Secondary air distribution in a 600 MWe multi-injection multi-staging down-fired boiler: A comprehensive study

Abstract

Multi-injection multi-staging combustion technology was designed to provide high boiler efficiency together with low pollutant emissions when employing hard-to-burn coal, and showed good application prospects. In this technology, to achieve the first staged air and more flexible combustion regulation on the arches, the secondary air employs a more complicated distribution surrounding the coal/air flows. This design concept significantly affects the flow and combustion characteristics of the actual boiler. Elucidating the underlying mechanisms by which the various secondary air parameters affect the boiler operation requires a comprehensive analysis of the secondary air distribution on the arches. In this work, small-scale cold modeling tests combined with industrial-scale trials using two actual 600 MWe down-fired boilers were conducted. The results show that the secondary air distribution can significantly affect the near-burner flow and mixing as well as the decay of the downward airflow velocity. High velocity secondary air, especially the secondary air surrounding the fuel-rich flow, evidently promotes the advanced mixing of fuel-rich and fuel-lean flows. Increasing the secondary air flux around the fuel-rich flow and raising the secondary air velocity decrease the pulverized coal heating rate, while a decreased inner secondary air velocity advances the coal ignition. Adjusting the secondary air also greatly affects the downward flame depth and the unburnt coal proportion in the near wall region of the furnace hopper, such that the flame kernel location and the temperatures near the hopper wall are modified. In addition, NOx formation can be accelerated by a high secondary air flux near the fuel-rich flow or a large contact area between the secondary air and the fuel-rich flow.