Performance Evaluation

of
Air Preheater
at
off Design Condition

Rakesh Kumar
PE- Mechanical
EOC Noida
 Importance of APH in TPP
• 20% of Total heat transfer in the boiler by APH .
• Decrease in boiler efficiency due to poor
performance of APH
• 1% decrease in efficiency due to 20 oC rise in flue
gas temperature.
• 1% improvement in boiler efficiency for each 22 oC
rise in the combustion air temperature.
• The total fuel saving due to pre heating combustion
air may be 5 to 10 %.
• Acceleration of combustion permits a smaller
furnace to be used.
 Flue gas outlet Temperature
• APH are designed for Acid due point of
flue gas
• Ash in coal can absorb the acid (if any).
• If the ash to sulpher ratio is more than 7:1
then cold end temperature can be kept
below 120 oC.
 Factors affecting APH Performance

• High seal leakage

• Fouling or plugging of APH elements
• Ash carryover from eco hopper
• Dilution of APH inlet flue gas temperature
due to Erosion of ducting or expansion
joints or Penthouse leakage etc.
PAPH Air outlet Temperature control

• Biasing share of flue gas

• Eco bleeding
• Increasing APH inlet air temperature with
the use of SCAPH
 Regenerator Model

C =Heat Capacity ( air or flue gas)

n= fraction of air leak at CE
Xp= Wl/Wa (Pressure leakage)
a= air g = gas
Xa & Xg carry over leakage
i= inlet o = outlet
W= mass flow rate; T temperature
 Features of Design code
• Use of latest correlations & plots for calculation
of heat transfer coefficients and pressure drop
obtained with the help of liquid crystal image
processing technique.
• Use of highly accurate Galerkin method for
calculation of regenerator effectiveness.
• Influence of leakage and leakage distribution
• Effect of longitudinal & transverse heat
conduction has also been considered.
• Flue gas Thermo-physical properties calculation
based on constituent of gases
Additional Input parameters required
for Performance Prediction
1. Rotor diameter
2. Hub diameter
3. Sector plate area & Area share of air & gas side
4. Elements height
5. Mass of basket element
6. Porosity of basket element
7. Surface area density of basket element
8. Thermal conductivity & heat capacity of heat
transfer element material
9. Thickness of element
10. Rotational speed
Design Air Gas Leaka Tai Tgi Tao Tgo
flow flow ge
Kg/s Kg/s Kg/s oC oC oC oC

Main APH

BMCR 195 234 11.7 27 370.6 334.0 140.0

TMCR 175 217 10.85 27 357.9 326.5 139.7

60 % 126 176.1 10.55 27 315.4 299.0 140.0

BMCR
Mill APH

BMCR 77.8 77.15 8.5 27 370.6 280.3 140.0

TMCR 69.05 66.9 8.05 27 385 298.3 141.1

Design data at different load conditions

 BMCR TMCR 60% BMCR
n
Tao Tgo Tao Tgo Tao Tgo

0.3 348.32 134.23 340.9 135.06 308.3 138.47

0.4 348.55 134.08 341.1 134.93 308.5 138.40

0.5 348.77 133.93 341.3 134.80 308.6 138.33

0.6 348.99 133.78 341.5 134.67 308.7 138.27

0.7 349.20 133.63 341.7 134.54 308.8 138.20

Output data of Main APH

 BMCR TMCR
n
Tgo Tao Tgo Tao

0.3 132.0 296.8 133.7 315.1

0.4 131.3 297.7 133.0 316.1

0.5 130.6 298.6 132.3 317.1

0.6 129.9 299.5 131.6 318.0

0.7 129.2 300.5 130.8 319.0

Output data of Mill APH

 Heat Transfer & effectiveness of APH

Heat Heat loss Effectivene

Transfer (MW) ss (%)
(MW)
Main APH 57 6 88

Mill APH 16-17 4 61

At Design condition
 Obsevation
• Both for Main & Mill APH Results are
closer to design data at n=0.3.
• Both the APH Results are over predicting
the actual Heat transfer rate
• The Standard deviation of error for gas
temperature is 0.43 % & for air
temperature is 0.75%
Leakage Drift & its effect on APH
Performance
• Leakage is an unavoidable feature of
Rotary APH
• Leakage drift is increase in leakage over a
period of time due to deterioration of
sealing system.
 Effect of leakage & leakage distribution
on Gas out let Temperature
Gas outlet Temp. (Deg C)

