High Pressure Boiler

Steam-
When water is heated then forming a white mist of minute water
droplets in the air.
"a cloud of steam"
 High Pressure Boiler

Boiler –
A boiler is an enclosed vessel in which a fluid such as water is
heated to produce steam or the vaporized form of a liquid. The
steam or hot water is then circulated through a piping system, to
transfer heat for various applications such as heating, power
generation and other processes.
High Pressure Boiler-
Modern thermal power plants requires steam at pressure
in the range of 160 bar with operating temperature of 500-
600 degree Celsius. Also they require the large quantity of
steam per hours. For this purpose high pressure boiler are
used.
the modern high pressure boiler used for power
generation operate at a pressure upto 160 bar and maximum
steam temperature of 540 degree Celsius. They are able to
deliver steam at rate of 650 tones/hr
Types of High Pressure Boiler-

1. Lamont Boiler
2. Benson Boiler
3. Loeffler Boiler
4. Velox Boiler
5. Schmidt Hartman Boiler
6. Ramsin Boiler
 Lamont Boiler

Lamont boiler is a high pressure, forced circulation, water

tube boiler with internally fired furnace. An external pump
is used to circulate the water within small diameter water
tubes of the boiler. This boiler was invented by Walter
Douglas La-Mont in the year 1925. At that time this boiler
was invented to use in ships.

Working Principle
It works on the principle of forced circulation of water
within the boiler with the help of centrifugal pump. Its
working is totally depends upon the pump. The centrifugal
pump circulates the mixture of steam and water through
the small diameter tubes of the boiler.
Main Parts or Construction
1.Feed pump:
It supplies the feed water into the boiler from the hot well.
2.Economizer:
It increases the temperature of the feed water to some degree.
3.Steam separating drum:
As its names indicates, the steam separating drum separates the steam form the
water. The steam gets collected at the upper portion and water at the lower portion
of the drum.
4.Circulating pump:
It is a centrifugal pump driven by the turbine. It circulates the water from the steam
separating drum to the small diameter tubes of the radiant super heater, convective
super heater, and back to the steam separating drum.
5.Radiant evaporator:
It evaporates the water steam mixtures with the help of radiation.
6.Convective evaporator:
It changes the mixtures of steam and water into saturated steam through convective
mode of heat transfer.
7.Superheater:
It superheats the steam to the desired temperature for striking on the turbine blades.
Working of Lamont Boiler
In Lamont boiler, the feed pump circulates the water in the economizer of the
boiler. The economizer heats the water to some degree. From economizer, water
enters into steam separating drum.
From steam separating drum the mixture of water and steam is forced circulated
through the radiant evaporator by an external centrifugal pump. In forced circulation,
the pressure of circulation of water through the tubes is more as compared with the
natural circulation.
Radiant evaporator heats the water and changes it into steam. Form radiant
evaporator the water-steam mixture passes through the convective evaporator. Here
the temperature of the fluid increase and most the water gets converted into saturated
steam. And after that the saturated steam enters into the steam separator drum.
The steam separator drum as names indicate separates the steam from water. The
steam gets collected at the upper portion of the drum. From the steam separator
drum, steam passes through the super heater. The super heater increases the
temperature of the steam to the desired level. And finally, the superheated steam is
either transfer to the steam collecting drum or made to strike on the blades of the
turbine.
The working pressure, temperature, and capacity of this boiler is 170 bar, 773 K
and 50 tones/h.
Advantages
(i). It can be easily started.
(ii). High steam generating capacity (about 50 tones per hour)
(iii). It has high heat transfer rate.
(iv). Its design is simple.

Disadvantages
(i). There is a bubble formation at surfaces of the tubes in this
boiler. This reduces the heat transfer rate to the steam.
(ii)deposition of the salt and the sediment in the inner surface of
the water tube
 Benson Boiler

It is a high pressure water tube boiler with forced

circulation which works on basic principle of critical pressure of
water. Benson boiler was invented in 1922 by Mark Benson.

This boiler is a supercritical boiler. In this boiler, no bubble is

formed on the water surface as the water is compressed to
supercritical pressure.

