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Field test of coal type adaptability on a 300 MW

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Impact Factor: 2.35 DOI: 10.1016/j.powtec.2015.01.027

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 Powder Technology 274 (2015) 180185

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Powder Technology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/powtec

Field test of coal type adaptability on a 300 MW CFB boiler

Ruifeng Ding, Jingjing Dong, Man Zhang, Hairui Yang , Junfu Lv
Key laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Coal type adaptability for CFB boilers is of great importance because it inuences whether the unit can operate
Received 23 September 2014 safely, economically and environmentally when the coal type is changed. Research is carried out on a 300 MW
Received in revised form 8 January 2015 CFB boiler located in Longyan power plant, Fujian province by burning three types of coal, i.e. Fujian anthracite,
Accepted 12 January 2015
Shenhua bituminous coal and Indonesia lignite. The results show that all the three coals are capable to meet the
Available online 17 January 2015
basic requirement of bed temperature. But the y ash carbon content and exhaust gas temperature depend on
Keywords:
the coal type. Compared with Fujian anthracite, Shenhua bituminous coal and Indonesia lignite tend to possess
CFB lower y ash carbon content and lower exhaust gas temperature under high boiler load, which helps to increase
Anthracite the boiler efciency. The auxiliary power consumption rates under all the three types of coal are all lower than
Bituminous coal 4.3% with the successful utilization of lower energy consumption technology based on state specication design
Lignite theory. Besides, when the fuel is changed from Fujian anthracite to Shenhua bituminous coal and Indonesia
Adaptability of coal type lignite, SO2 emission and dust emission decreases, while the NOx emission increases.
2015 Published by Elsevier B.V.

1. Introduction oxygen mixing with lower bed pressure drop in the furnace. Secondly,
all the draft fans were optimized with the Variable-frequency drive to
In 2012, the coal-red circulating uidized bed (CFB) boilers in meet the change of bed pressure drop. The optimization increases the
China were facing the pressure of tight coal supply and rising coal boiler efciency by 3%, reaching 89% at full load, and meanwhile keeps
price [1]. It was hard to guarantee the stability of coal sources for a the auxiliary power consumption as low as 4.3% [4]. Recently, the
CFB boiler and pursue the maximum economic benets simultaneously. price of local anthracite rises rapidly, even higher than bituminous
In view of economic benets, many power companies decided to burn coal from other provinces, which seriously reduces the company's
off-design fuel. The change puts forward strict requirement of the coal economic benets. For the purpose of controlling cost, the company
type adaptability to guarantee the safe, economic and environmental decided to burn off-design coals with lower price, such as Shenhua
run of the unit [2]. bituminous coal and Indonesia lignite. Experiments of burning different
The 300 MW subcritical CFB boiler in Longyan power plant came coals were conducted to study the inuence of coal type adaptability on
into use in 2009, with the main steam rate of 1025 t/h, the main boiler performance, which is of great importance for the company to
steam pressure of 17.4 MPa, the main steam temperature and reheat increase prots and withstand the risk of coal market changing. Besides,
temperature of 540 C. Natural circulating, single reheat, balanced the state specication design theory is also tested with two more coals.
draft and simple arrangements without intrex are adopted in the unit. During the process of evaluating coal type adaptability, three factors
The designed fuel is local anthracite, one of the most difcult coals to are mainly compared, such as the operation safety, efciency and pollut-
burn, with characteristics of low volatile content, high ignition temper- ant emission. At the same time, by studying the inuence of coal type on
ature and high coking risk [3]. The bed material balance system and the the auxiliary power consumption, the feasibility of lower energy
draft fan system were optimized with the lower energy consumption consumption technology based on state specication design theory
technology based on state specication design in 2010 [4]. Firstly, the with various coals are validated.
coal crushers were carefully adjusted to control the feeding coal size
distribution with the information of intrinsic ash size distribution,
which could improve the bed material quality. The improvement of 2. Experimental section
bed quality could form enough circulating ash rate and modify the
2.1. Coal property analysis

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 10 62773384. Apart from the original Fujian anthracite (FA), Shenhua bituminous
E-mail address: [email protected] (H. Yang). coal (SB) and Indonesia lignite (IL) were also tested on the CFB unit. The

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2015.01.027
0032-5910/ 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V.
 R. Ding et al. / Powder Technology 274 (2015) 180185 181

Table 1
The ultimate and proximate analysis of three types of coal.

