1 Introduction

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1

Introduction

Fluidized bed combustion is not a new invention. In the 1920s, a
German scientist by name of Fritz Winkler introduced gaseous products of
combustion into the bottom of a crucible containing coke particles. Since
that time the technical solution has continued to progress, but the
development of solid fuel combustion in fluidized beds did not start heavily
until the mid 1970s.
The merits of burning coal in a fluidized bed, in which boiler tube
surface is immersed, were recognized by the late Douglas Elliot as long as
1962 when he was a member of staff, of one of the Central Electricity
Generating Boards research laboratories. Although he was not the first to
have thought of fluidizing bed combustion the initiation of the current phase
of activity on fluidized bed combustion (FBC) in the world can be attributed
to him.
FBC permit combustion of high sulphur coal without flue gas
treatment. Fluidized bed boilers are also being developed for burning any
type of solid fuels from wood waste to refuse.
Beneficiation of non-coking coals in India for utility boilers could
not be adopted so far as this yields about 30% of raw coal into washery
rejects having a heat value of about 2000Kcal/Kg and about 65% ash going


1 Introduction
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waste. The development of FBC technology holds promise in India to
provide a solution of utilizing these rejects in industrial as well as utility
boilers.
The benefits expected from FBC system in fluid flexibility, lower
construction costs, and elimination of flue gas scrubbers for high sulphur
coals, higher generating efficiency and easy handling of dry solid process
products which could be used as road base material, indicate FBC to be
major future technology.
1.1 FBC Technology
1.1.1 Fluidization

Kunii and Levenspiel have defined fluidization as follows

Fluidization is the operation by which solid particles are transformed
into a fluidlike state through suspension in a gas or liquid.

The basic idea in CFB combustion is the fluidization of the bed
material (normally sand mixed with fuel ash and possible sorbent material)
by injecting primary fluidizing air through the bottom of the combustion
chamber. The fluidizing degree depends on the velocity of the air.

The fluidization has been introduced by using various forms of
contacting a batch of solids by fluid. One simplified description has been
proposed by Raiko (Raiko et al. 1995) where the four different fluidization
phases are specified as depicted below.

Fluidization phases

When the fluidizing air or gas velocity is increased, the gas/solid
contacting mode moves from



1 Introduction
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(a) Fixed bed



(b) To bubbling bed


(c) If the fluidizing air velocity is further
increased, the bed transforms into turbulent bed



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(c) Finally to circulating bed

Figure 1

The superficial velocity at the minimum fluidizing conditions (Umf)
has been often introduced by using so called Erguns Equation.







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Where Re is Reynolds number defined:



And Ar is Archimedes number defined:






The minimum fluidization velocity is not the operation mode of a
FBC and it is worth concentrating more on fast fluidization. In the context of
its use in CFB boilers, the fast-fluidized bed may be defined as (Basu &
Fraser):
Fast fluidized bed is a high velocity gas-solid suspension where
particles, elutriated by the fluidizing gas above the terminal velocity of
single particles are recovered and returned to the base of the combustion
chamber at a rate sufficiently high as to cause a degree of solid refluxing
that will ensure a minimum level of temperature uniformity in the
combustion chamber.



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The terminal velocity u
t
for particles can be written (Raiko et al. 1995):









Major characteristics of gas-solid flow regimes

Regime Velocity Range Appearance and principal features
Fixed bed 0<U< Umf Particles are stationary; gas flows through
interstices.
Bubble-free
fluidization
Umf<U< Umb Bed expands smoothly and uniformly; top
surface is well defined; some small-scale
particle motion; little tendency for
particles to aggregate; very little
fluctuation.
Bubbling
fluidization
Umb<U< Ums Voids From near the distributor, grow
mostly by coalescence, and rise to the
surface; top surface is well defined with
bubbles breaking through periodically;
irregular pressure fluctuation of
appreciable amplitude. Bubble size
increases as U increases.


