Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Presented to:
1999 TAPPI Engineering Conference
September 12-16, 1999
Anaheim, California, U.S.A.
Introduction
When a mill no longer needs an existing recovery boiler it
is faced with the problem of what to do with the boiler in the
future. The mill may have a new recovery of a larger size or
may have changed from Kraft to recycle product. The sludge
that once was landfilled is now a valuable fuel to generate steam
and can displace other more expensive fossil fuels. A U.S. mill,
having semi-retired a vintage 1964 Combustion Engineering
(C-E) recovery with a larger recovery boiler, wanted to replace
older power boilers with a power boiler capable of firing
papermill sludge; tire derived fuel and wood waste. This paper
discusses the modifications required to convert this recovery
boiler to a power boiler and the considerations that paper mills
need to understand when converting equipment to solid fuel
firing.
Background
This project converted the recovery boiler to a power boiler
and increased steam capacity from 34.5 to 56.7 kg/sec (274,000
to 450,000 lbs/hr) while maintaining steam outlet conditions
at 58.6 bar and 441C (850 psig/825 F). The converted boiler
was designed as a bubbling fluid bed (BFB) boiler capable of
burning wood waste, sludge and tires. The project was done on
an EPC basis (Engineering, Procurement and Construction). In
order to provide our customer with the most technically sound
BR-1675
and cost-effective proposal for this project, B&W hired an engineering construction company who provided balance of plant
design, procurement, and construction.
The existing unit is a 1964 vintage C-E 600 TPD two drum
recovery boiler. The furnace is 7.5 m (24.7 ft) wide by 7.13 m
(23.4 ft) deep. The wall construction uses 5.08 cm (2 in.) OD
tubes on 5.16 cm (2 1/32-in.) centers. The 168 cm (66 in.)
steam drum and 122 cm (48 in.) mud drums are on 7 m (23 ft)
centers. For about two years prior to its conversion, the boiler
was maintained in a hot standby condition, using the steam
coil air heater to heat air to keep the boiler and precipitator
warm. This was for a corrosion concern. The boiler was operated, at least annually, whenever the newer recovery boiler had
an outage.
Economic and environmental issues justified conversion of
the chemical recovery unit to a bubbling fluid bed. About 60
percent of mill sludge was being sent to the mills on-site landfill, based on hauling 24 hours a day. The converted boiler can
burn all mill sludge 450 tonne (500 ton)/day, thereby essentially eliminating sludge landfill. This will extend the useful
life of the on-site landfill. The mill was able to retire two older
bark boilers and reduce coal usage on their remaining power
boilers. Conversion to a BFB unit allowed existing assets to
be fully utilized, such as the upper furnace, superheater, boiler
bank, precipitator, building, etc. Also, the cost to maintain the
recovery unit in hot standby was eliminated.
Boiler Performance
Figure 1
Table 1
Predicted Performance Summary
MCR bark,
TDF, sludge
MCR bark,
sludge
Reduced load
450/(500) TPD
sludge, bark
0.06 (450)
30
2
0.06 (450)
30
2
0.03 (200)
40
2
0.02 (131.5)
0.02 (135.5)
6.38x10-3 (50.6)
5.25x10-3 (41.7)
8.40x10-3 (66.7)
5.25x10-3 (41.7)
5.29x10-4 (4.2)
0.0
0.0
2.19x108 (748)
2.26x108 (772)
9.87x107 (337)
0.12 (927.5)
0.11 (909.7)
0.06 (478.8)
177 (350)
7.06x10-3 (56.0)
177 (350)
0.0
160 (320)
5.67x10-3 (45.0)
59 (860)
441 (825)
59 (860)
441 (825)
59 (855)
441 (825)
0.09 (691.4)
27 (80)
107 (225)
0.09 (694.7)
27 (80)
107 (225)
0.04 (329.8)
27 (80)
99 (210)
Table 2
Predicted Performance Fuel Specification
% By Weight
Bark
Sludge
Tire
Natural Gas
25.0
14.62
83.87
69.27
H2
3.0
1.93
7.09
22.65
Cl
0.0
0.0
0.0
H2O
50.0
60.00
0.62
N2
0.1
0.17
0.24
O2
20.2
9.75
2.17
0.0
0.05
1.23
Ash
1.7
10.23
4.78
Unknown(2)
8.08
< 1 ppm
3.25
10,000 (4,300)
6,600 (2,841)
36,000 (15,500)
272(17)
400 (25)
609 (38)
NA
7.62 (3)
7.62 (3)
7.62 (3)
NA
NA
NA
kJ/kg (Btu/lb)
Wire Content