Car Har Oar Nar Sar Aar Mar Vdaf Qnet

[%] [%] [%] [%] [%] [%] [%] [%] [MJ/kg]

FA 52.3 1.04 0.83 0.71 1.02 34.63 9.47 3.20 19.07

SB 51.63 2.96 8.69 0.77 0.43 22.52 13.0 36.63 21.31
IL 57.05 3.93 12.92 1.20 0.43 8.52 15.95 50.20 21.95

ultimate and proximate analysis of three coals is presented in Table 1.

According to Table 1, the low heating value as received base is very
closely for three types of coals. SB and IL share the characteristics of
higher volatile, lower sulphur content and lower ash content, which is
different from FA. Besides, SB and IL have larger moisture contents,
which can lead to the increase of the exhaust gas volume and heat loss.

2.2. Coal particle size distribution

As an open system with one inlet and two outlets, the bed material
in the CFB boiler is selectively retained [4,5]. Only the effective bed
material, which can participate in the circulation, plays an important
role in determining the fuel combustion portion and temperature distri-
bution along the furnace. The bed quality, i.e. the size distribution of the Fig. 2. Size distribution of the intrinsic ash.
bed material, is closely related with the solid concentration distribution
both in the lower and upper part of the furnace [5,6]. It is already found
that the bed quality is affected by the feeding coal size distribution, the 3. Results and discussion
ash formation and attrition property [7]. By analyzing the feeding coal
size distribution of three types of coal, it is found that the particles 3.1. Operation comparison
ner than 200 m for FA is about 27%, while the percentages are 11%
and 7% respectively for SB and IL, as shown in Fig. 1. In addition, the in- 3.1.1. The inuence of coal type on bed temperature
trinsic ash size distribution can be obtained by means of static combus- As a signicant parameter of the CFB unit, bed temperature has a
tion and cold vibration sieving, which was proposed by H.R. Yang et al. great impact on combustion efciency and pollutant emission. As
[7]. As shown in Fig. 2, the proportions of particles in range of 150 m shown in Fig. 3, the variation of bed temperature in dense bed is consis-
to 300 m are similar for three coals. However, for IL the ash particles tent with the changing in boiler load, which is insensitive to the coal
ner than 100 m is remarkably more than the others, due to the fact type. This phenomenon is benecial to maintain the stability of bed
that IL has relatively larger fragment and attrition coefcient. These temperature. Despite the difference in the volatile and ash content,
ashes have lower separation efciency and mostly escape as y ash. At the axial temperature in furnace stays uniform, indicating that there is
the same time, the ash content of IL is also very low, so the bed material enough axial solid internal-mixing in the furnace. So, it can be conclud-
balance system, especially the cyclone efciency, is more sensitive ed that the ash properties of both FA and SB are appropriate to form
when the CFB boiler changes to burn IL. enough external circulating rate, thus meeting the requirement of

Fig. 1. Size distribution of the feeding coal. Fig. 3. The boiler load vs. the bed temperature burning different coals.
182 R. Ding et al. / Powder Technology 274 (2015) 180185

mass balance and heat transfer. Due to faults in the test, the data of bed
temperature, exhaust gas temperature and carbon content in y ash for
IL under various boiler loads were not recorded except for the full load.
So, only the bed temperature under full load of IL is included in Fig. 3
for reference.