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Slugging
fluidization
Ums<U< Uc Voids fill most of the column cross-
section; top surface rises and collapses
periodically with a reasonably regular
frequency; large and regular fluctuations.
Turbulent
fluidization
Uc<U< Use Small voids and particles clusters dart to
and fro; top surface difficult to distinguish;
small amplitude pressure fluctuations only.
Fast
fluidization
Use<U and Max
(VCB,VBB,VC)
<U<VCA
No distinguishable upper bed surface;
particles are transported out at the top and
must be replaced by adding solid near the
bottom. Clusters or strands of particles
move downward, mostly near the wall,
while gas entrained widely dispersed
particles move upward in the interior.
Interestingly dilute as U is increased at a
fixed solid feed bed.
Dilute-phase
transport
VCA<U No axial variation of solids concentration
except in the bottom acceleration section.
Some particle strands may still be
identified near the wall.

Besides the velocity of the primary fluidizing air, the particle size of the
bed material has an important effect on the bed fluidizing process. Naturally,
the finer fraction of the bed material will be fluidized and elutriated more
easily than bigger particles. When solids with a wide size distribution and
different densities are fluidized, segregation of solids may occur.
Circulating fluidized beds exhibit very complex hydrodynamics caused
by interactions between the gas and solid phase. The motions of gas and
solids are driven by mechanisms that are difficult to identify and describe.


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Although the gas and solids motions inside the combustion chamber are
complicated and depend on separate variables, the main streams of the solids
can be described by the simplified model depicted in Figure 2.
The dynamics of the multi-phase flow and fluid dynamic
characteristics of circulating fluidized bed boilers have been discussed by
Basu & Nag 1996. The goal of these to improve the accuracy of the heat
transfer correlation in circulating fluidized beds and mathematical modeling
of gas/solid two-phase flow in the different parts of the fluidized bed.

Fig. 2. Typical particle motion inside the circulating fluidized bed boiler. The solid
density increases near to the walls because the gas velocity is lower. Parts of the
particles combine together to form particle agglomerates known as clusters. These
clusters are falling downwards and form internal material circulation inside the
boiler or combustion chamber.

Fluidized Bed Combustion

After the fluidization of bed, the bed temperature should be raised to the
solid fuel ignition temperature which may vary from 450-500
o
C depending
upon the type of fuel, by burning fuel gas/oil (LDO) in the bed. The solid


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fuel is injected continuously into the bed, it burns rapidly and the bed attains
a uniform temperature due to effective mixing. Burning gas or oil gradually
reduces the initiated input to the bed by burning gas or oil till the main fuel
starts to deliver heat and self sustaining combustion is established. The bed
normally contains only a small percentage of burning fuel, about 2-5%, so
that the inert particles (sand or crushed refractory) carry the heat away from
the burning particles, thus keeping their temperature below that at which ash
melts. The temperature of the bed when burning solid fuels is controlled to
about 850-900
o
C. So heat is required to be removed from the bed by
installing cooling tubes.
Flue gas Desulphurification is achieved by adding a sorbent such as
Lime stone or Dolomite to the fluidized bed, where sulphur is absorbed in a
solid form. This sorbent is used as a bed material into which the fuel is fed.
A combustion temperature of about 850
o
C is the optimum for
absorption of sulphur oxides by the Lime and the residence time of Lime in
the bed is long. The amount of sorbent required to absorb about 90% of
sulphur in the fuel needs a calcium-sulphur molar ratio of about 3.
The reaction of sulphur with Limestone is as follows:
Calcination of lime stone: CaCO
3
+ Heat CaO + CO
2
Reaction with Sulphur: CaO + .5O
2
CaSO
4
Combustion of Fuel Particles in a Fluidized Bed
The sequence of events and history of a simple burning of solid fuel in
a fluidized bed at 850
o
C is shown in Fig.3 Initially, the moisture is given off
and the temperature of the solid fuel particle raises as it is heated by inter
particle convection and radiation. The temperature of the fuel particle soon
reaches a value at which the volatile matter is released. The residue left after


