Combustion and NO x emission characteristics of a retrofitted down-fired 660MW e utility boiler at different loadsZhengqi Li ⇑,Guangkui Liu,Qunyi Zhu,Zhichao Chen,Feng RenSchool of Energy Science and Engineering,Harbin Institute of Technology,92,West Dazhi Street,Harbin 150001,Chinaa r t i c l e i n f o Article history:Received 7September 2010Received in revised form 23November 2010Accepted 20January 2011Available online 12February 2011Keywords:Down-fired boiler RetrofitCarbon content in fly ash Thermal efficiencya b s t r a c tIndustrial experiments were performed for a retrofitted 660MW e full-scale down-fired boiler.Measure-ments of ignition of the primary air/fuel mixture flow,the gas temperature distribution of the furnace and the gas components in the furnace were conducted at loads of 660,550and 330MW e .With decreasing load,the gas temperature decreases and the ignition position of the primary coal/air flow becomes farther along the axis of the fuel-rich pipe in the burner region under the arches.The furnace temperature also decreases with decreasing load,as does the difference between the temperatures in the burning region and the lower position of the burnout region.With decreasing load,the exhaust gas temperature decreases from 129.8°C to 114.3°C,while NO x emissions decrease from 2448to 1610mg/m 3.All three loads result in low carbon content in fly ash and great boiler thermal efficiency higher than 92%.Com-pared with the case of 660MW e before retrofit,the exhaust gas temperature decreased from 136to 129.8°C,the carbon content in the fly ash decreased from 9.55%to 2.43%and the boiler efficiency increased from 84.54%to 93.66%.Ó2011Elsevier Ltd.All rights reserved.1.IntroductionReserves of anthracite and lean coal are abundant and globally distributed.The use of anthracite and lean coal,which have low-volatility contents,presents difficulties in ignition and burnout.More and more research has been conducted around the world to solve these problems.At present,down-fired combustion is widely applied in the power industry to consume low-volatility coals,and its main merit is that it achieves a high degree of burn-out by prolonging the residence time of pulverized-coal in the fur-nace.However,a practical down-fired boiler operation still suffers from the problems of high carbon content in the fly ash and poor flame stabilization at low load without oil support firing.Precise understanding of the behavior of char particles in pul-verized-coal combustion systems is critical in determining funda-mental processes that occur during heterogeneous bustion data obtained for full-scale equipment can give the combustion and NO x emission characteristics of real combustors,in particular the turbulent flow of industrial coal flames.As a re-sult,studies using full-scale equipment are highly desirable and a necessity.In the surrounds of wall-fired boilers,measurements are made of the local mean concentrations of O 2,CO,CO 2,and NO x ,gas temperatures,and char burnout through several observ-ing doors in the utility boilers [1–5].Experiments have also been performed for tangentially fired boilers [6–9].However,for down-fired boilers adopting Foster Wheeler technology,there has only been the work of Li et al.,who measured the gas temperature,gas species concentrations in the furnace and carbon content in the fly ash in a 300MW e boiler before and after retrofit [10–14].In the present study,in situ experiments were carried out for a 660MW e down-fired pulverized-coal boiler after retrofit;this unit has the maximum capacity of any currently used worldwide [15].Measurements of ignition of the primary air/fuel mixture flow,the gas temperature distribution of the furnace and the gas compo-nents in the furnace were made for this full-scale boiler at the rated,middle and half loads.The collected data were used to deter-mine the combustion and NO x emissions characteristics of the boi-ler at different loads.The results obtained from these experiments help solve similar problems and benefit the design and operation of 600MW e and 1000MW e down-fired boilers,and the data can be used to support theoretical and numerical calculations.2.The utility boilerThe investigated 660MW e boiler,having the largest capacity of any down-fired boiler in the world,was made by Foster Wheeler (FW)Corp.Fig.1a is a schematic diagram of the furnace.Arches di-vide the furnace into two:the lower furnace below the arches and the upper furnace above the arches.Originally,36cyclone burners were arranged on the arches to produce a W-shaped flame.The fuel-rich flow streaming from the cyclone nozzle is near the0306-2619/$-see front matter Ó2011Elsevier Ltd.All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2011.01.048Corresponding author.Tel.:+8645186418854;fax:+8645186412528.E-mail address:green@ (Z.Li).water-cooled wall while the fuel-leanflow jetting from the fuel-lean pipe faces the furnace center.Under the arches,there are three tiers of secondary air denoted D,E and F,all of which are fed into the furnace horizontally.Details of the specific structure of this kind of boiler can be found in the literature[10–13].During practical operation,the boiler suffers from great resis-tance and serious abrasion of the cyclone and high carbon content infly ash up to7–10%.Fuel-richflows form after the separation of the coal/airflows in the cyclones.The swirl intensities of fuel-rich flows decrease at the exits under the effect of the adjustable vane, which provides great resistance.The fuel-richflows with residual swirl have little rigidity and abrade the nozzles of the cyclones [16].The secondary air under the arches enters the furnace horizon-tally and mixes prematurely with the fuel-richflow.This reduces the down-forwardflow and space for combustion and decreases the temperature in the lower furnace,which causes a series of problems including the delayed ignition of pulverized-coal and high carbon content in thefly ash[13,17].There is fuel-leanflow with low momentum and shallow penetration depth near the furnace center, which readily shortens theflame and reduces upflow to the burnout region quickly.This is also a reason for the poor burnout degree of coal particles and high carbon content in thefly ash[18].In2009,Li et al.retrofitted the combustion system with many items.Fig.1b is a schematic diagram of the retrofitted combustion system.A fuel louver concentrator replaced the original cyclone as it has much lower resistance than the cyclone.The fuel/airflowfirst passes through the louver concentrator and separates into fuel-rich flow and fuel-leanflow.The fuel-richflow further divides into two and is injected into the furnace through the original primary air ducts facing the furnace center while the fuel-leanflow as vent air is injected into the furnace near the wall.The vent air ducts are con-trolled by valves.The horizontal secondary air is modified by the F-tier secondary air with an angle of declination of20°.In this retrofitted boiler,measurements were conducted at loads of660,550and330MW e with a constant opening of the vent air valves.3.Data acquisition methods and experimental conditionsThe formal in situ experiments were carried out in the2026tph down-fired pulverized-coal boiler to investigate certain aspects of the combustion process and NO x formation in the furnace.During the experiments,soot blowing and sewer bleeding were not per-mitted.The coal used in the experiments was a mixture of anthra-cite and lean coal.Sample characteristics of coals before and after retrofit are presented in Table1.The following parameters were measured:(1)The gas temper-ature of the furnace was measured with a leucoscope through observing doors in the front,rear and side walls.The layout of the observing doors is shown in Fig.2.The measurement error is 50°C.(2)The gas temperature of the furnace was measured with a nickel chromium–nickel silicon thermocouple through observing doors1,2and3.As shown in Fig.2,observing door1is in the air-flow zone of the tier D and E slots,observing door2is in the airflow zone of the tier F slots,and observing door3is above the arches. The end of the bare thermocouple was exposed in the furnace,so the temperature measured should be higher than the local gas temperature because of highflame radiation.However,because of radiation between the bare thermocouple and the water-cooled wall,and the close proximity of the two,the temperature mea-sured should be lower than the local gas temperature.The calcula-tions have indicated that in the region of highest temperature the ‘‘true’’temperature do not exceed the measured one by more than 8%[3,19].The thermocouples used were thoroughly checked be-fore leaving the factory,giving high confidence in the temperature measurement results.To minimize errors due to ash deposition,Table1Characteristics of the coal used in the experiments before and after retrofit.Quantity Before retrofit After retrofitProximate analysis,wt.%(as received)Volatile10.729.29Ash30.8431.51Moisture0.54 2.48Fixed carbon57.9056.72Net heating value(kJ/kg)23,53121,250Ultimate analysis,wt.%(as received)Carbon59.7059.48Hydrogen 2.95 2.52Oxygen 3.81 3.53Nitrogen0.820.83Sulfur 1.340.79Z.Li et al./Applied Energy88(2011)2400–24062401the thermocouples were frequently retracted from the furnace and, where necessary,any deposits were carefully removed.Moreover, the probes were replaced if there was any thermal distortion ob-served.(3)The primary air/flow temperature distribution was measured with the same thermocouple inserted parallel to the axis of the fuel-rich pipe,as shown in Fig.1.