140 n=0.3
n=0.4
n=0.5
135
n=0.6
n=0.7
130
10 15 20 25
% air leakage
Input data: Mill APH (RhSTPP Stage I )
 Effect of leakage & leakage distribution
on air outlet Temperature
Air outlet Temp. (Deg C)

270 n=0.3

268
n=0.4
266
264 n=0.5

262 n=0.6

260 n=0.7
258
10 12 14 16 18 20
% Air Leakage

Input data: Mill APH (RhSTPP Stage I )

Effect of leakage on Heat transfer rate
58.00

57.00

56.00
Heat Transfer (MW)

55.00
n=0.3
54.00 n=0.5
n=0.7
53.00

52.00

51.00

50.00
6 8 10 12 14 16

% Air Leakage

Input data: Main APH (RhSTPP Stage I )

Effect of increase in
Air inlet Temperature
on APH Performance
 Effect of Air inlet Temperature on
Air outlet Temperature with leakage
304

303

302
tci=27
Air O/L Temp. (Deg C)

301
tci=32
300
tci=37
299
tci=42
298

297

296

295

294
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

% Air Leakage

Input data: Mill APH (RhSTPP Stage I )

 Effect of Air inlet Temperature on
Gas outlet Temperature with leakage
144

142

140
tci=27

138 tci=32
Gas O/L Temp. (Deg C)

136 tci=37

134
tci=42

132

130

128

126

124
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

% Air Leakage

Input data :Mill APH (RhSTPP Stage I )

 Effect of Air inlet temp. Out let Temp.

280
Outlet Temp. (Deg. C)

260
240 Gas
220
200 Air
180
160
140
120
25 30 35 40 45 50
Air inlet Tem p. ( Deg. C)

For every 5 oC increase in rise in Air inlet Temp. outlet

Temp. of gas increase by 3.4 oC & Air by 1.2 oC

Input data: Mill APH (RhSTPP Stage I )

 Effect of Air inlet Temperature on
Heat Transfer rate & Effectiveness
(at 12 % leakage)
70

60
Heat Tr. Rate ( MW) & Effectiveness

50

40
Q
Ef f ect .

30

20

10

0
25 30 35 40 45 50

Air inle t Te m p. (De g C)

Input data: Mill APH (RhSTPP Stage I )

 APH Performance Improvement
• By Reducing leakage
• By adding extra element (if provision is
given by manufacturer)
• Substituting old under performing element
by new profile element
• Substituting thick (NP) Cold end element
with thin & DU element of hot end if gas
out let temp. of APH are high
APH ELEMENT ROFILE
 APH Performance Improvement by
improving element profile at CE
SN Performance Parameter Existing Modified Change
Prediction Prediction
1 Gas outlet temperature 132 124 -8.0
(oC)
2 Air out let temperature 296.8 306.7 9.9
(oC)
3 Actual Heat transfer rate 17.0 17.8 0.7
(MW)
4 Heat loss rate (MW) 4.2 3.4 0.7

5 Effectiveness of APH (%) 61.0 63.3 2.3

Mill APH (RhSTPP Stage I)

 Alternate Design of APH

Heat Pipe or Thermosyphone

Heat Pipe Working
Heat Pipe APH Working
Heat Pipe APH Construction
 Advantage of Heat Pipe APH
• Zero Air Leakage reduces PA,FD & ID fan power
• Low capital cost in new plants for downstream
equipment ( Fans, ESP etc.)
• More Heat recovery & better boiler efficiency
• Better ESP operation due to uniform flue gas
temperature profile
• Improvement of ESP operation
• Passive Design with no moving parts
• No running cost & Less Maintenance cost
 Conclusion
• Flue gas outlet temperature to be decided based
on type of coal & acid due point
• APHs to be designed such that air outlet temp.
can be maintained as per requirement & stack
temperature should not be high due to change in
inlet air temp.
• Provision of extra element height requirement
should be judged at design stage
• Under performing APHs performance can be
Improved by changing element profile
• Heat Pipes & Thermosyphones to be explored as
future APHs for TPP
Thank You