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Designing a Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB)

Biomass Boiler: A Brief Report

Technical Report February 2016

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Nicolus Rotich
Lappeenranta University of Technology
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 Designing a Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB)
Biomass Boiler: A Brief Report

Nicolus Rotich (B. Tech., M. Sc. Tech.)

Citation 1

1Cite this report as: Rotich N. 2016, Designing a Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) Biomass Boiler: a
Brief Report, Rotich N. Available from: <http://www.researchgate.net>. [current date:DDMMYY].

1
Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 3

2.0 Chosen fuels...................................................................................................................... 4
2.1. Proximate analysis.......................................................................................................... 4
2.2. Ultimate analysis ............................................................................................................ 4
2.3 Other important properties for combustion ........................................................................ 5
3 Mass and Energy balances ...................................................................................................... 5
3.1 Material and energy balances ........................................................................................... 5
3.2. Fuel flow rates ............................................................................................................... 7
3.3. Air flow rate .................................................................................................................. 7
3.4. Flue gas flow rate ........................................................................................................... 7
3.5. Efficiency (of steam generation)....................................................................................... 8
4.0 Features for typical boilers that use the fuel ........................................................................... 9
5.0 Dimensioning of heat transfer surfaces of the boiler ..............................................................10
5.1 Furnace dimensions .......................................................................................................10
5.2 Calculations of heat transfer surfaces ...............................................................................12
6.0 Summary ........................................................................................................................13
References ..................................................................................................................................14
List of tables ...............................................................................................................................15

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1.0 Introduction

A Steam boiler is defined as an engine used for generation of heat through the heat transfer from
a working fluid (water). The thermal energy from water is converted into electricity through
passage of steam through turbines in power plants.

In the last few decades, more attention has been placed upon the emissions from boilers houses.
European emissions regulations has been emphasizing lowering of the limits, based on recent
national and local government activities (Handley R., 2009, p.7). With these stringent measures
therefore, a higher environmental performance is required in the design of steam boilers, aiming
to achieve higher energy efficiency with less emissions possible.

Biomass boiler is fired on alternative fuels (usually wood products), to generate heat, instead of
gas, oil or coal generically referred as fossil fuel. The replacement of traditional boiler with
biomass boiler can reduce the reliance on non-renewable energy resources, and carbon emissions
extensively. The focus of this short report is to give a basic introduction to design of a power plant
based on circulating fluidized bed (CFB) concept, fired by biomasses. The fuels chosen are pine
bark and stumps, and the objective was to generate a thermal power of 175 MWth at a pressure of
11 mega Pascals (MPa), using a fuel ration of 2:1 (two parts of stumps for one of pine bark)

Flexibility of fuel switching is an important issue in biomass fired boilers, since fuel characteristics
have a tendency to fluctuate, in this case of study, we are focusing on using of the two different
fuels as a combination to produce the total power required. It is important however to note that,
for this design, the two fuels are fired separately instead of making a continuous mixture of the
two fuels, which is possible, but it increases the workload as all the mixed fuel properties have to
be computed separately.

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2.0 Chosen fuels

Different fuel characteristics demand different combustion methods. There are only limited
amount of fuels can be treated as pure fuels; others are fired as a mixture with a proper
proportion. (Strmberg B., p.12). As stated in section 1.0 above, stumps and pine bark is used as
the main fuel in this design. They are fired separately at a ratio of 2:1 (stumps to bark) and the
power combined to obtain the full boiler plant capacity required 175 MWth. Bark is the outer cover
of the stem part of the trees and are usually left as waste residues as wood is taken for use in most
of the industries, while stumps are the lower parts (including the roots) of the tree, which are
usually leftovers of logging also initially treated as wastes before the idea of use for fuels.

2.1. Proximate analysis

Bark as a kind of wood fuel suitable for FB/CFB Grate, contains a higher ash and nitrogen content
than stem wood, even a high moisture content as well as irregular particle size, the ash of bark can
be used as fertilizer. However, high emission and corrosion caused by high temperature should be
considered in the design.