When the water enters the boiler, it suddenly converts to

steam as it enters the boiler at just above the critical pressure.
No air separator drum is required to separate air bubble from
water.
 The critical pressure is the pressure at which the liquid and
gas phase are at equibrilium.

At supercritical pressure, the bubbles do not form because the

density of water and steam becomes same.

As the water is compressed to supercritical pressure the latent

heat of water reduces to zero.
As the latent heat of water reduces to zero the water directly
changes into steam without the formation of bubbles.

Latent heat :- the heat required to convert a solid into a liquid or

vapour, or a liquid into a vapour, without change of temperature.
Working Principle

It works on the principle that the pressure of the water is increased to

the supercritical pressure (i.e. above critical pressure of 225 bar).
When the pressure of water is increased to the super critical level, the
latent heat of water becomes Zero and due to this, it directly changes
into steam without boiling. And this prevents the formation of
bubbles at tube surface.
In this process, less heat is required to convert water to steam as
water is already just above critical pressure and hence less fuel is
required.
Main parts:

1. Feed pump
Benson boiler is the forced pumped water tube boiler. The water is
enter into the boiler at critical pressure A feed pump is used to pump
the water into boiler.

2. Air preheated
In this boiler air is preheated from before entering into combustion
chamber. It increase the efficiency of boiler.

3. Economizer:
Water from the feed pump enter into the tube which first passes from
economizer which used the combustion gases to preheat the water
which also increase efficiency of boiler.
4. Radiant Evaporator:
The water from the economizer further passes to
the radiant evaporator, which use radiant heat transfer method to
transfer heat from combustion chamber to the water. This section is
near the combustion chamber.

5. Convective Evaporator:
In the convective chamber, convection is used  to transfer heat from
the flue gases to the water. The water is completely evaporate in this
chamber.

6. Convective Super heater:
This is the last chamber of boiler. The steam passes from this
chamber, which increase the temperature of steam and this super-
heated steam taken out for the industrial work.
Working:
As we discussed this boiler works on the basic principle of critical
pressure. The water is pumped at above the critical pressure into
boiler tube. This water tube first passes through the economizer,
which increase the temperature of water. This hot water further
passes from the radiant evaporator where water is evaporate
by radiant heat transfer. After that the water and steam passes
through the convective evaporate where water is completely convert
into steam. The water pressure is critical pressure so the water
convert into steam directly without actual boiling.  The steam is
further heat up and this super-heated high pressure steam is taken
out to rotate the turbine.
Advantage:
1. The Benson boiler does not use water-steam separator drum,
which reduce the total cost of boiler.
2. This boiler can transport easily from one station to another.
3. It is economical and have higher efficiency.
4. This boiler can use over the pressure above 350 bar without
changing the evaporator.
5. This can be start easily and can reach its maximum load capacity
within 10 minutes.

Disadvantages
1. Tube is overheated in case of insufficient waterflow
2. the evaporation process may leave small deposits during
conversion of water in to steam , due to which , it requires
frequent cleaning
 Loeffler Boiler

Loeffler Boiler is the extension of the LaMont boiler.

In the LaMont boiler, there was a major difficulty
experienced that is the deposition of the salt and the sediment in
the inner surface of the water tube through which water flows. 
This deposition of salt and sediment form a layer in the
inner surface area of the water tube that reduces the heat
transfer.
LaMont boiler also has the overheating problem due to the
salt deposition. All these problems of the LaMont boiler have
solved by the Loeffler boiler by preventing the flow of water in
the boiler tube.
It is a high pressure, force circulation of water in the water
tube and with an internal furnace.
Working Principle

Loeffler Boiler works on the principle that the feed water is

evaporated by means of the superheated from the super heater.
Hot gases are firstly used for the superheating process. Total
produce superheated steam is used in two processes.
Almost 65 per cent is used to evaporate the water and 35 per cent
is used to run the turbine (prime mover). 
The Loeffler boiler has the capacity to carry high salt
concentration due to presence of boiler drum.
Main components of this boiler are

Water feed pump:

The main function of the water feed pump is to supply the feed
water into the system.

