Description of the Tiltable Vortex Burner Design and Modeling Its Operation during Coal and Natural Gas Combustion

The computational studies carried out previously taking as an example the BKZ-210-140 boiler installed at Tomsk-2 state-owned district power plant (SDPP) have shown that, given the existing scatter in the characteristics of coals fired at the power plant, the temperature of gases at the boiler furnace outlet may vary in a wide range (more than 100°С). Such variability of the operational parameters entails a number of problems, including difficulties with keeping a stable superheated steam temperature, increased risk of heating surfaces becoming slagged, and less efficient fuel combustion. A conclusion has been drawn based on the obtained computation results that the possibility of adjusting the flame’s initial section vector by ±15° will make it possible to solve the above-mentioned problems to a significant extent. A tiltable burner is the key component of the combustion system with adjusting the flame position. Based on an analysis of the current operation conditions of the Tomsk-2 SDPP BKZ-210-140 boiler, technical solutions were developed on the design of a tiltable vortex burner intended for combusting pulverized coal as well as natural gas and fuel oil. The burner’s outlet part is made so that it is possible to tilt it by ±15° in the vertical plane and by ±5° in the horizontal plane, which will make it possible to adjust the combustion mode in an efficient manner. The furnace process is simulated in the ANSYS Fluent software package under different boiler operation conditions. The simulation results show that, in the case of using the new burners, it is possible to improve the furnace process efficiency. By tilting the burner by ±15° in the vertical plane, it becomes possible to obtain the temperature adjustment range at the furnace outlet equal to 120°С. Based on the adopted technical solutions, design documentation for the burner has been developed. An experimental sample of the low-toxic tiltable vortex burner installed in the Tomsk-2 SDPP BKZ-210-140 boiler has been manufactured.