What is the purpose of a mud drum in a boiler?

The mud drum acts to concentrate solids such as salts formed from hardness and silica or corrosion
products carried into the boiler. Colder, denser water flows to the mud drum through a small number of
downcomer tubes, and rises to the steam drum through a much larger number of riser tubes.

What is riser tube in Boiler?

The riser tube is the hot water/steam line between the lower and upper drums.
Superheater tubes are tubes where steam is removed from the steam drum and heated to remove
moisture content without an increase in pressure. The water level in a water tube boiler is controlled in the
steam drum.

What is header in boiler?

A header transfers a heat transfer medium (water, steam, oil, etc.), typically via pipe(s), between (one or
more) boilers and (one or more) points where the heat is required. A header can connect a
single boiler to a single point where heat is needed.

What are Risers in boiler?

Risers are pipes leading from the bottom to the top of the boiler. Water and steam generated in the combustion
zone, runs through the risers up to the steam drum. Steam is separated in steam drum and water sent to
distribution header through downcomers and the cycle is repeated.

What are Downcomers?

Downcomers are tubes that start from the steam drum and supply water to the lowest points of the
furnace walls and boiler banks.
 Figure . Downcomer and riser in a drum type boiler.

Downcomers are tubes that start from the drum and lead water to furnace walls and boiler banks, see
(Fig.. Downcomers can be divided to main downcomers and connecting tubes. It is customary that 2–5
large tubes go straight down from the drum. Often in the end of downcomers is a connecting header.

What is Downcomer flooding?

Downcomer choke flooding occurs when the liquid flow rate increases until such a point that the velocity
of the aerated liquid in the downcomer exceeds a certain limit. At this point the fraction losses in
the downcomer become excessive and the frothy mixture cannot be transported to the tray below.

What is economizer in boiler?

In boilers, economizers are heat exchange devices that heat fluids, usually water, up to but not normally
beyond the boiling point of that fluid. ... 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).

Feed Water and Steam Circuit of Boiler

There are different components present in feed water and steam circuit of
boiler and we should know some essential components of these circuit and these
are Economizer, boiler drums, water tubes, and super heater.
Economizer
 Economizer is a heat exchanger which takes heat from the flue gas, and
increases the temperature of feed water coming from feed water common
header to about the saturation temperature corresponding to
the boiler pressure.
 Throwing away the flue gases of high temperature into the atmosphere
involves a great deal of energy losses. By utilizing these gases in heating
feed water, higher efficiency and better economy can be achieved, and
hence the heat exchanger is called “Economizer”.
 Structurally economizer is a collection of bent hollow tubular elements
through which feed water passes. Outside of the tubes are heated by
Exhaust flue gases. More no. of water tubes more will be the heat exchange
surface. No. of tubes and tube cross section are pre-designed as per
required boiler parameters.
 In the T-S curve above, the shadow portion illustrates the zone of
economiser. The heat absorbed by feed water is denoted by ‘Q eco’.
Another essential component of Feed Water and Steam

Circuit is Boiler Drum.

Boiler Drums
Two types of boiler drums used in all types of boilers are steam drum and mud
drum. Both the drums have specific functions.
Steam Drum
The functions of steam drum in feed water steam circuit are:
1. To store water and steam sufficiently to meet varying load demands.
2. To provide a head and thereby aiding the natural circulation of water
through water tubes.
3. To separate vapour or steam from water-steam mixture, discharged by the
risers.
4. To aid in chemical treatments to remove dissolved O2 and to maintain
required pH.
Separating steam from two-phase mixtures in the steam drum:

 Steam must be separated from the mixture before it leaves the drum,
because:
1. Any moisture carried with steam contains dissolved salts. In the super
heater, water evaporates and the salt remain deposited on the inside
surface of the tubes to form a scale. This scale reduces the life of the
super-heaters.
2. Some of the impurities in the moisture (like vaporized silica) may cause
turbine blade deposits.
 One of the important functions of steam-drum is to separate steam from
steam water mixture. At low pressure (below 20 bar; 1 bar = 1.0197 kg/cm 2)
simple gravity separation is used. In the method of gravity separation the
water particles disengaged from steam due to higher density.
 As the pressure inside the boiler drum increases the density of steam
increases, as steam is very compressible. Hence difference between the
densities of steam and water decreases. Hence gravity separation becomes
in efficient.
 Hence in the steam drum of the high pressure boilers, there are some
mechanical arrangements (known as drum internals or anti-priming
arrangements) for separating steams from water.
  Following picture illustrates different Anti-priming arrangements used
in thermal power plants:

