Sootblower System

SOOTBLOWER SYSTEM

- D92 Rotating Element Sootblower for cleaning economizer surfaces

- PS-PL Long Retractable Sootblower for cleaning superheater surfaces

1. D92 Rotating Element Sootblower

1.1 Principle and Design

The D92 Rotating
element
Sootblower is a
sootblower
designed to clean
economizer
surfaces. It is
fitted with a
blowing element
which rotates in
bearings
mounted in the
flue gas pass.
The element bearing is usually effected by supports mounted on the tube
bundles resp. a support at the blowing element end.
The blowing element has a series of Venturi nozzles along its entire lengh and
its rear end is attached to a intermediate tube. This intermediate tube rotates by
means of the blower drive, actuated by an electric motor.
This sootblower system consists of piping, shut-off and drain valves, blowers
and control.
Normally the blowers are operated from the a control cabinet or switchboard in
the controlroom.

1.2 Design Feature

- Compact Construction
The sootbower is directly mounted onto wall box of boiler without any special
supports. If the space is restricted or connection with steam pipe is difficult,
the sootblower may be turned through 90 degree to install
- Easy to Maintain
The valve, feed tube, screw tube with nozzle head and transmission
components can be removed from sootblower without dismounting it from the
boiler wall.
- Minimized Spare parts Stock
Overall parts stock requirements can be minimized.
- Manual Operation

Shandong Machinery I&E Group Corporation – SDMIEC POWER

 Sootblower System

In event of power
failure, the nozzle
can be withdrawn
from furnace by
turning the rear
shaft of electric
motor with the
crank handle.
- Perfect Protection
Protection plates
are fitted to the
top and sides. It is
dust-proof and can be easily removed for maintenance.

1.3 Design Data

Sn. Item Unit Data
A Design Data
1 General Data
Unit
No. of Blowers 8
2 Drive
Power per Blower Kw 0.37
Rotations of Blowing 1/min 5.4
Tube Blowing Arc Degree 360
3 Dimension and Materials
3.1 Blower Valve
Flange Design DN/PN 80/63
Valve Set DIA. 55
Valve Body Material ZG20CrMo
Valve Seat Material 3Cr13
Valve Cone Material 4Cr13
3.2 Vent Valve
Inlet/Outlet G1/R1-1/4
Valve Body Material ZG2Cr13
Valve Cone Material 4Cr13
3.3 Intermediate Tube
Outer Diameter Mm 75
Wall thickness Mm 13.6
Material 15CrMo
3.4 Blowing Tube
Outer Diameter Mm 60
Wall thickness Mm 5
Material 13CrMo44
3.5 Nozzles

Shandong Machinery I&E Group Corporation – SDMIEC POWER

 Sootblower System

NO. of Nozzles
Nozzle Diameter Mm 5.6
Nozzle Inclination Degree 0
Material 13CrMo44
4 Wall Box Negative
5 Blowing Medium Steam or Air
6 Max. Steam Supply Temperature Degree C 500
7 Fan Without
B Motor Data
Type of Motor M2QA71M4B
Power Kw 0.37
Number of Rotations 1/min 1400
Frequency Hz 50
Voltage V 415
Cos phi 0.78
Efficientcy at 4/4 Load and 40 C % 69
Rated Current at 40 C A 1.05
Insulation Class F
Protection IP55
Construction B5

2. PS-SL Long Retractable Sootblower

2.1 Principle and Design

The long retractable sootblower is mainly used for cleaning of platen heating
surfaces and
superheater
surfaces. The
blowing element
of the long
retractable
sootblower is a
lance tube at the
tip of which a
nozzle head with
two venturi
nozzles is
arranged.
The lance tube moves into the flue gas pass, changes its direction of movement
in the front end position and returns to initial position. Thereby the two nozzles
carry out a helical movement, Since the nozzles are offset by 180 Degree, the
distance of the helicoids formed by the blow jets is only half of this distance.
Owing to the conical spreading of the blow jets a closed cleaning effect across
the entire blowing distance is ensured.
The lance tube is driven by the sootblower carriage which is guided in the track

