1.

1 Introduction of IGL
Indian Glycols Ltd. is the largest manufacturer of glycols, ethoxylates, performance chemicals,
glycol ethers and acetates, natural gums and potable alcohol in North India and is ranked
amongst the top First Green MEG producer (molasses base) groups in the country. The Company
is known as one of the most profitable MEG & Chemical manufacturers and has one of the
highest operating profit margins in the industry. It started operations in 1983 and has been
growing ever since.
Milestones of Indian Glycols Ltd.
Set up in 1983, India Glycols has come a long way in establishing itself as a leading chemicals
manufacturer. Here are some of the key milestones the company has achieved along its journey:

1983
Incorporated on 19th November 1983, as UP Glycols Limited.

1986
Renamed as India Glycols Limited on 28th August 1986.

1989
Commercial production commenced at MEG plant from 25th April 1989: capacity,
20,000MTPA.

1994
Commissioning of 13,000MTPA EO purification plant.
Commissioning of 20,000MTPA ethoxylate plant.

1995
De-bottlenecking of MEG facility (20,000 to 25,000 MTPA).

1997
Commissioning of 10,000MTPA formulation plant.

1
1998
De-bottlenecking of MEG facility (25,000 to 30,000 MTPA).
Commissioning of 6,000MTPA sulphation plant.

1999
Commissioning of 85,000 BL PD new continuous process distillery.
De-bottlenecking of MEG facility (30,000 to 33,000 MTPA).
Increase in power generation capacity (6 to 18 MW).

2001
Commissioning of glycol ether plant.
Commissioning of guar gum facility, 12,000MTPA capacity.

2002
Commissioning of bottling plant.
Expansion of MEG plant to 60,000MTPA.

2003
Addition of GE acetate facility.
Commissioning of ENA plant.

2005
Expansion of MEG production to 1 lakh MTPA.
Commissioning of ASU - III.
Commissioning of RAB unit.

2006
Commissioning of Gorakhpur unit.

2007
Acquisition of Shakumbhari Sugar.

2
2008
Commissioning of CO2 plant.
Expansion of MEG plant to 200,000MTPA.

2009
Commissioning of Ennature Biopharma, Dehradun.
Commissioning of DEGEE acetate plant.
Expansion of formulation plant - CABS.
Expansion of ethoxylate plant (stirred reactor).

2010
“The Biomass based Cogeneration Project at Gorakhpur

IGL Kashipur Plant is located 6 Km far from Kashipur city in Udham Singh Nagar district in
uttarakhand. These plants have following running unit_
(1) MEG / DEG / TEG
(2) Natural gums
(3) Brake fluids and anti-freeze coolant
(4) Glycol ethers and acetates
(5) Potable alcohol
(6) Power house
(7) Air Separation Unit
A project of Natural gum division expansion is under progress has the capacity of MW & a
project of P.O derivative is also proposed.

3
1.2 Human resource department
Human resource is an important component of any company. Here in IGL HR is responsible for
the recruitment, selection, training, and development of employees. HR maintains a data bank for
recruitment process and then as per the requirement of the concerned department they recruit.
For the training of the employees HR conducts training sessions and training has also been given
to the college students in various sessions. Various surveys are also conducted by the HR
department. I also want to thanks HR department to conduct this induction which has given me
an opportunity to see the plant and it gives an immense knowledge about IGL. Mr. R. S. Yadav
is the head for this section.
HR Department is also involved in conducting market surveys and determining the wages and
salaries for different position in an organization. These decision may be taken in consultation
with top management and the Finance department. HR department is constantly keeping a watch
over the employees of the organization. In order to improve the efficiency level of the employees
they have go undergo regular trainings and development programes. HR department has to
ensure that these relations are cordial. In case of any labour-management conflict the HR
Department will play a vital role in bringing both management parties to the negotiation table
and resolving the issue
IGL prides itself in promoting progress by creating and maintaining a work environment which
is conducive to both professional and personal growth.

Indian Glycols is committed to:

 Empower people.
 Honor individuality of every employee.
 Non discrimination in recruitment process
 Develop competency.
 To follow safety & health, quality ,environment energy policy
 None of the person below the age of 18 yrs shall be engaged to work.

