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ABSTRACT
Presently, steam from Divisional panel is used for soot blowing purpose in existing 500 MW units,
which involves higher pressure reduction from 180 bar to 30 bar, resulting in high amount of throttling
loss. In addition, high pressure reduction at the soot blower station, leads to frequent wear & tear of
the pressure control valve, isolating valves, steam leakages at flanges & safety valve, loss of steam
and unsafe operating condition, which demands regular maintenance & higher O&M cost.
Further, if a steam from other source which can meet the soot blowing requirement at a lower
pressure, can significantly reduce the throttling loss and hence improve the heat rate of the unit and
reduce the associated O&M cost. A detailed study has been carried out at NETRA to assess the
acceptability & feasibility of using CRH steam for soot blowing. Data regarding nature of soot blower
operating practices, steam consumption for soot blowing etc were collected from various units in
NTPC Ltd for an in-depth analysis. The study found that, use of CRH steam for soot blowing
improves the heat rate of a 500 MW unit by around 0.9 kcal / kWh in NTPC units, compared to steam
from Divisional Panel.
The improvement in the heat rate is proportional to the amount of steam consumed for soot blowing,
which varies from plant to plant, as many of the plants are using high ash coal, which need frequent
soot blowing. The study also provides useful information about possibility of further improvement in
heat rate, when unit runs at lesser load. This system of using CRH steam for soot blowing can serve
as an ideal initiative under Perform Achieve & Trade (PAT) scheme in addition to reduction in
emission.
Keywords: Soot blowing, CRH steam, Divisional Panel steam, Heat rate improvement
1. INTRODUCTION
Removal of soot / ash deposited on the heat transfer surface by means of steam is called soot
blowing, to ensure proper heat transfer. This is done by boiler auxiliary equipment called soot
blowers. Due to high amount of ash content in domestic coal, it becomes a regular practice to operate
soot blowers to remove ash deposits. Many plants among NTPC Ltd prepare their own soot blowing
schedule based on the actual requirement considering the nature of coal, amount of SH spray, APH
inlet temperature and so on. Soot blowing is important not only to ensure proper heat transfer, but
also to prevent section of boiler from becoming severely blocked. Blocked sections can restrict gas
flow, cause tube erosion due to high local gas velocities and result in output limitations.
Wall blowers are used for furnace wall cleaning in the first pass of the boiler near coal burner locations
as shown in the Figure 1. Long retractable soot blowers are used to clean super heater, reheated
sections of the boiler, while half retractable soot blowers are used in economizer sections. In addition
Air preheater needs to be cleaned by air pre heater soot blowers to remove ash accumulation in the
air preheater baskets.
A main line of 100 % capacity line (20 TPH of steam flow) is provided with a pneumatic pressure
control valve. Parallel to it a 100 % capacity motorized inching type control valve is provided as a
standby. In addition 40 % capacity line with pneumatic pressure control valve is also provided.
The soot blowing pressure control station is also equipped with the following instruments / mountings
1. Pressure indicator
2. Pressure transmitter
3. Temperature element
4. Temperature transmitter
5. Flow transmitter in the main line
6. Flow transmitter (WB line Front /Left side and Rear/Right side, LRSB line RHS & LHS side)
7. Pressure Safety valve, etc.,
3.2 Soot blower operation during part load ( < 350 MW)
When the unit load is less than 350 MW, only air preheater soot blower are required to be operated
and other blowers like WB and LRSB are not generally operated, considering the flame stability in the
furnace. The steam for airpreheater soot blower is taken from divisional panel outlet.
The soot blower operation varies based on the following and changes from unit to unit & station to
station
1. Quality of coal
2. As per OEM recommandation (boiler type etc.,)
3. As per LMI (local operation history)
4. Quantity of SH / RH spray flow
5. Air pre heater performance (Exit flue gas temperature / DP)
The spring loaded puppet valves of soot blowers are set at 12 bar pressure. Hence, the soot blowers
are set to operate and required a steam at 12 bar pressure only. Furthermore, whatever steam flows
into the soot blowers is going waste after cleaning of boiler tubes.
LRSB are arranged only tow sides of the furnace i.e. Furnace Right & Left side. Hence two opposite
blowers are operated at a time. But in actual, due to long lance tube and frequent problem with the
chain of the blower, possibility of LRSB got stuck up inside the furnace is higher. Hence only one
LRSB is being operated at a time, instead of two, considering the availability of operation &
maintenance man power at local. Further, the LRSB are operated at manual one by one, to avoid
parameter variation beyond the accepted value steam temperature / metal temperature
temperature excursion.
Table 1 provides the detailed operational procedure employed during soot blowing operation.
STEP ACTIVITY
1 Check Unit load (> 350 MW)
2 Steam line charging
3 Waiting for the drain temperature (> 250 Degree) & Send operator to the local / near soot
blower
4 Start Soot blowing operation
Auto for WB (in groups i.e. two at a time)
LRSB (Manually one by one / in pairs)
APH Soot blower
5 Soot blower in service
6 If any blower stuck inside, take out electrically / manually
7 Isolate the steam line
8 Close the manual isolation valve. ( if Motorized valve passing problem)
In some plants the operation of soot blowing is coordinated with bottom ashing operation.
But this kind of high pressure reduction (180 bar to 30 bar) leads to high throttling loss in the system.
When steam is available at low pressure from the boiler i.e. in RH section, it is lucrative to use low
pressure steam instead of high pressure steam for soot blowing, to save throttling loss in the system.
Further, the amount of throttling loss is higher for the units, which require frequent soot blowing like
Talcher and Farakka units.
Hence it is proposed to use a low pressure steam (CRH) to meet the requirement of soot blowing.
Since the steam in CRH has already done a part of useful work in the HP turbine, this wastage of
enthalpy is lesser.
