Patent ID: 7401577

Claim:
A boiler comprising, in combination: a burner subassembly having a fuel inlet, an oxidant inlet, a combustion chamber, a flue gas composition detector and a flue gas outlet, the fuel inlet constructed and arranged to provide fuel to the combustion chamber, the oxidant inlet constructed and arranged to provide an oxygen-containing inlet stream to the combustion chamber, the combustion chamber constructed and arranged to burn the fuel thereby producing heat and a flue gas having characteristics including CO composition, NO x composition, O 2 composition, and temperature, the flue gas composition detector constructed and arranged to measure at least one characteristic of the flue gas and generate flue gas data, and the flue gas outlet constructed and arranged to exhaust the flue gas from the combustion chamber; a steam subassembly having a supply water inlet, a heat exchange zone, a water drum, a steam quality actuator and a steam outlet, the supply water inlet constructed and arranged to provide feed water to the heat exchange zone, the heat exchange zone constructed and arranged to transfer at least a portion of the heat generated by combustion of the fuel to the water and generate steam having characteristics including steam temperature and steam pressure, the water drum constructed and arranged to receive the heated water and steam from the heat transfer zone and maintain water and steam in the drum at a selected steam pressure and water level, the steam outlet constructed and arranged to transfer steam from the water drum and transport it out of the steam subassembly, and the steam quality actuator constructed and arranged to regulate at least one characteristic of the steam; the oxygen-containing inlet stream having an inlet stream actuator constructed and arranged to regulate the rate of oxygen being introduced into the combustion chamber; the fuel inlet having a fuel inlet actuator constructed and arranged to regulate the rate of fuel being introduced into the combustion chamber; a water drum condition monitor constructed and arranged to monitor the water level and at least one of the temperature and pressure in the water drum and generate water drum data; a combustion controller having a flue gas data input, a water drum data input, a combustion control output and a steam control output; the flue gas data input receiving the flue gas data, the water drum data input receiving the water drum data, the combustion controller comparing the data and selecting the combustion control output and the steam control output; the combustion control output operatively associated with the inlet stream actuator, the fuel inlet actuator and the steam quality actuator to optimize combustion of the fuel.