4
1.3 Industrial safety
Safety department ensures safety practices in all other department like:
 Electrical Safety: Checking competency certificates, earthling of equipments, etc.
 General Safety: Road safety, lighting & Air Ventilation arrangements, etc.
 Shutdown & Safety Permits: Height Permits, Hot work permit, vessel entry permits,
electrical lock out permits, etc.
 Fire Safety: To look after fire extinguishers, hydrant pumps, etc.

Safety department also works against following hazardous in plant_

 Noise, dust, fire, working at height

Programs which is related to safety-

 Celebration of National Safety Day.
 Staff Training in the subject of Safety.
 Environment Safety Day.

5
2.1 BOILER:-
A boiler is an enclosed vessel that provides a means for combustion heat to be transferred into
water until it becomes heated water or steam. The hot water or steam under pressure is then
usable for transferring the heat to a process.
Water is a useful and cheap medium for transferring heat to a process. When water is boiled into
steam its volume increases about 1,600 times, producing a force that is almost as explosive as
gunpowder. This causes the boiler to be extremely dangerous equipment that must be treated
with utmost care.
The process of heating a liquid until it reaches its gaseous state is called evaporation. Heat is
transferred from one body to another by means of (1) radiation, which is the transfer of heat from
a hot body to a cold body through a conveying medium without physical contact, (2) convection,
the transfer of heat by a conveying medium, such as air or water and (3) conduction, transfer of
heat by actual physical contact, molecule to molecule.
Any part of the boiler metal that actually contributes to making steam is heating surface. The
amount of heating surface a boiler is expressed in square meters. The larger the heating surface a
boiler has, the more efficient it becomes. The quantity of the steam produced is indicated in tons
of water evaporated to steam per hour.
A boiler or steam generator is used whenever a source of steam is required. The form and size
depends on the application: mobile steam engines such as steam locomotives, portable engines
and steam powered rod vehicles typically use a smaller boiler that forms at integral part of the
vehicle; stationary steam engines, industrial installations and power stations is usually have a
larger separate steam generating facility connected to point-of-use by piping. A notable
exception is the steam powered fireless locomotive, where separately-generated steam is
transferred to receiver (tank) on the locomotive.
The source of heat for a boilers combustion of any of several fuels, such as wood, coal, oil or
natural gas, electric steam boilers use resistance- or immersion-type heating elements. Nuclear
fission is also used as a heat source for generating steam, either directly (BWR) or, in most cases,
in specialized heat exchangers called "steam generators" (PWR). Heat recovery steam generators
(HRSGs) use the heat rejected from other processes such as gas turbine.

6
 Fig 2.1 PFTS boiler

Indian Boiler Regulation

The Indian Boilers Act was enacted to consolidate and amend the law relating to steam boilers.
Indian Boilers Regulation (IBR) was created in exercise of the powers conferred by section 28 &
29 of the Indian Boilers Act.

IBR Steam Boilers means any closed vessel exceeding 22.75 liters in capacity and which is used
expressively for generating steam under pressure and includes any mounting or other fitting
attached to such vessel, which is wholly or partly under pressure when the steam is shut off.

IBR Steam Pipe means any pipe through which steam passes from a boiler to a prime mover or

2
other user or both, if pressure at which steam passes through such pipes exceeds 3.5kg/cm
above atmospheric pressure or such pipe exceeds 254 mm in internal diameter and includes in
either case any connected fitting of a steam pipe.

7
2.2 STEAM GENERATOR (COMPONENT OF PRIME MOVER)
The steam generator or boiler is an integral component of a steam engine when considered as a
prime mover. However it needs to be treated separately, as to some extent a variety of generator
type can be combined with a variety of engine units. A boiler incorporates a firebox or furnace in
order to burn the fuel and generate heat. The generated heat is transferred to water to make
steam, the process of boiling. This produces saturated steam at a rate which can vary according
to the pressure above the boiling water. The higher the furnace temperature, the faster the steam
production. The saturated steam thus produced can then either be used immediately to produce
power via a turbine and alternator, or else may be further superheated to a higher temperature;
this notably reduces suspended water content making a giving volume of steam produce more
work and creates a greater temperature gradient, which helps reduce the potential to form to
condensation. Any remaining heat in the combustion gases can then either be evacuated or made
to pass through an economizer, the role of which is to warm the feed water before it reaches the
boiler.

