BOILER PERFORMANCE MONITORING –

AN APPROACH AT
GMR Warora Energy.
Presented By: Sambai Raja P
Pradeep Sahu
Murali Ravi Shanker
Date: 08.12.2015
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 Vision

GMR Group will be an institution in perpetuity that will build entrepreneurial

organizations making a difference to society through creation of value.

Mission
By 2020,GMR Energy wants to be the most profitable and one of the leading
integrated Energy companies in India and derive value by
• Diversifying strategically across Energy value chain
• Being a preferred employer
• Being socially responsible

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Boiler Performance Monitoring – An Approach At GMR Warora Energy

CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

2. APPROACH AT GMR WARORA

3. CONTROL MEASURES

4. MAJOR LOSSES IN BOILER

5. CORRECTIVE AND PREVENTIVE ACTIONS (CA/ PA)

6. BENEFITS & CONCLUSION

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 Introduction
 GMR Warora Energy is a part of the GMR Group, which is one of the largest diversified
Infrastructure Conglomerates in India which operates 600 MW (2X300 MW) coal based power
plant located in Warora, Maharashtra.

 GMR Energy is fully tied up under long term PPA for 200 MW each with Dadar & Nagar Haveli
Power Distribution Corporation Limited (DNHPDCL), Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution
Company Limited (MSEDCL) and 150 MW with Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution
Corporation (TANGEDCO).

 ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 50001 energy management system (EnMS),OHSAS 18001(BVQI)
certified plant & 5s implementation unit.
 Operation of GMR is driven by customer-focused approach to meet obvious requirement of
reliable and economical power. For which multi-prong strategies are adopted at GMR. One of
such strategy is Boiler performance monitoring and continual improvement in its
performance.

 The paper discusses the approach adopted at GMR for monitoring of Boiler performance and
various strategies adopted for continual improvement in boiler efficiency.

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 Approach at GMR Warora Energy

The basic approach adopted for improvement in boiler performance at GMR Warora
is,

 Measures & Monitor.

 Control.

 Corrective and preventive action (CA/PA)

Measures
&
Monitor

CA/PA Control

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 Measures & Monitoring
At GMR boiler efficiency is monitored
1) Online
2) Offline
 Online Monitoring:
 At GMR Units are equipped with DDC
system for monitoring and control of
process.
 The system has in-built software for plant
performance monitoring, which also
calculates boiler efficiency.
 By providing various coal parameters,
boiler efficiency is calculated which helps
the operator for monitoring.
 So operator can take action immediately
whenever there is deviation in efficiency.

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Measures & Monitoring

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 Measures & Monitoring
 Offline Monitoring:
 At GMR software package is developed in
house.
 This package calculates boiler efficiency as
per BS –2885.
 In this package after computing the various
process parameters and Ultimate analysis of
coal, Boiler efficiency and various losses are
calculated.
 This package also compares losses against
design losses.
 The package is made available to operators
who can monitor and control parameter
affecting boiler efficiency.
 The front end of the model is shown below.

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 Measures & Monitoring
IN HOUSE SOFTWARE FOR OFFLINE MONITORING

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 Measures & Monitoring

Shift Basis:

 In the every shift desk engineers are calculating boiler efficiency with the help of package
and comparing it with online efficiency.

Daily basis:

 With the help of above model on daily basis various prominent losses like dry flue gas loss,
un-burnt carbon loss, wet flue gas loss, are calculated and compared with design losses.
Various control charts used for monitoring are as shown in figures.

Daywise Boiler Efficiciency Daywise Dryflue gas Loss

90 6
89 5
4
88
Design 3 Design
87
Actual 2 Actual
86 1
85 0
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28
Day Day
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 Measures & Monitoring
Monthly basis:
In addition to above monitoring, boiler efficiency is also calculated by conducting integrated
efficiency test as per original equipment manufacturers (OEM) test procedure. This performance
test helps to substantiate the results obtained by use of various software packages.
 EVAULATION OF EFFICIENCY TEST REPORT AT GMR, WARORA
EFFICIENCY TABULATION
Sr. No. Parameter Unit Design Actual
1 Unburnt Carbon/Combustibles in ash loss % 1.49 0.55
2 Dry Flue Gas Loss % 5.12 4.16
3 Due to moisture in fuel % 1.52 1.77
4 Due to hydrogen in fuel wet flue gas loss % 3.60 3.73
5 Moisture in air loss % 0.12 0.15
6 Unburnt Gas loss due to CO % 0.02 0.00
7 Specific heat loss from bottom ash % 0.27 0.19
8 Specific heat loss from fly ash % 0.18 0.12
9 Loss due to pulveriser rejects % 0.18 0.38
10 Loss due to surface radiation and convection % 0.20 0.20
11 Heat loss due to radiation to furnace bottom % 0.09 0.09
12 Unaccounted Losses % 0.35 0.35
Total Heat Loss. % 13.15 11.68

