title: Influence of the overfire air ratio on the NO(x) emission and combustion characteristics of a down-fired 300-MW(e) utility boiler.
abstract: Down-fired boilers used to burn low-volatile coals have high NO(x) emissions. To find a way of solving this problem, an overfire air (OFA) system was introduced on a 300 MW(e) down-fired boiler. Full-scale experiments were performed on this retrofitted boiler to explore the influence of the OFA ratio (the mass flux ratio of OFA to the total combustion air) on the combustion and NO(x) emission characteristics in the furnace. Measurements were taken of gas temperature distributions along the primary air and coal mixture flows, average gas temperatures along the furnace height, concentrations of gases such as O(2), CO, and NO(x) in the near-wall region and carbon content in the fly ash. Data were compared for five different OFA ratios. The results show that as the OFA ratio increases from 12% to 35%, the NO(x) emission decreases from 1308 to 966 mg/Nm(3) (at 6% O(2) dry) and the carbon content in the fly ash increases from 6.53% to 15.86%. Considering both the environmental and economic effect, 25% was chosen as the optimized OFA ratio.
authors.affiliation: School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, 92 West Dazhi Street, Harbin 150001, PR China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Zhengqi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Zhichao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Subo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Guangkui
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000388:Air / Q000032:analysis*; D002248:Carbon Monoxide / Q000032:analysis; D003031:Coal; D004560:Electricity; D005390:Fires; D017745:Incineration / Q000295:instrumentation*; D009566:Nitrates / Q000032:analysis*; D009573:Nitrites / Q000032:analysis*; D011210:Power Plants; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D003031:Coal; D009566:Nitrates; D009573:Nitrites; D002248:Carbon Monoxide