Economizer:
Economizer is a device which is used basically to increase the
efficiency of the boiler. In this boiler economiser is used to preheat
the water before it is sent to the drum. The process of preheating of
water increases the efficiency of the boiler.

Evaporating drum:
The main function of the evaporating drum is:
It is used to convert feedwater into saturated steam with the help of
superheated steam from the superheater.
Radiant Superheater:-
Radiant superheater is a chamber where saturated steam is heated
to make it superheated steam. It uses radiant heat transfer method to
create superheated steam and transfer heat from the combustion
chamber to steam. This section is near the combustion chamber

Convective Superheater:-
Convective superheater heats the steam to the desired temperature
of about 500-degree Celcius. In this superheater, convection is used to
transfer heat from the flue gases to the steam.
Turbine:
The superheated steam is now sent to the turbine blade for
rotation and the blade is attached to the shaft which also rotates
and further, it is connected into the induction motor for the
generation of electricity.

Mixing nozzle:
The location of the mixing nozzle is inside the evaporated
drum.
It mixes the steam and feed water from the superheater and
evaporates them.

Chimney:
The chimney is provided for exhausting the burnt gases to the
atmosphere.
Working:

Normal water is feed into the economizer using feed pump. In

the economizer the water is being heated up with the help of flue
gases, these gases are produced on the burning of the coal in the
furnace.
This preheated water drawn into the evaporating drum. This
steam is further recirculated by the steam circulation pump and
heated by the radiant heater. At this stage the steam reaches to the
saturation state.
Again this saturated steam is passed through the convective
super heater and steam reaches to the 500degree Celsius.
Advantages of Loeffler Boiler :-

•It can use salt water for steam generation as the depostion
of salt and sediments in the boiler tube are eliminated in
this boiler.
•This boiler is compact in design.
•Operation of this boiler is salient and clean.
•High circulated of steam over the tube.

Disadvantages of Loeffler Boiler :-

•Bubble formation reduces the heat transfer rate.

•Evaporating drum is used which is very expensive that
increases overall cost and also make it bulky.
 In convective super heater, the saturated steam is converted
into superheated steam(1/3rd used) which now can be used for
rotating the turbine blade for the generation of electricity.

And the remaining amount (Which 2/3rd of steam

generation)of steam is sent to the evaporating water.

When the feed water comes from the economizer then this
superheated steam is mixed to it with help of nozzle. Whole drum
water gets heated up at a very high temperature to form steam.
Gas Turbine
 Velox Boiler
Working Principle

When the velocity of the gas is greater than the

speed of sound, its heat transfer rate is also
increases. So more heat is transfer from gas to
water .This is the basic principle of of it. This
boiler can increase the heat transfer rate without
increasing boiler size. This is why;  Velox boiler is
most successful boiler in the gas turbine industries.
Main components of this boiler are
i) Feed Pump
   

 ii) Economizer
 iii) Water Circulation Pump
 iv) Combustion Chamber 
v) Gas Turbine
 vi) Axial Compressor
 vii) Steam Separator
 Viii) Super Heater

