Power Engineering Dept.

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval

Architecture
University of Zagreb, Croatia

SO3 Reduction in the Heavy-oil Fired Furnace

mr.sc. Daniel Rolph Schneider

Prof. dr.sc. eljko Bogdan

 Introduction
Use of heavy-oil fuel, rich in sulphur, in combustors of steam generator
furnaces causes increased SOx emission.
Certain amount of SO2 is transformed into SO3 .
SO3 reacts, at lower temperature, with water vapour forming sulphuric acid
causes low-temperature corrosion of the steam-generator sections.

 Mathematical model:
coupled gas flow and liquid spray physics, non-premixed turbulent
flame, Fluent code
turbulent flow:
realizable k- model
radiation heat transfer:
discrete ordinates model
liquid fuel spray:
discrete second phase, particle in
model
formation of the pollutants: NOx , postprocessor
combustion model: probability density function (PDF)
formulation
reaction system:
equilibrium chemistry formulation*

cell

*OK for major combustion species (except NOx and soot) but not good
enough for SO3 formation/destruction modelling!

SO3 model: model based on finite rate chemistry,

implemented as User Defined
Function routine

 Kinetics of SO3 formation/destruction:

k

1 f
SO 2 O M
k1b

SO3 M

1200.38
k1 f 9.2 10 exp

RT

10

(1)

cm3 2 1

mol s

k1b

k1 f
K C1

Recommended values for the third body reactants [M]:

N2 /1.3/, SO2 /10.0/ and H2O /10.0/

SO3 O

k2 f

k2 f
k2 b

SO 2 O 2

10064.95
12
2 10 exp

RT

(2)
cm3 1
mol s

k2b

k2 f
KC 2

KC equilibrium constant

 Mathematical model of SO3 formation:

Transport equation for SO3:

u jY
SO3
x j
x j

YSO3
S3

SO

x j

SO is diffusion coefficient of SO3:

3

The source term S SO is defined as:

3

SO

SSO3

SO3

eff

Schmidt-Prandtl
number is: =0.7

YSO3 M SO3 SO3

t
t

The rate of SO3 change for the reactions (1) and (2) is:

d SO3
k1 f SO 2 O M k2b SO 2 O 2 k1b SO3 M k2 f SO3 O
dt

 Results:
Mathematical model was applied to simulate SO3 formation in
the furnace of a real steam generator of the 210 MW oil-fired
Power Plant Sisak.
PP Sisak burns heavy-oil fuel with 2-3% sulphur and exhibits flue
gas temperatures of 135-140 C at the exit of the regenerative
Ljungstrm air-heater, reported occurrence of the severe lowtemperature corrosion of the generator cold-end surfaces.

TERTIARY AIR INLET

SECONDARY AIR INLET

ATOMISER
NOZZLE
PRIMARY AIR
INLET
TERTIARY AIR
SECONDARY AIR

PRIMARY AIR

STEAM
ATOMISER

SECONDARY AIR SWIRLER

Fig. 1. Discretization of the furnace

TERTIARY AIR SWIRLER

Fig. 2. Schematic of the burner

two oil burners (Fig. 1) on each side-wall of the chamber

the burner consists of the axial/radial inflow type swirl generating
register and the steam atomiser (Y-nozzle)
the airflow is divided into three streams: unswirled primary stream and
then secondary and tertiary streams, which are swirled

 Analysis:
Influences of different combustion parameters on SO3 formation (and
CO, NOx, soot) were analysed:
combustion air excess ratio,
magnitude of the swirl of combustion air,
fuel droplet size (as a function of atomising steam pressure and
number of the openings of atomiser)
fuel injection spray angle
combustion air distribution (portion of primary, secondary and
tertiary stream)

=0.965

=1.105

=1.000

=1.140

=1.035

=1.175

=1.070

=1.210

Fig. 3. Distribution of SO3 for different combustion air excess ratios

XSO3

~50% SO3

soot [-]

soot

Fig. 4. Molar fractions of a) SO3 and O , b) CO and H2 , c) NO and mean

flue gas temperature, d) SO2 and soot vs. combustion air excess ratio

S=0.44

S=0.63

S=0.48

S=0.68

S=0.55

S=0.71

Fig. 5. Distribution of SO3 for different swirl numbers

XSO3

~30% SO3

soot [-]
soot

Sl. 6. Molar fractions of a) SO3 and O , b) CO and H2 , c) exit flue gas

temperature and heat flux, d) SO2 and soot vs. swirl number

d=50 m

d=70 m

d=100 m

d=130 m

d=160 m

XSO3
Fig. 7. Distribution of SO3 for different fuel droplet sizes

50-75% CO

~4.5% SO3

soot [-]

soot

Fig. 8. Molar fractions of a) SO3 and O , b) CO and H2 , c) NO and mean

flue gas temperature, d) SO2 and soot vs. fuel droplet size

 Conclusion:
Proposed finite rate chemistry model of SO3 realistically describes SO3
formation/destruction.
Such a model could be used in analysis of SO3 reduction.
Decrease of the air excess ratio reduced SO3 production, but increased
CO and H2 (incomplete combustion).
Increase of magnitude of the swirl of combustion air, the fuel spray angle
and finer spraying (smaller fuel droplet size) lowered SO3 concentration
in lesser extent than the air excess ratio, but improved combustion
(reduced CO and H2 formation).
The right strategy would be in combination of all these measures.