Mill credit % 0.22 0.22

Boiler efficiency=(100-losses+heat Credit)% % 87.07 88.54

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 Control’s
From above monitoring various reasons for deviations in boiler efficiency can be easily identified. Various
factors affecting the boiler performance are described below.

 Dry flue gas loss:

Dry flue gas losses depend upon Exit flue gas temperature & Excess air

Following actions are being taken to minimize this loss-

 Tight excess air regime control.
 Water washing of air pre heater during every opportunity shutdown.
 Replacement/Rectification of air pre-heater basket / seals during Overhaul of unit.
 Attending various leakages in flue gas duct & wind box.
 Maintaining Mill performance and condition of grinding media.
 Regular inspection and rectification of dampers.

 Un-burnt Carbon Loss:

This Loss depends upon the Mill Performance & Combustion control.
Following actions are taken to control this loss-
 Monitoring of un-burnt carbon in Bottom ash and Fly ash.
 Monitoring of mill fineness.
 Regular checking and rectification of Secondary Air Damper Controls (SADC).
 Various Operation and Maintenance strategies for optimization of mill performance like ball charging,
classifier cleaning etc.
 Proper Monitoring of classifier Speed w.r.t coal fineness.

 Loss due to Moisture in fuel:

This loss mainly depends upon the coal quality. This can be reduced to a manageable level by adopting a
suitable blending ratio. 12
 Control’s
Combustion Performance:
• Good combustion performance plays a vital role in improving the boiler efficiency.
• Mainly the excess air regime and reliable instrumentation (Oxygen and CO measurement)
helps to maintain the boiler efficiency at optimum level.

Mill Performance:
• Mill Performance again depends on various factors such as roller wear, Air flow ratio, Liner
Condition inside the mill, etc. These factors will again tend to affect boiler efficiency

Air pre-heater Performance:

• Air pre-heater performance in term heat transfer affects exit flue gas temp. High exit flue
gas temp will result in higher dry flue gas loss.
• Excessive leakages in APH seals will also result in higher losses.
• Further to monitor air-preheater performance. Another model is developed in house which
calculates the air ingress across the air preheater seals.

Cleanliness Performance:
• Heat transfer within the boiler mainly depends on the cleanliness of the boiler from fireside
as well as from internal. So good condition of soot blowing equipment's and their regular
usage as well as good boiler water chemical parameters ensure the surface cleanliness.

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Corrective And Preventive Actions (CA/ PA)

 All these regular monitoring and control actions help to maintain losses at
acceptable level. But to find permanent solution for recurring problems suitable
corrective and preventive actions are initiated.

 Some of the CA / PA solution require system modification.

 A few of in-house modifications carried out at GMR as follows:

1.Shifting the location of flue gas “CO” monitor.
2.Provision of additional “O2” probe in flue gas duct.
3.Use of metallic expansion joints.
4.Modifications of purge air system at coal mills.
5.Modification of orifice in PC piping.

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 Benefits & Conclusion:

 The Boiler Performance Monitoring provided our plant O & M personnel a tool to

detect potential problems in efficient boiler operation.

 Suitable monitoring system helped identifying deviations in real time process.

 Thus by monitoring & control it enhanced the boiler performance and as a benefit

it tremendously helped in cost saving of fuel, O&M cost & Plant Availability Factor

(PAF).

 1 % improvement in boiler efficiency leads to annual saving in fuel cost up to @ 82

million Rupees for power station of 600 MW capacity.

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Snapshots

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Snapshots

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Snapshots

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 Snapshots
Air Heater Performance

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Thank You

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Boiler Performance Monitoring – An Approach At GMR Warora Energy

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Boiler Performance Monitoring – An Approach At GMR Warora Energy

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Boiler Performance Monitoring – An Approach At GMR Warora Energy

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