A Literature Review on Failure of Long Retractable Soot Blower

Soot blowing is an often neglected aspect of the operation of a pulverized coal boiler, yet the way Soot blowers are used can have a significant impact on the financial bottom line. Optimizing soot blowing practice can help reduce emissions and improve unit heat rate. In most pulverized coal boilers, slag from coal ash builds up on the walls of the furnace. Left unattended, the deposits can become unmanageable in size and require an expensive outage for removal. The deposits reduce the heat transfer rate in the water wall region, resulting in increased gas temperatures leaving the furnace. The long retractable soot blower consists of a lance tube with a nozzle at the end. When it is operated, the lance is extended into the boiler up to 8m leading to high amount of lateral or cantilever displacement acting on it. Sometimes the supporting rollers that provides inward and outward movement to the lance tube inside the boiler gets jam and works improperly and thereby inducing drag force and friction on the lance tube. Basically, this work deals with the failure analysis and design development of Long Retractable Soot Blower (LRSB).