In this article, I will share the advantages of using high-pressure boilers and you will know what makes them useful compared to low-pressure boilers.
You may be stuck when it comes to deciding on which type of boiler you should use.
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By knowing the advantages of high-pressure boilers you will eventually have a clue if you should consider such kinds of boilers or not.
Without wasting time, let me share what you should know about high-pressure boilers.
These are the advantages of high-pressure boilers;
1. They have increased evaporative capacity.
The high-pressure boilers make use of pumps to circulate water across the entire boiler system via the tubes.
These pumps pressurize the water in the tubes making them move under a high velocity and pressure.
The high velocity that the water moves under inside the tubes eliminates the possibility of scale formation.
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This ensures that the pump maintains a positive circulation of water in the tubes.
A positive circulation of water in the tubes means that the water is always moving through the tubes.
At no point, the water in the tubes flow backwards or fail to move around the tubes.
This ensures that every tube in the boiler is filled with water and the water that is lost by the steam generated is immediately replaced.
I discussed this further in another article when I was talking about the features of high-pressure boilers; you can read it below.
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The continuous flow of water in these tubes with the help of the pump increases the evaporative capacity of the boiler.
With the increase of evaporative capacity of the boiler; a large amount of steam with the right conditions is produced.
A boiler with a high evaporative capacity produces a large amount of steam with relatively low temperatures compared to a boiler with a lower evaporative capacity.
And this is why it’s advantageous to use high-pressure boilers compared to low-pressure ones.
Without forgetting an important point; with the increased evaporative capacity of the boiler; fewer drums of boiler water will be needed.
Since the pumps keep on supplying water to the tubes continuously the required volume of water in them is easily met and the pressure is considerably higher; thus reducing the number of drums needed.
2. The heat energy is utilized to the maximum.
The heat energy from the furnace is utilized to the maximum in high-pressure boilers.
And what are the features of high-pressure boilers that make them utilize heat energy to the maximum?
The answer is simple; the heat energy produced by the furnace is passed over a unit of multiple tubes of incredibly small diameters.
As the flue gasses pass across these tubes, they transfer heat energy to the tubes as they continue leaving the tube section.
The movement of the flue gasses over the tubes facilitates heat transfer at a higher level thus minimizing the amount of heat energy lost.
This means that the amount of fuel fed into the furnace is used to the maximum thus increasing the output.
This is all possible because of the increased surface area of heat transfer that is offered by the tubes and the movement of the flue gasses over the tubes.
3. Increased rate of fuel firing which increases the heat release.
What you need to know is that a high-pressure boiler uses a pulverized coal firing method.
The coal used is pulverized and then fired by the use of a burner in the furnace.
When it comes to any type of boiler being used, the heat release factor is very important because it’s what helps in steam generation.
Without enough heat being released from the furnace, the generation of steam is going to be low and its quality will also be affected negatively.
When using high-pressure boilers, there is the advantage of an increased rate of fuel firing because of the burner that is used to eject the fuel into the furnace and the help of the pumps.
The burner ejects the fuel into the furnace under high pressure because of how the nozzle is designed with the addition of the pumps and air inlets that let in air into the furnace, this contributes to pressurized combustion.
The pressurized combustion increases the rate of fuel firing which ends up increasing the amount of heat released.
The increased heat release contributes to the high amount of steam being generated with the right conditions.
When I talk about the right conditions of the steam, they are the properties of steam that are needed for a successful operation in the power plant.
It can be increased thermal energy, unsaturated steam (dry steam or superheated), clean steam and the right amount of steam needed.
The pressurized combustion in high-pressure boilers ensures that all these properties of steam are in the right conditions.
4. High-pressure boilers require less space.
Another advantage of using high-pressure boilers is that the space required for their installation is minimal compared to low-pressure boilers.
Let me share why high-pressure boilers require less space when it comes to their installation compared to low-pressure boilers.
The first thing that makes high-pressure boilers require less space is the fact that they require fewer drums.
With the use of pumps in the boiler system that ensures the tubes are always filled and supplied with water immediately as steam leaves the tubes the boiler storage doesn’t become a top requirement.
The few boiler drums that are needed reduce the space required since a large percentage of space in any boiler is usually taken by this part of the boiler.
Another thing that reduces the space required when high-pressure boilers are used is the use of pumps that facilitate the forced circulation of water across the entire boiler system.
Forced circulation of water in the boiler system doesn’t require large tubes to be installed in the boiler thus reducing the size of the boiler.