8
 Fig 2.2 steam generator
2.3 MATERIAL:
The pressure vessel of a boiler is usually made of steel (or alloy steel), or historically of wrought
iron. Stainless steel is virtually prohibited (by the ASME Boiler Code) for use in wetted parts of
modern boilers, but is used often in super heater sections that will not be exposed to liquid boiler
water. However electrically-heated stainless steel shell boilers are allowed under the European
“Pressure Equipment Directive” for production of steam for sterilizers and disinfectors.
In live steam models, copper or brass is often used because it is more easily fabricated in smaller
size boilers. Historically, copper was often used for fireboxes (particularly for steam
locomotives), because of its better formability and higher thermal conductivity; however, in
more recent times, the high price copper often makes this an uneconomic choice and cheaper
substitutes (such as stee) are used instead.
For much of the Victorian “age of steam”, the only material used for boiler making was the
higher grade of wrought iron, with assembly by riveting. This iron was often obtained from
specialist ironworks, such as at cleator Moor (U.K), noted for the high quality of their rolled
plate and suitability for high reliability use inn critical applications, such as high pressure
boilers. In the 20th century, design practice instead moved towards the use of steel, which is
stronger and cheaper, with welded construction, which is quicker and requires less labour.
Cast iron may be used for the heating vessel of domestic water heaters. Although such heaters
are usually termed “boilers” in some countries, their purpose is usually to produce hot water, not
steam, and so they run at low pressure and try to avoid to actual boiling. The brittleness of cast
iron makes it impractical for high pressure steam boilers.

9
2.4 BOILER SYSTEM:-
The boiler system comprises of: feed water system, steam system and fuel system.
The feed water system provides water to the boiler and regulates it automatically to meet the
steam demand. Various valves provide access for maintenance and repair.
The steam system collects and controls the steam produced in the boiler. Steam is directed
through a piping system to the point of use. Throughout the system, steam pressure is regulated
using valves and checked with steam pressure gauges.
The fuel system includes all equipment used to provide fuel to generate the necessary heat. The
equipment required in the fuel system depends on the type of fuel used in the system.
Fig. shown below represents the schematic diagram of a boiler.

Fig 2.3 Boiler system

10
2.5 Coal handling system:-

Coal (fuel) delivery

Unloading

Preparation

Transfer

Outdoor storage

Covered storage

Weighting & Measuring

Furnace

Fig 2.4 coal handling flow chart

11
2.5.1 Coal Transport And Delivery:
Coal is delivered by highway truck, and collier ship. Some plants are even built near coal mines
and coal is delivered by conveyors but not in case of Indian Rayon as main objective of this
power plant is to produce electricity required for rayon plant. Since rayon plant is a continuous
plant any jerk or a blackout can be costly and sometimes it also create breakdown in
machineries. For continuous operation of power plant it is must to provide coal according to need
and that too in time.
For this reason coal transport, storage and handling becomes very essential and synchronization
and planning is required during this process.
Here, at Indian Rayon we use two types of coal Lignite and Petcock. Petcock is bought from
Reliance at Jamnagar and Lignite came through Pipavav Port in a coallier ship which is actually
a cargo ship caring coal.

2.5.2 Coal Preparation:

If a coal is fed directly into the boiler large particles will remain unburnt even at the end of
burning stage. This reduces boiler’s efficiency drastically which results in poor efficiency of
power plant. And also sometimes presence of metal particles can damage the equipments. In coal
preparation process coal is ground in proper size and any metal impurities from the coal are also
removed.
Small particles have greater surface are then large ones there for it require lesser effort and lesser
amount of time for burning. But using pulverized coal will be sucked due to the negative
pressure created by ID Fan and will remain unburnt. Therefore using pulverizing coal will also
reduce the plant’s efficiency. Therefore we, at Indian Rayon feed the coal of size from 5mm to
8mm into boiler.
Coal prepration method
These coals of avg. 5 to 6 mm size from transfer line are delivered into coal bunkers with the
help of conveyer belt like BC-4, BC-8, and BC-12.
Coal can be burned in a no. of ways depending upon the characteristics coal and particular boiler
application, the designer may chose pulverized coal firing, cyclone firing, stocker, or fluidized
bed firing methods. Whatever method is applied, raw coal should be prepared before being fed

12
into the furnace. The prepration process has a major impact on the combustion in the furnace.
Different types of boilers have different requirements as to the characteristics of the fuel fed into
the furnace. Thus there is a variety of coal prepration systems.