(4)Gas compositions were sampled using a water-cooled stainless steel probe2.5m in length for analysis of the local mean O2,CO and NO x concentrations.As shown in Fig.3,the probe comprised a centrally located10mm (inner diameter)tube,through which quenched samples were evacuated,surrounded by a tube for probe cooling.The probe was cleaned frequently by blowing high-pressure air through it to maintain a constant suction rate.The water-cooled probe was inserted into the furnace through observing doors1–3(see Fig.2).The gases withdrawn were analyzed online using a Testo 350M system.Theflue gas after the air heater was also analyzed online.Calibrations with standard mixtures including zero concen-trations were performed before each measurement session.The measurement error for O2and CO2concentrations was1%,while that for CO and NO x concentrations was50ppm.(5)Unburnt car-bon infly ash was determined by collectingfly ash using a particle-sampling device with constant suction speed.Values of the main operating parameters for the three operating loads are listed in Table2.4.Results and discussionFig.4shows the gas temperature distribution of the fuel-burn-ing zone along the cyclone axes of the burners;zero points were set at the tips of the burner nozzles in the furnace.With decreasing load,the gas temperature decreases and the ignition position of the primary coal/airflow becomes farther along the axis of the fuel-rich pipe in the burner region under the arches,especially as the load decreases from550to330MW e.For the rated load,the gas temperature rises rapidly as the measurement point extends to lower positions,exceeding1000°C at a position400mm from the end of the fuel-rich nozzle and exceeding1200°C at 1400mm.For the load of550MW e,the gas temperature is a little lower than that for the rated load in the burner region,exceeding 1000°C at a position800mm from the fuel-rich nozzle.For the half load,the gas temperature rises slowly and the temperature gradi-ent is lower than in the other two cases,barely reaching1000°C at 2400mm.The mass ratio of coal/air decreases as the load decreases,indi-cating that the concentration of pulverized-coal falls in the primary air and the momentum of coal/airflow decreases,resulting in aTable2Boiler operating conditions and measurement results.Quantity Before retrofit After retrofit660MW e660MW e550MW e330MW eTotalflux of the primary air(kg/s)121127110.574Temperature of the primaryair(°C)130124125114Totalflux of the secondaryair(kg/s)657620511396Temperature of thesecondary air(°C)398405397362 Coal feeding rate(ton/h)268.6282.7244.6147.7 O2at the furnace exit(dryvolume%)3.35 2.58 2.02 5.31O2influe gases(dry volume%)4.76 3.99 3.047.27NO x influe gas(mg/m3at6%O2dry)1181244821631610Carbon infly ash(%)9.55 2.43 6.02 3.24 Exhaust gas temperature(°C)136129.8119.3114.3Thermal efficiency of the boiler(%)84.5493.6692.5992.862402Z.Li et al./Applied Energy88(2011)2400–2406shallower penetration depth and shorter residence time of the pri-mary coal/airflow in the lower furnace.For these reasons,the gas temperature measured along the axis direction of the fuel-rich pipe decreases and the ignition of the primary coal/airflow in the bur-ner region under the arches is farther along the axis.The mass ratio of coal/air is defined to indicate the coal concen-tration in the primary air.As the load falls from660to330MW e, the mass ratio of coal/air drops from0.618to0.554,which indi-cates an obvious decrease in the coal concentration;thus,the heat and time needed for coal ignition increase.This is one of the rea-sons for the low gas temperature in the burner region and far igni-tion position of the coal particles at half load.For the load of 550MW e,the mass ratio of coal/air is0.615,which is little different to that for the rated load.Furthermore,the quantity of primary air and coal feed rate both decrease as the load decreases,as does the momentum of coal/airflow,leading to shallow penetration of the pulverized-coal in the lower furnace.The short residence times then lower the overall temperature of the burner zone to the ex-tent that the fuel-richflow cannot obtain sufficient heat from the recirculating up-flowing gases(see Fig.1).Fig.5presents furnace gas temperature variations as measured using the thermocouple inserted through observing doors1–3.On the whole,the gas temperature measured through observing doors 1–3decreases with decreasing load.In the case of the temperature distribution measured through observing door1,the gas tempera-turefirst increases and then decreases because some of the high-temperature gas recirculates into the near-wall zone.As the measurement points move deeper into the furnace,the measured temperature begins to fall as the thermocouple enters the fuel-rich flow.At the rated load,the gas temperature is steadily around 1000°C at points further than1400mm,while