Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Preliminary design and assessment of circulating-bed boilers. Final report

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5268614· OSTI ID:5268614
The circulating bed boiler (CBB) represents an alternative, fluidized bed combustor (FBC) technology which offers distinct advantages over both the current FBC systems, and pulverized-coal boilers with scrubbers. This report describes the findings of a study undertaken to evaluate these advantages. The information obtained made it possible to identify potential CBB design and operating problems and to propose further plans for developing this technology. Several significant determinations resulted from the study. The circulating bed boiler capital costs should not exceed the cost for a conventional atmospheric fluid bed combustor, primarily due to the reduced combustor size; however, any cost advantage for a pressurized circulating bed boiler is questionable. Overall efficiency for an electric utility power plant using an atmospheric CBB should be increased by at least 1% over using a pulverized-coal boiler and the increase would be at least 3% using a pressurized CBB. The circulating bed boiler has several of the advantages of an FBC over pulverized coal, and in addition, it has turndown capabilities, greater throughput, and simplified feeding. Both the atmospheric and the pressurized CBB's can be designed with technology currently available in the process industry, but only after additional study and development has been completed for cyclones, pollution control, solids attrition, feed systems, and combustion reactions. Pilot plant studies are required for these investigations.
Research Organization:
Pullman Kellogg, Houston, TX (USA)
OSTI ID:
5268614
Report Number(s):
EPRI-CS-1426
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English