Shandong Machinery I&E Group Corporation – SDMIEC POWER

 Sootblower System

beam. The blowing medium is fed to the lance tube through the sootblower valve
and the fixed feed tube.
The blowing process of the sootblower is as follows:
In idle condition the sootblower carriage is in its rear end position, the lance tube
is retracted, its two nozzles are placed in the wall box. When the drive motor is
switched on, the sootblower carriage moves forward and pushes the lance tube
helically into the flue gas pass. The sootblower valve is opened as soon as the
two nozzles have passed the boiler wall. Blowing process starts. The sootblower
carriage continues to push the lance tube into the flue gas pass until the two
nozzles have reached the front end position.
As this point the sootblower carriage changes its direction of travel and retracts
the lance tube helically. The sootblower valve is closed before the nozzles reach
the boiler wall. Now the sootblower moves back to its rest position without
blowing. The motor will be switched off.
Normally the sootblower is a component part of a larger sootblower plant, this
plant is consist of piping, shut-off and drain valves, sootblower and control.
Normally the sootblower are operated from a
control cabinet or switch board in the control room.
2.2 Design Feature

- High Reliability
RK Sootblower adopt a special section crossbeam which possesses good
rigidity and double-rack transmission. It for longer travel and It is very stable
and is suitable.

- Low Maintenance
The forward and reverse movement is driven by rack and pinion mechanism.
All driving parts are easy to maintain.

- Partial Retract
Option
Where gas
temperature permits
in boiler, the RK
sootblower can also
be supplied in a
partially retractable
configuration to
reduce the exterior
projection of the
sootblower from the boiler.

- Easy to Install
The sootblower mounts directly onto wallbox of boiler, front and rear points

Shandong Machinery I&E Group Corporation – SDMIEC POWER

 Sootblower System

suspension to suit horizontal and vertical expansion of the boiler wall.

2.3 Technical Data

Sn. Item Unit Data

1 General Data
Blower style PS-SL
Location Indoor
Flue Gas Pressure Negative
Blowing Medium Steam
Pressure Mpa
Temperature Degree C
Motor Tension Volt 415
Control Tension Volt 240
Frequency Hz 50
2 Blower Data
Unit
Qty of Blower 2
2.1 Design
Power per Blower Kw 0.55
Operational time/blower Sec 178
Blowing time/blower Sec 137
Travel Mm 2130
Blowing Travel Mm 1645
Speed M/min 2
2.2 Blowing Medium
Blowing Pressure before Nozzle Mpa 1.2
Number of Nozzles 2
Nozzle diameter Mm 22.5
Blowing Flow per Blower Kg/s 1.13
Consumption per Blower Kg 155
2.3 Scavenging and Sealing Air
Scavenging Air flow/Blower Nm3/h 0
Sealing air Flow/Blower Nm3/h 0
2.4 Installation Data
Consumption Blowing Medium/Cycle Kg 155
Operation Time/Cycle Min 178
Consumption Scavenging Air Nm3/h 0
Consumption Sealing Air Nm3/h 0

Shandong Machinery I&E Group Corporation – SDMIEC POWER

Soot Blowers
gazogenerator.com/boilers-for-power-and-process/soot-blowers

Soot blowers are installed in most boilers for the removal of entrained soot and ash susceptible to
slagging and fouling. Natural gas (or such clean fuel)-fired boilers are exceptions because there is no
ash in the fuel to deposit on the HSs. Soot blowers remove.

1. Soot and ash deposits from the fire sides of HSs so that they remain optimally clean and heat transfer
is maintained at the original design levels

2. Ash deposits from the gas passages between the tube rows so that the gas side pressure drops stay
within the design limits

The overall cooling of flue gases and gas pressure drops stay close to the original figures to maintain
the performance. Besides ensuring a proper heat transfer, the pro​gressive pluggage of gas passes is
avoided. Plugged sections lead to gas flow restric​tions causing (1) load limitation and (2) tube erosion
in the lanes where the gases flow at increased velocities.

Larger boiler sizes require more blowers. High-ash coal, lignite, and BL recovery boilers require
numerous blowers of all types. For blowing purposes, the entire set of blowers is considered as one lot
and blown in one set sequence and never in isolation. Soot blowing is always in the direction of gas flow
so that the ash is carried toward the banks that are yet to be blown. High-ash coals with low-ash fusion
temperatures and high Na are the most difficult to clean.