(2)
50,600 (21,800)
Table 3
General Scope of Work
Convert the boiler from a chemical recovery unit to a BFB
power boiler, and increase capacity
Boiler modifications
New gas burners (start-up and load burners)
New motor driven fluidizing air fan and motor driven
secondary air fan
Ducts
New horizontal economizer
Water coil air heater
Flues and hoppers, from boiler generating bank outlet to
economizer to existing precipitator inlet damper
Flues from precipitator outlet, including new outlet
nozzles, to ID fan
Turbine driven ID fan
Flues to stacks (2 stacks)
Sand feed system
Boiler bed drain system and sand reclaim system
Pneumatic ash removal from economizer hoppers and
precipitator silos
Insulation, lagging and refractory
Solid fuel feed system, including dedicated bark reclaimer,
dedicated sludge reclaimer, belt, magnet, disk screen,
belt to boiler building, belt inside boiler building
Wood bins on north and south sides (boiler right and left
walls)
Wood screw conveyors, to transport material from south
side to north wood bin
Wood chutes and wood spouts
New DCS system and new instrumentation
New transformer
New electrical room for large motor MCCs and DCS
equipment
Reuse electrical room, install new MCCs
Cable and tray
Piping modifications
Platform modifications, including concrete and grating
Civil and structural
Asbestos removal
Demolition
Construction
Commissioning
Figure 2
Figure 3
Two natural gas load burners are provided on the front wall,
3.5 m (11.5 ft) above the overfire air nozzles. These load burners are B&Ws low-NO x type XCL-S design, each rated for
1.58x108 kJ (150 MBtu) operation.
Figure 4
The combustion air system consists of one motor driven fluidizing fan, one motor driven secondary air fan (which supplies
air to all burners and OFA nozzles), and one water coil air heater
for the secondary air system. This two-fan arrangement, along
with the flue gas recirculation, provides the flexibility necessary for the specified fuel combinations for bark, sludge, and
tires, as well as the given fuel moisture content ranges. The bed
fluidizing air system uses high static air supplied to the bubble
caps to fluidize the bed material. The overfire air system contains two levels of air nozzles on each of the front and rear walls.
Flue gas recirculation to the bubbling bed is required with
the specified fuel combination and moisture ranges listed in the
project specifications. The recirculated flue gas is taken from
the ID fan outlet and introduced into the fluidizing air system at
the FD fan inlet. The introduction of the flue gas into the fluidizing air system will allow complete bed fluidization while staging sufficient combustion in the overfire air zone to maintain
the bed in the desired 760-871C (1400-1600F) temperature range
throughout the various combinations of fuels and moisture contents.
Furnace Screen
A portion of the original recovery furnace screen platens
were removed to increase gas temperature entering the superheater.
Bed Support
The existing furnace and boiler pressure parts are top-supported and allow for downward expansion during heating from
ambient to operating temperature. The fluid bed combustor is
operated with all of the lower furnace hoppers and the volume
of the lower furnace to a point about 76.2 cm (30 in.) above the
top of the bubble caps completely full of bed material. The
lower furnace hoppers are bottom-supported on dedicated structural steel from grade. A seal system with fabric expansion
joint provides for downward expansion of the boiler.
Superheater Arrangement
The existing superheater was reused as much as possible,
but slightly modified, to provide the desired temperature (441C
/ 825F) and pressure (58.6 bar / 850 psig) at the main steam
header. The modifications required were: install six missing
platens in the first two banks, completely remove the third bank,
and provide new jumper tubes to connect the second bank (in
direction of gas flow) to the existing inlet header of the first
superheater bank.
