A large manufacturer of wood based products came to Combustion Designs, Inc. for solutions to their combination wood and natural gas fired boiler. The problems included poor fuel control during both natural gas and wood firing, unreliable and obsolete components including the burner management system, and inefficient combustion. These problems caused lost production and lost boiler efficiency. To make this project even more difficult only two weeks were allotted to complete the installation of the project.

Combustion Designs, Inc. designed and engineered solutions and offered a turnkey proposal including installation and project management to assure a successful outcome. The wood feed system was removed and re-designed to assure good combustion and flame retention. New main and pilot natural gas trains were designed and installed. All new safety limits were supplied and installed. New furnace observation ports were installed. A new control panel was designed for the boiler control and burner management system. An operator interface was developed using Wonderware to support the plant’s needs. All data is available for reporting and history.

To meet the plant’s standards Modicon PLC’s were selected for the Boiler Control and the Burner Management System. All control programming and equipment selection was designed to meet all NFPA and FM standards. Dual flame scanners were utilized for reliability. Control was developed to allow for fuel switching between wood or natural gas and dual fuels. A minimum stabilizing natural gas firing system was designed and built for periods of poorer quality wood fuel.

Combustion Designs, Inc. met the challenge. All combustion related problems were eliminated. Boiler operating efficiency increased. Boiler downtime decreased and the boiler is operating safely under the watchful eye of the new Burner Management System.

Before Construction	During Construction	Completed

A large university picked Combustion Designs to provide a complete steam generating system for their boiler room expansion project. The high pressure and temperature steam is used to drive a steam turbine generator producing up to 10 megawatts of electric power for the university. The discharge steam from the turbine is passed through a steam to hot water heat exchanger to generate hot water for campus building heat. The steam is also used in the campus absorption chiller units and for hospital sterilization.

Our supply included a model FM 120-124 Babcock & Wilcox package boiler operating at 900 psig and 875F of Superheat capable of producing 170,000 PPH of steam. The boiler was shipped by rail complete with all trim valves and fittings. This boiler package included a Low NOx burner capable of firing natural gas and #2 oil. The burner system included an Allen Bradley PLC based Burner Management System, dual flame scanners all safety limits and complete fuel supply trains. Combustion Air was provided by a Phelps 500 HP forced draft fan.

Maximum system operating efficiency was assured by the installation of an Applied Heat Recovery, extended surface, feedwater preheating economizer.

This system is operating efficiently today fulfilling the steam and electric needs as designed. The results are huge savings in power costs for the university by reducing their dependence on electric power from the grid.

Being Built	Delivery	Installed

A large manufacturer identified the need for new boiler controls and a burner management system to replace their obsolete and failing system. Combustion Designs, Inc. was given the challenge of designing the building a new boiler control system and a BMS in one month and installing the system during a one week plant outage. Combustion Designs, Inc. offered a turnkey solution including project management to complete this project in time.

A new Boiler Control Panel was designed around the customer’s specifications to utilize micro-processing controllers for Steam Pressure Control, Drum Level Control, Forced Draft Differential Pressure Control and Oxygen Trim. A new gas flow control valve was included in the scope along with a variable frequency drive for the forced draft fan to complete the control system.

A new Burner Management System was designed and built using an Allen Bradley PLC, dual flame scanners and an operator interface. All boiler alarms and operating conditions were made available at the burner front.

To complete the system, a communication link was established plant wide to a central SCADA system. This system was developed using Wonderware software and has enhanced options to automate the plants required data reporting. A secure wireless link was established to allow the network to be viewed at the main plant over 1/4 mile away.

The results of the project are overwhelming. Turndown of the boiler is greater than 10 to 1 meeting and exceeding the plant’s steam demands. Redundancy built into all equipment and controls will reduce unwanted downtime. Higher combustion efficiency and electrical savings will provide a short term return on investment to the facility.

Before Construction	During Construction	Completed

A large university called on Combustion Designs, Inc. to supply new Low NOx burners firing natural gas over the existing coal stokers on two field erect boilers. Each boiler was capable of producing 90,000 PPH of steam to the campus. These burners are used for boiler warm-up, coal ignition and low emission operation.

Combustion Designs, Inc. supplied two burners firing as one on each boiler to better fit the furnace area on the field erect boilers. Combustion air and flue gas recirculation ducts were designed and new PLC based burner management systems were included in our scope of supply. Combustion Designs, Inc. provided checkout services and start-up services for both units.

Working with the engineers and contractor, Combustion Designs, Inc. was able to meet the university’s environmental regulations by firing both units below 30 PPM NOx. The university was pleased to accept the units as completion with emissions validated on the plant’s CEMS system and through 3rd party testing.

During Construction	Complete	In Action

A large electric utility plant was experiencing unreliable ignition and performance from their old oil fired igniters on there tangential fired boiler. These igniters were manually supervised and did not have a burner management system that met NFPA standards. Combustion Designs, Inc. was contacted to provide a solution.

Our solution involved the supply of new igniter and warm-up gun assemblies to complete three firing levels on the boiler. This included the supply of four new oil fired warm-up guns, each 16 mm/btu/hr and the supply of eight new igniter assemblies, each capable of 4mm/btu/hr. The warm-up gun burners were designed to be flexible to accommodate the boilers tilting bucket design. The igniter assemblies were designed to fit into the original OEM boiler horn-igniter design. Each burner assembly included a direct spark ignition system for positive light-off. Discriminating type flame scanners were supplied for each new burner. A burner management system was supplied to ensure safe operation and a new oil pumping set was supplied.

After project completion, the plant experienced reliable ignition on all of the new burners. The capacity of the new units allows the plant to bring the boiler up to temperature and online while maintaining clean emissions. These burners have also been used to help stabilize and clean the fired during periods of poor coal quality.

New Oil Supply Pump Set	System Firing Up	Complete Reliability