Oil firing, with its low-ash content, produces thin water-soluble deposits in the furnace and friable ash
deposits on the SH and RH. The furnace deposits are removed in annual water washing, and no wall
blowers are needed. In the convection section, the deposits are sizable with high-vanadium oils because
of the additives used for minimizing high — temperature corrosion. These deposits are easily
removable by SBs.

Working Principle of Soot Blowers

Soot blower is a device that directs a stream or a number of streams of cleaning medium at the ash
deposits so that they get dislodged by the impact of the jets. Called as the peak impact pressure (PIP), it
is the energy at a certain distance from the nozzle of the SB. The PIP depends on the

• Nozzle size and configuration

• Fluid pressure and temperature

Soot blowers consist of four parts:

1. Nozzles for blowing the fluid

2. Element (or lance in longer SBs) for conveying the fluid

3. Drive system for rotating or advancing/retracting the element

4. Control system
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Cleaning fluid in SBs can be steam, air, or water. Steam is the most popular and available.

• Steam for soot blowing should be dry under all conditions to prevent impinge​ment of heavy water
particles that can render serious damage by way of erosion or puncture.

• Saturated steam helps to deliver a high PIP. Ideally, there should be 10-20°C of superheat.

• Higher superheat is also employed. The steam gets lighter but the jet velocity increases, making the
PIP higher and resulting in a better cleaning.

• The pressure of steam is first reduced in the poppet valve placed just ahead of the lance to restrict the
blowing or nozzle pressure to <5-25 barg (—75-350 psig), depending on the actual configuration.

• Several stages of pressure reduction take place before the steam emerges at the prevailing draft inside
the boiler setting. Steam from the nozzles is at supersonic velocity.

• A poppet valve has an adjusting nut for varying the blowing pressure, and each SB is set for the best
result depending on the type of ash deposits. Tenacious deposits need a higher pressure. For fluffy
deposits, the pressure should be low​ered to prevent tube damage.

• SBs are practically ineffective on any flowing low-viscosity slags, such as those found with oil firing, as
there are no deposits to blow away.

Air is also used for cleaning; see Section 8.9.4. Compressed air at —25 to 35 barg (—350 to 500 psig) is
required for blowing pressures of 4-15 barg (—60 to 215 psig).

Water is used occasionally alone or in combination with steam or air. Water pressure required is 10-20
barg (—150 to 300 psig). Water is also occasionally injected into the retract​able SBs to keep the lances
cool. Such blowers require different types of nozzles.

The drive motors can be either electric or pneumatic, with the latter used in refineries and similar areas
with stringent requirements of fire protection.

Types and Locations of Soot Blowers

There are basically four types of SBs: (1) wall/short retractable, (2) rotary, (3) retractable, and (4) rake-
type blowers, meant for different parts of the boiler. Table 8.3 presents the main features of the SBs.
Figure 8.57 shows the SBs in a PF boiler and their locations.

Boiler Firing and Soot Blowers

Not all types of boilers require SBs.

• Gas-fired boilers with no ash deposits have no blowers.

• PF boilers with coal burning at high temperatures produce molten ash that depos​its itself at all
locations, requiring blowers at all locations.

TABLE 8.3

Soot Blower Types and Characteristics

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 Steam Approximate

Temperature Material Nozzles Blowing Con​ Blow

of

A Location Limit (°C) Lance In Lance Details Sumption Radius Remarks

Wall Furnace NA 1 or 2 1-3 rpm —3.5 1.5 m nom. Mostly for

Te/h

Average 360° 40-60s —10 m2 Pulverized

25 mm Blowing Cleaning Fuel

boilers.

0 Time Area. 200-300

mm travel.

Rotary Boiler bank 1100 CS < Many 2-3 rpm —3.5 Up to 7 m

500°C Te/h

Economizer Cal 6-10 mm <360° 40-60 s Lance.

500-
900

AH Fess > 0 Blowing Manual or

900°C motorized.
Average Time
8 mm

Retractable NA CS 2 at 1-5 m/ —3.5 1.2-2.7 m 0.6-17 m

Superheater 180° Te/h

And Tii Opposed Min Or more Travel.

reheater > 7 Te/h
Fess Or 4-12 for heavy
duty
Angled Rpm

Rake Fin tube 530 Many -1.5 3.5-4.5 —Length

economizer sets x width =
M/min Te/h
5mx3m
Normal

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 Note: Cal = calorised, Fess = ferritic stainless steel.

