BOILER FURNACE

The heat required for producing steam in a boiler is generated at

boiler furnace by combustion of fuel.

What is Combustion?
Combustion is a chemical process during which oxygen is
combined with different elements of fuel. During this combination,
a definite amount of heat is produced per unit mass of combustible
element depending upon the element with which the oxygen
combines. The elements participate in combustion process are
oxygen, hydrogen, carbon and sulphur. There are various other
elements in the fuel (coal) which do take part in combustion
process such as iron, silicon etc. They usually exist in small amount
and are classed as impurities of fuel. These impurities producer
certain waste during combustion of coal and remain in the form of
ash and stored in the ash pit of steam boiler furnace, after
combustion. The combustion of fuel including coal requires three
stages to be completed.
1. The absorption of heat to rise the temperature of the fuel to the
point of ignition.
2. The distillation and burning of volatile gasses.
3. Combustion of fixed carbon.
While the coal is fed to the boiler furnace in a pulverized form,
the temperature of the coal is first raised to its ignition point the
volatile matters of the coal so called hydrocarbons, such as marsh
gas, tar, pitch, naphtha are separated from the coal and driven of
in the gaseous form. These gases then combine with oxygen of air
which is supplied through the bed of the hot bed of fuel (coal) of
the steam boiler furnace. After the hydrocarbons are driven off
from the coal, the solid carbon unites with oxygen of air and forms
carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Any substances of the coal
which are not combustible fall through the grate into the pit below
the boiler furnace in form of ash.
So far combustion process, sufficient air to be supplied in furnace.
Generally approximately 12 pound of air is required to complete
combustion of one pound of coal. But in practice twice or more of
this quantity of air is supplied in the furnace by forced draft since
ideal condition of combustion can not be achieved practically. It is
always quite difficult to supply air to the all part of the steam
 boiler furnace uniformly. In the other hand, too mush air should
not be supplied to the furnace. If air is supplied is in very higher
rate than its specified rate then there may be a chance of blowing
off the hydrocarbon gases before the combustion process is
completed. So the air should be supplied to the furnace in high but

controlled rate.
The main design and operation of the boiler furnace is to obtained
combustion with minimum smoke. Smoke less combustion is
proffered for mainly two reasons,
1. The smoke is a main cause of air pollution.
2. Smoke is the indication of incomplete combustion. The unburned
visible gases are shown in the form of smoke.
The principle of complete combustion is quite simple but is not
always possible to carry out in steam boiler furnace. Introducing
coal into the boiler furnace, rising the temperature to the burning
point, and supplying enough air for the combustion may not be
sufficient for a successful combustion. There is another factor
which to be kept in mind during designing a furnace. It is equally
important to mix up the air with combustible gases thoroughly and
that is to be maintained at a sufficiently high temperature during
the process. When fresh bituminous coal is fired, on the fuel bed
of boiler furnace, the combustible gases are driven off and large
portion of which remain unburned and are carried into the chimney
if air is not mixed up with them properly. There are many air mixing
processes developed for steam boiler furnace. One of the popular
methods of boiler furnace is to providing fire brick lined combustion
chamber of ample size with suitable baffles for proper mixing the
gases with the air, the introduction of sufficient heated air in the
combustion to consume the combustible gages before reaching the
heating surface of the boiler.

Construction of Boiler Furnace

For successful combustion a boiler furnace has some essential
parts in its construction, such as
1. A grate for supporting fuel (coal).
2. Combustion chamber – in which the combustion takes place
Means of supplying fresh air.
3. An ash pity for collecting and catching the refuses from the fuel
during combustion.

Boiler Furnace Grate

Grate is provided in a
steam boiler furnace for supporting the solid fuel in the furnace.
Grate is so designed that it can also allow air to admit air in the
solid fuel for combustion. The openings of the grate must not be
so large that they allow the unburned fuel partials to fall through
and on the other hand these openings must not be so narrow that
they obstruct sufficient amount of air to pass through the fuel.

Firebox and Combustion Chamber of Furnace

Firebox of boiler furnace is the place just above the grate and
combustion chamber is the extension of this where combustion
of volatile hydrocarbons take place. The heat is produced due to
combustion is absorbed by the steam boiler surface at the top of
the combustion chamber. Different fire bricks wall and baffles
are provided in the combustion chamber proper mixing of air with
combustible gases.

Ash Pit
Ash pit of steam boiler furnace is a chamber provided below the
grate to catch the refuse (ash) from the fire above. Ash pit also
functions as supply chamber of air through the grate. There must
be sufficient height between the bottom floor of the ash pit and the
 grate to give plenty of air space. In common practice to slope the
pit floor towards the front, to facilitate the removal of ashes.
There are different components present in feed water and steam
circuit of boiler and we should know some essential components
of these circuit and these are Economizer, boiler drums, water
tubes, and super heater.

