Neural network approach to predicting mercury emission from utility boiler

The feasibility of using an ANN method to predict the mercury emission and speciation in the flue gas of a power station under un-tested combustion/operational conditions is evaluated. Based on existing field testing datasets for the emissions of three utility boilers, a 3-layer back-propagation network is applied to predict the mercury speciation at the stack. The whole prediction procedure includes： collection of data, structuring an artificial neural network （ANN） model, training process and error evaluation. A total of 59 parameters of coal and ash analyses and power plant operating conditions are treated as input variables, and the actual mercury emissions and their speciation data are used to supervise the training process and verify the performance of prediction modeling. The precision of model prediction （ root- mean-square error is 0. 8 μg/Nm3 for elemental mercury and 0. 9 μg/Nm3 for total mercury） is acceptable since the spikes of semi- mercury continuous emission monitor （SCEM） with wet conversion modules are taken into consideration.

Experimental investigation of NO_x emisssion in a coal-fired utility boiler

Based on the investigation of NOx formation mechanism, a coal-fired utility boiler whose capacity is 1 004 t/h was studied. Excessive air coefficient, inclination of burner and the way of coal supply were investigated through experimental method. Resuits indicated that under the condition of same boiler efficiency and burn-off rate, the operation conditions adopting the lower excessive air coefficient, upward burners＇ inclination and pyramid coal-supply could reduce NOx emission.

Experimental and thermal stress investigation on side wall deformation at the pendent convective pass in a utility boiler

An experimental investigation is performed on side wall deformation at the pendant convective pass (PCP) in a 300 MW and a 600 MW utility boiler. The temperature distributions are measured on the side wall areas of the water-cooled wall, the PCP and the horizontal convective pass (HCP) in the two utility boilers. These experiments show that there are great temperature differences in the side wall areas during the startup process in both utility boilers. These temperature differences can reach 80～150 °C with the side wall temperature in the PCP area higher than those in the water-cooled wall and the HCP. The highest temperature in the PCP is close to the flue gas side temperature at the same position in the horizontal flue gas pass. Thermal stress analyses are conducted in the side wall areas in the water-cooled wall, the PCP and the HCP with the software ANSYS. The results show that, at great temperature differences, the PCP side wall undergoes negative thermal stresses that exceed the yield strength causing deformation in the PCP side wall.

On-Line Life Monitoring Technique for Tube Bundles of Boiler High-Temperature Heating Surface

High-temperature heating surface such as superheater and reheater of large-sized utility boiler all experiences a relatively severe working conditions. The failure of boiler tubes will directly impact the safe and economic operation of boiler. An on-line life monitoring model of high-temperature heating surface was set up according to the well-known L-M formula of the creep damages. The tube wall metal temperature and working stress was measured by on-line monitoring, and with this model, the real-time calculation of the life expenditure of the heating surface tube bundles were realized. Based on the technique the on-line life monitoring and management system of high-temperature heating surface was developed for a 300 MW utility boiler. An effective device was thus suggested for the implementation of the safe operation and the condition-based maintenance of utility boilers.

Transformation of mercury speciation through the SCR system in power plants

Coal-fired utility boilers are now identified as the largest source of mercury in the United States. There is speculation that the installation of selective catalytic reduction （SCR） system for reduction of NOx can also prompt the oxidation and removal of mercury. In this paper, tests at six full-scale power plants with similar type of the SCR systems are conducted to investigate the effect of the SCR on the transformation of mercury speciation. The results show that the SCR system can achieve more than 70%-80% oxidation of elemental mercury and enhance the mercury removal ability in these units. The oxidation of elemental mercury in the SCR system strongly depends on the coal properties and the operation conditions of the SCR systems. The content of chloride in the coal is the key factor for the oxidization process and the maximum oxidation of elemental mercury is found when chloride content changes from 400 to 600 ppm. The sulfur content is no significant impact on oxidation of elemental mercury.

Numerical Study of the Effect of Imaginary Circle Dinmeter and Initial Flow Field on the Aerodynamic Field in a Tangentially Fired Furnace

In this paper, the effect of the imaginary circle diameter opi and the initial flow field on the aerodynamic field in a tangentially fired furnace was studied by numerical simulation and experiments in the cold model. Results show that merely reducing the imaginary circle diameter rki can not significantly reduce the rotatiollal diameter op in the range considered. The flow still rotates coullter-clockwise stably and does not change rotation direction when the direction of all jet axes are defiected suddenly to the opposite rotation direction by up to 5.4" in a countereclockwise llow field. It is the first time that the numerical sAnulation results were obtained which agreed quite well with this experimental phenomena qualitatively. The experimental data, i.e., the rotational diameter & and the maximum velocity on the syrnmetric central line of fUrnace Vm, are only a bit larger than the simulation results. It is shown that the initial flow field has an important influence on the aerodynamic field in the furnace. Other measures have to be taken as wel1 in order to reduce & to resist slagging and high temperature corrosion of furnace tubes. Moreover, a new kind of grid arrangement was proposed in this paper, which can reduce effectively the false diffosion at the exit zone of burner.

Ignition Characteristics of Lean Coal Used a Novel Alternating-Current Plasma Arc Approach

In order to achieve the target of reducing oil consumption to zero for pulverized coal(PC)boiler in power plant,the paper developed a novel coal pulverized ignition approach,called as Alternating-Current plasma(AC plasma)ignition,with the advantages of excellent PC combustion behavior and longer electrode life-span.The scientific principle of how to generate the AC plasma arc was elaborated in detail.First,the experiments on life-span of electrodes inside AC plasma generator had been conducted,finding a workable way to extend its life-span beyond 530 hours.Second,a new AC plasma burner specifically designed for lean coal according to the principle of PC staged combustion had been illustrated with diagrams and then used to ignite the PC-air stream under four kinds of conditions with a varying AC plasma power from 150 kW to 300 kW,focusing on analyses of the influence of AC plasma power on combustion behaver,such as combustion temperature,carbon burnout rate as well as PC combustion regime.The following results showed that in the case of the power of the AC plasma was P=300 kW,a satisfied PC combustion process could achieved,with the average PC combustion temperature of about 940°C,combustion flame length of 6.3 m,and the total carbon burnout rate of up to 52.2%.In addition,about 80%of the nozzle outlet section was filled with bright flame,while 81%of the PC was in zone of the cylindrical flame regime.The PC combustion modes were changed repeatedly during the process of combustion,which went from homogeneous combustion mode at initial ignition stage to combined combustion mode and heterogeneous combustion mode at middle stage,finally to combined combustion mode at later stage.The research conclusion in this paper has proved that the AC plasma ignition approach is feasible and effective to ignite low-rank coal without the present of fuel oil.