A selected discussion topic on a common plant O&M issue This is becoming quite a big challenge for a number of CFBC boilers, particularly with the new stringent emission limits imposed by the PCB’s. Ineffective in-bed sulphur capture can be significantly contributing to this problem. Please share your experience and practices in this regard.

ESP performance is becoming a continuous challenge for our industries using solid fuel in their boilers.

This is one area where most organizations take lots of initiatives. Introducing VFD for flow control, replacement of under loaded auxiliary equipment, trimming of impellers, etc. are quite common. However, sometimes a particular change that results in to reduction of APC may develop some other complications in the system. A holistic approach therefore is required in this area. We invite all community members to share their experience in this regard.

Coal fired power plants fire huge quantity of Coal for generation of power. Hence Generators has to spend lot of money for this. But generators, incur huge loss  due to poor operating parameters / conditions.

There have been quite a few cases of emergency lube oil pump failing to cut in and leading to Steam Turbine bearing and other components damage.

Failures of last stage (long!) blades of LP Steam Turbine are well known in the power plant community. Causes of failure include pitting, erosion, corrosion, fatigue, SCC, fretting and combination of these.

The metallurgies used in these tubes are highly susceptible to overheating failures and thus highly sensitive to temperature excursions. Frequently changing load, increased number of start-ups, fast ramp-up coupled with fuel variations have compounded this issues with most power and utility boilers. We invite all to share their practices and strategies to meet this challenge here.

Slagging and fouling can make the life of the PF boiler O&M personnel really difficult at times. This often leads to saturation of ID Fan capacity and creates a highly unsafe condition in the furnace. We invite all community members to share their experience in this regard.

At many plants the CBD is operated in the fashion any common man takes a paracetamol pill whenever his body temperature exceeds 98.6 ^oF. If boiler water chemical parameter exceeds the limit, it tells us something is wrong in the treatment which needs correction. This cannot be corrected by just operating the CBD which ultimately leads to significant loss of fuel. We need to have a constructive discussion by the community members in this regard.

The loss of un-burnt carbon with Fly ash and Bottom ash of any solid fuelled boilers is undesirable as it leads to huge wastage of fuel and thus revenue loss. Un-burnt in the fly ash in particular should be critically controlled. This community invites the members to share their experiences in this regard.