Boiler soot-blowing optimisation for power generation plant

Although the potential financial rewards accruing from the development of effective soot-blowing for large coal-fired boilers is well known, closed-loop control of soot-blowers has received little, if any, attention. For this reason, this paper which describes ongoing research in the area, first gives an overview of the subject. The paper then describes modifications, necessary to the basic heat transfer models used to determine boiler cleanliness. This modified on-line heat transfer model, which is demonstrated to be superior to the normal basic models, is then combined with an expert system. Closed-loop control may then be achieved, by using the output from the expert system to drive sequential soot-blowers