2.6 CLASSIFICATION OF BOILER:

2.6.1 Fire Tube Boiler
"Fire in tube" boilers; contain long steel tubes through which the hot gasses from a furnace pass
and around which the water to be converted to steam circulates. Fire tube boilers, typically have
a lower initial cost, are more fuel efficient and easier to operate, but they are limited generally to

2
capacities of 25 tons/hr and pressures of 17.5 kg/cm . Fig. shown below represents schematic
diagram of a Fire Tube Boiler.
A fire-tube boiler is a type of boiler in which hot gases from a fire pass through one or more
tubes running through a sealed container of water. The heat of the gases is transferred through
the walls of the tubes by thermal conduction, heating the water and ultimately creating steam.

Fig 2.5 Fire tube boiler

13
2.6.2 Water Tube Boiler
"Water in tube" boilers in which the conditions are reversed with the water passing through the
tubes and the hot gasses passing outside the tubes. These boilers can be of single- or multiple-
drum type. These boilers can be built to any steam capacities and pressures, and have higher
efficiencies than fire tube boilers. Fig. shown below represents the schematic diagram of a Water
Tube boiler. Cool water at the bottom of the steam drum returns to the feedwater drum via large-
bore 'downcomer tubes', where it pre-heats the feedwater supply. (In large utility boilers, the
feedwater is supplied to the steam drum and the downcomers supply water to the bottom of the
waterwalls). To increase economy of the boiler, exhaust gases are also used to pre-heat the air
blown into the furnace and warm the feedwater supply.

Application

 Variety of process applications in industries

 Chemical processing divisions
 Pulp and Paper manufacturing plants
 Refining units

Fig 2.6 Water tube boiler

14
2.6.3 Packaged Boiler:
The packaged boiler is so called because it comes as a complete package. Once delivered to site,
it requires only the steam, water pipe work, fuel supply and electrical connections to be made for
it to become operational. Package boilers are generally of shell type with fire tube design so as to
achieve high heat transfer rates by both radiation and convection.

Fig 2.7 Package boiler

The features of package boilers are:

􀀹 Small combustion space and high heat release rate resulting in faster evaporation.
􀀹 Large number of small diameter tubes leading to good convective heat transfer.
􀀹 Forced or induced draft systems resulting in good combustion efficiency.
􀀹 Number of passes resulting in better overall heat transfer.
􀀹 Higher thermal efficiency levels compared with other boilers.

15
These boilers are classified based on the number of passes - the number of times the hot
combustion gases pass through the boiler. The combustion chamber is taken, as the first pass
after which there may be one, two or three sets of fire-tubes. The most common boiler of this
class is a three-pass unit with two sets of fire-tubes and with the exhaust gases exiting through
the rear of the boiler.
Package boilers are not used for large-scale power purposes such as electrical power generation.
These use more complex and more efficient custom-designed boilers, usually today water-tube
boilers working at high pressure. Package boilers are fired with fluid fuels, either liquids or
gases. These use fuel-supplied burners that do not require manual stoking, as solid fuels would.
They also burn cleanly, without requiring the grates and ashpan that a solid fuel furnace does.

2.6.4 Stoker Fired Boiler:

Stokers are classified according to the method of feeding fuel to the furnace and by the type of
grate. The main classifications are:
1. Chain-grate or traveling-grate stoker
2. Spreader stoker

1. Chain-grate or traveling-grate stoker

Coal is fed onto one end of a moving steel chain grate. As grate moves along the length of the
furnace, the coal burns before dropping off at the end as ash. Some degree of skill is required,
particularly when setting up the grate, air dampers and baffles, to ensure clean combustion
leaving minimum of unburnt carbon in the ash.
The coal-feed hopper runs along the entire coal-feed end of the furnace. A coal grate is used to
control the rate at which coal is fed into the furnace, and to control the thickness of the coal bed
and speed of the grate. Coal must be uniform in size, as large lumps will not burn out completely
by the time they reach the end of the grate. As the bed thickness decreases from coal-feed end to
rear end, different amounts of air are required- more quantity at coal-feed end and less at rear
end. Fig shown below represents the schematic diagram of Chain Grate Stoker Boiler.

