Waste Heat Boilers for Incineration Applications

Abstract

Incineration is a widely used process for disposing of solid, liquid and gaseous wastes generated in various types of industries. In addition to destroying pollutants, energy may also be recovered from the waste gas streams in the form of steam. The steam thus generated may be saturated or superheated and could be used for process applications or for power generation via a steam turbine. This paper describes the major component of any incineration system, namely the waste heat boiler, and describes a few of the important types of waste heat boilers used in the industry. During incineration, flue gas streams between 1400 F to 2500 F are generated and may contain ash particulates and corrosive gases such as hydrogen chloride, sulfur and chlorine, which can affect selection of materials for high temperature components such superheaters and also the performance of low temperature equipment such as the economizer. Hence boilers for these applications have to designed with care. Guidelines are also given in this paper for choosing between fire tube and water tube boilers.