This is very different from natural circulation; whereby, the movement of water and steam in the boiler system mainly depends on the differences in their densities.
The forced circulation goes against the density issues; so the size of the tubes’ diameter that is going to be installed in the boiler system won’t affect anything.
With natural circulation, the tubes installed have to be large to allow convection to happen for the movement of water and gasses to take place.
The reduced sizes of the tubes installed in the high-pressure boilers reduce the size of the boiler thus less space required.
The high-pressure boilers are mostly compact because of how they are designed.
This is another factor that makes occupy less space in the power plant compared to low-pressure boilers.
So, if you want a boiler that requires less space to be installed then you should think of using high-pressure boilers.
5. High-pressure boilers are economical.
There are several factors that I will talk about in this section of the article that make high-pressure boilers economical.
Let me start with the fact that high-pressure boilers utilize the heat energy to the maximum.
As I talked about it earlier in the same article, the heat energy from the flue gasses is used to the maximum thus minimizing heat lost by the flue gasses to the environment.
This means that the amount of heat produced by the furnace is used to the fullest thus increasing the output of the boiler.
Heat loss in boilers is one of the problems that reduce the efficiency of the boilers.
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Minimum heat loss means that heat energy is used to the maximum thus high amount of steam is generated with a small amount of fuel.
This results in saving of fuel and profits are increased.
Pulverized coal is used in high-pressure boilers; what you should know is that if the coal is pulverized, a lower grade of coal can perform amazingly in this system.
If you want to know more about the advantages of using pulverized coal then don’t forget to read the article below.
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High-pressure boilers are economical because it doesn’t necessarily need high-grade coal to be used in the furnace thus cutting down the cost of fuel.
This is another factor that makes this boiler economical.
High-pressure boilers are economical because of the amount of work that can be done with a small volume of high-pressure steam.
What you need to know is that steam with high pressure has an improved power compared to low-pressure steam.
The work that can be done with a high-pressure steam is massive compared to work done with a low-pressure steam.
High-pressure steam has increased thermal energy which can handle large workloads.
If a small volume of steam can handle a large workload, there won’t be a need to generate a large volume of steam.
This will result in reducing the amount of water and steam used in the power plant.
And this is another advantage of using high-pressure boilers.
6. High-pressure boilers have reduced the danger of explosion caused by overheating.
The dangers of explosion are reduced in high-pressure boilers because overheating is sufficiently handled.
With the use of pumps that continuously supply water to every part of the boiler, it ensures that there is no unequal expansion.
As the steam leaves the tubes another volume of boiler water occupies the space immediately because of the positive circulation.
The tubes don’t have a chance of being exposed to high temperatures for longer without water.
The furnace temperature can be regulated by the use of water walls around it.
This ensures that the temperature of the furnace doesn’t exceed the designed value.
The heat transfer across the entire boiler system is even thus the dangers of overheating and thermal stresses are reduced.
7. High-pressure boilers increase plant efficiency by about 40%.
The overall efficiency of the power plant can either be increased or decreased by the boiler unit.
When we talk about a steam power plant; the boiler unit plays a big role when it comes to the electrical energy generated by the plant.
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If the boiler unit can produce the required quantity and quality of the steam, it will be easier to increase the efficiency of the power plant.
What you have to know is that it’s the steam that is produced by the boiler that drives the steam turbines that results in the generation of electricity.
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A high-pressure steam will have increased pressure and thermal energy thus providing high mechanical energy.
The higher the mechanical energy, the higher the amount of electrical energy that will be produced.
Don’t forget that the mechanical energy produced by the steam turbine will have to be transferred to a generating unit to produce the electrical power.
The advantage of using high-pressure boilers is that it will end up increasing the plant efficiency by 40% and the rest of the percentage can be increased by checking the other components.
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Lastly…
What I have shared in this article is just a summary of the benefits of using high-pressure boilers compared to low-pressure ones.
The modern technology imposed on high-pressure boilers is what makes them a fantastic choice for processes that require a higher steam pressure.
One has to be careful when it comes to a choice of choosing low and high-pressure boilers.
An assessment should be done to ensure that the amount of steam pressure needed for the application can be handled by the boiler unit that is going to be installed.
I went to Kenyatta Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya and I noticed that the entire hospital used fire-tube boilers (low-pressure boilers) because the steam energy that they found from such units was measurable to their current activities.
So, if low-pressure steam is needed there is no need to use high-pressure boilers.
Thanks for reading, If you have any additional points or recommendations you can leave your comments.
See you in my next article.
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