16
 Fig 2.8 Chain-grate or traveling-grate stoker

2. Spreader stoker
Spreader stokers utilize a combination of suspension burning and grate burning. The coal is
continually fed into the furnace above a burning bed of coal. The coal fines are burned in
suspension; the larger particles fall to the grate, where they are burned in a thin, fast-burning coal
bed. This method of firing provides good flexibility to meet load fluctuations, since ignition is
almost instantaneous when firing rate is increased. Hence, the spreader stoker is favored over
other types of stokers in many industrial applications.

2.6.5 Pulverized Fuel Boiler

Most coal-fired power station boilers use pulverized coal, and many of the larger industrial
water-tube boilers also use this pulverized fuel. This technology is well developed, and there are
thousands of units around the world, accounting for well over 90% of coal-fired capacity.

17
The coal is ground (pulverized) to a fine powder, so that less than 2% is +300 micro meter (μm)
and 70-75% is below 75 microns, for a bituminous coal.

The pulverized coal is blown with part of the combustion air into the boiler plant through a series
of burner nozzles. Secondary and tertiary air may also be added. Combustion takes place at
temperatures from 1300-1700°C, depending largely on coal grade. Particle residence time in the
boiler is typically 2 to 5 seconds, and the particles must be small enough for complete
combustion to have taken place during this time.

This system has many advantages such as ability to fire varying quality of coal, quick responses
to changes in load, use of high pre-heat air temperatures etc.

One of the most popular systems for firing pulverized coal is the tangential firing using four
burners corner to corner to create a fireball at the center of the furnace.

2.6.6 FBC Boiler

When an evenly distributed air or gas is passed upward through a finely divided bed of solid
particles such as sand supported on a fine mesh, the particles are undisturbed at low velocity. As
air velocity is gradually increased, a stage is reached when the individual particles are suspended
in the air stream. Further, increase in velocity gives rise to bubble formation, vigorous turbulence
and rapid mixing and the bed is said to be fluidized.
If the sand in a fluidized state is heated to the ignition temperature of the coal and the coal is
injected continuously in to the bed, the coal will burn rapidly, and the bed attains a uniform
temperature due to effective mixing. Proper air distribution is vital for maintaining uniform
fluidization across the bed.). Ash is disposed by dry and wet ash disposal systems.
Fluidized bed combustion has significant advantages over conventional firing systems and offers
multiple benefits namely fuel flexibility, reduced emission of noxious pollutants such as SOx and
NOx, compact boiler design and higher combustion efficiency. More details about FBC boilers
are given in Chapter 6 on Fluidized Bed Boiler.

There are three types of CFB Boiler

1. PFBC
2. CFBC
3. AFBC

18
In Indian Rayon there are three boilers there are three boilers of CFBC type, two of them having
capacities of 50TPH and one which have capacity of 125TPH.

Fig 2.9 FBC Boiler

 Circulating Fluidized Bed Combustion Boiler:

Circulating Fluidized Bed Combustion (CFBC) technology has evolved from conventional
bubbling bed combustion as a means to overcome some of the drawbacks associated with
Conventional bubbling bed combustion.
This CFBC technology utilizes the fluidized bed principle in which crushed (6 –12 mm size) fuel
and limestone are injected into the furnace or combustor. The particles are
suspended in a stream of upwardly flowing air (60-70% of the total air), which enters the bottom
of the furnace through air distribution nozzles. The fluidizing velocity in circulating beds ranges
from 3.7 to 9 m/sec. The balance of combustion air is admitted above the bottom of the furnace
as secondary air. The combustion takes place at 840-900oC, and the fine particles (<450
microns) are elutriated out of the furnace with flue gas velocity of 4-6 m/s. The particles are then

19
collected by the solids separators and circulated back into the furnace. Solid recycle is about 50
to 100 kg per kg of fuel burnt.

There are no steam generation tubes immersed in the bed. The circulating bed is designed to
move a lot more solids out of the furnace area and to achieve most of the heat transfer outside the
combustion zone - convection section, water walls, and at the exit of the riser. Some circulating
bed units even have external heat exchanges.
The particles circulation provides efficient heat transfer to the furnace walls and longer residence
time for carbon and limestone utilization. Similar to Pulverized Coal (PC) firing, the controlling
parameters in the CFB combustion process are temperature, residence time and turbulence.
For large units, the taller furnace characteristics of CFBC boiler offers better space utilization,
greater fuel particle and sorbent residence time for efficient combustion and SO 2 capture, and
easier application of staged combustion techniques for NOx control than AFBC generators.
CFBC boilers are said to achieve better calcium to sulphur utilization – 1.5 to 1 vs. 3.2 to 1 for
the AFBC boilers, although the furnace temperatures are almost the same.
CFBC boilers are generally claimed to be more economical than AFBC boilers for industrial
application requiring more than 75 – 100 T/hr of steam.
CFBC requires huge mechanical cyclones to capture and recycle the large amount of bed
material, which requires a tall boiler.