 Baffles are separators which separate the hot steam-water mixture from dry
steam and provide a guided path for the dry steam.
 In the cyclone separator steam water two-phase mixture is allowed to move
in a helical path and due to centrifugal forces the water particles separate
out from the two-phase mixture. The small vanes inside the cyclone
separator collect the deposited water particles.
 In the scrubber the two phase mixture is allowed to move in a zigzag path
and it provides the ultimate stage of drying the steam.
 After scrubber steam is allowed to move to super-heated through a
perforated screen.
Mud Drum
Mud drum is another header which is situated at the bottom of the boiler and
usually helps in natural circulation of water through the steam tubes. Mud drum
usually contains water at saturation temperature, and also the precipitated salts
and impurities known as slurries. It is periodically washed to remove the slurry by
opening the discharge valve.
Water Tubes
These are also essential for feed water and steam circuit of boiler
Water tubes are bent or straight hollow tubes through which steam water mixture
circulates. There are two types of water tubes, viz. down-comer and riser. This
down comer, riser assembly is also known as Evaporator (or boiler proper). In the
evaporator actual state change from water to steam occurs. In the T-S diagram
beside, the zone of evaporator is illustrated. ‘Qeva’ is the heat absorbed by
evaporator. It is mainly the latent heat of vaporization of water.

Down comers Water Tubes

As the name suggests down-comers are the water tubes through which water
comes down from steam drum to mud drum (see fig.). No vapour bubble should
flow along with saturated water from the drum to the down comers. This will
reduce the density difference and the pressure head for natural circulation.

Risers Water Tubes

Risers are the water tubes through which steam water two-phase mixture at
saturation temperature goes up from mud drum to steam drum. Risers are usually
close to furnaces, while the down-comers are away from the furnaces.

Super Heaters
Super heater is another important part of Feed Water and Steam Circuit of
Boiler
 Super-Heater is an important element of the feed water-steam circuit. It is
basically a heat exchanger in which heat is transferred to the aturated steam
to increase its temperature. In high pressure boilers more than 40% of the
total heat is absorbed by the super heaters. The T-S diagram beside
illustrates the heat absorbed by the super heater and is denoted by ‘Q sh’.

 In super-heater the rate of heat absorption is more. Hence, in the

modern water tube boilers there are more. Hence, in the modern water tube
boilers there are more super heating surfaces.
 Super-heater tubes are exposed to the highest steam pressure and
temperature on the inside and the maximum gas temperature on the outside.
They are made of costliest alloys.
Functions of Super Heater
 An increase in inlet steam temperature gives a steady improvement in cycle
efficiency. Hence, the function of super-heater is to raise the overall
efficiency. In addition, it reduces the moisture content in the later stages of
the turbine and thus increases the turbine internal efficiency.
 However, the increase in temperature is limited by the properties of the
construction materials of boilers and turbines. Usually the optimum
temperature of steam is maintained 450oC at the turbine inlet.

CONDENSATE PRE-HEATER IN THE BOILER

Using a condensate pre-heater to heat up condensate is a typical lay-out used for 1-stage, 2-stage and 3
stage pressure systems.

In such configurations condensate is fed into the boiler via the condensate pre-heater. The steam for
deaeration is taken from the boiler. The condensate flow is dictated by:

 the load of the gas turbine

 the percentage of supplementary firing (if installed)
 the ambient temperature

The condensate temperature is determined by the performance of the condensate pre-heater and is
particularly dependent on the extent of supplementary firing. The combination of condensate outlet
temperature and flow determines the quantity of steam to the deaerator. The deaerator can also be
operated in sliding pressure mode.
What is evaporator in boiler?
a heat-exchange device for evaporating liquids. In thermal power engineering, the evaporator is used to
produce a distillate that compensates for losses of condensate in steam power plants. There are
also evaporators that are heated by flue gases emerging from boiler units

What is down comer?

Downcomers are tubes that start from the steam drum and supply water to the lowest points of the furnace
walls and boiler banks.

What is a wet riser?

Wet risers are used to supply water within buildings for firefighting purposes. ... Wet risers are
permanently charged with water. This is as opposed to dry risers which do not contain water when they
are not being used, but are charged with water by fire service pumping appliances when necessary

What is a dry riser used for?

