Lecture 3; Fossil Fuel Steam Generators
Dr. Othman Hassan
Introduction
A Steam generator, is a closed vessel in which water, under
pressure, is transformed into steam by the application of heat.
Modern steam generators produce high pressure (165-240bar)
superheated steam.
A steam Generator is a complex combination of economizer,
boiler, superheater, reheater, and air-preheater. In addition, it
has many auxiliaries such as, stokers, pulverisers, burners,
fans, emission control equipment, stack, and ash handling
equipment.
The boiler is a part of the steam generator in which saturated
liquid is converted to saturated steam.
Introduction
A Steam Generator should be designed to absorb the
maximum amount of heat released in the process of
combustion. This heat is transmitted to it by radiation,
conduction, and convection. The percentage of each
depends on the steam generator design.
Considerable progress has been made in steam generators
design from the standpoint of safety, efficiency of the fuel-
burning equipment, and efficiency of the heat transferred.
Fundamentals of Steam Generation
1. Boiling.
After the boiling temperature is reached, instead of the
water temperature increasing, the heat energy from the
fuel results in a change of phase from a liquid to a
gaseous state.
A kettle boiler is a simple
example of such a device
where a fixed quantity of
water is heated.
Fundamentals of Steam Generation
2. Circulation
In order for a boiler to generate steam continuously, water must
circulate through the tubes. Two methods are commonly used: (1)
natural or thermal circulation and (2) forced or pumped
circulation.
Natural or Thermal Circulation
The total circulation rate depends on four major factors:
1. Height of boiler. Taller boilers result in a larger total pressure
difference between the heated and unheated legs and therefore can
produce larger total flow rates.
2. Operating pressure. Higher operating pressures provide higher
density steam and higher-density steam-water mixtures. This
reduces the total weight difference between the heated and
unheated segments and tends to reduce flow rate.
3. Heat input. A higher heat input increases the amount of steam in
the heated segments and reduces the average density of the steam-
water mixture, thus increasing total flow rate.
4. Free-flow area. An increase in the cross-sectional or free-flow
area (i.e., larger tubes and downcomers) for the water or steam-
water mixture may increase the circulation rate.
Fundamentals of Steam Generation
3. Steam Water Separation
The steam-water mixture is separated in the steam drum.
• In small, low-pressure boilers, this separation can be
accomplished easily with a large drum that is approximately half
full of water and having natural gravity steam-water separation
• In today’s high-capacity, high-pressure units, mechanical steam-
water separators are needed to economically provide moisture-
free steam from the steam drum.
• At very high pressures, a point is reached where water no longer
exhibits the customary boiling characteristics. These boilers
operate on the “once-through” principle, and steam drums and
steam-water separation are not required.
Classification of Steam Generators
1. Utility Steam Generators. Used by utilities for electric
power generating. It is sub-classified into subcritical
water-tube drum type and supercritical once-through
type.
2. Industrial Steam Generators. Are those used by
industrial and institutional concerns. They usually
produce saturated steam or even hot water.
Classification of Steam Generators
Fire-Tube Boilers
Water-Tube Boilers
Natural-Circulation Boilers
Controlled-Circulation Boilers
Once-Through Flow
Subcritical Pressure
Supercritical Pressure
Fire-Tube Boilers
Fire-tube boilers are so named because the products of
combustion pass through tubes that are surrounded by
water.
They may be either internally fired or externally fired.
Internally fired boilers are those in which the grate and
combustion chamber are enclosed within the boiler shell.
Externally fired boilers are those in which the setting,
including furnace and grates, is separate and distinct from
the boiler shell.
Vertical Exposed-Tube Boiler
Vertical Submerged-Tube Boiler
Horizontal Fire-Tube Boilers
Horizontal Fire-Tube Boilers
The four-pass design can be described as follows:
Inside the fire-tube boiler the hot gases travel from the burner
down through the furnace during the combustion process, and this
is considered the first gas pass.
The rear head of the boiler seals the flue gas in the lower portion,
and the flue gas is directed to the second-pass tubes, where the
flue gas flows back toward the front of the boiler.
The front head of the boiler seals the flue gas from escaping and
directs the flue gas to the third-pass tubes, which causes the flow
to move to the rear of the boiler.
The flue gas is then directed through the fourth-pass tubes, where
the flue gas moves to the boiler front and then exits to the stack.
Horizontal Fire-Tube Boilers
Such units are available in sizes of 15 to 800 bhp
(approximately 0.5 to 12.5 ton/hr) with pressures of 1 to
24 bar. Some units are designed for nearly 22 ton/hr.
Larger fire-tube boilers tend to be less expensive and use
simpler controls than water-tube units; however, the large
shells of these fire-tube boilers limit them to pressures less
than 24 bar.
With few exceptions, nearly all fire-tube boilers made
today are packaged designs that can be installed and be in
operation in a short period of time.
Water-Tube Boilers
A water-tube boiler is one in which the products of
combustion (called flue gas) pass around tubes containing
water.
The tubes are interconnected to common water channels
and to the steam outlet.
The forerunner of the modern steam generator was a
water-tube boiler developed by George Babcock and
Stephen Wilcox in 1867. They called it the nonexplosive
water-tube boiler.
Water-tube boilers generally may be classified as straight
tube and bent tube.
Straight-Tube Boiler
Longitudinal-Drum
Heating surfaces (93
to 930 m2)
Pressure (12 to 23bar)
Steam Capacity (0.63
to 10 kg/s)
Straight-Tube Boiler
Straight-Tube Boiler
Cross-Drum
Heating surfaces (93
to 2300 m2)
Pressure (12 to 100bar)
Steam Capacity (0.63
to 63 kg/s)
Bent-Tube Boiler
Bent-tube boilers used bent
rather than straight tubes between
several drums or drum and header
The number of drums were varied
between 2 and 4.
Gas baffles were installed to allow
one or more gas passes.
The one in the figure is named
“Four-drum Stirling Boiler”
The Stirling Boiler
The upper drums are interconnected by steam circulators (top)
and by water circulators (bottom).
The heating surface is then a combination of water-wall
surface, boiler tubes, and a small amount of drum surface.
The furnace is water-cooled as compared to refractory lined.
Downcomers from the upper drum supply water to the sidewall
headers, with a steam-water mixture returning to the drum from
the wall tubes.
Feedwater enters the economizer, where it is initially heated
and then enters the left (top) drum and flows down the rear
bank of tubes to the lower (mud) drum.
The Stirling Boiler
Steam generated in the first two banks of boiler tubes
returns to the right and center drums; note the
interconnection of drums, top and bottom.
Finally, all the steam generated in the boiler and water-
walls reaches the left-hand drum, where the steam is made
to pass through baffles or a steam scrubber or a
combination of the two, to reduce the moisture content of
the steam before it passes to the superheater.
