Evaluation of the effectiveness of the bulk thermal stresses for kraft recovery boiler fireside deposit cleaning

Abstract

Removal of fireside deposits from the heat transfer tubes in kraft recovery boilers is carried out by sootblowing and occasionally "chill-and- blow" practices. During chill-and-blow, black liquor flow is reduced to rapidly cool the deposits.Thermal stresses generated in the deposit as a result of thermal shock can effectively weaken the deposit, facilitating its cleaning. For this study, we investigated the mechanical weakening effect of thermal stresses generated by the transient temperature gradients. We quantified the mechanical weakening effect due to thermal shock by measuring the decrease in biaxial flexure strength of a preheated sodium chloride disk at various quenching times and surface heat transfer coefficients. We observed that the mechanical weakening occured by transient thermal stresses as well as crack propagation. Approximately 35% loss in biaxial flexure strength could be achieved at heat transfer coefficients above 3.3·103 W/m 2K, and at quenching durations above 40 s.