Study on the Effect of the Operating Condition on a Pulverized Coal-Fired Furnace Using Computational Fluid Dynamics Commercial Code

Abstract

Computer models for coal combustion are not sufficiently accurate to enable the design of pulverized coal fired furnaces or the selection of coal based on combustion behavior. Most comprehensive combustion models can predict with reasonable accuracy flow fields and heat transfer but usually with a much lesser degree of accuracy than the combustion of coal particles through char burnout. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling is recognized widely to be a cost-effective, advanced tool for optimizing the design and operating condition of the pulverized coal-fired furnaces for achieving cleaner and efficient power generation. Technologists and researchers are paying remarkable attention to CFD because of its value in the pulverized fuel fired furnace technology and its nonintrusiveness, sophistication, and ability to significantly reduce the time and expense involved in the design, optimization, trouble-shooting, and repair of power generation equipment. An attempt to study the effect of one of the operating conditions, i.e., burner tilts on coal combustion mechanisms, furnace exit gas temperature (FEGT), and heat flux distribution pattern, within the furnace has been made in this paper by modeling a 210 MW boiler using commercial CFD code FLUENT. 5 refs., 8 figs.