As steam at soot blower control station is required to be maintained at 30 bar, is it better to use a
steam which is near to this pressure level, so as to reduce the throttling losses. It is found that CRH
line which goes to the boiler after HP turbine is located near to the soot blower pressure control
station and has a pressure level between 31 to 43 bar pressures in the load range between 350 to
500 MW.
Steam from CRH is available at 43 bar at 350 Degree C and Soot blowing station needs to be
maintained at 30 bar pressure, hence CRH steam can be utilized instead of divisional panel, with less
throttling loss. The proposed steam scheme is shown in the Figure 2. It requires a tap off from the
CRH lines (RHS & LHS) that is located above the pent house at a distance of around 60 meters with
necessary accessories as follows
The proposed system does not need any change in the present set up of the soot blower, soot
blowing distribution line, safety valve etc., All the mountings in the existing soot blower line like safety
valve, flow transmitter, distributions line are remain untouched and only the soot blower pressure
reducing station needs to be modified. Hence the tapped steam from CRH line can be fed into the
existing soot blowing line after the existing pressure reducing station as shown in figure 2.
As shown in Figure 2, the line shown in green color (from CRH lines), needs to be incorporated. This
proposed line is required to be joined with the existing soot blowing line after an NRV. Erection of this
proposed line with valves, electrical wiring, instrumentation calibration and insulation of the entire line
can be completed at any time, even during unit operation. But the tap off from CRH lines can be
suitably scheduled with unit overhauling activity.
Present system
Proposed system
Figure 2. Proposed Soot blowing steam Tap off from CRH line
The Table 2 compares the quality of steam between divisional panel and CRH
Both the steam from divisional panel and CRH has a degree of superheat of approx 100 Degree C,
which is sufficient to maintain the quality of steam to avoid condensation. The H P diagram in
Figure 3 shows the quality of steam in both these conditions. It can be seen that, both these steam
conditions (divisional panel and CRH) leads to a superheated steam condition, when throttled and far
away from the saturated steam dome. Hence possibility of steam condensation does not arise.
The Figure 2 shows the detailed schematic arrangement of CRH steam tapping for soot blowing
purpose, with dedicated pressure reducing valve. It can be implemented in two ways.
It is to be noted that, a steam flow of maximum of 09 TPH is only needed considering one soot blower
at a time. This is done due to availability of man power at local; those are present there to address
any eventuality of soot blower stuck up inside the furnace, and ready with tools and tackles to remove
the soot blower manually. Hence this scheme can also get its importance due to its simplicity.
It is proposed to install one number of 100 % capacity pressure reducing station for the study purpose
at this stage, if required standby line with 100 % capacity using motorized inching type pressure
reducing station can also be provided at later stages.
4.4 Logic for selection of Divisional Panel steam or CRH steam for soot blowing
Modification
Source of steam Source of steam
Event SB requirement from existing
Existing Proposed
practice
During start up time Only APH SB APRDS steam APRDS steam No
During low load Steam from Steam from
Only APH SB No
period (< 350 MW) Divisional Panel Divisional Panel
During higher load All blowers (WB, Steam from
From CRH Yes
(> 350 MW) LRSB & APH) Divisional Panel
Hence a suitable logic needs to be incorporated in the DCS system of boiler package associated to
Soot blower control logics as follows
Case 1: During start up time, APH soot blowing can be supplied with steam from APRDS.
Case 2: During low load period (< 350 MW), steam from divisional panel can be used for APH
soot blowing.
Case 3: During higher load (> 350 MW), steam from CRH can be used for WB, LRSB and
APH soot blowing.
1. Improvement in heat rate (less fuel consumption, emission etc.,) as such CRH steam has
already done a part of useful work in the HP turbine.
2. Lower rating of piping and valves at the soot blower station. Wear of the control valves is
lesser as it reduces the system pressure from 40 - 45 bar to 30 bar as compared to large
reduction of pressure from 180 bar to 30 bar.
3. Issue of Safety valve pop up with high pressure divisional panel steam, when pressure
control valve mal-functioning is less; in case of CRH steam.
4. Reduction the soot blowing package cost - Costlier mountings like pressure control valve
and safety valve can be eliminated in the soot blowing system when steam is taken from
CRH, provided entire soot blowing line is designed for CRH pressure.
Data on actual soot blowing practice have been collected from different units across NTPC Ltd, and
the amount of steam for different type of soot blower was obtained using BHEL's soot blower steam
consumption data sheet. Based on the actual soot blowing practice, it is found that an average of
around 3.0 Ton / hour of steam is being consumed in a single 500 MW unit for soot blowing purpose.
If the same amount of steam is tapped off from CRH instead of divisional panel, 0.9 kcal/kWh of heat
rate can be improved, considering the boiler efficiency of 85 %. Since the steam in CRH has already
done a part of useful work in the HP turbine, which improves the heat rate.
7. CONCLUSION
1. Use of CRH steam for soot blowing improves the heat rate of the 500 MW unit of around
0.9 kcal/kWh (average), compared to steam from Divisional panel.
2. The proposed modification has an economic benefit and payback period of approx 06 months.
3. The improvement in heat rate is proportional to the amount of steam consumed for soot
blowing, which varies from plant to plant.
4. There is a potential to reduce the cost of entire soot blowing package if CRH steam is used for
soot blowing, in future projects. (Pressure control valve and safety valve can be eliminated)
8. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author is thankful to PE (MECH SYSTEMS & BOILER / SG) group for support in carrying out
the simulation work, necessary input & for continued encouragement and support. Author would like
to place on record the support and valuable guidance received from ED (NETRA), GM (NETRA). In
addition, the author gratefully acknowledges the permission granted by the NTPC management for
publishing this work.