FIGURE 8.57

Soot blower locations in a large pulverized fuel boiler.

• Fluidized bed combustion (FBC) boilers, with low-temperature combustion, do not melt the ash and
hence are free from the slagging and fouling problems of PF boil​ers. Naturally, they do not need SBs
furnace and SH/RH regions. Some boilermak​ers install SBs in the ECON and AH areas, whereas the

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others increase the HS and dispense with SBs, as the deposits are dry, loose, and friable.

• Stoker-fired boilers operating with relatively lower furnace temperatures do not slag and hence need
no wall blowers for coal or for biofuels. However, with combi​nation firing of coal and biofuels, the
melting temperature of ash eutectic is often low enough to warrant installation of wall blowers to clean
slag deposits.

• Oil-fired boilers, with their closely spaced tubes in various tube banks must blow off the fine ash, and
rotary blowers are usually adequate for this blowing. With heavy metals in ash, such as vanadium,
which are in molten form at high furnace temperatures, retractable SB at a furnace exit is often required
to keep the SH tubes clean. But at temperatures above 950°C, fuel oil additives are required to raise the
melting temperature of the ash. Wall blowers are of no use as the ash is molten.

• Heat recovery steam generators are free of SBs despite closely spaced fins on tubes, because they
usually fire clean fuels.

• Waste heat recovery boilers usually need SBs, as they deal with dusty process gases.

Steam versus Air

Steam is the most common blowing medium due availability. Compressed air can also be used as the
effectiveness is nearly the same. Air blowing is considered when

• Steam and water leakage can be problematic as in the case of BL recovery boilers (due to smelt-water
explosive reaction).

• There is a need to conserve the expensive-treated FW as in high-pressure boilers or in areas of high

water shortage.

• The tenacious ash deposits require an almost continuous use of retractable SB, which consumes —15
tph of steam, and the boiler steam production is not large enough. This is typically the case with some
WHRBs.

In very large coal-fired boilers, air blowing is preferred as the soot blowing consumes high-quality
expensive water. For air blowing, an elaborate arrangement consisting of a proper air compressor
station to deliver high-pressure air between 25 and 35 barg (—350 to 500 psig), with all redundancies,
controls, and safeties, is required, which is reasonably expensive. But the air piping is simpler and
requires fewer valves and fittings.

The unique advantage of steam blowing is that any additional SBs required to be added are easily
accommodated in steam blowing as steam is available.

Types of Blowers

Wall Blowers

Wall blowers, deslaggers, and short retractables, (Figure 8.58) are installed on the furnace walls for the
removal of slag deposits. In high-temperature furnaces, such as in PF fir​ing, where the furnace
temperatures exceed the ash fusion temperatures and the ash is in molten condition, deposit formation
on ash contacting the cool furnace walls is

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 FIGURE 8.58

Typical wall blower/deslogger/short retractable.

Inevitable and must be removed periodically; and wall blowers perform such duty. At the highest gas
temperature, the blowers enter the furnace for a short distance of —40 mm from the wall tubes and
blow backward toward the wall. The total operation of wall blower lasts for <2 min of which the actual
steam-blowing duration is less than a minute and the com​plete blowing consists of one to three
revolutions. Steam flow at 3.5 tph (60 kg/min) deliv​ered through one or two large nozzles of —25 mm
0 is sufficiently forceful to dislodge the semimolten ash. Depending on the type of firing, boiler size,
fuel type, ash in fuel, slag​ging potential, previous experience, etc., a number of blowers are installed on
a boiler fur​nace. Approximately one blower is required for every 10 m2. The nominal blowing length is
—1.5 m, which is reduced to even 0.75 m in case of very heavily slagging coals.

