Patent ID: 8578551

Claim:
A recovery furnace comprising: a plurality of sootblowers, wherein a first sootblower comprising: a first frame, a first moveable carriage supported by the first frame, a first motor for moving the first carriage, a first lance tube mounted on the first carriage to be insertable into and retractable from the recovery furnace, wherein the first lance tube having a first valve mounted thereon; a second sootblower comprising: a second frame, a second moveable carriage supported by the second frame, a second motor for moving the second carriage, a second lance tube mounted on the second carriage to be insertable into and retractable from the recovery furnace, wherein the second lance tube having a second valve mounted thereon, wherein said first and second lance tubes each having at least one associated nozzle, and a steam feed tube connected to the first and second valves for feeding steam to be ejected through said at least one nozzles into the recovery furnace, and a control system/arrangement constructed for admitting steam through said at least one nozzle only when the carriage with the lance tube is in an active position, wherein in a plurality of the steam feed tubes, each of the first and second sootblowers having an associated directionally controlled valve provided upstream of the first valve, wherein the control system/arrangement permitting a start of the sootblowing action of a sootblower at an arbitrary point of time between when a retraction of a preceding sootblower starts and when the retraction is completed.