 Advantages of Fluidized Bed Combustion Boilers

1. High Efficiency:
FBC boilers can burn fuel with a combustion efficiency of over 95% irrespective of ash content.
FBC boilers can operate with overall efficiency of 84% (plus or minus 2%).

2. Reduction in Boiler Size

High heat transfer rate over a small heat transfer area immersed in the bed result in overall size
reduction of the boiler.

20
3. Fuel Flexibility FBC boilers can be operated efficiently with a variety of fuels. Even fuels
like flotation slimes, washer rejects, agro waste can be burnt efficiently. These can be fed either
independently or in combination with coal into the same furnace.
4. Ability to Burn Low Grade Fuel
FBC boilers would give the rated output even with inferior quality fuel. The boilers can fire
coals with ash content as high as 62% and having calorific value as low as 2,500 kcal/kg. Even
carbon content of only 1% by weight can sustain the fluidized bed combustion.

5. Ability to Burn Fines

Coal containing fines below 6 mm can be burnt efficiently in FBC boiler, which is very difficult
to achieve in conventional firing system.

6. Pollution Control
SO2 formation can be greatly minimized by addition of limestone or dolomite for high sulphur
coals. 3% limestone is required for every 1% sulphur in the coal feed. Low combustion
temperature eliminates NOx formation.

7. Low Corrosion and Erosion

The corrosion and erosion effects are less due to lower combustion temperature, softness of ash
and low particle velocity (of the order of 1 m/sec).

8. Easier Ash Removal – No Clinker Formation

Since the temperature of the furnace is in the range of 750 – 900 0C in FBC boilers, even coal of
low ash fusion temperature can be burnt without clinker formation. Ash removal is easier as the
ash flows like liquid from the combustion chamber. Hence less manpower is required for ash
handling.

9. Less Excess Air – Higher CO2 in Flue Gas

The CO2 in the flue gases will be of the order of 14 – 15% at full load. Hence, the FBC boiler
can operate at low excess air - only 20 – 25%.

21
10. Simple Operation, Quick Start-Up
High turbulence of the bed facilitates quick start up and shut down. Full automation of start up
and operation using reliable equipment is possible.
2.7 FUEL FEEDING SYSTEM
Boiler is design to burn 100% of Lignite and 100% coal.
The main fuel is stored in bunker. Bunker is provided with two outlets having rod gate and plate
gate for isolation purpose. Each bunker outlet is connected to Drag Chain Feeder to the fuel to
fuel feed point located in split loop seal outlet connecting furnace. For effective fuel feeding to
avoid pressurization of drag chain a rotory airlock valve with isolation gate is provided with drag
chain and fed point in the loop seal. The gate can also be used for on line maintenance is
provided to aid the fuel flow with the help of secondary air.
As Lignite is envisaged as main fuel, the boiler us provided with limestone feeding system.
Separate limestone bunker is provided to store limestone, A vent filter is provided at the top of
bunker to facilitate easy and dust free discharge of limestone to bunker. A rotary air lock valve is
provided below the bunker to feed the limestone to screw conveyer. Speed of the rotary airlock
valve can be adjusted to meet the limestone feeding drag chain feeder. Isolation gates are
provided to isolate the feed points in drag chain feeder.
A separate bed material feeding system is also provided to store bed material and feed as and
when required. This consists of bed material storage bunker and a screw feeder to regulate the
bed material feeding as required to maintain bed pressure drop.
Oil start up burner system is provided to start the boiler from cold. Two numbers of burners are
provided to initially heat the bed material to about 600 0C before feeding main fuel in the bed.
Existing LDO pumping system is used for this system.

