Boiler Cleaning for Efficiency
Optimisation
PRESENTED BY
Owen Munyu
FACTORIES & WORKS INSPECTOR
Objective
• To discuss the objectives of boiler
cleaning, methods and effects of fireside
and waterside scale on the safety and
efficiency of boilers
Presentation outline
• Introduction
• Definitions
• Methods of heat transfer
• Gas side fouling
• Methods of gas side cleaning
• Waterside scaling
• Chemical cleaning of boilers
• Effects of scaling
• Conclusion
Introduction
• Boilers are delivered clean with no soot, slag
and scale. Consequently a soot and scale
problem is a classic management and
operational problem that has very little to do
with boiler design.
• Soot and slag is a mixture of solid carbon, ash,
and molten ash that sticks to the fire side of
the tube and prevents heat transfer. Slag
• will also cause corrosion.
• Scale is a hard coating or chemical layer of
Cont……
• materials on internal surfaces of the boiler
exposed to the water side. Scale mitigates
heat transfer and may lead to corrosion as
well.
• Scale and soot prevention is one of the most
important task of a boiler operator besides
reducing stack gas losses.
Definitions
• The function of a steam boiler is to transfer
the heat energy of the fuel burned to the
water in the boiler with safety and with
maximum efficiency
• The question of safety is of prime importance
as a boiler explosion is always attended by
very serious results
• Boiler efficiency measures how much
combustion energy is converted into steam
energy
Methods of heat transfer
• Conduction
the molecules of a container vibrate faster and
faster with increased temperature and this
molecular motion is transferred to the
molecules of the fluid. Thus conduction is heat
transfer by impact of molecules
If a piece of metal is heated, heat energy is
transmitted from the hot to the cold end by
impact between adjacent molecules
Methods of heat transfer
• Convection
This is heat transfer in fluids due to expansion.
The hotter particles becoming lighter and
rising whilst the cooler portions descent , thus
making it a circulation
Methods of heat transfer
• Radiation
Heat is transferred by rays across an empty
space
Particle model
Phase change diagram
Soot and slag generation
• In any combustion process of a fuel there will
always be some unburned carbon (soot)
generated and ash carried with stack gases.
• Soot ash, and molten ash (slag) will
accumulate on the tubes
• Final result is a layer insulating the tubes
against hot combustion gases.
• Causes of this are:
Cont…..
1. Freezing the chemical reaction-flame comes
too close to boiler walls, ‘freezing’ the kinetic
reaction. This effect is best demonstrated
with a knife one passes through a candle
flame.
• The flame will darken the knife. Major causes
are over firing the boiler, too much excess air
and worn out burner nozzles
Cont…..
• Insufficient atomization of fuel oil- we talk
about three T’s in combustion, turbulence
temperature and time. Low oil line pressure
and lack of turbulence results in poor
atomization of oil resulting in large droplets
leaving the flame envelope partially unburnt.
• Major causes are low oil line pressure, lack of
primary combustion air or low fuel preheating
temperature
Soot and slag generation
• High moisture content in fuel- too much water in
a fuel leads to a ‘cold’ fire causing excessive
smoke because there is not enough fuel energy
available to generate a sufficiently high flame
temperature. However some water helps to speed
up the kinetic reaction. It also shortens the flame
• Major cause of this type of soot generation is a
combination of high moisture and too much
excess air
Cont….
• Erratic feeding of solid fuels- Solid fuel firing
is not as “smooth” as liquid or gaseous fuel
firing. Excess air is changing constantly,
causing cold pockets in the furnace, where too
much fuel and not enough “fire” and air are
present. The result is smoke generation.
• Major causes are bad combustion air
distribution and malfunctioning or badly
designed feeding mechanism.
Gas side fouling
• Fuel oil (diesel) combustion deposits consist
predominantly of soft, black soot and are
easily removed with brushing
• Lower grade fuel oil may contain large large
quantities of alkaline sulfates and vanadium
pentoxide that cause more serious gas side
deposits
• Solid fuels like wood and coal produce
deposits that contain ash based slag and soot
Cont……..
• Boiler gas side temperatures are so high that
ash deposits on convection surfaces can
become sintered , or melted into glass like
masses known as enamel
• Any type of fouling acts as an insulator
between flue gas and convection surface
reducing the efficiency of the boiler
• The fouling results in an increase in furnace
gas exit temperatures
EFFICIENCIES OF BOILERS
Efficiencies of boilers (with feedwater economizers, air
pre-heating & 3% O2 in flue gas)
Fuel type combustion eff %
Natural gas 85.7
Distillate oil 88.7-89.6
Coal 90.3
Efficiencies of boilers (typical)
Coal 85%
Oil 80%
Natural gas 75%
Biomass 70%
Stack gas temperature vs soot and
scale deposits
LANDING DOOR
LOSS OF FUEL & EFFICIENCY DUE TO
SOOT
Thk of soot % loss of eff % average
in firetube in firetube fuel loss
0.8mm 9.5% 2.9%
1.6mm 26.2% 7.8%
2.4mm 35.7% 10.7%
3.16mm 45.3% 12.6%
4.8mm 69% 20.7%
• How do you know that boiler has accumulated soot in tubes?
Cont….
• High stack gas temperatures are a sure sign
that boiler tubes have accumulated soot/scale
• A highly recommended method of reducing
fuel consumption is to set a best stack gas
temperature at “high fire” and to instruct
operators to clean the boiler if stack gas
temperatures exceed this by 10-20°C
Waterside scaling
• This will be dealt with in depth in another
presentation on water treatment
• Scaling results in an insulating surface and this
may lead to long term overheating
• Chemical cleaning may be done to combat
excessive scale but its important not to have
scale in the first place by doing on line
descaling
Chemical Cleaning
• In the event of excessive scale build up on the
water side boiler chemical cleaning may be
done
• An inhibited acid is used for chemical cleaning
• This has to be done by a reputable chemical
company that first determines the scale
constituents in order to come up with correct
solution strength for the chemical clean
• Cause of boiler tube leaks if done incorrectly
Advantages of chemical cleaning
• Corrosion of metal surface of boiler is
minimized
• Heat transfer improvement
• Plant outage due to boiler failure is minimized
• Enhance efficiency of the power plant
Mechanical descaling
• Used in the fireside
• Makes use of manual or pneumatic brushes
whick mechanically scrape the soot from the
boiler tube
• Typically takes about a half a day to do, and its
important to it regularly so as to prevent build
up
• Sootblowing is also done online on some
boilers. This reduces scale build up
Pneumatic tool
Manual cleaning
Cleaning tool head
Effects of scaling
• Reduces heat transfer
• May cause blistering and bulges
• Causes short term and long term overheating
• More fuel is used
• Increase in furnace exit gas temperatures
CONCLUSION
• Boiler safety and efficiency improvement is a
collective collective stakeholder responsibility
and require, concerted effort in working
together for a common good in order to
prevent accidents
