Development of ABB C-E's Tangential Firing System 2000 (TFS 2000 System)

ABB Power Plant Laboratories (PPL), a division of Combustion Engineering Inc. (ABB C-E), has successfully demonstrated at a laboratory scale an in-furnace combustion technology (utilizing no catalysts or chemicals) for new, pulverized coal-fired, utility, boilers that limits NOx emissions to less than 0.15 lb/10^6 Btu (approximately 112 ppm*) with carbon-in-flyash less than 5%, and CO emissions less than 50 ppm. This latest generation tangential firing system, the TFS 2000™ system, integrates ABB C-E developments in coal pulverization technology with advanced fuel admission assemblies and in-furnace staging techniques. The goal for ABB C-E's TFS 2000™ system development program was to identify a combustion technology to control NOx emissions in new tangentially-fired boilers at levels consistent with alternate coal-based power generation technologies, such as circulating fluidized bed (CFB) and integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC), without utilizing either selective catalytic reduction (SCR) or selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR). The emissions targets established for the laboratory development program apply to a wide range of coals, from medium-volatile bituminous through lignite, recognizing that absolute emissions values will vary with coal type. A comprehensive laboratory program was used to develop the TFS 2000™ system. Physical flow, computational modeling, fundamental combustion experiments, and extensive pilot-scale testing up to 15 MWt (50 x 10^6 Btu/hr) were performed.