What is a Dry Risers? A dry riser is a system of pipe work and valves that runs up through a building.
The system allows fire fighters to easily access water from each individual floor of the building.

What is LP and HP dosing?

Dosing System basics…  In a typical boiler feed water dosing system:  The HP Dosing system doses
direct into boiler drum, under high pressure.  The LP Dosing system doses into the boiler feed water
pump suction line, or, de-aerator inlet line, under low pressure

What is HP dosing?
WHAT IS CHEMICALDOSING DOSING CHEMICALS  H.P. DOSING  Phospate solution (combination
of di-sodium and tr-sodium phospate) is generally used, in concentrations from 2.5 % to 7.5 %. 
Exact dosage rate depends on pH variation of water in drum.

Which chemical is used in HP dosing?

Tri sodium Phosphate (TSP) is generally used for HP dosing. This is directly dosed into steam drum to
remove carbonate & bicarbonate scale sludge & to increase pH

Why hydrazine is dosed in boiler?

One of the properties of hydrazine is that it is an oxygen scavenger, and because of this, hydrazine is
dosed into the boiler system to remove the remaining trace levels of dissolved oxygen. It is for this reason
that the measurement of dissolved oxygen and hydrazine is imperative on power station plant.

Why ammonia is dosed in boiler?

Ammonia is commonly used cheaper material to maintain pH in boiler water. ... In OT Ammonia is used
to control pH and remove little Oxygen, but slightly oxidizing environment is maintained to promote
formation of oxidizing layer on the metal surface.

What is a blowdown tank?

A blowdown tank is designed to collect the intermittent blowdown from the bottom blow off connections
(or mud drum) and from the surface blow off connections. ... The blowdown tank provides a safe method
of collecting the water which is removed from the boiler during blowdown.

HP – LP STEAM DRUM
The steam drum is the most important part of a boiler. All the steam and water passes through it. There are two types of horizontal steam
drums. One is the water tube steam drum and the other is a waste heat steam drum.

Both types of steam drums have the primary and critical purpose of the mechanical phase separation of the water and steam mixture.

The steam is removed from the water sending the steam free water back to the boiler system. This steam free water allows all liquid levels,
chemical feed, and feed water to be properly controlled.

Steam Drum Benefits:

 Reduces deposits on Turbine Blades, Super heaters and Steam Lines

 Reduces maintenance and increases run time
 Reduces overall operating costs for maintenance
 Increases operating efficiency from decreased downtime
 Reduce continuous Blowdown
 Stabilize liquid levels
 Higher availability with an innovative alternative
High pressure steam is critical for the operation of the refinery. For the production and reliable supply of steam, accurate level measurement is
required that allows efficient operation of the steam boiler.

Any steam raising plant will use steam drums, and these steam drums require accurate and reliable level measurement to ensure the safety of
the plant.

Thermal Power Plant:

Basic Introduction or Principle:
We all are aware with the term “Generator”. A device which converts mechanical energy into electrical energy is known
as generator. This generator makes rotate with the help of some kind of external energy. When this energy extract from the
energy of steam, the plant is known as steam power plant.
A simple steam plant works on Rankine cycle. In the first step, water is feed into a boiler at a very high pressure by
BFP (boiler feed pump). This high pressurized water is heated into a boiler which converts it into high pressurized
super heated steam. This high energized steam passes through steam turbine (a mechanical device which converts
flow energy of fluid into mechanical energy) and rotate it. Owing to extract full energy of steam, three stage turbines
is used which is known as LPT (Low pressure turbine), IPT (intermediate pressure turbine) and HPT (High pressure
turbine). The turbine shaft is connected to the generator rotor shaft which makes rotate the generator shaft and
produce electricity. In this process the steam loses its energy. This low pressurized saturated steam further passes
through condenser where it converts into water. This water further passes through BFP and boiler and completes the
cycle. This cycle continuously run to produce electricity.

Now we describe each component of thermal power plant in detail.

