Glossary
Alternative cleaning
Steam sootblower
Also known as sootblower, steam soot blower, steam blower.
A steam sootblower projects high-pressure steam (typically 17–35 bar) through nozzles onto boiler tube banks to dislodge accumulated soot, ash and slag. Steam sootblowing is the dominant traditional boiler-cleaning technology, with major suppliers including Diamond Power (now part of ANDRITZ), Clyde Bergemann, Babcock & Wilcox and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
Types
| Type | Use case |
|---|---|
| IK (long retract) | Convective superheater, reheater, generating bank |
| IR (rotary) | Air heater, deep convective banks |
| Wall blowers | Furnace waterwalls, short reach |
| Retractable | High-temperature service, withdrawn between uses |
| Fixed | Air heaters, smaller industrial duty |
Trade-offs vs sonic horns
| Attribute | Steam sootblower | Sonic horn |
|---|---|---|
| Cleaning medium | High-pressure steam jet | Pulsed sound |
| Tube erosion risk | Documented | None |
| Steam / energy consumption | Significant boiler steam | Plant compressed air only |
| Frequency | Per shift typical | Every few minutes |
| Effective on bonded slag | Yes | No |
| Effective on dry friable deposits | Yes | Yes (and earlier in the consolidation cycle) |
| Moving parts in flue gas | Yes | None |
Position in modern cleaning practice
Modern practice typically combines both: steam sootblowers for periodic deeper cleaning, sonic horns for continuous prevention between sootblower cycles. The combination outperforms either alone on most convective-pass duty.
Related terms
Related terms
- Sonic sootblowerA sonic sootblower is a sonic horn used specifically on boiler heat-transfer surfaces. It uses low-frequency sound instead of high-pressure steam, eliminating tube erosion and steam consumption.
- IK long retract sootblowerAn IK sootblower advances a long steam lance into the gas path, rotates through 360°, and retracts. The workhorse of convective superheater and reheater cleaning.
- IR rotary sootblowerAn IR sootblower is a short fixed rotating lance with permanently-positioned nozzles. Common on air heaters and deeper convective banks; smaller than IK long retracts.
- Retract sootblowerA retract sootblower withdraws its lance into a parked position outside the flue gas between operations, protecting it from continuous high-temperature exposure.
- Water cannonA water cannon projects a high-pressure water jet onto boiler waterwalls to crack slag deposits by thermal shock. The standard cleaning tool for furnace slag, with care for tube fatigue.
- Sonic hornA sonic horn is a pneumatically-driven low-frequency sound emitter (typically 60–400 Hz at 140–180 dB SPL) used to dislodge particulate fouling from boilers, ESPs, baghouses and process vessels.