US Patent 7392752 Solid fuel boiler and method of operating combustion apparatus

There is disclosed a solid fuel boiler including: a furnace including a plurality of solid fuel burners and a furnace wall to perform horizontal firing; a duct through which a part of combustion exhaust gas recirculates to a furnace from a downstream side of the furnace; heat exchanger tubes disposed on a furnace wall and in a heat recovery area of the furnace; and recirculation gas ports via which the recirculation gas is supplied to a reducing flame portion of the burners in the furnace without combining the gas with a flame in the vicinity of an outlet of the burner, so that molten ash is prevented from firmly sticking to the furnace wall and thermal NOx, fuel NOx, and unburned carbon.