for the load of 550MW e,the measured temperature is a little lower.At the same position but for a load of330MW e,the temperature falls below 700°C gradually,indicating that the fuel-richflow has not ignited. This temperature sequence is the same as that for the temperature gradients of the fuel-richflow mentioned above,indicating that ignition conditions worsen as the load decreases.In the cases of measuring the temperature through observing doors2and3,once the temperature reached1250°C,no further measurements were taken at deeper positions for the simple rea-son of protecting the thermocouple from burnout.From the rela-tively limited temperature distribution,Fig.5shows that in the zone near observing door2,the temperature rises rapidly at loads of660and550MW e,and at400mm,temperatures already exceed 1250°C.This indicates that coal burns more intensely in the lower furnace in both cases.At the load of330MW e,the temperature rises to nearly1200°C at the position1800mm from the side wall, increasing more slowly than in the other two cases.As illustrated above for the gas temperature in the burner region,the momentum of coal/airflow at half load is low,which results in a shallow pen-etration depth and short residence time of the primary coal/air flow and low furnace temperature in the lower furnace.Further-more,the F-tier air accounts for a large proportion of the secondary air entering the furnace under the arches;therefore,much of the air does not take part in combustion immediately,which decreases the temperature in the region near observing door2.In the zones near observing door3above the arches,the temperature increases to more than1100°C at a load of330MW e,which is just a little lower than the temperature near observing door2.This can be ex-plained by the delay in the fuel-richflow ignition causing much of the fuel to burn in the upper furnace.Fig.6presents furnace temperature variations measured through observing doors for the three loads.The furnace tempera-tures shown in Fig.6are averages of values measured through observing doors at the same level.In the three cases,gas tempera-ture peaks are all in the lower furnace,and the distances from the peak positions to the exit of the furnace are relatively large.Resi-dence times for coal burning in the higher-temperature zone are thus longer,which favors fuel burnout.The difference between temperatures in the burning region and the lower position of the burnout region decreases as the load decreases,and is just35°C at a load of330MW e.This is because the momentum of coal/air flow decreases,which results in a shallower penetration depth and shorter residence time of the primary coal/airflow in the lower furnace;the ignition position becomes farther from the fuel-rich nozzle,and more pulverized-coal combusts completely in the upper furnace.Moreover,the temperature in the furnace decreases with the decreasing load.The reason for this is that the total heatZ.Li et al./Applied Energy88(2011)2400–24062403provided to the furnace also falls with decreasing load,decreasing the furnace temperature.Fig.7shows the variations in gas species concentrations in the zones near observing doors1–3.Gas species concentration mea-surements begin400mm from the side wall to avoid the effect of an air leak.In all three cases,the O2concentration sequence is C(door1)>C(door2)>C(door3),which describes well theflow of coal as illustrated in Fig.1b.Fuel-richflowsfirst inject down-ward into the furnace and then reverse their direction upwards in the down-fired boiler.The coal/airflows pass sequentially through the observation doors1,2,and3and O2is consumed con-tinuously along the path of theflame.Thus,in each case,the O2 concentration in the zone near observation door1was the highest, that in the zone near observation door2was intermediate and that near observation door3was the lowest.In the airflowflow zone of the D and E tiers and in the zone near the wall,a great quantity of hot gas lowers the measured O2con-centration.When the measurement points are deeper and closer to the fuel-richflow,the measured value increases.O2concentra-tions near observing door1increase with decreasing load,espe-cially from550to330MW e.For loads of660and550MW e,at the position1800mm from the wall,O2concentrations are nearly 14%,suggesting that the fuel-richflow is beginning to react and a certain amount of O2is being consumed.For the load of 330MW e,however,O2concentrations are higher than18%,indi-cating that the fuel-richflow has not ignited,which agrees with the conclusion drawn from the temperature analysis.In the near-wall zone of observing doors2and3,O2concentrations at half load are higher than in the other two cases,even as high as8%in the near-wall zone of observing door3.At all three loads,CO concentrations strictly rule contrary to O2 