Open AccessMicrofine coal firing results from a retrofit gas/oil-designed industrial boiler
Author(s) -
R. Patel,
R.W. Borio,
Gregory N. Liljedahl,
Bruce G. Miller,
Alan W. Scaroni,
J.G. McGowan
Publication year - 1995
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/251296
Subject(s) - retrofitting , boiler (water heating) , coal , pulverized coal fired boiler , waste management , combustor , combustion , natural gas , engineering , process engineering , fuel oil , payback period , environmental science , production (economics) , economics , macroeconomics , chemistry , structural engineering , organic chemistry
The development of a High Efficiency Advanced Coal Combustor (HEACC) has been in progress since 1987 and the ABB Power Plant Laboratories. The initial work on this concept produced an advanced coal firing system that was capable of firing both water-based and dry pulverized coal in an industrial boiler environment. Economics may one day dictate that it makes sense to replace oil or natural gas with coal in boilers that were originally designed to burn these fuels. The objective of the current program is to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of retrofitting a gas/oil designed boiler to burn micronized coal. In support of this overall objective, the following specific areas were targeted: A coal handling/preparation system that can meet the technical requirements for retrofitting microfine coal on a boiler designed for burning oil or natural gas; Maintaining boiler thermal performance in accordance with specifications when burning oil or natural gas; Maintaining NOx emissions at or below 0.6 lb/MBtu; Achieving combustion efficiencies of 98% or higher; and Calculating economic payback periods as a function of key variables. The overall program has consisted of five major tasks: (1) A review of current state-of-the-art coal firing system components; (2) Design and experimental testing of a prototype HEACC burner; (3) Installation and testing of a HEACC system in a commercial retrofit application; (4) Economic evaluation of the HEACC concept for retrofit applications; and (5) Long term demonstration under commercial user demand conditions. This paper will summarize the latest key experimental results (Task 3) and the economic evaluation (Task 4) of the HEACC concept for retrofit applications. 28 figs., 6 tabs