2.2. Ultimate analysis

The properties of fuels comprise chemical and physical parameters, which are measurable. These
properties affect the application of fuels in different types of equipments. The most important
property of a fuel is the calorific value, as how much energy can be generated and the temperatures
of combustion are determined by calorific value. Moreover, the calorific value is determined by
chemical composition as well as the other contents of heat-consuming materials (Strmberg B.,
p.26). Different sources have cited the analysis of biomass fuels differently, however it must be
noted that biomass fuel properties tend to fluctuate (Ciolkosz, 2010), and therefore selection of the
analysis results should be based on the real fuel i.e. barks, stumps from the same region where
utilization is going to take place.

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2.3 Other important properties for combustion

Besides the calorific value which is classified as a chemical characteristic, ash content, moisture
etc. are included. Particle size and form, feed properties and durability etc. are considered as
physical properties of as well.

3 Mass and Energy balances

3.1 Material and energy balances

The desired user requirements determine the boiler specifications and the operating conditions in
the design phase. Mass and energy balances play a critical role in determining these specifications
with a purpose of meeting the client requirements. This is a systematic analysis of material and
energy input and output of the boiler equipment.

Conducting a material balance around the boiler equipment as the system boundary constitutes
inputs namely; Fuel (Kg), raw water (Kg), combustion air, Sorbent and supplemental bed material
(for fluidized bed combustion). The output constitutes steam, which is the fundamental energy
carrier (working fluid), boiler fuel residues (ashes) constituting of drain from external heat
exchangers, drain from back pass, drain from bed, flue gases, drain from bag house or from
Electrostatic precipitator etc., all quantities are given in mass flow units.

Air Feed water

Flue gas

CFB Boiler Steam Out

Fuel

Sooth blowdown

Fig 1: Schematic representation of material flows of the boiler inputs and outputs

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Table 1: Material balance for stumps-fired CFB
Material Inputs (Kg/s) Outputs (Kg/s)
Combustion air (dry basis) 26.96
Feed water 23.89
steam 23.29
Flue gas (dry basis) 28.53
Fuel flow 5.5
Sooth blowdown 3.39
Soth blowing steam 0.6
Totals 56.35 56.35

Table 2: Material balance for bark-fired CFB

Material Inputs (Kg/s) Outputs (Kg/s)
Combustion air (dry basis) 55.64
Feed water 43.16
steam 43.16
Flue gas (dry basis) 58.88
Fuel flow 9.3
Sooth blowdown 5.
Soth blowing steam 1.0
Totals 108.1 108.1

Energy balance is similarly conducted around the boiler with the major input being the chemical
energy content of the boiler fuel and the enthalpy of feed water to the boiler. The exit energy is
mainly thermal (internal) energy contained in the generated steam and the total sum of energy
loses through radiation and convection from the boiler surfaces, energy loss in flue gases, unburnt
carbon in the ash etc.

In this study the thermal energy requirement is 175 Mega Watt thermal (MWth) and a limited
boiler pressure of 11 mega pascals (MPa). These requirements therefore are enough to guide boiler
design process to come up with appropriate design specifications.

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Table 3: Energy balance for stumps-fired CFB
Material Inputs (MJ/s) Outputs (MJ/s)
Combustion air (dry basis) 4.29
Feed water 67.74
steam 78.3
Flue gas (dry basis) 31.98
Fuel flow 106.37
Losses 66.
Soth blowing steam 1.85
Totals 178.4 178.4

Table 4: Energy balance for barks-fired CFB

Material Inputs (MJ/s) Outputs (MJ/s)
Combustion air (dry basis) 9,0
Feed water 67,74
steam 78,3
Flue gas (dry basis) 66
Fuel flow 106,37
Losses 36.85
Sooth blowing steam 0,157
Totals 183.11 183.107

3.2. Fuel flow rates

Fuel flow rate is the amount of fuel fed to the boiler per unit time e.g. per day, hour or second. In
biomass fired boilers, this is greatly determined by the moisture content of the fuel and the carbon
conversion efficiency of the fuel. The chosen fuel here (pine bark), is assumed to have a moisture
content of 47%.