3.1.2. The inuence of coal type on exhaust gas temperature

The temperature of exhaust gas is normally higher than that of the
environment, thus directly leading to heat loss during the operation
[8]. As shown in Fig. 4, the variation of exhaust gas temperature is con-
sistent with the changing of load when the boiler load is below 250 MW.
Nevertheless, the exhaust gas temperature stabilizes around 140 C for
SB when the boiler load is above 250 MW, while the temperature for
FA still increases along with the load. The post combustion property of
FA in cyclone and second pass is supposed to be the major reason, at
the same time, the higher ash content causes serious ash deposition
on the heating tubes in the second pass, which decreases the heat trans-
fer coefcients. On the contrary, the large amount of exhaust gas gener-
ated by burning SB is likely to increase the exhaust gas velocity through
the second pass, which decreases the ash deposition and enhances heat
transfer, so the exhaust gas temperature of SB can keep nearly constant
at higher load. Meanwhile, the exhaust gas temperature of IL under full Fig. 5. Size distribution of y ash.
load is also included in Fig. 4 for reference and it is also lower than that
of burning FA.
content in the y ash. Fig. 6 shows the inhomogeneity of residual carbon
3.1.3. The inuence of coal type on y ash property
content in y ash with different sizes. The burn-out rate of FA in range of
Much attention has been paid to the high carbon content in y ash of
2070 m is very low, and the carbon content reaches 21% when the ash
coal-red CFB boilers. The major factors that affect the carbon content in
size is about 30 m. However, the data stabilizes around 6% for SB and IL
y ash include the following: coal index, coal structure and reaction
at different particle sizes. By diving the volatile content by the heating
activity, feeding coal size, cyclone efciency and operation conditions
value presented in Table 1, coal indexes [9,11] for three types of coal
[9,10], etc.
can be obtained. And the result shows that the coal indexes of SB and
By means of sampling, sieving and weighting, the size distribution of
IL are higher than that of FA. Previous studies proved that coal with
y ash is obtained, as shown in Fig. 5. The similarity in size distribution
higher index normally burns out fast and has the lower y ash carbon
of y ash burning different coals proves that the y ash size distribution
content [10,11], which can also explain the difference of carbon content
is mainly determined by the cyclone efciency, which is insensitive to
in y ashes when burning three types of coal. Moreover, other studies
the coal type. When burning different coals in the same unit, the cyclone
indicate that the carbon crystal structure of FA is very pyknotic [3], so
efciency is not the main reason for the difference in the carbon
in situation of the same mass balance and residence time, the coal
contents.
particles are easy to lose the reaction activity, resulting in lower burn-
As discussed above, the portion of feeding coal particles ner than
out rate and higher carbon content in y ash of Fujian coal.
200 m of FA is obviously larger than those of SB and IL. Such ner
Besides, experiments under different loads show that the carbon
particles, especially for carbon, are hard to be caught by the cyclone to
content in y ash is around 4% when burning SB. For FA, the carbon
be circulated back into the furnace, and this can lead to higher carbon

Fig. 4. The boiler load vs. the exhaust gas temperature burning different coals. Fig. 6. Carbon content in y ash of different sizes.
 R. Ding et al. / Powder Technology 274 (2015) 180185 183

less is the cost, making for the economic run of the power plant. To
reduce the net coal consumption rate, one of the important measures
is improving the boiler efciency. In the eld test, attention was mainly
paid to the boiler efciency and the auxiliary power rate to compare the
three types of coal in economic views.

3.2.1. The inuence of coal type on the boiler efciency

The boiler efciency is a signicant economic indicator to evaluate
the operation performance of the boiler. During practical operation,
the main inuential factors are the carbon content in the y ash and
the exhaust gas temperature [1,12]. Carbon content in the y ash is
related with the coal type, bed material quality and the combustion
condition inside the furnace. As mentioned above, the carbon contents
of SB and IL are lower than that of FA, thus the mechanical incomplete
loss, Q4, will also be lower correspondingly. Meanwhile, the exhaust
gas composition and temperature is also inuenced by the coal type.
The drop of exhaust gas temperature can lead to less exhaust gas heat
loss, Q2, in another way to improve the boiler efciency. The exhaust
gas temperature of SB is relatively lower than that of FA, bringing
more advantages in decreasing the exhaust gas heat loss. Experiments
were carried out to nd that the boiler efciency burning SB under
Fig. 7. Carbon content in y ash vs. the boiler load burning different coals. 75% load is 92.69%, which is 5.5% higher than FA. While under full
load, the boiler efciency improves by 4.5% in comparison with burning
FA. The boiler efciency under full load for two coals is presented in
content in y ash drops from 17% to 13% when boiler load increases Table 2. The improvement of boiler efciency is more remarkable
from 150 MW to the full load, as shown in Fig. 7. The bed temperature under lower boiler load and the potential economic benets grow
increases under higher boiler load, and it is benecial for the burn-out higher.
of carbon in ashes, especially for FA with low reactivity. But for the Furthermore, coal blending combustion tests of IL and FA were
coals with higher reactivity, increase of bed temperature has relatively conducted on the unit. The exhaust gas heat loss, Q2, increases from
weak effect. Moreover, the y ash carbon contents in different sizes 5.5% to 5.8% when adjusting the blending ratio of IL from 30% to 100%,
are obtained by burning SB under 50% and 75% boiler load, as shown as shown in Fig. 9. The reason is that there is more moisture content
in Fig. 8. The shapes of the two curves are similar under both loads, in- in IL. And the moisture content increases the amount of exhaust gas
dicating that boiler load has little effect on the carbon content distribu- and the heat capacity [12], which negatively affects the temperature
tion in y ash for SB. drop of the exhaust gas passing the convection zone. Hence, the heat
loss increases. But at the same time, the y ash carbon content burning
3.2. Comparison in economic views IL decreases because of the lower ash content and balanced feeding coal
size. This ultimately results in a signicant drop of the mechanical
To evaluate the economic run of the coal-red power plant, gross incomplete combustion loss Q4. On the whole, the boiler efciency, ,
coal consumption rate is a comprehensive indicator. Technically, this in- improves along with the increase of blending combustion ratio, , of IL.
dicator is determined by the net coal consumption rate and the auxiliary
power rate. Lower is the net coal consumption and auxiliary power rate, 3.2.2. The inuence of coal type on energy consumption of air draft fan
When burning different coals, the air distribution system should be
adjusted to meet the requirement of combustion and ow, including
the primary air fan, secondary air fan and the induced draft fan [3]. As
listed in Table 2, auxiliary power consumption rates of SB and IL increase
slightly from 3.93% to 4.26% and 4.22% compared with FA. In details, the
electric consumption of primary air fan, secondary air fan and the
induced draft fan all increase slightly. But for all three types of coal,
the auxiliary power rates are lower than 4.3%. The auxiliary power
rate comparison of some domestic and abroad power plants is present-
ed in Table 3 [3,13], it can be concluded that the auxiliary power rate of
Longyan power plant is 3% lower than the others. The fact demonstrates
that, despite of the coal type diversity, the lower energy consumption
technology based on state specication design theory is feasible and
keeps the auxiliary power consumption rate at a very low level [4].

