Supporting Information for

Promotion of Anthracite Burnout for a 300 MWe Down-Fired Boiler

with a Novel Combustion Technology

Qingxiang Wang, Zhichao Chen*, Tianshu Yan, Tao Liu, Lingyan Zeng, Zhengqi Li

School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, 92,

West Dazhi Street, Harbin 150001, P.R. China

A manuscript submitted to

Energy & Fuels

*Corresponding author

Zhichao Chen

Address: School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, 92, West

Dazhi Street, Harbin 150001, P.R. China

Tel.: +86 451 8641 3231

Fax: +86 451 8641 2528

E-mail address: chenzc@hit.edu.cn

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 1. The characteristics of anthracite coal used in the experiments and main operation parameters

under each operating condition are as follows:

Table S1 Proximate and ultimate analyses of coal, operation parameters before and after retrofits.

Proximate analysis (wt. %, as received) Ultimate analysis (wt. %, as received)

Fixed Net calorific
Volatiles Ash Moisture Carbon Hydrogen Oxygen Sulfur Nitrogen
carbon value (kJ/kg)
7.62a/ 27.62a/ 56.16a/ 8.60a/ 57.53a/ 2.17a/ 2.79a/ 0.59a/ 0.70a/ 21108a/
6.24b 26.22b 60.59b 6.95b 59.49b 2.19b 2.91b 1.56b 0.68b 21240b
primary air ratio
primary air ratio (after retrofit)
Item (before retrofit)
18.56%* 18.47%* 21.18%* 22.96%* 23.85%*
Capacity (MWe) 300 300 300 300 300

Flow rate of main steam (ton/h) 997 989 996 997 998

Pressure of main steam (MPa） 16.1 16.0 16.2 16.3 16.2

Temperature of primary air (°C) 88 90 90 91 92

Temperature of secondary air (°C) 368 348 347 344 346

Total mass flow rate of primary air (ton/h) 230 229 262 284 296

Total mass flow rate of air (ton/h) 1239 1240 1237 1237 1241

Damper opening of vent air (%) 100 100 100 100 100

Damper opening of burner secondary air (%) 100 100 100 100 100

Damper opening of staged air (%) 80 70 70 70 70

Damper opening of overfire air (%) — 45% 45% 45% 45%

Temperature of superheat steam (°C) 542 541 542 541 542

Temperature of reheat steam (°C) 539 540 541 540 541

Exhaust temperature (°C) 147 135 131 130 130

De-superheating water flow rate (t/h) 18.0 9.4 5.0 3.4 2.8

O2 concentration at the furnace exit (%) 4.5 3.2 3.4 3.3 3.2

CO concentration at the furnace exit (ppm) 15 21 12 10 5

Coal (a) corresponding to the boiler before the retrofit. Coal (b) corresponding to the boiler after the retrofit.

2. The burner primary air momentum (M1) and burner secondary air momentum (M2, inner and

outer secondary air included) and the ratio of M1 and M2 are added to the Table S2. The influence of

the ratio of M1 and M2 on the flow field and combustion in the furnace is discussed as follows.
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 Table S2 The ratio of primary air momentum and secondary air momentum.

Burner primary air momentum Burner secondary air momentum

Primary air ratio (%) Ratio of M1 and M2
(M1, kg ⋅ m/s2) (M2, kg ⋅ m/s2)

17.09 0.3439 1.3466 0.255

19.08 0.4272 1.3466 0.317

21.11 0.5268 1.3466 0.391

22.97 0.6322 1.3466 0.469

24.75 0.7444 1.3466 0.553

It can be seen from Table S2 that, as the primary air ratio increases from 17.09% to 24.75%,

the ratio of M1 and M2 increases from 0.255 to 0.553. When the primary air ratios are 17.09% and

19.08%, the ratios of M1 and M2 are 0.255 and 0.317, respectively. The flow field in the furnace is

seriously deflective, and the downward depth of the coal/air flow from the rear arch is relatively

small, and the ignition of pulverized coal from the rear arch is relatively late. At the same time, the

flame fullness in the lower furnace is small, and the combustion path of pulverized coal in the

furnace is short, which results in the poor burnout of pulverized coal. The ratios of M1 and M2

should not be less than 0.317 in the operation parameter design of the down-fired boiler with the

eccentric-swirl-secondary-air combustion technology. The ratio of M1 and M2 increases from 0.391

to 0.553 with the primary air ratio in the range of 21.11% to 24.75%, and the downward depth of

the coal/air flow from the front and rear arches increases continuously. The pulverized coal ignition

distance near the front and rear arches is shortened, the flame fullness in the lower furnace increases,

and the combustion path of pulverized coal in the furnace increases, which promotes the burnout of

pulverized coal. However, on the premise of symmetrical flow field in the furnace, with increasing

the ratio of M1 and M2, the M1 increases compared with the M2, which makes the burner secondary

air mix the primary coal/air flow earlier in the initial stage of pulverized coal combustion, and the

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oxidizing atmosphere in the initial stage of pulverized coal combustion increases, which promotes

the formation of NOx and increases the NOx emissions at the furnace outlet to a certain extent.

During the process of industrial experiments, with increasing primary air ratio from 21.18% to

23.85%, the NOx emissions at the furnace outlet increase, and especially, when primary air ratio

increases from 22.96% to 23.85%, the NOx emissions increase obviously. Considering the premise

of improving the boiler thermal efficiency as far as possible and ensuring low-NOx emissions, the

optimal primary air ratio is 22.96%.