Super Boiler Animation (Text Version)

Below is a text version of the diagram showing the operation of the Super Boiler, a
compact and highly efficient steam generation technology. View the animation if the
Super Boiler.

The three key elements of the Super Boiler system include:

• Combustion
• Heat transfer
• Heat recovery.

The diagram of the Super Boiler illustrates the following components:

• The Boiler, which involves the combustion and heat transfer phases
• The High-Pressure Economizer (HPE), Low-Pressure Economizer (LPE), Transport
Membrane Condenser (TMC), and Humidifying Air Heater (HAH), which comprise
the heat recovery system
• The Deaerator/Make-up tank, which collects and stores make-up water and plant
condensate return for transfer to the boiler and also conditions the boiler feed
water by removing dissolved gases to prevent corrosion.

The combustion process is displayed on the left hand side of the diagram, with an arrow
indicating the fuel (natural gas) entering the Boiler.

The Boiler uses a compact, highly energy efficient two-stage combustion system, which
features an internal recirculation burner and extended-surface firetubes that transfer heat
18 times faster than plain firetubes. This system is proving to reduce NOx emissions to as
low as 3 ppmv, while maintaining carbon monoxide levels below 10 ppmv, even at oxygen
levels of 1% to 2%.

The next phase of operation is the heat recovery system. The heat recovery system is
designed to recover most of the remaining heat in the flue gas. This includes latent heat
associated with water vapor, which accounts for two-thirds of the waste heat from natural
gas combustion.

In the diagram, arrows move to the right showing the direction of the flue gas stream
toward this system. During this process, the flue gas stream moves into the High- and
Low-Pressure Economizers. These components recover sensible heat from the flue gas to
provide preheated feed water back to the system, and cool flue gas before it enters the
Transport Membrane Condenser.

On the diagram, arrows flow downward, indicating the flue gas entering the Transport
Membrane Condenser from the Low-Pressure Economizer. In the Transport Membrane
Condenser, a ceramic nanoporous membrane condenses water vapor with its remaining
sensible and latent heat for use as boiler feed water, exhausting cooler, drier flue gas to
the stack. The hot water vapor extracted from the flue gas combines with incoming cold
make-up water to expand and heat the water supply to the system. The warm water is
pumped out of the Transport Membrane Condenser, through the Low-Pressure
Economizer where it picks up additional heat from the flue gas, and then to the
Deaerator/Make-Uup Tank, shown at the top of the diagram.

The final element of the heat recovery system is the Humidifying Air Heater. This device
pumps a portion of heat from the Transport Membrane Condenser back to the boiler via
air, managing water temperatures in applications that return and reuse a major portion of
condensate from their steam systems and thus do not supply enough cold make-up water
for the Transport Membrane Condenserto reach maximum effectiveness. It also conditions
the incoming combustion air to further reduce NOx emissions in the boiler.

The Deaerator/Make-Up Tank functions as both a holding tank and a conditioning vessel
for the boiler feedwater. Hot water from the Low-Pressure Economizer is mixed with
recovered process condensate and conditioned by exposure to a small portion of process
steam from the Boiler to drive out any residual dissolved oxygen. The deaerated hot
water then flows to the high-pressure feed water pump, which sends it on through the
High-Pressure Economizer and finally to the Boiler. A key energy-saving factor is the
reduced steam needed to maintain temperature in the Deaerator because of heat added
in the Transport Membrane Condenser and Low-Pressure Economizer.

Printable Version
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Content Last Updated: February 5, 2008