22
2.8 WORKING SYSTEM OF BOILER

2.7.1 Coal And Ash System:

In this system, the coal from the storage tank is fed in the boiler through coal handling
equipments for generation of steam. Here, at Indian Rayon, we have continuous spinning plant
which required continuous flow of electricity. Because of this condition power plant should
operate continuously according to load. And for a power plant to work continuously coal should
b fed continuously in the boiler. There for coal and ash system plays an important role in power
generation.
Heavy ash is collected at the bottom of boiler which is taken out in buckets in stored in Silos 1,
2, 3 and 4. Ash from the silos is dispose off with the help of tractors.
Fly ash is collected by Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP) in which particles stuck on Anodes and
Cathodes are collected in hopper by hammering ESP with Hinged Type Hammer, which rotates
at 2rpm. This fly ash is then sent into Silos. Fig. shown bellow represents ESP.

23
 Fig 2.10 Working of coal and ash system
2.8.2 AIR AND GAS SYSTEM:
Air is supplies to combustion chamber of the boiler with the help of F.D. fan and [Link]. The
dust from the air is removed before supplied to the combustion chamber. The exhaust gases
carrying sufficient quantity of heat and ash are pressed to air preheater where heat of the exhaust
gases is given to the air entering the boiler and then it is passed through dust collectors where
most of the dust is removed before exhausting the gases to the atmosphere through chimney.

2.8.3 WATER AND STEAM SYSTEM:

After demineralization and softening process water enters into H.P. heater where it is heated upto
1400C. This flow of water is carried out with the help of a pump which is called as Feed Pump.
Feed Pump works under the pressure of 125 kg/cm 2. In H.P. heater water is heated with the help
of steam, extracted from intermediate stage of turbine.
After this process water enters into Economizer which heats up the water upto 270 – 300 0C with
the help of exhaust flue gases. Then this water enters into boiler drum which is required to
maintain water level in the boiler. After this feed water enters into water wall of boiler where it

24
gets Latent Heat from the coal burnt into furnace. Since 1 litre of water produces 1600 litre of
steam, pressure at this stage increases drastically and reaches to the value of about 90kg/cm 2.
This high pressure steam is then enters again into boiler drum, but this time into steam part of
drum. After this, steam enters into Superheater where wet steam is converted into dry steam by
heat exchange process. In this stage only sensible heat is given to the steam. There are two types
of Superheater are used namely primary and secondary. In Primary Superheater heat exchange
process occurs by parallel flow of fluids and in Secondary Superheater heat is given to the steam
by counter flow heat exchange process. A desuperheater is provided after secondary Superheater
to control the steam temperature in case of overheating.
After all this process steam is prepare to enter into turbine which converts the energy of steam
into mechanical energy.

2.9 Boiler mounting:-

These are the fittings mounted on the boiler for its proper and safe functioning.

a) Water level indicator:- Water level indicator is located in front of boiler in such a position
that the level of water can easily be seen by attendant. Two water level indicators are used
on all boilers.
b) Pressure gauge:- A pressure gauge is fitted in front of boiler in such a position that the
operator can conveniently read it. It reads the pressure of steam in the boiler and is
connected to steam space by a siphon tube. The most commonly, the Bourdon pressure
gauge is used.

25
 Fig 2.11 Pressure gauge

c) Safety valve:- It is attached to steam chest to prevent explosions due to excessive internal
pressure of steam. It may be lever safety valve, dead weight type, high steam and low
water type or spring loaded type.

d) Blow off cock:- The function of blow-off cock is to discharge mud and other sediments
deposited in the bottom most part of the water space in the boiler, while boiler is in
operation. It can also be used to drain-off boiler water. Hence it is mounted at the lowest
part of the boiler. When it is open, water under the pressure rushes out, thus carrying
sediments and mud.
e) Steam stop valve:- The steam stop valve is located on the highest part of the steam space. It
regulates the steam supply to use. The steam stop valve can be operated manually or
automatically.

f) Feed check valve:- The feed check valve is fitted to the boiler, slightly below the working
level in the boiler. It is used to supply high pressure feed water to boiler. It also prevents the
returning of feed water from the boiler if feed pump fails to work.

g) Fusible plug:- It is very important safety device, which protects the fire tube boiler against
overheating. It is located just above the furnace in the boiler. It consists of gun metal plug

26
 fixed in a gun metal body with fusible molten metal. During the normal boiler operation, the
fusible plug is covered by water and its temperature does not rise to its melting state. But
when the water level falls too low in the boiler, it uncovers the fusible plug. The furnace
gases heat up the plug and fusible metal of plug melts, the inner plug falls down The water
and steam then rush through the hole and extinguish the fire before any major damage
occurs to the boiler due to overheating.