concentrations.In the zones near observing doors1–3,the higher the O2concentration,the lower the CO concentration.In the air-flowflow zone of the D and E tiers,CO concentrations decrease with decreasing load because of the delayed ignition of the fuel/ airflow.In the near-wall zone of observing doors2and3,CO con-centrations in the case of the half load are lower than in the other two cases because of the highly oxidizing atmosphere in the furnace.2404Z.Li et al./Applied Energy88(2011)2400–2406In the zone near port1at loads of660and550MW e,volatiles are released and form a certain amount of NO x.However,biased combustion restricts the formation of NO x,and hence,NO x concen-tration here is only645mg/m3and630mg/m3respectively at a position1800mm from the wall.However,for the load of 330MW e,the NO x concentration is as high as3706mg/m3at the same position,because the high O2concentrations form the strong oxidative atmosphere near the observing door1.Moreover,the fuel/airflows with weak rigidity mix with the fuel gas quickly in the furnace;these are the reason for the high NO x concentration. Compared with those measured through observing door1,NO x concentrations for660and550MW e operation increase rapidly in the airflow zone of observing door2because fuel–NO forms con-stantly with further combustion of the pulverized-coal and ther-mal NO increasingly forms under the high-temperature condition in the lower furnace.The NO x concentration at a load of 550MW e is lower than that for the rated load because of the re-duced fuel–NO formation with a lower coal feed rate and the low-er-furnace temperature in this zone.In the case of330MW e,NO x concentrations decrease sharply,because the reducing atmosphere become higher with a great amount of O2consuming.In the zone near observing door3,the NO x concentration decreases with decreasing load.Table2lists results obtained for theflue gas after the air hea-ter.It is obvious that as the load decreases,the exhaust gas tem-perature decreases from129.8°C to114.3°C,while NO x emissions decrease from2448to1610mg/m3.Overall,the NO x content in theflue gas at the three loads was at high levels, exceeding the proposed Chinese emission standard for anthracite (1100mg/Nm3).To decrease these emissions,further technolo-gies,such as over-fire air[15,20],selective catalytic reduction and selective non-catalytic reduction[21,22]should be taken into account.All three loads result in low carbon content in thefly ash and great boiler thermal efficiency higher than92%.The O2 concentrations at the furnace exit when operating at660and 550MW e were2.58%and2.02%,respectively,with the small dif-ference between the two caused by thefluctuation of air supply during operation.The carbon in thefly ash at a load of550MW e was6.02%,which is higher than that at660MW e because the lower-furnace temperature was lower by as much as50°C than the temperature at the higher operating load.To enhance heat absorption in the reheater and to ensure sufficient temperature of the reheat steam,the method of increasing the excess air coef-ficient is commonly adopted when operated at330MW e.Thus, the O2concentration at the furnace exit at330MW e was5.31%, much higher than that at660or550MW e.Despite the high O2 concentration,the quantity of air supplied,including both pri-mary and secondary air,was low for the330MW e case,being only63%of the quantity supplied at660MW e and76%of the quantity supplied at660MW e,as shown in Table2.Therefore, the mean velocity of the fuel gas was lower and the residence time of pulverized-coal was longer in the furnace.These factors explain the high degree of burnout of pulverized-coal and low carbon content in thefly ash.Table2also shows the main operating parameters and mea-surement results at a load of660MW e before the combustion sys-tem retrofit.After retrofit,the exhaust gas temperature decreased from136to129.8°C,the carbon content in thefly ash decreased from9.55%to 2.43%and the boiler efficiency increased from 84.54%to93.66%.However,the NO x content in theflue gas (O2=6%)was higher than before the retrofit,because premature ignition of the pulverized-coal prolonged the residence time of coal particles in the lower furnace with high temperature.Furthermore, the O2concentration in theflue gas decreased from4.76%to3.99%, which increased the NO x concentration after conversion of O2at 6%.5.ConclusionIndustrial experiments were performed in a retrofitted 660MW e full-scale down-fired boiler.Measurements of ignition of the primary air/fuel mixtureflow,gas temperature distribution of the furnace and the gas components in the furnace were con-ducted at loads of660,550and330MW e.The results were as follows.With decreasing load,the gas temperature decreases and the ignition position of the primary coal/airflow becomes farther along the