Industrial boilers will produce wastes that needs to be treated during the use process, which is what we mentioned of boiler blowdown. What are the methods for boiler blowdown?
1. Regular blowdown
1) The time interval and quantity of discharge depend on the test results of boiler water. It usually do not exceed 5% of the water supply.
2) When the regular blowdown is being made under high load of the boiler, the blowdown of the water-cooled wall header is generally not required to avoid affecting the normal water circulation of the water-cooled wall and forming a tube explosion incident.
2. Continuous blowdown
The amount of blowdown shall be determined according to the test results of the boiler water, and shall be completed by adjusting the needle-shaped angle of the blowdown tube.
A water level sensor fail on a steam boiler is extremely dangerous. The low water cut of should be tested daily. If the sensor fails the boiler could turn all the water into steam, leaving the boiler dry. Without water in the boiler the flame from the burner would heat up the heating surface to extreme temperatures and would crack and damage the inside of the boiler. But that’s not the dangerous part. If water added to boiler while it is extremely hot. Once water touches the extremely hot heating service, water would immediately start to evaporate into steam. When water evaporates it expands 18x it’s original size. The boiler would explode from the sudden increase in pressure from the inside. Some in some cases, boilers that have exploded out of a building and have landed 100s of feet away.
Few parameters critical to health of the Boiler are
(4)Heat rate of the Boiler. This is a composite index of many performance indicators. Most of them will appear below.
(5)Unburnt fuel in flue gas and at boiler bottom .
(6)Flue gas furnace exit temperature.
(7)Boiler tube metal temperatures.
(8)Oxygen in flue gas.
(9)Imbalances in flue gas temperature over a cross section.
(10)Spray water consumption in Super heater and Reheater.
(11)Heat radiation from insulation.
The above all affects the performance of the boiler.
The coal-fired steam boiler is a forced circulation high-pressure single-tube DC boiler. Its operation process includes three processes: the combustion process of the fuel, the heat transfer process of flue gas to water and the vaporization process after water absorbs heat. In order to better control these different processes, the control system should make
the heat of pulverized coal combustion adapt to the requirements of steam load changes and dryness.
The dry bottom hopper is formed by bending the lower part of the water wall of the front and rear walls inward. The main function is to gather, cool and automatically discharge ash. It is also convenient for the connection and sealing of the lower header and the ash well.
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.
The function of high and low level alarms. Low-level alarms will draw attention to low boiler water level and, if required, shut down the boiler. High-level alarms protect plant and processes.
Where boilers are operated without constant supervision (which includes the majority of industrial boilers) low water level alarms are required to shut down the boiler in the event of a lack of water in the boiler. Low level may be caused by:
Stack temperature is the temperature of the combustion gases (dry and water vapor) leaving the boiler. A well-designed boiler removes as much heat as possible from the combustion gases. Thus, lower stack temperature represents more effective heat transfer and lower heat loss up the stack. The stack temperature reflects the energy that did not transfer from the fuel to steam or hot water. Stack temperature is a visible indicator of boiler efficiency. Any time efficiency is guaranteed, predicted stack temperatures should be verified.
Stack loss is a measure of the amount of heat carried away by dry flue gases (unused heat) and the moisture loss (product of combustion), based on the fuel analysis of the specific fuel being used, moisture in the combustion air, etc.