The air preheater is an auxiliary component of steam generating power plant. The air preheater increases the temperature of the air supplied for coal burning by deriving heat from flue gases.
A forced draught fan is used for drawing air from the atmosphere, air is then passed through the air preheater before supplying to the boiler furnace.
The air preheater extracts heat from flue gases and raises the temperature of the air used for coal combustion.
Air preheater primarily provides two advantages:
- It results in increased thermal efficiency
- It results in increased steam capacity per square meter of boiler surface
Application of Air Preheater
The primary application of air preheater is to extract the excess heat from the flue gases in the boiler.
The combustion process requires fuel, air, and fire to take place. Air preheaters provide significant assistance in feeding the hot air and increasing the combustion efficiency for the operation of steam boilers.