Numerical simulation on the effects of air staging for pulverized coal combustion in a tangential-firing boiler

This study investigated the influence of air staging on combustion and NOx emission in a tangential-firing boiler at a 560 MWe capacity. For air staging, the stoichiometric ratio (SR) for the burner zone was varied from 0.995 to 0.94 while the overall value was fixed at 1.2. The temperature and heat flux in the burner zone and upper furnace corresponded to the distribution of SR, while the total boiler efficiency remained similar. The NOx emission at the furnace exit was reduced by up to 20% when the SR in the burner zone decreased to 0.94. However, the amount of unburned carbon and slagging propensity was not noticeably influenced by the changes in the SR of the burner zone. Therefore, it was favorable to lower the SR of the burner zone for reduction of NOx emission.