Construction of steam power plant:

Any steam power plant can be grouped into following section.
Coal Handling Plant:
Coal Storage:
The place at which coal stored is known as coal storage. The coal initially received by mines is stored in proper place.
Bunker:
Coal from coal storage sends to bunkers. It is a container which is upper side of mill and used to continuously provide
coal for mill machine. The minimum capacity of bunker is around 10 times of mill capacity.
Feeder:
Coal from the bunkers send to the feeder which provide coal to mill machine. The main reason to use feeder between
bunkers and mill machine is that if we directly send coal to mill, it can damage the internal part of machine due to
tones of pressure applied by the coal.
Mill Machine:
Coal does not directly used into boiler. The place where the coal is converted into pulverized form is known as mill
machine. This pulverized coal sends to classifier from it.
Classifier:
Classifiers are used to separate pulverized and non-pulverized forms of coal. It sends pulverized coal to furnace and
non-pulverized coal to mill machine.

Air Handling Plant:

PA Fan:
PA fan is primary air fan. This is used to transport pulverized coal to furnace. It also used to remove moisture content
from pulverized coal.
ID Fan:
ID fan means induced draft fan. This fan is used to suck the exhausted flue gases from the boiler and send it to
atmosphere through chimney.
FD Fan:
FD means forced draft fan. It is used to provide air or we can say oxygen for proper burning of coal into the furnace.
It provides hot air into the furnace.
Air Preheater:
It is a heat exchanger which transfer heat from exhausted flue gases to incoming PA and FD air.
ESP (Electrostatic Precipitator):
This device is situated between Id fan and boiler exhaust and used to detect and block ash particles from flue gases
and control the pollution being created by it.
Chimney:
Chimney is used to create natural draft for exhausted flue gases. One chimney is used for two units.

Boiler Section:
Economizer:
Economizer is the first component of boiler section. As the name implies, economizer is used to increase the
efficiency of steam power plant. It is used to heat water upto saturation temperature. It extracts heat from exhausted
flue gases and used it to heat water. It sends water to the boiler drum.
Boiler:
Economizer sends water to the Boiler. Boiler is the main part of any thermal power plant. It is used to convert water
into steam. In any steam power plant water tube boiler is used. It contains furnace inside the boiler shell. The
Coal burns into this section. Drum is major part of steam power plant boiler. It is situated top of the boiler and used to
separate water from steam. Steam from boiler section sends to super heaters.
Super heater:
The efficiency of thermal power plant is directly connected to the temperature of the steam. The boiler creates low
temperature steam which is not so economical for any power plant. So a super heater is used to heat the steam again.
The temperature of the steam is limited at 550 degree centigrade because the turbine material can’t sustain
temperature above 600 degree centigrade. The steam from the super heater sends to high pressure turbine.
Re heater:
When the steam expands into high pressure turbine, both its temperature and pressure get down. If this low
temperature steam directly sends to IP turbine, it creates less power. To increase the power of the plant there is an
arrangement to send exhausted steam from HP turbine to Re-heater where it heated and get the initial temperature
which is about 550 degree centigrade.

Turbine Section:
High Pressure Turbine:
The steam from the super heater sends to HP turbine. All the three turbines are connected to same shaft which is
further connected to the generator shaft. The HP turbine works around 150 Kg/cm2 pressure and 550 degree
centigrade temperature. It is smallest among all turbines.
Intermediate Pressure Turbine:
As the name implies it works at intermediate pressure which is around 70 Kg/cm2. The steam from the Re-heater
sends to the IP turbine at around 550 degree centigrade where it expands and generates power.
Low Pressure Turbine:
This is the main power generator. It generates around 40 percent of whole power. The steam from IP turbine directly
sends to LP turbine where it expand and rotate the turbine. It is biggest part of turbine section.
Extractor:
To increase the efficiency, some amount of steam is extracted from both HP section exhaust and LP section exhaust.
This extracted steam is used to heat water before send to economizer.