Economizer
• Economizer is a heat exchanger which takes heat from the flue
gas, and increases the temperature of feed water coming from
feed water common header to about the saturation temperature
corresponding to the boiler pressure.
• Throwing away the flue gases of high temperature into the
atmosphere involves a great deal of energy losses. By utilizing
these gases in heating feed water, higher efficiency and better
economy can be achieved, and hence the heat exchanger is called
“Economizer”.
• Structurally economizer is a collection of bent hollow tubular
elements through which feed water passes. Outside of the tubes
are heated by Exhaust flue gases. More no. of water tubes more
will be the heat exchange surface. No. of tubes and tube cross
section are pre-designed as per required boiler parameters.
• In the T-S curve above, the shadow portion illustrates the zone
of economiser. The heat absorbed by feed water is denoted by
‘Qeco’.
Another essential component of Feed Water and Steam

Circuit is Boiler Drum.

Boiler Drums
Two types of boiler drums used in all types of boilers are ‘steam
drum’ and ‘mud drum’. Both the drums have specific functions.
 Steam Drum
The functions of steam drum in feed water steam circuit are:
1. To store water and steam sufficiently to meet varying load
demands.
2. To provide a head and thereby aiding the natural circulation of
water through water tubes.
3. To separate vapour or steam from water- steam mixture,
discharged by the risers.
4. To aid in chemical treatments to remove dissolved O2 and to
maintain required pH.
Separating steam from two-phase mixtures in the steam drum:
• Steam must be separated from the mixture before it leaves the
drum, because:
1. Any moisture carried with steam contains dissolved salts. In the
super heater, water evaporates and the salt remain deposited
on the inside surface of the tubes to form a scale. This scale
reduces the life of the super-heaters.
2. Some of the impurities in the moisture (like vaporized silica)
may cause turbine blade deposits.
• One of the important functions of steam-drum is to separate
steam from steam water mixture. At low pressure (below 20 bar;
1 bar = 1.0197 kg/cm2) simple gravity separation is used. In the
method of gravity separation the water particles disengaged from
steam due to higher density.
• As the pressure inside the boiler drum increases the density of
steam increases, as steam is very compressible. Hence difference
between the densities of steam and water decreases. Hence
gravity separation becomes in efficient.
• Hence in the steam drum of the high pressure boilers, there are
some mechanical arrangements (known as ‘drum internals’ or
‘anti-priming arrangements’) for separating steams from water.
• Following picture illustrates different Anti-priming arrangements
used in thermal power plants :

• “Baffles” are separators which separate the hot steam-water

mixture from dry steam and provide a guided path for the dry
steam.
• In the “cyclone separator” steam water two-phase mixture is
allowed to move in a helical path and due to centrifugal forces
the water particles separate out from the two-phase mixture. The
small vanes inside the cyclone separator collect the deposited
water particles.
• In the “scrubber” the two phase mixture is allowed to move in a
zigzag path and it provides the ultimate stage of drying the
steam.
• After scrubber steam is allowed to move to super-heated through
a perforated screen.

Mud Drum
Mud drum is another header which is situated at the bottom of
the boiler and usually helps in natural circulation of water through
the steam tubes. Mud drum usually contains water at saturation
temperature, and also the precipitated salts and impurities known
as slurries. It is periodically washed to remove the slurry by
opening the discharge valve.
Water Tubes
These are also essential for feed water and steam circuit of
boiler Water tubes are bent or straight hollow tubes through which
steam water mixture circulates. There are two types of water
tubes, viz. down-comer and riser. This down comer, riser assembly
is also known as “Evaporator” (or “boiler proper”). In the
evaporator actual state change from water to steam occurs. In the
T-S diagram beside, the zone of evaporator is illustrated. ‘Qeva’ is
the heat absorbed by evaporator. It is mainly the latent heat of

vaporization of water.

Down-comers Water Tubes

As the name suggests down-comers are the water tubes through
which water comes down from steam drum to mud drum (see fig.).
No vapour bubble should flow along with saturated water from the
drum to the down comers. This will reduce the density difference
and the pressure head for natural circulation.

Risers Water Tubes

Risers are the water tubes through which steam water two-phase
mixture at saturation temperature goes up from mud drum to
steam drum. Risers are usually close to furnaces, while the down-
comers are away from the furnaces.

Super-Heaters
Super heater is another important part of Feed Water and Steam
Circuit of Boiler
• Super-Heater is an important element of the feed water-steam
circuit. It is basically a heat exchanger in which heat is
transferred to the saturated steam to increase its temperature.
In high pressure boilers more than 40% of the total heat is
 absorbed by the super heaters. The T-S diagram beside
illustrates the heat absorbed by the super heater and is denoted

by ‘Qsh’.
• In super-heater the rate of heat absorption is more. Hence, in
the modern water tube boilers there are more. Hence, in the
modern water tube boilers there are more super heating surfaces.
• Super-heater tubes are exposed to the highest steam pressure
and temperature on the inside and the maximum gas
temperature on the outside. They are made of costliest alloys.

Functions of Super-Heater
• An increase in inlet steam temperature gives a steady
improvement in cycle efficiency. Hence, the function of super-
heater is to raise the overall efficiency. In addition, it reduces the
moisture content in the later stages of the turbine and thus
increases the turbine internal efficiency.
• However, the increase in temperature is limited by the properties
of the construction materials of boilers and turbines. Usually the
optimum temperature of steam is maintained 450oC at the
turbine inlet.