Research on the Modification of Coal Adaptability and Carbon Emissions Reduction Technology for Coal-Fired Boilers

In order to solve the problems of the high temperature of flue gas, low boiler efficiency, and the high concentration of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions for a 330 MW boiler fired with lean coal in a power plant, an adaptation modification by using different type of coals in the power generation unit (including pulverizing system, burners, heating surface, and so on) was carried out. The performances of boilers were tested under different combustion conditions before and after the modification. The results of the test show that the volatile content is higher and easy to burn out, and the combustible content of fly ash and slag are greatly reduced after the change in coal type (while lean coal is changed into bituminous coal). At the same time, the low-temperature economizer can greatly reduce the flue gas temperature, thus increasing the efficiency from 90.36% (lean coal, corrected) to 92.71% (bituminous coal). After the change in coal type (lean coal to bituminous coal) and the shift to low-nitrogen combustion (using low-nitrogen burner and OFA technology), the flame temperature in the main combustion area of the boiler decreases, the thermal-type NOx is reduced, and the volatile content of bituminous coal is higher in the anoxic atmosphere of the main combustion zone where the excess air coefficient is small. The intermediate reductive products tend to produce more, which can restrain and reduce NOx. Therefore, the concentration of NOx emissions can be greatly reduced. NOx average emissions at the economizer outlet decreased by 68%, from 864 mg/Nm3 to 279.4 mg/Nm3. A low-temperature economizer uses waste heat to heat feed water, which reduces coal consumption by about 1.32 g/(kW·h). The coal consumption for power supply after modification is reduced by 9.83 g/(kW·h) and the annual energy saving is 16,776 tons of standard coal, while the total carbon dioxide emissions reduction is 41,213.60 tons after the unit modification.