A steam boiler plant must operate safely, with maximum combustion and heat transfer efficiency. To help achieve this and a long, low-maintenance life, the boiler water can be chemically treated.
The operating objectives for steam boiler plant include:
Safe operation.
Maximum combustion and heat transfer efficiency.
Minimum maintenance.
Long working life.
The quality of the water used to produce the steam in the boiler will have a profound effect on meeting these objectives.
Loads vary, and a power plant must be capable of handling the minimum load, the maximum load, and any load variations. Boiler selection is often dictated by the variation in load demand, rather than by the total quantity of steam or hot water required. There are three basic types of load variations: seasonal, daily, and instantaneous.
System load is measured in either BTUs or tons of steam (at a specific pressure and temperature). It would be nearly impossible to size and select a boiler(s) without knowing the system load requirements. Knowing the requirements leads to the following information:
The boiler(s) capacity, taken from the maximum system load requirement.
The boiler(s) turndown, taken from the minimum system load requirement.
Conditions for maximum efficiency, taken from the average system load requirement.
Determining the total system load requires an understanding of the type(s) of load in the system. There are three types of loads: heating, process, and combination.
The primary purpose of the boiler is to supply energy to the facility's operations – for comfort heating, manufacturing process, laundry, kitchen, etc. The nature of the facility's operation will dictate whether a steam or hot water boiler should be used. Hot water is commonly used in heating applications, with the boiler supplying water to the system at 120°F to 220°F. The operating pressure for hot water heating systems usually is 30 psig to 125 psig (hydrostatic). Under these conditions, there is a wide range of hot water boiler products available. If system requirements are for hot water of more than 250°F, a high-temperature water boiler should be considered.
In order to improve the combustion efficiency of the boiler, in a large boiler, the combustion air is not supplied all at once, but is supplied in two times, one is supplied with the fuel that controls the rate of combustion as well as the amount of fuel that can be burned,and the other is directly supplied to the combustion process that that improves combustion efficiency. The primary air rate of the boiler refers to the proportion of the primary air. If the total air volume is 100% and the primary air rate is 70%, the secondary air rate is 30%.
Package boiler is a boiler that had been fabricated and available as a complete package. The entire pressure parts have been assembled in the workshop and ready to be sent to the field or site where power plant is located. On the field/site requires only connection and integration of course work in electrical connections, water pipes, steam pipes and fuel piping system to operate. Package boiler is one of classification of boiler based on erection. Design package boilers in general are the type of Fire Tube Boiler and have made up shell and tubes. This type has high heat transfer both radiation and convection.
In a water tube steam boiler, unlike a fire tube, water circulates inside the tubes. The heat that is generated and the combustion gases that surround the tubes heat the water that circulates inside them. Many water-tube boilers operate according to the principle of natural water circulation.
The capacity of this type of boiler can be enhanced by increasing the number of tubes in the boiler.
The action of starting up a fire tube boiler for the first time is already a cold start. As a result, the mechanical load in this type of boiler is much greater, as the main characteristic of cold starts is the absence of boiling water and greater stress on the connection and anchorage elements of the boiler.
To make this start a bit easier for the boiler, the boiler operator should reduce the burner load to a boiling point.