2.10 Boiler accessories:- These are devices which are used as an integral part of a boiler and
help in running efficiently.

a) Feed water pump:- It is used for deliver water to boiler. Pressure of feed water is 20%
more than that in boiler. It is generally a multistage centrifugal pump.

b) Super heaters:- A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam
into dry steam used for power generation or processes. There are three types of
superheaters namely: radiant, convection, and separately fired. A superheater can vary in
size from a few tens of feet to several hundred feet.
 A radiant superheater is placed directly in the combustion chamber.
 A convection superheater is located in the path of the hot gases.

 A separately fired superheater, as its name implies, is totally separated from the boiler.

A superheater is a device in a steam engine, when considering locomotives, that heats the
steam generated by the boiler again, increasing its thermal energy and decreasing the likelihood
that it will condense inside the engine. Superheaters increase the efficiency of the steam engine,
and were widely adopted. Steam which has been superheated is logically known as superheated
steam; non-superheated steam is called saturated steam or wet steam.

27
 Fig 2.12 water tube boiler with a superheater

Advantages & disadvantages

 The main advantages of using a superheater are reduced fuel and water consumption but
there is a price to pay in increased maintenance costs. In most cases the benefits
outweighed the costs and superheaters were widely used. An exception was shunting
locomotives (switchers). British shunting locomotives were rarely fitted with
superheaters. In locomotives used for mineral traffic the advantages seem to have been
marginal. For example, the North Eastern Railway fitted superheaters to some of its NER
Class P mineral locomotives but later began to remove them.
 Without careful maintenance superheaters are prone to a particular type of hazardous
failure in the tube bursting at the U-shaped turns in the superheater tube. This is difficult
to both manufacture, and test when installed, and a rupture will cause the superheated
high-pressure steam to escape immediately into the large flues, then back to the fire and
into the cab, to the extreme danger of the locomotive crew.

28
c) Economizer:- Economizers or economisers are mechanical devices intended to reduce
energy consumption, or to perform another useful function like preheating a fluid. The term
economizer is used for other purposes as well. Boiler, powerplant, and heating, ventilating,
and air-conditioning (HVAC). In boilers, economizers are heat exchange devices that heat
fluids, usually water, up to but not normally beyond the boiling point of that fluid.
Economizers are so named because they can make use of the enthalpy in fluid streams that
are hot, but not hot enough to be used in a boiler, thereby recovering more useful enthalpy
and improving the boiler's efficiency. They are a device fitted to a boiler which saves
energy by using the exhaust gases from the boiler to preheat the cold water used to fill it
(the feed water).

Fig 2.13 Economiser

d) Air preheater:-
An air preheater (APH) is a general term to describe any device designed to heat air before
another process (for example, combustion in a boiler) with the primary objective of increasing
the thermal efficiency of the process. They may be used alone or to replace a recuperative heat
system or to replace a steam coil.
In particular, this article describes the combustion air preheaters used in large boilers found in
thermal power stations producing electric power from e.g. fossil fuels, biomasses or waste.

29
The purpose of the air preheater is to recover the heat from the boiler flue gas which increases
the thermal efficiency of the boiler by reducing the useful heat lost in the flue gas. As a
consequence, the flue gases are also sent to the flue gas stack (or chimney) at a lower
temperature, allowing simplified design of the ducting and the flue gas stack. It also allows
control over the temperature of gases leaving the stack.

Fig 2.14 Air preheater

CONCLUSION

30
A boiler or steam generator is a device used to create steam by applying heat energy to water.
Although the definitions are somewhat flexible, it can be said that older steam generators were
commonly termed boilers and worked at low to medium pressure (1-300 psi or 6.895-
2,068.427kpa) but, at pressures above this, it is more usual to speak of a steam generator.
A boiler or steam generator is used wherever a source of steam is required. The form and size
depends on the application: mobile steam engines such as steam locomotives, portable engines
and steam powered rod vehicles typically use a smaller boiler that forms an integral part of the
vehicle; stationary steam engines, industrial installation and power stations will usually have a
larger separate steam generating facility connected to the point-of-use by piping.

31
 REFERENCES
1. [Link] .[Link]/wiki/boiler
2. [Link]
3. [Link]
4. [Link]
5. Thermal power plant By PK Nag

32