Heat transfer modelling of semi-suspension biomass fired industrial watertube boiler at full- and part-load using CFD

In the current work, a computational fluid dynamics model is presented of a semi-suspension fired bagasse boiler which pays special attention to resolving the heat transfer to the furnace walls, superheater tubes and evaporator tube bank. The boiler CFD model includes custom-developed sub-models programmed in the C language which captures the fuel particle grate interaction, cylindrical fuel particle drag effects, superheater steam side heat transfer and evaporator heat exchange using a porous media approach. The model is applied to simulate the case study boiler for 100% and 65% load cases. The CFD model results are verified using a steady-state process model which utilizes well-known empirical heat transfer correlations. The CFD model results are also validated using plant measurements. The results of the CFD model show that it can accurately predict the outlet steam temperatures of the superheaters with relative errors of between 0.89 and 1.6% compared to the site data. The model is also capable of accurately predicting the evaporator outlet gas temperatures with a relative error of approximately 1.4%. Once the model is verified and validated it is used to investigate heat flux and metal temperature distributions in the various heat exchangers. The results show that at part load conditions the combustion occurs much closer to the furnace rear wall due to deeper spreading of the fuel particles, which results in the front wall having a relatively low heat absorption rate compared to the side and rear walls.

Automated summary

This study introduces a computational fluid dynamics model of a semi-suspension fired bagasse boiler, which accurately predicts steam and gas temperatures with relative errors of less than 2%. The model is able to simulate heat transfer processes and investigate heat flux distributions in heat exchangers, providing valuable insights into boiler performance.