Condenser Section:
Condenser:
In a thermal power plant, to complete the cyclic operation, we need to send water again to the economizer at high
pressure. Steam exhausted from LP turbine is not in condensed form and it is not economical to compress the steam
at a very high pressure around 150 Kg/cm2. So a device is needed which can condense the steam into water. This
device is called Condenser. Condenser is also a heat exchanger in which the cold water runs into tubes and steam
flow from shell. The cold water extracts heat from steam and convert it into water. Condenser works at vacuum
pressure which is around -1 Kg/cm2. It is due to create pressure difference between LP turbine exhausted steam and
condenser which is required for proper flow of steam in it. The condensed water sends to a container which is named
as Hotwell.
Condensed Extractor Pumps (CEPs):
The condensed water extracted by the pumps and send to LPH.
LPH (Low Pressure Heater):
The water collected from the condenser is at low pressure. To increase the efficiency of the plant this water is heated
by the extracted steam from LP turbine.
 Deaerator:
The water collected from condenser has some dissolved gases like oxygen. This water can’t directly send to boiler
and turbines. it can cause of corrosion. To decrease the possibility of corrosion these dissolved gases should be
removed from this water before converted it into steam. This work is done by Deaerator. Deaerator heat the water at
some extant at which the dissolved gases converted into gases form and removed from water.
Feed Water Pump or Boiler Feed Pump:
BFP are centrifugal pumps which are used to increase the water pressure upto 150 Kg/cm2 and also send this water at
economizer.
HPH (High Pressure Heater):
The pressurized water forced by BFP passes through high pressure heater which heats this water at some extent to
increase the efficiency of plant. The steam extracted from HP exhaust is used to heat this water.
Cooling Tower:
Cooling tower is used to provide cold water for condenser tp condense steam into water.
Generator Section:
The turbine shaft is connected to the generator which rotates the rotor of the generator and produce electricity.
Exciter:
For the cold starting, the turbine does not rotate due to high inertia. Exciter is used to rotate the turbine in
the initial run.

Working of Steam Power Plant:

Now we have discussed about main components of thermal power plant and their uses. These all components work
together to produce electricity. Its working can be summarized into following point.

 In the starting of the plant, pulverized coal from mill machine supplied to the boiler furnace
by PA fan. FD fan provides desire oxygen for proper burning.
 DM water is supplied by the Boiler feed pump to economizer. This water achieves around
165 Kg per centimeter square pressure during this process.
 The economizer heats this water at the saturation point in ideal condition and sends it to the
boiler drum.
 The water from the boiler drum sends to the circular ring which is situated at the bottom of
the boiler. All the water wall tubes are connected to this circular ring.
 Now the water flow through the water wall tube of boiler which one end is connected to the
circular ring and other end is connected the boiler drum. The water flow from bottom to up
direction.
 This water converts into steam in water walls and send back to boiler drum. Boiler drum
separates steam and water.
 Now the steam from the boiler drum sends to the super heater which heat the steam around
550 degree centigrade.
 This superheated high pressurized steam passes through HP turbine where it expands and
rotates the turbine. The pressure and temperature of steam drop down in HP turbine.
 This steam from the exhaust of HP turbine sends back to re-heater where it heat again and
achieve the initial temperature around 550 degree centigrade. One thing note down that the
steam get its initial temperature but the pressure of the steam is lower than the initial
condition.
 Now this reheated intermediate pressure steam send to IP turbine where it expand again and
drop its pressure and temperature down further. It rotates the IP turbine at the same speed
as rotate HP turbine.
 This steam from the IP turbine sends directly to the LP turbine and allowed to expand there.
The steam in LP turbine expands completely and done the maximum work.
 Now from the LP turbine outlet, steam send to the condenser.
Condenser is situated just below the LP exhaust line. For cooling of steam in
the condenser, cooling tower supplies cold water in the tubes situated in the
condenser.
 The steam converts into water in the condenser and send to the LP heater. LP heaters extract
heat from the exhaust of the LP turbine and use it to heat the feed water.
 After from LP heaters, the water sends to the deaerator where the dissolve gases of water
removed. The water from deaerator sends to the BFP which send it to economizer through HP
heater.

This water cycle repeats again and again and rotates the turbine continuously. The turbine further rotates the
generator rotor and produces electricity.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Thermal

Power Plant:
Advantages:
 Low setup and maintenance cost.
 It is not directly related to climate condition like hydro power plant.
 Large amount of coal available at earth.
 Easy maintenance.
 Less land area required.
 It can be installed near load center which minimize transmission losses.
 It can be installed near coal mines which can minimize transportation cost of fuel.
Disadvantages:
 Low cyclic efficiency around 35 to 45 percent.
 It continuously generates smoke which contributes in increase air pollution.
 It uses consumable fuel.
 Operation cost is high compare to hydro and nuclear power plant.
 It creates large amount of ash per hour so ash handling is quiet difficult.
 Sometimes heated water directly drawn into river which can harm life cycle of water living.
This is all about thermal steam power plant. If you have any query regarding this article, ask by commenting. If you
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