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de-vitalization is Char, which is essentially porous carbon with some ash
bound to it, with degree of porosity depends on the type of fuel. Once, the
ignition temperature is reached, the Char begins to burn. The time required
to burn the particle out is much longer than the time required to devolatise.
The mass and size of the Char diminishes with progress of combustion as
well as attrition and fragmentation till the particle becomes small enough to
be elutriated from the bed.
Combustion
A coal particle injected into a fluidized bed undergoes the following
sequential events (Basu & Fraser 1991):
Heating and drying,
Devolatilization and volatile combustion,
Swelling and primary fragmentation (for some types of coal),
Combustion of char with secondary fragmentation and attrition.

These processes are shown qualitatively in Fig. 3, which shows the order of
magnitude time taken by each step.




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1.1.2 Advantages of FBC Boilers
(i) Suitable for firing any kind of fuels
Low grade coals such as high ash coals, washery middling and rejects,
agricultural waste such as rise husk, industrial wastes such as bagasse, wood
chips, saw dust etc. can be fired.
(ii) No limitation on fuel quality
Coals with larger particle size (up to 10mm), moisture and high ash
content (up to 75%) can be efficiently burned.
Because of the suspension firing, with higher particle size, the fuels
remains in suspended state in the fire zone for some time because of this the
residence time available for fuel particles is comparatively more than the
pulverized fuel fired boiler. In addition to that, in FBC Boiler at any point of
time the coal particles in hoter amount to 2-4% of the bed material.
Therefore, the coal particles as soon as they enter the bed, they becomes hot
and Turbulent mixture. This lead to efficient combustion even with larger
size of fuel particles.
(iii) Economy of Construction
Because of low temperature combustion cheaper alloy materials can
be used, resulting in economy of construction. Future, economics are
achieved since no pulveriser is required. Since the fuel particle size is more,
the cost involve in fuel preparation is less.
(iv) Energy Conservation device
The high heat transfer rates (typified by heat transfer coefficient
greater than 250 W/m
2
K and the absence of fouling as the evaporator and
super heater coils are placed in the bed,

resulting in high thermal efficiency


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of the order of 80 to 85%. This reduces the fuel consumption for a given
boiler. A wide variety of fuels having high ash, high sulphur, and high
moisture, low calorific value etc. can be burnt effectively. Therefore higher-
grade fuels can be conserved for other purposes instead of burning for steam
generation. Thus FBC technology broadens our available energy source
spectrum thereby contributing to the over all energy conservation
programme.
(v) Reduced maintenance
Elimination of moving components such as grate in hot zone and
minimum use of refractory, Boiler maintenance is significantly reduced and
greatly minimizes inventory of spare parts.

(vi) No slagging and Fouling on tubes
Since the combustion temperature (850-900
0
C) is much lower than
the ash fusion temperature (greater than 1000
o
C), there is no chance of
slagging and fouling on tubes; hence soot blowing is not required.

(vii) Quick startup and fast response

Instantaneous combustion of coal and high heat transfer rates in FBC
enables quick startup. Further due to thermal flywheel effect of hot fluidized
bed and large heat storage capacity in boiler bank, the response is very fast.
(viii) Simple to operate
As the combustion is flameless and the chances of fire out or explosion are
virtually eliminated, soot-blowing equipment is not required as the operating
temperatures are less. These factors made the operation of FBC Boiler very
simple.


