Drawing upon our extensive technical expertise and operating experience, B&W developed the Internal Recirculation Circulating Fluidized-Bed (IR-CFB) boiler which is the technology of choice for power plant owners seeking economy, reliability and flexibility. In addition, load-following capabilities are attainable with B&W’s in-bed heat exchanger technology.

B&W’s IR-CFB technology offers:

• Higher reliability and availability
• Lower maintenance costs
• High combustion efficiency
• A compact, economical design
• Reduced erosion
• Fuel flexibility
• Low emissions

Design features improve performance, reduce costs, and minimize maintenance requirements.

B&W’s IR-CFB low maintenance design features:

• Two-stage particle collection requires less maintenance than hot cyclones:
  • Eliminates thick refractory linings
  • Subject to lower erosion and can be thermally cycled faster than thick refractory
  • U-beams capture and recycle solids at lower gas velocities
  • Multi-cyclone dust collector (MDC) with metallic cyclones operate at lower temperature
  • Air slides eliminate loop seals and loop seal blowers
  • No sootblowers are needed with lower gas velocity convection pass; fine solids clean the tubes
  • MDC storage hoppers offer independent heat transfer control and more operating flexibility
• Thin cooled refractory with higher stud density in furnace is a robust wall protector
• IR-CFB uses 1/10 the mass of refractory of a hot cyclone CFB
• Reduced diameter zone (RDZ) almost completely eliminates solids erosion of membrane wall at the transition section (solids flow obstructions from refractory and change in wall angle)
• Bubble caps minimize back sifting of bed solids and bubble cap erosion
• U-beams are contained in a water/steam-cooled enclosure eliminating hot expansion joints
• Open bottom design can handle tramp materials in feed

 *For applications with load-following requirements