Rotary SB

Rotary SBs (Figure 8.59) are employed in low-temperature and low-deposit zones where ash cleaning
does not demand high-impact pressures from the jets. A typical rotary or sta​tionary SB has a 40-80
mm 0 lance with a number of small nozzles of 6-10 mm 0 (average 8 mm) welded on it with steam
blowing through them while the lance rotates. The lance is made of suitable metal to withstand the gas
temperature. Unlike in retractable SBs, the lance in rotary SB does not rely on steam to cool it. As the
maximum temperature limit is below 1100°C, rotary SBs are located mostly in primary banks of SH,
BBs, ECONs, and horizontal AHs. Lance lengths are limited to —7 m as the steam flow at the last nozzle
beyond this length becomes too small to be effective. The rotary SBs are supported from the tubes at
suitable intervals to prevent their sagging and hitting the adjacent boiler tubes. For boilers larger than 7
m, the rotary SBs are placed from both sides of the boiler. Rotary blowers can be manual or motor-
operated.

Mass and lane blowing (Figure 8.60) are the two methods of steam blowing from rotary blowers. In
mass blowing the tube spacing is wider, and there is a cavity large enough to

Position

Indicator Hand wheel

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 Flexible couplings

V Element/lance Steam nozzles

Steam Coupling case Mounting flange

Isolating valve

FIGURE 8.59

Manually operated rotary soot blower.

Accommodate a certain distance from the tube surface. In lane blowing, the cavity is too small as in BB
and the steam nozzles are set along the tube lanes. Lane blowing requires more and smaller nozzles.
Also, the axis of the blowers has to be perpendicular to the tube axes. In mass blowing, the two axes can
be parallel or perpendicular.

Retractable SBs

Retractable SBs (Figure 8.61) are the most advanced types based on performance and mechanical
considerations. As the lances are required to clean the SH and RH platens and

FIGURE 8.60

Lane and mass blowing.

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 FIGURE 8.61

Fully retractable soot blower.

FIGURE 8.62

Soot blowing patterns for platens and pendants.

Pendants in the highest gas temperature zones, they cannot be left inside the boiler as in the case of
rotary blowers. They have to be fully retracted.

There must be a free space on the sides of boiler for retractable blowers, and the distance from the
adjacent boiler is generally governed by this parameter. These blow​ers are motor driven with a back-
up hand wheel drive to withdraw the lance from the boiler in case of motor failure, lest the lance should
be deformed and damaged due to heat. There are usually two motors in every retractable blower, one
for rotating the lance and the other for advancing or retracting the lance. The lance is a 60-80 mm
diam​eter pipe with a pair of steam nozzles (to balance the forces) located on both sides in exact
opposition or at an angle, depending on the cleaning required. The slanted holes are usually for platens
as this can give a better dwell of the steam on the tubes. This is shown in Figure 8.62. The blowing
pressures are 4-12.5 barg (—60 to 180 psig) for air and 5-25 barg (—75 to 360 psig) for steam with
typical nozzle sizes of 16 and 22/25 mm

0, respectively.

8/12
At the end of the travel, the lance is given an offset so that the return path is on a dif​ferent helix for a
more complete coverage of the jets. Typical helix patterns vary from 100 to 125, 150, and 200 mm (—4,
5, 6, and 8 in.) depending on the travel. The diameter and thickness of the lance and the support
system should maintain straightness at the farthest travel lest the end of the lance should foul with the
tube. Increasing the cavity between the tube banks is not possible. Very rigid construction of the SB is
therefore needed.

The steam flow through a retractable SB is generally 4 to 20 tph. In other blowers, the duration of blow
is much shorter at <1 min, and the flows are also smaller at <4 tph. If the steam flow from boiler is to be
maintained, the boiler has to go into an overfiring mode to compensate for heavy steam flow through
the retractable SBs, particularly in industrial boilers.

• A massive blow must be delivered to the sintered ash deposits in the SH and RH regions.

• Steam acts as a coolant to the lance that may be required to stay up to 30 min inside the hot boiler
casing in large utility boilers. Many times the flow is decided more by cooling requirement than by
blowing.

• For the platens located in the temperature zone, where there is more of slagging than fouling, the
steam flow should be large enough to set the platens into a mild swinging motion to let the semisolid
ash to drop off.

The rpm and translation (advancing and retracting) speeds of the SB are selected from previous
operating experience to keep the lance cool. Typical translating speeds vary from 1 to 5 m/min (—3 to
15 ft/m). A combination of rotational and translation speeds along with helix distance delivers the
appropriate cleaning force for each zone.

