Cyclone furnace

A cyclone furnace is a type of coal combustor commonly used in large industrial boil.

=Background=

Developed in the early 1942 by Babcock and Wilcox to take advantage of coal grades not suitable for pulverized coal furnace, cyclone furnaces (also known as tangentially fired furnaces) feed coal in a spiral manner into a combustion chamber for maximum combustion efficiency. During coal combustion in a furnace, volatile components burn without much difficulty. Fuel carbon char particles (heavier, less volatile coal constituents) require much higher temperatures and a continuing supply of oxygen. Cyclone furnaces are able to provide a thorough mixing of coal particles and air with sufficient turbulence to provide fresh air to surfaces of the coal particles.

Cyclone furnaces were originally designed to take advantage of four things *1. Lower fuel preparation time and costs *2. Smaller more compact furnaces *3. Less fly ash and convective pass slagging *4. Flexibility in fuel types

=Operation=

A cyclone furnace consists of a horizontal cylindrical barrel attached through the side of a boiler furnace. The cyclone barrel is constructed with water cooled, tangential oriented, tube construction. Inside the cyclone barrel are short, densely spaced, pin studs welding to the outside of the tubes. The studs are coated with a refractory, usually silica or aluminium based, that allows the cyclone to operate at a high enough temperature to allow slag removal.

Crushed coal and a small amount of primary air enter from the front of the cyclone into the burner. In the main cyclone burner, secondary air is introduced tangentially, hence the term tangentially fired , causing a circulating gas flow pattern. The products, flue gas and un-combusted fuel, then leave the burner and pass over the boiler tubes. Tertiary air is then released further downstream to complete combustion of the remaining fuel, greatly reducing NOx formation. A layer of molten slag coats the burner and flows through traps at the bottom of the burners, reducing the amount of slag that would otherwise form on the boiler tubes.

Cyclone Furnaces can handle a wide range of fuels. Low volatile Bituminous coal, Lignite, mineral rich Anthracite, biofuel, petroleum coke, and old tires can and have all been used in cyclones.