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(ix) Low SOx Emission
When high sulphur coal is burnt, most of the sulphur is oxidized to
SO2, which becomes a component of flue gas. When Lime stone is added to
the bed, it undergoes transformation called calcinations and then reacts with
SO2 in the flue gas to form calcium sulphate which is chemically stable at
fluidized bed operating bed temperature and is removed from the system as a
solid for disposal.
(x) Low NOx Emission
The low combustion temperature of 850 to 900
o
C results in reduced
generation of NOx.
NOx emission in boilers comes from two sources, the oxidation of
Nitrogen compounds in the fuel and the reaction between Nitrogen and
Oxygen in the combustion air. The NOx formed by oxidizing fuel N2
compounds is referred to as fuel NOx and the NOx formed from N2 and O2
in the combustion air is called thermal NOx because it is a product of a high
temperature process above 1480
o
C.
As a result of low temperature at which fluidized bed operates,
thermal NOx makes only a minor contribution to overall emissions. Fuel
NOx formation is avoided by air staging i.e. by giving combustion air in the
form of primary and secondary air.

1.1.3 Classification of FBC Boiler: -

Types of FBC Boiler
There are presently three types of FBC Boilers in existence.
(a) Atmospheric Fluidized Bed Boilers (AFBC)


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(b) Pressurized Fluidized Bed Combustion Boiler (PFBC)
(c) Circulating Fluidized Bed Combustion Boiler (CFBC)

Classification of FBC Boilers
Based on the types of relative gas-solid motion FBC Boiler can be
classified as
1) Bubbling and
2) Circulating
Further each of them can be classified as Atmospheric or Pressurized. In
present, industrial practice AFBC refers only to bubbling bed, since these are
the ones, which are commercialized.

Atmospheric Fluidized bed combustion type (Bubbling)
In an atmospheric fluidized combustion boiler coal is crushed to a
size of 1-6 mm, depending on the coal and type of fuel feeding and fed to the
combustion chamber. In FBC boilers, River sand or crushed refractory
material is used as bed material.
The specifications are-
Size : +0.8 mm to +2.8 mm
Chemical Composition : SiO
2
55% to 65%
Al
2
O
3
35% to 45%
Air enters through distributors into the bed of sand or limestone. If
Dolomite or Limestone is used, then SO2 will be absorbed in the bed. At a
velocity of 0.6 to 4.6m/s (depending upon bed height), turbulence is created
and circulating motion of the bed provides good mixing. The atmospheric air
which acts as both the fluidization air and combustion air is delivered at a


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pressure and flow rate through the bed after being preheated by the exhaust
flue gases. The in bed tubes carrying water generally acts as the evaporator.
The gaseous products of combustion pass over the superheater section of
boiler flow past the economizer, Air preheater and the Electrostatic
Precipitator (ESP) before being exhausted to atmosphere.
AFBC Boiler can be classified as water tube or fire tube and also as
single bed or dual bed type. For capacities less than 25 TPH of steam,
horizontal fire tube design has been proved to be very economical, where as
vertical fire tubes could be appropriate for outputs below 5 TPH. Water
tubes AFBC Boiler generally are specified for outputs above 25 TPH and for
higher steam pressures

Pressurized Fluidized bed combustion type

The PFBC is simpler to AFBC, but operated at higher pressure. The FD
fan is replaced with a compressor and the combustion is in a pressure vessel.
The heat release rate in the bed be proportional to the bed pressure and
hence a deep bed is used to extract large amount of heat. This improves
combustion efficiency and sulphur dioxide absorption in the bed. This has
not yet been commercialized.

Circulating Fluidized bed combustion

The atmospheric circulating fluidized bed combustion (ACFBC)
system is the most recent development in fluidization bed combustion.



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In a circulating system, the bed parameters are so maintained as to
promote solids elutriation from the bed. They are lifted in a relatively dilute
phase in a solid riser, and a down comer with a cyclone provides a return
path for the solids. There are no steam generation tubes immersed in the bed.
Generation and superheating of steam takes place in the convection section,
water walls, at the exit of the riser.

1.2 Circulating Fluidized bed combustion

1.2.1The CFB combustion definition

Basu and Fraser have defined the CFB boiler as follows

A circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler is a device for generating steam
by burning fossil fuels in a combustion chamber operated under a special
hydrodynamic condition. Fine solids are transported through the
combustion chamber at a velocity exceeding the terminal velocity of
average particles, yet there is a degree of refluxing of solids adequate to
ensure uniformity of temperature in the combustion chamber.

