Fluent fuel fired burner
This invention relates to fluent fuel fired burners and, more particularly, to pulverised fuel burners together with a method of operating such burners to inhibit the discharge of oxides of nitrogen (NOχ) in, whilst limiting the unburnt carbon content of, the combustion products.
US-A-4 422 389 describes a fluent fuel fired burner having cylindrical discharge passages of annular cross- section arranged co-axially of a central passage accommodating secondary burner means and connected to discharge a combustion air flow, with outwardly successive passages of annular cross-section being connected to discharge a pulverised fuel flow together with a combustion air flow, a secondary combustion air flow, a quaternary combustion air flow and a tertiary combustion air flow.
By the present invention there is provided a fluent fuel fired burner including cylindrical discharge passages of annular cross-section arranged co-axially of a central passage accommodating secondary burner means and connected to discharge a combustion air flow, with outwardly successive passages of annular cross-section being connected to discharge a pulverised fuel flow together with a combustion air flow, a secondary combustion air flow, a quaternary combustion air flow and a tertiary combustion air flow, wherein the central passage is connected and arranged to discharge less than 5% of the total combustion air mass flow, and the outwardly successive passages of annular cross-section are respectively connected and arranged to discharge 100% of a pulverised fuel flow together with between 15% and 25% of the total combustion air mass flow, a secondary combustion air flow of between
15% and 25% of the total combustion air mass flow, a quaternary air flow of between 15% and 30% of the total combustion air mass flow and a tertiary air flow of between 30% and 55% of the total combustion air mass flow.
The invention also includes the method of operating a fluent fuel fired burner having cylindrical discharge passages of annular cross-section arranged co-axially of a central passage accommodating secondary burner means and connected to discharge a combustion air flow, with outwardly successive passages of annular cross-section being connected to discharge a pulverised fuel flow together with a combustion air flow, a secondary combustion air flow, a quaternary combustion air flow and a tertiary combustion air flow, wherein less than 5% of the total combustion air mass flow is discharged through the central passage, 100% of a flow of pulverised fuel together with between 15% and 25% of the total combustion air mass flow is discharged through the passage bounding the central passage, a flow of secondary combustion air of between 15% and 25% of the total combustion air mass flow is discharged through the respective passage, a flow of quaternary combustion air of between 15 and 30% of the total combustion air mass flow is discharged through the respective passage and a flow of tertiary combustion air of between 30% and 55% of the total combustion air mass flow is discharged through the respective passage.
The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying, partly diagrammatic, axial cross-section of a burner 2 together with a portion of an associated wall 4 of a boiler, the burner being formed with five co-axially arranged tubular partitions defining annular cross-section passages for the discharge of pulverised fuel and of combustion air.
A retractable, oil, gas, fine coal, biomass fuel, oil related fuel or gas related fuel, burner 6 for lighting-up and/or load carrying purposes together with an igniter 7 is disposed on the central axis and, radially outwardly there are disposed in turn, defining the outer boundary of the associated passage, a core air tube 8, a pulverised fuel and primary air tube 10, a secondary air tube 12, a quaternary air tube 14 and a tertiary air tube 16 registering with a refractory lined throat 18 in the boiler wall 4.
A flow of air to the core air tube 8 is supplied through a radial connection 20 provided with a control damper 21 and supplied from either a separate fan (not shown) or from a windbox 36 surrounding the burner.
A flow of pulverised fuel and primary combustion air is supplied to the pulverised fuel and primary air tube 10 through a tangential connection 22 discharging to a scroll plate 24 within the tube 10. Forwardly of the scroll plate 24, the tube 10 is formed with a convergent frusto-conical portion 26 provided with axial ribs 27 and, forwardly of the portion 26, a cylindrical portion 28 provided with eight, equi-angularly spaced, axially extending, collectors 30. An inwardly directed lip 32 is provided at the forward end of the cylindrical portion 28.
