COMBUSTION CONTROL SYSTEM

INTRODUCTION
Combustion is the rapid oxidation of material (the fuel) to release energy (heat).
The fuel can be a solid, liquid or gas, and the amount of heat released is normally
expressed in BTUs (British thermal units); the amount of heat required to raise
the temperature of 1 pound of water 1°F, or Calories; the energy required to raise
one Kg of water one degree Celsius. As fuels are burnt, with just enough air to
release the total BTUs in the fuel, the reaction is said to be "stoichiometric" or
burned "on ratio" when combustion is complete, no free oxygen or unburned fuel
remains.
Gas and oil burners are everywhere. The power package boilers, start-up larger
furnaces with fluidized beds and grates, and heat many other processes. Larger
burners have Combustion Control Systems (CCSs) which should be tuned
periodically.
To understand how to tune a gas and/or oil burner, it helps to first understand how
and why they work the way they do.

COMBUSTION CONTROL SYSTEM (CCS)

Larger burners are controlled with a combination of a Combustion Control
System (CCS) and Burner Management System (BMS). A CCS is a key burner
subsystem that is composed of equipment that controls fuel-to-air ratio and firing
rate. This equipment can be comprised of both mechanical and electronic
components, including actuators, flow control valves, linkages, dampers,
positioners, PLC's; process loop controllers, oxygen analyzers, variable
frequency drives (VFD), as well as other instrumentation. All of these devices
play important roles in the performance and efficiency of the combustion system.
Other control requirements are commonly grouped into the category of
combustion controls. After the CCS determines how much fuel, air and water to
put into the boiler the BMS determines if there will be a fire or not, and is
primarily responsible to shut down the system if conditions become unsafe, as
well as enforcing purge requirements on re-start. (Faber Burner Company, 2016)
IMPORTANCE OF CCS’S
The Combustion Control system is need for multiple operation the most important
function however is to prevent the possibility of an accumulation of combustible
gas followed by accidental or improper ignition sequence resulting in an
explosion. The Combustion Control systems also monitor elements of the burner
combustion system, these include:
 Safety and performance requirements of pulverisers, burners and igniters.
 Furnace safety standards and regulations
 Flame monitors and flame failure detection
 Start-up protection and sequencing
 Furnace supervisory controls and shutdown systems

BURNER COMBUSTION CONTROL SYSTEM

Boiler burners are the functional component of boilers that provide the heat input
by combustion of a fossil fuel, including natural gas, with air or oxygen. They are
available either as part of the boiler package from the manufacturer, as stand-
alone products or for custom installations.
Boilers are often the principal steam or hot water generator system used in
industrial plant or commercial heating. Consequently, they must be designed to
operate efficiently and safely whilst responding rapidly to any change in demand.
Burner management systems must be equally adaptive. Eurotherm Process
Automation; a supplier of control and measurement instruments to industrial and
process markets, provides efficient, well implemented control techniques capable
of reducing operating costs whilst providing resources for greater flexibility in
plant management and control. Burner combustion control generally includes one
or a combination of the following methods:
 Oxygen trim
 Burner modulation
 Regulation of excess air
 Air/fuel cross-limiting
 Total heat control

OXYGEN TRIM
When a measurement of oxygen in the flue gas is available, the combustion
control mechanism can be vastly improved, since the percentage of oxygen in
flue is closely related to the amount of excess air. This is done by adding an
oxygen trim control module, allowing:
 Tighter control of excess air to oxygen set point for better efficiency
 Faster return to set point following disturbances
 Tighter control over flue emissions
 Compliance with emissions standards

BURNER MODULATION
A continuous control signal is generated by a controller monitoring the steam or
hot water line. Reductions in steam pressure or hot water temperature lead to an
increase in firing rate. The modulation in combustion control is introduced to
ensure:
 Fuel and air requirements are continuously matched to the combustion
demand
 Steam pressure or hot water temperature is maintained within closer
tolerances
 Greater boiler efficiency
 Weighted average flue gas temperature is lower
REGULATION OF EXCESS AIR
Gas, oil, coal burning and other systems do not mix the fuel and air completely
even under the greatest degree of achievable conditions, and complete mixing
may be a lengthy process. In order to ensure complete combustion and reduce
heat loss, excess air has to be kept within a suitable range and hence the regulation
of excess air provides:
 A better boiler heat transfer rate
 An advance warning of flue gas problems, e.g. excess air coming out of the
zone of maximum efficiency
 Substantial savings on fuel

AIR/FUEL CROSS-LIMITING
A cross-limiting combustion control strategy ensures that there can never be a
dangerous ratio of air and fuel within a combustion process. This is implemented
by always raising the air flow before allowing the fuel flow to increase, or by
lowering the fuel flow before allowing the air flow to drop. Cross-limiting
combustion control is highly effective and can easily provide:
 Optimization of fuel consumption
 Safer operating conditions by reducing risk of explosion
 Fast adaptation to variations in fuel and air supplies
 Satisfaction of the plant demand for steam

TOTAL HEAT CONTROL

In situations where combustion is not the principal heat source and when several
factors contribute to the total heat to be generated by a boiler, a control loop can
be introduced in order to monitor and manage the generated heat.

APPLICATIONS
Combustion control burners can typically be found controlling the following fired
applications:
 Power boilers
 Fluidized bed boilers
 Process heaters
 Driers & Kilns
 Heat recovery steam generators
 Thermal oxidizers
 Reformers
 Cabin heaters
 Incinerators
 Duct burner