A new, larger interstage attemperator and main steam piping
was required to reduce the steam side pressure drop at the increased steaming rate of 56.7 kg/sec (450,000 lb/hr) and to
maintain 58.6 bar (850 psig) at the main steam header. Spray
water is supplied from the existing water line.
Economizer
The existing vertical cross-flow economizer was removed
and replaced by a horizontal, bare tube design. The new, continuous in-line, bare tube economizer is constructed of 5.08 cm
(2 in.) OD tubes. The modules are arranged in two gas passes,
Safety Valves
The existing steam drum and superheater safety valves had
sufficient relieving capacity for the 56.7 kg/sec (450,000 lb/hr) of
steam rate.
the bed, more uniform bed temperature, more uniform heat distribution to the convection pass, and better control of boiler
emissions.
Special Concerns
The project included several unique features and challenges.
Boiler
1. This is the first B&W open bottom bubbling fluid bed
that has bottom supported hoppers connected to top supported
pressure parts. B&Ws other domestic open bottom designed
BFB units are bottom supported.
2. The seal between furnace (top supported) and hoppers
(bottom supported) is similar to other designs, but accommodates 10.8 cm (4.25 in.) of vertical growth down and 2.54 cm (1
in.) of horizontal growth.
3. The sand hoppers were pre-assembled (4 ship units, 3
hoppers each unit). This included fluidizing air pipes (with
bubble caps) welded to the hoppers.
4. Rear wall support: The existing recovery boiler used constant load hangers at the furnace floor to support the floor and
rearwall. A new constant load hanger system was needed for
the rearwall when the furnace floor was removed and replaced
with the fluid bed.
5. The new membraned lower furnace (with 7.6 cm / 3 in.
OD tubes on 10.32 cm / 4-1/16 in. centers) was connected to
the existing tangent tube furnace (with 5.08 cm / 2 in. OD tubes
on 5.16 cm / 2-1/32 in. centers), and new inlet headers reconnect every other existing tube (at cut line) to downcomer circuits.
Operation
The conversion project has achieved its major goals, and all
steam and fuel conditions have been achieved. Bark, sludge,
tire and natural gas have been fired at all required conditions
between steam flows of 25.2 and 56.7 kg/sec (200,00 and
450,000 lb/hr). Main steam temperature is about 17 C (30 F)
low at MCR conditions, but this low temperature will be corrected later this year by removing additional furnace screen platens.
Sustained operation at MCR and 726 tonne (800 ton)/day
(future condition) has been limited due to a capacity problem in
the pneumatic ash system. The ash discharge rate from filter/
receiver to ash silo was a constriction point, but modifications
will be performed to correct this problem.
During initial operation, we corrected an acoustic standing
wave in the front economizer by installing two plate baffles.
All boiler emission predictions have been achieved. Some
typical emissions at MCR are:
Particulate
less than 0.045 kg (0.1 lb)/MBtu at stack
(with existing precipitator)
NOx
less than 50.8 kg (112 lb)/hr over 24 hours
less than 50.8 kg (112 lb)/hr over 24 hours
SO2
CO
less than 31.75 kg (70 lb)/hr over 24 hours
VOC
less than 1.36 kg (3 lb)/hr over 24 hours
Conclusion
This paper has been written to give an indication of needed
modifications to convert an existing recovery boiler to a BFB
power boiler. This modification continues to gain in popularity
as new recovery capacity is developed or considered. The recovery boiler is typically sized conservatively when applied to
burning solid fuel such as sludge and woodwaste. This retrofit
resulted in a steam flow increase of 66%.
The modifications normally entail getting the new fuel to
the boiler, providing a combustion zone with air system and
removing the ash and by products. B&W considers resusing as
much of the existing boiler as is possible. Even the particulate
removal used by the recovery boiler maybe reused.
As noted in this paper, a good design results in a well generating boiler producing low emissions.