A flow of secondary combustion air is supplied to the secondary air tube 12 through apertures 34 in the tube 12 from a windbox 36 surrounding the burner 2. An axially moveable, cylindrical, damper 38 adjustably obturates the apertures 34 to provide a regulatory control of the secondary air flow. Forwardly of the apertures 34, the tube 12 is formed with a convergent frusto-conical section 40 provided at a forward end portion thereof, with axial
swirl vanes 42 connected to axially moveable adjustment rods 43 enabling the axial position of the swirl vanes 42 to be adjusted in relation to the frusto-conical section 40 and thereby vary the spacing of the edges of the swirl vanes 42 from the frusto-conical section and thus the proportion of the secondary combustion air flow by-passing the swirl vanes to enable the amount of swirl imparted to the air flow to be varied. Forwardly of the swirl vanes 42, the tube 12 is formed with a cylindrical portion 44 terminating forwardly of the lip 32. In an alternative arrangement (not shown) , the axial swirl vanes 42 are replaced by radially extending swirl vanes.
A flow of quaternary combustion air is supplied to the quaternary air tube 14 through an annular inlet 46 formed between the cylindrical portion 44 of the secondary air tube 12 and the tube 14 from the windbox 36. Fixed axial swirl vanes 48 are provided adjacent the inlet 46 and the tube 14 terminates flush with the secondary air tube 12.
A flow of tertiary combustion air is supplied to the tertiary air tube 16 from the windbox 36 through an aperture 50. An axially moveable, cylindrical, damper 54 adjustably obturates the aperture 50 to provide a regulatory control of the tertiary air flow. Adjustable, axially extending, vanes 56 connected to an adjustor linkage 57 are positioned to extend in a frusto-conical section 58. The tertiary air tube 16 is positioned in register with a cylindrical wall portion 59 of the throat 18 extending forwardly to a location flush with the ends of the secondary air tube 14 and the quaternary air tube 16. Forwardly of the cylindrical wall portion 59 the throat 18 is formed with a divergent, frusto-conical quarl 60 discharging to the associated furnace chamber (not shown) . In another alternative arrangement (not shown) , the axially
extending vanes 56 are replaced by radially extending vanes.
In operation, at normal load conditions, pulverised fuel entrained in a flow of primary combustion air is supplied to the tangential connection 22 and is constrained to flow with both an axial and a circumferential momentum by the effect of the scroll plate 24. The flow progresses forwardly within the tube 10 and, upon encountering the collectors 30, loses circumferential momentum whilst the pulverised fuel content is concentrated to eight, circumferentially spaced, streams. The flow is discharged past the lip 32 as a vigorously eddying flow which ignites adjacent the lip 32 and burns in an initial combustion region of sub-stochiometric, or reducing, conditions, the flow of primary combustion air and of air supplied to the core air tube 8 being limited and proportioned in a manner tending to achieve such conditions. Secondary combustion air, quaternary combustion air and tertiary combustion air flows respectively discharged from the tubes 12, 14, 16 are proportioned utilising the cylindrical dampers 38 and 55 together with external controls (not shown) and a swirling motion is imposed by the vanes 42, 48 and 56 to create an envelope around the initial combustion region such that combustion of the pulverised fuel is completed downstream of the initial region in oxidising conditions. The flow patterns are such that a boundary region is formed intermediate the initial region and the flow of secondary combustion airflow in which the flow is of a confused eddying nature with recirculatory eddies arising, thereby tending to isolate the upstream portion of the initial region from the remainder of the air flow in order to maintain the reducing conditions within the initial region and thereby limit the production of NOχ compounds.
