiler exit is evidence dt
of the effectiveness of the CO2 capture technology. The amount of
− ḟ2,Tg (mssulp , Tgs )(Tg − Tgs )
CO2 increased in the flue gas is due to the 95 vol% purity of the O2
at the exit of the ASU (Karakas, Koumanakos, et al., 2007). + wt s
(coal,in − coal,in ), (A6)
sulp

6. Conclusions d(Ts − Tss )

= k3 ḟ1,mchar (mschar , Tg )(mchar − mschar )
dt
This paper developed a novel model for an oxy-fuel combustion
boiler system. The mass and energy balance equations were used in + k4 ḟ2,msulp (mssulp , Tgs )(msulp − mssulp )
modeling the combustion process, flue gas recirculation, and water- s s
+ (−k1 coal,in − k2 pri − k5 )(Ts − Tss )
side dynamics. To simplify the developed nonlinear equations, an
operating point (the steady-state operation condition) was chosen    
+ (k3 ḟ1,Tg ms , T s k4 ḟ2,msulp mssulp , Tgs + k5 )
from real data available in the literature and a linearized state equa-
tion was developed. The time responses of the developed models × (Tg − Tgs ) + (k1 Tcoal
s
− k1 Tss (coal,in − coal,in
s
)
to various inputs and parameter values were also analyzed. The
simulation results of the proposed models are encouraging. The rel- + k2 Tss (pri − pri
s
), (A7)
evance to the application of a model-based control to real oxy-fuel  
combustion boiler systems in the industry was also demonstrated. d Tg − Tg s   
= k7 ḟ1,mchar mschar , Tg mchar − mschar
dt
Acknowledgments     
+ k6 Tss − k5 Ts − Tss + k6 Tscn
s s
scn − scn
This work was supported by the Regional Research Universities  s
 
+ k6 Toxy − k6 Tgs s
oxy − oxy
Program (Research Center for Logistics Information Technology,
LIT) granted by the National Research Foundation of Korea under  s s s
  
+ −k6 oxy −k6 pri +k6 scn + k7 ḟ1,Tg ms , Tgs + k5
the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Korea.
    
× Tg − Tgs + k6 Tss − k6 pri
s s
pri − pri , (A8)
Appendix A. Linearization of the furnace dynamics

∂sulp,react 
The nonlinear furnace dynamics of (1), (2), (7), and (13) are where ḟ2,Tg (msulp , Tg ) = ∂Tg  ,
(msulp ,Tg )=(ms ,Tgs )
rewritten as follows:  sulp
∂sulp,react 
dmchar ḟ2,msulp (msulp , Tg ) = ∂m   s s .
= wt 
char coal,in
− f1 (mchar , Tg ), (A1) sulp
(msulp ,Tg )= msulp ,Tg
dt
Finally, the state space equation of (A5)–(A8) is obtained as fol-
dmsulp lows:
= wt 
sulp coal,in
− f2 (msulp , Tg ), (A2) ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤⎡ ⎤
dt
mchar a11 a12 a13 a14 mchar
dTs d ⎢ msulp ⎥ ⎢ a21 a22 a23 a24 ⎥ ⎢ msulp ⎥
= k1 coal,in Tcoal,in − k1 coal,in Ts − k2 pri Ts + k2 pri Tpri ⎣
dt Ts
⎦= ⎣a a32 a33 a34 ⎦ ⎣ Ts ⎦
dt 31
Tg a41 a42 a43 a44 Tg
+ k3 f1 (mchar , Tg ) + k4 f2 (msulp , Tg ) + k5 (Tg − Ts ), (A3)
⎡ ⎤⎡ ⎤
b11 b12 b13 b14 coal,in
dTg ⎢ b21 b22 b23 b24 ⎥ ⎢ pri ⎥
+⎣
b34 ⎦ ⎣ scn ⎦
= k1 oxy Toxy − k6 oxy Toxy + k7 pri Tg + k8 scn Tscn − k8 scn Tg (A9)
dt b31 b32 b33
+ k8 f1 (mchar , Tg ) − k5 Ts + k5 Tg , (A4) b41 b42 b43 b44 oxy
 A. Haryanto, K.-S. Hong / Computers and Chemical Engineering 35 (2011) 25–40 39

   
where a11 = ḟ1,mchar mschar , Tgs , a14 = ḟ1,Tg mschar , Tgs , Toxy , Tsteam temperatures of the O2 injection and steam (K), respec-
a12 = a13 = a21 = a23 = b12 = b13 = b = = b33 = a 34 = tively