3.3. Air flow rate

For combustion to take place, the fuel must be mixed with air. The volume of air flow into the
boiler per unit time is the air flow rate. The air fuel ratio is important as it determines the overall
efficiency

3.4. Flue gas flow rate

Flue gas is the exhaust gas from furnace with high temperature and significant amounts of
pollutants. The direct release of flue gas into atmosphere threatens the sustainable of

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environmental. Thus, the flue gas flow rate is calculated and monitored for the further energy
recover by superheater, economizer and air pre-heater.

Table 5: Flow rates of fuels, air and flue gases

stumps (kg/s) barks (kg/s)
fuel flow rate 5,5 9,3
air flow rate (dry) 26,961 55,641
flue gas flow rate (dry) 28,532 58,880

3.5. Efficiency (of steam generation)

Boiler efficiency is a function of varieties of boiler parameters and fuel physical and chemical
characteristics. Thus, there are direct and indirect methods to calculate efficiency of the boiler. Different
standards based on fuels higher heating value or lower heating value is used to evaluate boiler heating
efficiency. EN 12952 - 15 is the main standard being used in EU. In this study direct method was used to
calculate the boiler thermal efficiency. The overall boiler efficiency is about 90,25%.

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4.0 Features for typical boilers that use the fuel

Any fuel can be burnt in CFB furnace without extra combustion support, due to the excellent
feature of the mixing of different fuels , the combustion of the particles delivered into the furnace
are burnt immediately without any drop in the temperature of bed solids.

In the design of the boiler using the mixture fuel of stumps and barks, the calculation of energy
and material balances are based on the mixture ratio 2:1. It affects the heating value of the fuel and
further design of boiler dimensions and the overall required capacity (175 MWth).

Fig 2: Selected circulating fluidized bed boiler as the basis (Vakkilainen, E., 2011)

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5.0 Dimensioning of heat transfer surfaces of the boiler

5.1 Furnace dimensions

Arrangement of the evaporator, supperheater, economizer and air pre-heater on a boiler

Fig 3: Physical location of heat transfer surfaces in the boiler (Teir S., p. 103)

The selected steam temperature for the design is 500 o C and the flue gas outlet temperature of a
biomass CFB ranges from 900 to 1000 o C. The outlet temperature depends on the characteristics
of the fuels combusted, ash characteristics, the determination of superheater material and desired
superheating temperature. The flue gas outlet temperature is selected as 900 o C in this case.

The main parameters for the furnace sizing are furnace dimensions (height, depth, width and
configuration), furnace wall construction and desired furnace outlet temperature (Teir S., p. 137).
For this design, the supperheater width was used as the starting guess for the furnace width.

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Table 6: Starting values for sizing of the boiler
CFB Furnace Surface
sizing

No. Of Plates 12
No. Of spacing 0,178
Initial guess of the width of furnace 2,136 It is assumed to be equal to the length of the super heater

Velocities of flue gas range from 3-10 m/s

H/D ratios range from 1 - 5

Dry flue gas volume flow rates for each fuel (Q1 and Q2)
Q1 20,73147141
Q2 42,8252233
Overall volume flow based on fuel ratios
Qo 35,46063934 (2:1)

Table 7: Comparable results of furnace dimensions

Vel (M/s) Plan area H/D Depth Height
3,00 11,82 1,00 5,53 5,53
4,00 8,87 2,00 4,15 8,30
5,00 7,09 3,00 3,32 9,96
6,00 5,91 4,00 2,77 11,07
7,00 5,07 5,00 2,37 11,86
8,00 4,43 6,00 2,08 12,45
9,00 3,94 7,00 1,84 12,91
10,00 3,55 8,00 1,66 13,28

H = 11, 86 M
A = 5, 07 M2
b1= 2, 37 M
b2 = 2, 14 M

Fig 4: Final selected furnace dimension (side

view)

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5.2 Calculations of heat transfer surfaces
The heat transfer surface area includes sides, base and beak. When identifying the size of the
heat transfer surfaces, the heat transfer coefficient and the temperature differences (inlet and
outlet ) between the streams should be addressed first, which can be solved by the formula
below.

