Optimization of separated overfire air to reduce NOX emissions under combustion stability for the retrofit of a 500 MW tangentially pulverized coal boiler

Retrofitting of an aging 500 MW tangential coal-fired boiler with high pollutant emissions in South Korea was investigated to achieve low nitrogen oxide (NOX) emissions and high combustion efficiency. This study evaluated and analyzed the combustion and emission characteristics of five arrangements to optimize the position and direction of a separated overfire air (SOFA) installation using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. The results show that the air injection of SOFA at the center of the boiler wall causes substantial obstruction of the rising airflow below, causing unstable combustion behavior in the boiler, and increasing the amount of unburned carbon (UBC). However, combining the wall injection with corner SOFA helps reduce the formation of NOX and has the effect of promoting the burnout of UBC. For the direction of the wall injection under combined conditions, a clockwise airflow helps to reduce the formation of NOX with increasing UBC. Otherwise, the counter-clockwise airflow weakens the flow rate of the ascending airflow, increasing the residence time of unburned particles, increasing the coal burnout rate, and increasing the furnace exit gas temperature (FEGT). Among the five SOFA arrangements studies, this study recommends Case 4, which has a clockwise wall SOFA (30%) with corner SOFA (70%). This case has the best performance in terms of combustibility, NOX emission, UBC, and FEGT. The proposed condition was verified through a field test, and the results indicate that NOX emissions decreased from 169 ppm to 57 ppm, the UBC content decreased from 3.64% to 0.7%, and the boiler efficiency increased by 2%.

Automated summary

This study investigated retrofitting an aging coal-fired boiler in South Korea to achieve low NOX emissions and high combustion efficiency. Through CFD simulation, it was found that injecting SOFA at the center of the boiler wall causes unstable combustion behavior, but combining wall injection with corner SOFA can reduce NOX formation. Among the five arrangements studied, Case 4 with a clockwise wall SOFA (30%) and corner SOFA (70%) was recommended for best performance in terms of combustibility, NOX emission, UBC, and FEGT.