Since 1970s, the circulating fluidized bed (CFB) technology has been
applied to combustion and steam generation. Circulating fluidized bed
technology has been established as reliable and flexible means of energy
production. More than 400 CFB Boiler in operation world wide ranging
from 5 MW to 600 MW.




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1.22 CFB Boiler Description

The main components of major CFBC boiler manufacturer such as
Alstrom, Lurgi, and Foster wheeler are similar with the main components
being the furnace with water walls, separator and return leg and back pass.
The main design differences are in the external heat exchanger, grid design
and ash handling system.
Mainly there are two different designs of CFBC boilers available in
the market. These two designs differ in separator used to separate the solid
particles from gaseous flow.

The two designs are given below
(i) Hot-Cyclone CFB:
In this type of CFB Boiler cyclone separators is used for separating
the entrained solids hot flue gas and return them through the return
leg and possible loop seal. The loop seal prevents back flow of gas
from the riser up the standpipe and has no movable mechanical
parts. The gas velocity employed in a CFB is usually in the range
of 4.5 to 6m/s. The operating bed temperature is usually in the
range of 850 - 900
o
C.


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Fig.4 CFB Boiler with external water cooler cyclone separator.


(ii) IR CFB:
The solid separation system is a key element of any CFB Boiler
design. The IR CFB separation system is design for the life of the
unit without replacement. The IR CFB has a two stage primary
solids separator comprised of in-furnace U-Beam separators and
external U-Beam separators. The in furnace U-Beam separators are
able to collect nearly 75% of the solids. The remaining solids are
by the external U-Beams. The two-stage solid separation system


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consisting of the impact type primary solid separator (U-Beam)
and the secondary Multi-cyclone dust collector is present in IR
CFB.


Fig.5 IR-CFB boiler with Primary & Secondary separator


1.3 Advantage of CFBC

Fuel flexibility
The CFBC Boiler can efficiently burn a variety of fuel including
low-grade solid fuels rich in ash and moisture. The CFBC Boiler has the
flexibility of burning different types of fuel in the same boiler,
simultaneously and separately, without substantial change in capacity and
efficiency. A list of fuels burned in operating CFBC boiler includes:



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(1) Various coals.
(2) Wooden wastes.
(3) Bark.
(4) Petroleum coke.
(5) Oil and gas.
(6) Lignite and brown coals.
(7) Peat.
(8) Coal washings rejects.
(9) Industrial and sewage wastes.

High combustion efficiency
The turbulence in the combustor vapour space, combine with
tumultuous scouring effect and thermal inertia of the bed material,
provides for complete, controlled and uniform combustion. These factors
are key to maximizing thermal efficiency, minimizing char and
controlling emissions. The high efficiency of a fluid bed combustor
makes it particularly well-suited problem fuels with low Btu value and
high moisture characteristics. The superior mixing in the CFB and the
large reaction space afford high combustion efficiencies over an
acceptable range of operating conditions for a wide variety of fuels.
CFBC boiler manufactures typically report combustion efficiencies in the
excess of 98% and often 99%, with excess air less than 20%.

Efficient sulphur removal
The good contact between gas and solid and the long contact time
in the CFB combustor afford better capture of sulphur at a given Ca/S


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21
ratio. Compilation of results reported for several industrial CFBC boilers
show an average around 90% capture at Ca/S ratio of 1.5 to 2 depending
on the quality of lime stone.
Low NOx emissions
Owing to the relatively low combustion temperature end to the
staged combustion, which is characteristics of all CFBC boilers, NOx
emissions can be kept of 100 to 3000ppm

Favorable ash properties
The high combustion efficiency of a fluid bed results in a reduced
amount of inorganic material as fine ash. The remaining large materials
consist mainly of non-combustibles, such as rocks and wire brought in
with the fuel, and coarse sand-like neutral particles. Low combustion
temperature in the fluidized bed minimizes the formation of toxic
material that might go in to the ash.


