A cyclone furnace is a type of
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when ...
combustor
A combustor is a component or area of a gas turbine, ramjet, or scramjet engine where combustion takes place. It is also known as a burner, combustion chamber or flame holder. In a gas turbine engine, the ''combustor'' or combustion chamber is f ...
commonly used in large industrial
boilers
A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central ...
.
Background
Developed in the early 1942 by
Babcock & Wilcox
Babcock & Wilcox is an American renewable, environmental and thermal energy technologies and service provider that is active and has operations in many international markets across the globe with its headquarters in Akron, Ohio, USA. Historicall ...
to take advantage of coal grades not suitable for
pulverized coal combustion, cyclone furnaces feed coal in a spiral manner into a combustion chamber for maximum combustion efficiency.
During coal combustion in a furnace,
volatile components burn without much difficulty. Fuel carbon “char” particles (heavier, less volatile coal constituents) require much higher temperatures and a continuing supply of oxygen. Cyclone furnaces are able to provide a thorough mixing of coal particles and air with sufficient
turbulence
In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is fluid motion characterized by chaotic changes in pressure and flow velocity. It is in contrast to a laminar flow, which occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers, with no disruption between ...
to provide fresh air to surfaces of the coal particles.
Cyclone furnaces were originally designed to take advantage of four things
#Lower fuel preparation time and costs
#Smaller more compact furnaces
#Less
fly ash
Fly ash, flue ash, coal ash, or pulverised fuel ash (in the UK) plurale tantum: coal combustion residuals (CCRs)is a coal combustion product that is composed of the particulates (fine particles of burned fuel) that are driven out of coal-fired ...
and convective pass slagging
#Flexibility in fuel types
Operation
A cyclone furnace consists of a horizontal cylindrical barrel attached through the side of a boiler furnace. The cyclone barrel is constructed with water cooled, tangential oriented, tube construction. Inside the cyclone barrel are short, densely spaced, pin studs
welded
Welding is a fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them to cool, causing fusion. Welding is distinct from lower temperature techniques such as braz ...
to the outside of the tubes. The studs are coated with a
refractory material
In materials science, a refractory material or refractory is a material that is resistant to decomposition by heat, pressure, or chemical attack, and retains strength and form at high temperatures. Refractories are polycrystalline, polyphase, ...
, usually
silica
Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is ...
or
aluminium
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...
based, that allows the cyclone to operate at a high enough temperature to keep the
slag
Slag is a by-product of smelting ( pyrometallurgical) ores and used metals. Broadly, it can be classified as ferrous (by-products of processing iron and steel), ferroalloy (by-product of ferroalloy production) or non-ferrous/base metals (by-p ...
in a molten state and allow removal through the tap.
Crushed coal and a small amount of primary air enter from the front of the cyclone into the burner. In the main cyclone burner, secondary air is introduced tangentially, causing a circulating gas flow pattern. The products, flue gas and un-combusted fuel, then leave the burner and pass over the boiler tubes. Tertiary air is then released further downstream to complete combustion of the remaining fuel, greatly reducing
NOx formation. A layer of molten slag coats the burner and flows through traps at the bottom of the burners, reducing the amount of slag that would otherwise form on the boiler tubes.
Cyclone Furnaces can handle a wide range of fuels. Low volatile
bituminous coal
Bituminous coal, or black coal, is a type of coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen or asphalt. Its coloration can be black or sometimes dark brown; often there are well-defined bands of bright and dull material within the seams. It ...
s,
lignite coal
Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...
, mineral rich
anthracitic coal,
wood chips
Woodchips are small- to medium-sized pieces of wood formed by cutting or chipping larger pieces of wood such as trees, branches, logging residues, stumps, roots, and wood waste.
Woodchips may be used as a biomass solid fuel and are raw materia ...
,
petroleum coke
Petroleum coke, abbreviated coke or petcoke, is a final carbon-rich solid material that derives from oil refining, and is one type of the group of fuels referred to as cokes. Petcoke is the coke that, in particular, derives from a final crack ...
, and old
tires
A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineering), t ...
can and have all been used in cyclones.
The crushed coal is fed into the cyclone burner and fired with high rates of heat release. Before the hot gases enter in the boiler furnace the combustion of coal is completed. The crushed coal is fed into cyclone burners. The coal is Burned by centrifugal action which is imparted by the primary air which enters tangentially and secondary Air which also enters in the top tangentially at high speed and tertiary air is admitted in the centre.
Due to Whirling action of coal and air, a large amount of heat is generated (1500–1600 °C) and that covered the surface of cyclone and ashes are transformed into molten slag. The molten slag drained from the boiler furnace through a slag tap.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cyclone Furnace
Power station technology
Boilers
Energy conversion
Industrial furnaces