To enhance the formation of the requisite flow patterns, the rotational components of the flows of
combustion air are arranged to be in the same direction. The rotational components of the secondary combustion air flow and of the tertiary combustion air flow are adjusted to obtain the requisite flow patterns utilising the respective adjustable swirl vanes 42 and 56. A non- dimensional indication of the amount of swirl in a flow, the swirl number, is derived from the ratio of the tangential momentum of the flow divided by the axial momentum of the flow. Swirl numbers of approximately .4, .2 and .75 are achieved in the secondary, quaternary and tertiary combustion air flow discharges respectively.
The flow and combustion conditions in the initial combustion region are such that devolatisation of the pulverised fuel is promoted and any nitric oxide (NO) formed from nitrogenous compounds in the fuel will be reduced to nitrogen by the high concentration of NH' radicals in the combustion region. This is achieved by creating flows conducive to extending the residence time of the pulverised fuel particles in the initial combustion zone and to enhancing the active mixing of the gases and particles within the zone. Upon leaving the initial combustion region, the products of combustion within that region are then actively mixed with the secondary, quaternary and tertiary combustion air flows, particularly the tertiary combustion air flow, to promote completion of combustion of any remaining carbon particles in an oxidising situation achieved by the supply of an excess of air over the stochiometric quantity through the combustion air flows. Since any volatile nitrogenous compounds in the fuel are largely reduced to more stable compounds or gaseous nitrogen in the initial combustion region, oxidation to form gaseous oxides of nitrogen (N0X) is avoided. The swirl imparted to the tertiary combustion air flow promotes mixing of the combustion products with the excess air to encourage completion of the combustion process.
Whilst the relative proportioning of the flows will vary from installation to installation, it is considered that under typical utility boiler conditions with burners each rated to produce between, say, 10 MW to 120MW thermal energy, with a primary combustion air/pulverised fuel ratio in the range from 1.1:1, to 2.5:1 at burner full load, the proportions should be in the following ranges in order to achieve a NOx discharge of less than 400 milligrams per cubic metre of flue gases, which represents a N0χ reduction level of greater than 70% less than that discharged by burners utilised around 1970 and utilising pulverised fuel of similar fineness, whilst achieving a carbon in ash discharge content of less than 5%:-
mass flow volume flow axial swirl
% % momentum no.
core air flow 0-5 0-5 0-.2 - primary air flow 15-25 10-20 6-8 - secondary air flow 15-30 15-30 12-20 .3-.5 quaternary air flow ' 15-30 15-30 38-52 .1-.5 tertiary air flow 30-55 30-55 28-38 .4-1
In one example, utilising a typical UK sub-bituminous coal, a N0χ discharge of less than 400 milligrams per cubic metre of flue gases, which represents a NOχ reduction level in excess of 70% less than that discharged by burners utilised around 1970 and utilising pulverised fuel of similar fineness, and a carbon in ash discharge of less than 5% was achieved with a primary air to pulverised fuel ratio of 1.65:1 utilising the following proportions:-
mass flow volume axial swirl
% % momentum no.
% core air flow 1.2 .7 .1 - primary air flow 17.5 11.5 7.0 - secondary air flow 20.3 21.95 14.6 .41 quaternary air flow 22.7 24.5 45.4 .2 tertiary air flow 38.3 41.3 32.9 .73
100.0 99.9 100.0
The configuration of the discharge outlets from the burner will also vary from installation to installation. It is considered that a typical burner should have a configuration of the form:-
Cone angle of quarl 0-80°.
Ratio of quarl axial length : quarl minimum diameter = .1-.4
Ratio of distance between the outlet from pulverised fuel and primary air tube and the furnace wall : quarl minimum diameter = .2-.5.
Ratio of distance between the outlet from the core air tube and the furnace wall: quarl minimum diameter = .2-.5.
In one example, the configuration utilised is Cone angle of quarl 50°.
Ratio of quarl axial length : quarl minimum diameter = .25.
Ratio of distance between the outlet from pulverised fuel and primary air tube and the furnace wall : quarl minimum diameter = .3.
Ratio of distance between the outlet from the core air tube and the furnace wall: quarl minimum diameter = .32.