POWER June 2022 - 38

MARNIE SURFACEBLOW
Just two minutes later, as Luke held
open the east-side inspection port, Maya
grabbed another handful of feathers
from her pocket and tossed them into
the air, except this time they shot like
arrows into the furnace. Marnie nodded
with proud satisfaction toward her assistant.
" I've seen enough. Let's have a
plant meeting. I know it's so hot I'm losing
a dress size every hour, but I need a
quart or two of coffee. "
3. Maya conducts an impromptu test of furnace
draft with a handful of feathers as Marnie
and Luke look on. Source: POWER
biomass flow by. " So, you dump it all
right here, just before it goes into the
day bin and then to the screw feeder?
And this is kaolin clay slurry you're
spraying right now, am I right? "
" Yes ma'am, about eight to 10 tons a
day. "
" See the problem? " Marnie asked
Maya, and was rewarded with a nod
from her assistant. " Good. Luke, can
you show us how to get to the inspection
ports on the furnace west side? It's
time to question the next suspect. " Luke
raised an eyebrow at the idiom and led
the way into the boiler structure.
Furnace Draft
Luke held the superheater inspection
port open while Marnie and Maya
peered through a welder's mask at the
fiery orange furnace. " Just how bad is
the temperature and air stratification? "
asked Marnie.
Luke shrugged. " Well, it don't seem
too bad until we slag up. The boiler's
really clean right now from last week's
outage, and it seems pretty balanced. "
Without notice, Maya pulled some
chicken feathers from her pocket and
tossed them into the air in front of the
inspection port (Figure 3). The furnace
suction lazily drew most of them in,
while others fluttered to the steel grate
flooring. Turning to face astonished
looks from Marnie and Luke, Maya
asked, " May we walk to the other side
of the furnace please? "
38
Culprits Exposed
Marnie addressed the engineers and
operators gathered in the control room.
" Let's play detective. When finding the
killer-the culprit choking your boiler to
death with slag-one has many suspects.
Most are false leads, like when
you catch a glimpse of the chamber maid
having gang tattoos on her arms while
serving high tea. "
The crowd shifted and muttered.
" Maids and tattoos? Did the heat get
to her? " Luke whispered to Maya.
" Please sir, indulge her, she is, as you
say, 'on a roll.' "
Marnie continued: " The detective
discovers she must eliminate each suspect
in turn until she catches the culprit.
But this mystery is more like the Agatha
Christie novel Murder on the Orient Express,
where detective Hercule Poirot
discovered, instead of one killer, there
were many killers! " Marnie raised her
giant mug of coffee with a dramatic
flourish. The plant staff cast side-eyes
toward Luke.
" Maya, reveal the first culprit! " Marnie
exclaimed with a grin. Playing along,
Maya explained. " The first is your storage
of poultry waste. Poultry waste contains
potassium and sodium salts that cause
significant slagging, but most of them
are water-soluble. When piled outside,
your frequent rains washed much of
them out of your fuel. We saw the white
stains on the ground like at my Auntie
Komal's farm. Now, the fuel is covered
and more salt enters your boiler. "
Marnie retook the stage. " I'm guessing
some of you already suspected this,
and that's why you're experimenting
with fuel additives, but here we have
a gang of culprits working against you.
First, you're spraying the additives on
top of such a high-moisture fuel that
it doesn't saturate it. Second, you're
spraying after the last mixing point, so
the fuels and additive won't have an
even distribution. Finally, you are using
volumetric feeders on a very sticky fuel
with highly variable moisture-I'll bet a
www.powermag.com
steak dinner that your fuel feed accuracy
isn't within +/- 20%. " Heads began to
nod around the control room.
Maya blurted out, " Or, ma'am, they
could place the additive directly onto the
poultry waste belt before the mixing bin,
so it helps the more problematic fuel and
has greater opportunity to mix. " Marnie
started with realization she's been
trumped by her assistant, dramatically
bowed towards Maya. " Or ... you could
try what Ms. Sharma just suggested. "
Silently, Marnie mouthed, " Well done! "
Emboldened by the honest respect
from her boss, Maya addressed the
room with confidence. " There is one
final culprit killing your boiler! You say
there is air flow stratification but cannot
determine the severity. You believe it is
from slag blockage, but say your boiler
is clean right now. Yet, when I tossed
some chicken feathers into the air near
the inspection ports, there was clearly
much greater negative pressure on the
east side. With more flue gas flowing on
the east, the boiler is not balanced, temperatures
are certainly higher, and thus
unbalanced slag accumulation happens. "
" Precisely! " Marnie dramatically annunciated.
" Just like in the Orient Express-multiple
killers, not just one!
Now, let's go to lunch, and then start
working on how we stop each of these
culprits from committing their dastardly
deeds! "
Luke looked at the floor and shook
his head in amazement. " You're just like
your grandpa, ma'am. That was a right
fine piece of, I guess you'd say, detective
work? He'd have been proud of you.
And, Miss Sharma, with your brains I
can see why Marnie picked you to work
with her. You're right, let's break for
lunch. I know a fine Cajun diner we need
to save from having too much food, and
don't worry Miss Sharma, they have the
best veggie dishes you've ever tasted. "
The meeting broke up as the plant staff
started planning for a busy afternoon.
As the crew left the control room, the
shift supervisor turned in his chair and
asked the lead operator, " What'd you
think about what Miss Surfaceblow said,
Skeeter? "
The lead operator shrugged. " Well,
Zeke, I reckon when it comes to Christie,
I'm more a Miss Marple fan than I am of
Poirot, and that there poultry waste was
nearly our boiler's Nemesis! " Zeke nodded
emphatically in agreement. ■
-Una Nowling, PE is an adjunct professor
of mechanical engineering at the
University of Missouri-Kansas City.
POWER | June 2022
http://www.powermag.com

POWER June 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER June 2022

POWER June 2022 - Intro
POWER June 2022 - Cover1
POWER June 2022 - Cover2
POWER June 2022 - 1
POWER June 2022 - 2
POWER June 2022 - 3
POWER June 2022 - 4
POWER June 2022 - 5
POWER June 2022 - 6
POWER June 2022 - 7
POWER June 2022 - 8
POWER June 2022 - 9
POWER June 2022 - 10
POWER June 2022 - 11
POWER June 2022 - 12
POWER June 2022 - 13
POWER June 2022 - 14
POWER June 2022 - 15
POWER June 2022 - 16
POWER June 2022 - 17
POWER June 2022 - 18
POWER June 2022 - 19
POWER June 2022 - 20
POWER June 2022 - 21
POWER June 2022 - 22
POWER June 2022 - 23
POWER June 2022 - 24
POWER June 2022 - 25
POWER June 2022 - 26
POWER June 2022 - 27
POWER June 2022 - 28
POWER June 2022 - 29
POWER June 2022 - 30
POWER June 2022 - 31
POWER June 2022 - 32
POWER June 2022 - 33
POWER June 2022 - 34
POWER June 2022 - 35
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POWER June 2022 - 37
POWER June 2022 - 38
POWER June 2022 - 39
POWER June 2022 - 40
POWER June 2022 - 41
POWER June 2022 - 42
POWER June 2022 - 43
POWER June 2022 - 44
POWER June 2022 - Cover3
POWER June 2022 - Cover4
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