Table 2
The auxiliary power rate of three types of coal under full load.

Auxiliary power rate [%] Boiler

efciency
Primary Secondary Induced All fans The unit
[%]
air fan air fan draft fan

FA 0.887 0.518 0.857 2.263 3.93 89.25

SB 0.894 0.580 0.991 2.465 4.26 93.29
IL 0.897 0.593 0.973 2.463 4.22 93.62
Fig. 8. Carbon content in y ash of different sizes under two different working conditions.
184 R. Ding et al. / Powder Technology 274 (2015) 180185

Fig. 9. Indonesia lignite blending combustion ratio vs. Q2 Q4 and the boiler efciency.

3.3. Pollutant emission comparison

Table 3
Comparison of auxiliary power rate of some domestic and abroad CFB boiler [3,13].
Facing the strict new national emission regulation issued in 2012, it
Power plant Full load Auxiliary power is necessary to pay more attention to the pollutant emission during the
[MW] rate[%] operation of a CFB unit, including SO2, NOx and dust [14], etc.
Longyan, China 300 4.3 As is measured, the dust emissions of three types of coal under
Baima, China 300 9.18 different boiler loads all meet the standard of 30 mgNm 3, which
Qinghuangdao, China 300 9.57
was issued in 2012, shown in Fig. 10. Compared with FA, SB and IL are
Honghe, China 300 8.52
Kaiyuan, China 300 9.62
superior in the dust emission with the concentration decreased by
JEA, America 300 10.9 about 50%. The dust concentration is related with the ue gas tempera-
Gardanne, France 250 7.3 ture, the ash resistivity and the ash content of the coal, etc. With higher
Turrow, Poland 265 9.1 ash content listed in Table 1, FA is supposed to generate more dust in the
Tonghae, Korea 200 9.1
ue gas. Besides, the moisture contents of SB and IL are higher, which is
in favor of conditioning the ue gas and improving the efciency of the
electrostatic precipitator, thus resulting in the decrease of the dust
emissions.

Fig. 10. The inuence of boiler load on dust emission burning different coals. Fig. 11. The inuence of boiler load on SO2 emission burning different coals.
 R. Ding et al. / Powder Technology 274 (2015) 180185 185

IL is advantageous in controlling SO2 and dust emission, but disadvanta-

geous in controlling NOx emission compared with FA.

Nomenclature
FA Fujian anthracite
SB Shenhua bituminous coal
IL Indonesia lignite
Q2 Exhaust gas heat loss, %
Q4 Mechanical incomplete combustion loss, %
Boiler efciency, %
Blending combustion ratio of Indonesia lignite, %

Acknowledgments

Financial support of this work by the Key Project of the National

Twelve-Five Year Research Program of China (2012BAA02B01) and
the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program)
(2014CB744305) are gratefully acknowledged.

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