14 b 23

Vg volume of gas (m3 )

a41 = 0, a22 = ḟ2,msulp mssulp , Tgs , a24 = ḟ2,Tg mssulp , Tgs ,

Y molar concentration (kmol/m3 )
 
a31 = k3 ḟ1,mchar mschar , Tg , s a32 = k4 ḟ2,msulp mssulp , Tgs , a33 =

 
s Greek letters
−k1 coal,in mssulp , Tgs s −k ,
− k2 pri 5 a34 = k3 ḟ1,mchar mschar , Tgs ,
 
˛ convective heat transfer coefficient (W/m K)
a41 = k7 ḟ1,mchar mschar , Tgs , a43 = s −k
k7 pri a44 = ˇg gas absorptivity
5 ,
s s + k s + k ḟ
 s s
 wt
LHV energy distribution factor
−k6 oxy − k6 pri 7 1,Tg mchar , Tg + k5 , b11 = char,in , ı steam constant (between 0 and 0.5)
wt

6 scn
s s
 s s
b21 = char,in , b31 = k1 Tcoal − Ts , b32 = k2 Ts , b42 = (k6 Ts − k5 ) , εg , εchar emissivities of the gas and the char particles in the fur-
s
 s s
 nace, respectively
b43 = k6 Tscn , and b44 = k6 Toxy − Tg .
 efficiency of the boiler (%)
g , steam gas and steam densities (kg/m3 ), respectively
Appendix B. Nomenclature coal,in coal mass inflow rate (kg/s)
oxy oxygen injection mass flow rate (kg/s)
pri , scn mass flow rates of the primary and secondary synthetic
achar interfacial surface area of a char particle (m2 /kg) air (kg/s), respectively
A burning area (m2 ) FG , RFG mass flow rates of the flue gas and recycled flue gas (kg/s),
AT total furnace envelope area (m2 ) respectively
Cs sink fraction of the total furnace envelope area char,out , sulp,out mass flow rate of the unconverted char and gen-
Cp,char , Cp,sulp , Cp,g specific heat capacities of the char, sulphur par- erated sulphur that leave the furnace through ash (kg/s),
ticles and gas in the furnace (J/kg K), respectively respectively
Cp,FG , Cp,metal specific heat capacities of the flue gas and the metal steam steam mass flow rate (kg/s)
of the drum and evaporators (J/kg K), respectively fw feed water mass flow rate (kg/s)
dp diameter of a solid particle (m) char,react , sulp,react mass reaction rates of the char and sulphur
D diffusion coefficient of oxygen (K−1 ) particles of coal (kg/s), respectively
EA,char activation energy of char particle (J/kmol) wt
char
, wt
sulp
mass fractions of char and sulphur in coal (wt%),
Fi,in , FO2 ,in total molar flow rates of the ith species and O2 at the respectively
furnace inlet (kmol/s), respectively wt
i
composition of the i-species (wt%)
Fi,cons , FO2 ,cons total molar consumption rates of the ith species and char , g residence times of the char particle and gas in the fur-
O2 in the furnace (kmol/s), respectively nace (s), respectively
Fi,FG , FO2 ,FG outgoing molar flow rates of the ith species and O2  fluid viscosity at bulk fluid temperature (kg/(s m))
from the furnace (kmol/s), respectively s fluid viscosity at heat transfer boundary surface temper-
Fi,rRFG molar flow rate of ith gas species from the RFG (kmol/s) ature (kg/(s m))
hw , hfw , hc water, feedwater and condensation specific enthalpies
(kJ/kg), respectively
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