(In this axial compressor is used to compress the air and

pass it to the combustion chamber for better combustion
rate)
Working :-
At first water is feed to the economizer from the feed pump. The
economizer heats the water but does not heat up to the boiling point.
Then the warm water from the economizer is passed to the water
circulating pump. Then the water enters into the tube evaporating
section which is inside the combustion chamber.
On the other hand , a gas turbine drives an axial air compressor . A
gas turbine converts gas into mechanical energy and with that
mechanical energy axial air compressor is driven.
The compressed air by air compressor enter into combustion
chamber and passes from it. When this compressed air passes from
the combustion chamber more heat is released by the fuel which
increases the velocity of flue gas up to sound velocity .Flue gas is the
gas exiting to the atmosphere via a flue by steam generator or
furnace. Flue gases pass from the fire tubes near the bottom of
combustion chamber. These fire tubes are surrounded by the
evaporator water tubes.
 When the water enters the evaporating tube at high speed , the heat
form the gases are transferred at very high rate due to high speed of
water and gas. After that mixture of water and steam is formed which is
passed through water and steam separator. This separator separates the
steam from water . The steam from steam seperator is passed to the
super heater and after that passed for the pricess work. The remaining
water again passes from the evaporator tube and this process continues
until the water is converted to steam.
The flue gases from the fire tubes are send to the super heater for
heating the steam . After that the flue gas from the super heater is send
to the gas turbine where it rotates the gas turbine and after that gas
passes through the economizer used to heat the water initially which
are coming from feed pump.
Advantages of Velox Boiler :-
1) Velox Boiler is very compact and
require very less space as
compared to other boilers.
2 ) It can be started quickly and
easily.
3) It has good flexibility.
4) It has hogh thermal efficiency
about 90-95%.
5) It has high heat transfer rate.
Ramsin Boiler
Velox Boiler
Ramsin Boiler
Fluidized Bed Combustion Boiler :
Fluidized Bed – A bed in which solid particle behaves like fluid is
called as Fluidized Bed.
Need of Fluidized Combustion chamber
• Fluidized bed combustion boiler (FBCB) are most suitable in
India because we have large quantity of coal but in poor quality
with high ash & sulphur content.
• By using FBCB we can burn any fuel including low grade coal
(even containing 70%ash), oil, gas , Municipal waste.
• FBCB Desulphurization is improved.
• FBCB minimize the exhaust emission
•It also reduce overall size of boiler
Working Principle of FBCB :
“Fluidized bed combustion (FBC) is a combustion technology
used to burn solid fuels.”

A bed of solid particles is said to be fluidized when the pressurized

fluid (liquid or gas) is passed through the medium and causes the solid
particles to behave like a fluid under certain conditions.

Fluidization causes the transformation of the state of solid

particles from static to dynamic.
Types of Fluidized bed combustion boiler

• Circulating Fluidized bed combustion boiler (CFBCB)

• Pressurized Fluidized bed combustion boiler (PFBCB)

Circulating Fluidized bed combustion boiler (CFBCB)
 At the bottom of the boiler furnace there is a bed of inert
material. Bed is where the coal or fuel spreads. Air supply is from
under the bed at high pressure. This lifts the bed material and the
coal particles and keeps it in suspension. The coal combustion takes
place in this suspended condition. This is the Fluidized bed.
Special design of the air nozzles at the bottom of the bed allows
air flow without clogging. Primary air fans provide the preheated
Fluidizing air. Secondary air fans provide pre-heated Combustion
air. Nozzles in the furnace walls at various levels distribute the
Combustion air in the furnace.
Fine particles of partly burned coal, ash and bed material are
carried along with the flue gases to the upper areas of the furnace
and then into a cyclone. In the cyclone the heavier particles separate
from the gas and falls to the hopper of the cyclone. This returns to
the furnace for recirculation. Hence the name Circulating Fluidized
Bed combustion. The hot gases from the cyclone pass to the heat
transfer surfaces and go out of the boiler.
 Advantages

• higher efficiencies of combustion and sulfur capture

•simpler coal feed system

•lower NOx emission

•greater flexibility in load Variation operation.

Pressured Fluidized bed combustion boiler (CFBCB)
• Pressured FBC boiler is the latest system used for
generation of power , in which , air is supplied under a
pressure of 10 Bar approximately with the help of an air
compressor driven by a gas turbine as shown in fig.
• the supply of air under pressure result into better rate of
heat transfer as compare to circulating type FBC boiler.
•The mixture of fuel and limestone is supplied under
pressure to the fluidized bed .
• Remaining working is same as that of circulating FBC
boiler
 Advantages
a) It allows increased coal loading per m2 in the combustion
chamber since the burning rate of fuel is higher.
(b) Nox, emissions are reduced.
(c) It has improved overall thermal efficiency of the plant.
(d) The overall size of the plant is considerably reduced,
hence the overall cost of the plant.
(e) Better desulphurisation is accomplished.