Flexibility of a 300 MW Arch Firing Boiler Burning Low Quality Coals

Experimental investigations on the flexibility of a 300 MW Arch Firing (AF) coal-fired boiler when burning low quality coals is reported.Measurements of gas temperature and species concentration and char sampling using a water-cooled suction pyrometer were carried out along the furnace elevation.The carbon content and the size distributions of the char samples were obtained.The char morphology was examined using a field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM).The char sampling was performed on this type of boiler for the first time.The results indicate that the flexibility of this boiler burning low quality coals under a moderate boiler load is better than its flexibility under a high boiler load.Because of the insufficient capacity of the coal pulverizers used, in case of low coal quality the pulverized coal fineness will drastically decrease under high boiler loads.This causes an increase in the loss due to incomplete mechanical and chemical combustion.This is the main cause of a low burnout degree of the pulverized coal and the decrease of the flexibility of this AF boiler under a high boiler load.