Simpler fuel handling and feed system
In contrast to the conventional pulverized combustion boiler,
CFBC boiler solid fuels in the fairly coarse sizes. This simplifies
upstream feed preparation. But perhaps the main advantage of the CFBC
boiler is in the need for only one feed points. The degree of lateral
mixing in the turbulent zone in the bottom of the CFB combustor ensures
uniform distribution of the feed within the bed. Besides, the large
effective height of the combustor tends to correct any mal-distribution
that may occur at the bottom.


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High heat release rates
Most of the CFBC boilers run at gas velocities of around 6-8m/s.
These results in rather high heat transfer rates (around 5MWth/m
2
), and
also accounts in part for the relatively small floor area that the CFBC
boiler requires, even in comparison with conventional PC boilers

Capability for a good turndown and load following
The relatively high fluidizing gas velocity and the use of combustion
permit a fairly good turndown ratio by simply reducing proportionally
the amounts of air and fuel. Most commercial plants report turndown
capability for their plants 3-4.Manufactures often report running their
plants at 15-20% of load for long durations. Also, CFB can easily
achieve a load following capability of around 4% per minute.
High availability
As befitting boiler in service of the industry, the availability records for
operating CFBC boilers are impressive. Figures in the excess of 90% are
generally quoted. Some boilers have also reported availability of the
order of 99%.

Low operating costs
The lack of moving parts in a fluid bed reduces maintenance costs and
down time. CFB units have achieved operating availabilities above 98%
and have kept operating costs relatively low given the difficult fuels they
are burning.



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23
Comparison of various FBCs.


1.4 Indian Experience of CFBC Technology
2 x 145 TPH of CFBC based cogeneration plant was set up by INDAL
at Hirakud in 1992. The experience gained in this plant has set the
direction for improved design of CFBC for Indian coal. Indian coal
exhibits erosive properties of ash and CFBC boilers need to be designed
for such fuels. Other CFBC units have also been set up and being
successfully operated by Tata chemicals, Indian Rayon, Birla Copper,
Kanoria Chemicals, etc. with fuels such as coal and/or lignite.
First major 250 MW (2 x 125 MW) CFBC based power plant has been
set up by GIPCL near Surat, Gujarat with lignite as a main fuel in 1999.
Technical & environmental performance of this plant is reportedly quite
satisfactory. Similar lignite based CFBC Power Plant of 2 x 125 MW
capacity is under construction at Akrimota, Gujarat. First 100% Pet coke
based 25 MW CFBC boiler was commissioned in 1999 at Rain
Calcining, Vizag, and Andhra Pradesh. India's largest 2 x 250 MW CFBC
based power plant with 100% Petroleum coke is under development stage
at Reliance, Jamnagar.
AFBC PFBC CFBC
Velocity 3-5m/s 1-2m/s Up to 10 m/s
Particle size 1000m 1000m

< 350m
Pressure 1 atm 7-15 atm 1 atm
Combustion
temperature
800-900
o
c 800-900
o
c 870-900
o
c
Commercialized
up to 150TPH
and 160MW.
Demonstration
stage up to
350MW
Under
Commissioning
up to 600MW.


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24




Operating
capacity
Rated capacity
(MW)
Year of
Commissioning
Location
TATA Chemicals

NA NA NA
Reliance 500 MW
(2*250 MW)
Under
development stage
Gujrat (Jamnagar)
Birla Cooper

NA NA NA
GIPCL
(Gujrat
Industrial Power
Corporation)
250MW
(2*125MW)
1999 Gujrat (Surat)
KCIL (Kanoria
Chemicals &
Industry Limited)
50 MW
(2*25 MW)
1997 U.P (renukoot)
N.A.

25 MW 1999 A.P (Vizag)
N.A 250 MW
(2*125 MW)
Under
commissioning
Gujrat (Akrimota)
Jindal Power Under
commissioning
Chattisgarh(Raigarh)





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