axis of the fuel-rich pipe in the burner region under the arches, especially as the load decreases from550to330MW e.With decreasing load,the gas temperature measured through observing doors1–3decreases,the ignition conditions worsen. Moreover,the combustion intensity of pulverized-coal reduces in the lower furnace.The furnace temperature also decreases with decreasing load,as does the difference between temperatures in the burning region and in the lower position of the burnout region.O2concentrations near observing door1increase with decreas-ing load,while O2concentrations at half load are higher than in the other two cases in the near-wall zone of observing doors2and3. CO concentrations strictly rule contrary to O2concentrations.The higher the O2concentration,the lower the CO concentration near observing doors1–3.NO x concentrations(O2=6%)near observing door1were low at loads of660and550MW e than at the load of 330MW pared with those measured through observing door 1,NO x concentrations for660and550MW e operation increase rapidly in the airflow zone of observing door2while NO x concen-trations at the load of330MW e decrease.In the zone near observ-ing door3,the NO x concentration decreases with decreasing load.With decreasing load,the exhaust gas temperature decreases from129.8°C to114.3°C,while NO x emissions decrease from 2448to1610mg/m3.All three loads result in low carbon content in thefly ash and great boiler thermal efficiency higher than92%.Compared with the case of660MW e before retrofit,the exhaust gas temperature decreased from136to129.8°C,the carbon con-tent in thefly ash decreased from9.55%to2.43%and the boiler efficiency increased from84.54%to93.66%.AcknowledgmentThis work was sponsored by the Hi-Tech Research and Development Program of China(863Program)(Contract No. 2006AA05Z321).References[1]Li ZQ,Jing JP,Liu GK,Chen ZC,Liu CL.Measurement of gas species,temper-atures,char burnout,and wall heatfluxes in a200-MWe lignite-fired boiler at different loads.Appl Energy2010;87:1217–30.[2]Li ZQ,Jing JP,Chen ZC,Ren F,Xu B,Wei HD,et bustion characteristicsand NO x emissions of enhanced ignition-dual register and central-fuel-rich swirl burners in a300-MWe wall-fired pulverized coal utility bust Sci Technol2008;180:1370–94.[3]Costa M,Azevedo JLT,Carvalho bustion characteristics of a front-wall-fired pulverized coal300MW e utility bust Sci Technol 1997;129:277–93.[4]Costa M,Silva P,Azevedo JLT.Measurements of gas species,temperature,andchar burnout in a low-NO x pulverized coal-fired utility bust Sci Technol2003;175:271–89.[5]Costa M,Azevedo JLT.Experimental characterization of an industrialpulverized coal-fired furnace under deep staging bust Sci Technol2007;179:1923–35.[6]Kouprianova VI,Tanetsakunvatanab V.Optimization of excess air for theimprovement of environmental performance of a150MW boilerfired with Thai lignite.Appl Energy2003;74:445–53.[7]Li S,Xu TM,Hui SE,Wei XL.NO x emission and thermal efficiency of a300MW eutility boiler retrofitted by air staging.Appl Energy2009;86:1797–803.Z.Li et al./Applied Energy88(2011)2400–24062405[8]Toshikazu T,Hirofumi O,Dernjatinc P,Savolainenc K.Reducing the minimumload and NO x emissions for lignite-fired boiler by applying a stable-flame concept.Appl Energy2003;74:415–24.[9]Li ZQ,Yang LB,Qiu PH,Sun R,Chen LZ,Sun SZ.Experimental study of thecombustion efficiency and formation of NO x in industrial pulverized coal combustion.Int J Energy Res2004;28:511–20.[10]Li ZQ,Ren F,Zhang J,Zhang XH,Chen ZC,Chen LZ.Influence of vent air valveopening on combustion characteristics of a down-fired pulverized-coal 300MW e utility boiler.Fuel2007;86:245–62.[11]Ren F,Li ZQ,Jing JP,Zhang XH,Chen ZC,Zhang JW.Influence of the adjustablevane position on theflow and combustion characteristics of a down-fired pulverized-coal300MW e utility boiler.Fuel Process Technol2008;89: 1297–305.[12]Li ZQ,Ren F,Chen ZC,Wang JJ,Chen Z,Zhang JW.Influence of oil atomized aironflow and combustion characteristics in a300MW e down-fired –Pac J Chem Eng2010;5:488–96.[13]Li ZQ,Ren F,Chen ZC,Chen Z,Wang JJ.Influence of declivitous secondary air oncombustion characteristics of a down-fired300-MWe utility boiler.Fuel 2010;89:410–6.[14]Li ZQ,Ren F,Chen ZC,Liu GK,Xu ZX.Improved NO x emissions and combustioncharacteristics for a retrofitted down-fired300-MWe utility boiler.Environ Sci Technol2010;44:3926–31.[15]Garcia-Mallol JA,Steitz T,Chu CY,Jiang PZ.Ultra-low NO x advanced FW archfiring:central power station applications.In:2nd US China NO x and SO2 control workshop,Dalian;2005.[16]Zhang J.Experimental study and numerical simulation on separation char-acteristics of cyclone separator of downfired boiler.Harbin:School of Energy Science and Engineering,Harbin Institute of Technology;2006[in Chinese]. 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