(5,1)

= heat to steam, kW (thermal power)

k = heat transfer coefficient, W/ K

= logarithmic temperature differences

A = Required surface area,

The purpose of the super heater is to provide the heat to increase the steam temperature to
saturation temperature. Economizer is one of the main four heat transfer surfaces of boiler. Heat
is recovered from the exit gas from furnace to reduce the temperature of flue gas. The heat transfer
is more effective if the economizer surface increases. The air preheater is used to reduce the
temperature of flue gas before released to atmosphere and increase the incoming air temperature
of the furnace.

Table 8: Calculated heat transfer surfaces

Heat to Heat transfer coefficient Temperature Heat transfer
steam () (K) (W/m2 K) difference (Tlm) surface
(kW) (A) (m2)
Furnace 9609,876 93 401 258,4
Super 8686,9 95 254 361,2
heater
Economizer 9011,0 92 169 582,1
Air 9609,9 90 131 816,2
preheater

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6.0 Summary
Energy requirements like in other types of boilers determines the design parameters of the CFB boiler. The
available fuel, steam temperature, pressure and the overall thermal power are the main design parameters
of this boiler design. The second process involved controlling the flow of materials into and out of the
boiler, this entails material and energy balances according to the selected fuel characteristics, feed water,
combustion air and the related outputs, flue gas, steam and ash. Material balances were calculated to enable
determination of the main boiler dimensions. Energy balances enables the design of heat transfer surfaces
of the boiler. The reactor model was used in this design process, to estimate the main temperature profiles
of the heat transfer surfaces which were finally used to estimate the surfaces. The main assumptions are
that the length of the super heater is used as the initial guess of the width of the evaporator. The ratios of
heights to widths of CFB the furnaces range from 1-5, this analogy was used in estimating and presentation
of the furnace dimensions.

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References
Birgitta Strmberg, TPS. 2006. Fuel handbook

Ciolkosz, D. and Wallace, R. (2011), A review of torrefaction for bioenergy feedstock

production. Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining, 5: 317329. doi: 10.1002/bbb.275

Rick Handley, Associates & Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management
(NESCAUM). 2009. Biomass Boiler and Furnace Emission & Safety Regulations. [online-
document]. [ Accessed 16.9.2011]. Available at:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB4QFjAA&ur
l=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nescaum.org%2Fdocuments%2Fdoer-biomass-emissions-safety-
regulations.pdf%2F&ei=um3eTs2vJIj34QTLpbnQBg&usg=AFQjCNH4H08Y7vRexL4P6cJq9i0
QwMwRyw&sig2=qF_iUIimtsqtFgR5xXLJEQ

Vakkilainen, E 2011, Steam Boiler design, lecture notes distributed in Steam boilers at
Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland, on 2 November 2011.

Sebastian Teir, Anne Jokivuori.Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers.

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List of tables
Table 1: Material balance for stumps-fired CFB ......................................................................... 6
Table 2: Material balance for bark-fired CFB .............................................................................. 6
Table 3: Energy balance for stumps-fired CFB ........................................................................... 7
Table 4: Energy balance for barks-fired CFB ............................................................................. 7
Table 5: Flow rates of fuels, air and flue gases .......................................................................... 8
Table 6: Starting values for sizing of the boiler ..........................................................................11
Table 7: Comparable results of furnace dimensions ..................................................................11
Table 8: Calculated heat transfer surfaces ................................................................................12

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