Half-retractable and one-third retractable blowers are also required for cleaning in the parallel passes
during the second pass where the gas temperatures are low enough to locate the blowers inside the
setting. Cleaning with two or three pairs of nozzles is far more powerful than that achieved by using
many nozzles of rotary blowers. The blowers traverse half or one-third the distance.

Rake-Type SB

Rake-type SBs are used in the second pass of the boiler for cleaning the fin tube ECONs and vertical
TAHs. Steam tubes with accurately located steam nozzles move on a track. The cleaning is far more
efficient than with rotary SBs with better penetration. Rake length and width are usually limited to 5
and 3 m (—16 and 10 ft), respectively (Figure 8.63).

Rotary AH Cleaning

For small rotary airheaters (RAHs), one or two rotary SBs are fixed in the gas side of the AH at the gas
inlet or placed additionally on the gas outlet side. For larger AHs in utility boilers, retractable SBs are
installed at the inlet and outlet ends to provide deeper penetra​tion of the steam jets for a better
cleaning. Rake-type blowers are also used.

Water Lancing

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With heavy slagging and fouling of coals, sometimes the SBs are not fully effective in dis​lodging the
ash deposits. As a last option, lancing with high-pressure water is adopted, as water can deliver a better
blow than steam. The water jets are directed to the ash deposits, carefully avoiding the tubes to prevent
thermal shock and failures. Water lancing requires great precision.

FIGURE 8.63

Rake-type soot blower for economizer and tubular airheater.

FIGURE 8.64

Typical piping for soot blowers.

SB Piping

10/12
Figure 8.64 shows piping for SBs. A hand-operated isolating valve is always necessary to isolate the
entire system for attending to any problem. A reducing valve, followed by an SV, is usually needed as
the blowing pressures are lower than the steam pressure at source. The source can be the primary SH
header, final SH header, cold RH line, or hot RH line. The choice is more complicated in boilers
operating with variable pressures. Most boilers adopt the primary SH header.

Condensed steam in pipelines hitting the tubes and causing damage is a serious con​cern. All SB feed
lines are given a slope of at least 1° in the direction away from the blowers. The blowers are branched
off from the main pipes, which run vertically down​ward to the draining system, so that the feed tubes
are free from water particles. Soot blower control logic starts with dry steam in piping for which the
draining has to take place long enough for thermostat to give a reading same as the saturation
temperature. Soot blower operation can commence only thereafter. The SBs are grouped and fed with
pipes.

Acoustic or Sonic Soot Blowers

In acoustic or sonic blowers (Figure 8.65), sound waves are generated at low frequencies to produce
rapid pressure fluctuations, causing vibrations in the ash deposits, which get loos​ened from the tubes
and fall into the gas stream. They should not be too sticky or hard.

FIGURE 8.65

Wave generator and bell section of acoustic blower.

These blowers are ineffective over slagging or sintered deposits. Thus, the sonic horns are blowers for
the second pass of the boiler for cleaning the dust from the low-temperature SHs, ECONs, and tubular
AH.

A standard plant compressor generates the required compressed air to produce pow​erful sound waves
as it enters the wave generator and forces the only moving part of the system, namely, the titanium
diaphragm to create a powerful base sound wave that is transmitted by different bell sections to
produce sounds of selected fundamental frequencies. Acoustic blowers consist of wave generators and
resonance sections or an amplifiers.

Sonic SBs have the advantages of practically no maintenance, as there are no moving parts other than
the diaphragm. The operation and installation costs are also low. Unlike the steam or air SBs, which
operate with short bursts and high energy, the acoustic blow​ers operate with comparatively low energy
levels but steadily because it takes time to resonate the ash deposits and dislodge them. This is better
for installations with ESPs as the outlet concentration can be maintained with no objectionable spikes

11/12
during soot blowing. Sonic horns are popular with CFBs, as the cleaning is required only in the sec​ond
pass and the ash is usually in the form of loose deposits. They may not be suitable for high-moisture
lignite-fired boilers where the moisture may help the ash to attach to the tubes.

Sonic blowers can also be employed in bag filters, ESPs, silos, and bins.

12/12