Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Professor M M Sorour
Prof. Sorour
2008
Prof. Sorour
2008
Prof. Sorour
2008
Prof. Sorour
2008
Firing Controls
Three major parameters that need to be controlled and monitored are:
1. Fuel gas/Fuel oil pressure 2. Excess air 3. Draft in the furnace
Prof. Sorour 2008
Prof. Sorour
2008
Prof. Sorour
2008
A visual on the flame is used to adjust the flame color and flame height based on the fuel pressure. Once the flame is set correctly, the damper is adjusted for the correct draft.
Prof. Sorour 2008
Finally, the secondary air supply is adjusted to give the desired oxygen reading or O2 setpoint. When set correctly, and with good air-fuel mixing, the burner will produce the maximum flame temperature in a compact flame.
Prof. Sorour 2008
Prof. Sorour
2008
Prof. Sorour
2008
Prof. Sorour
2008
Prof. Sorour
2008
Prof. Sorour
2008
WHAT IS THE CORRECT O2 SETPOINT? The Importance of Oxygen and Combustibles Reducing the excess air or oxygen to the minimum safe level is the most important step in reducing energy consumption. There is no single O2 level that is right for all burners. The optimum oxygen depends on the load, the burner design, the type of fuel, and the burner performance. Reducing oxygen while measuring the ppm combustibles allows the correct operating point to be determined.
Prof. Sorour 2008
Without combustibles, it is not possible to find the optimum set point, since you cannot know when to stop. With the combustibles detector, the oxygen can be reduced safely until the combustibles starts to increase.
Prof. Sorour 2008
Flue gas analysis provides the answer to the first question. The oxygen concentration in the flue gas provides an indication of the excess air supplied to the combustion process.
Prof. Sorour
2008
Prof. Sorour
2008
Prof. Sorour
2008
Prof. Sorour
2008
BURNERS
The performance of a burner directly affects combustion efficiency because of the excess air required to obtain complete combustion at the burner. A poorly adjusted burner, or one incapable of efficiently mixing fuel and air at all load ranges, will increase excess air and waste fuel.
Prof. Sorour 2008
BURNERS
Provided that the burners are clean and well maintained, the air to fuel ratio controls on modern combustion systems should be able to maintain the recommended excess air through much of the turndown ratio of the burner, although the excess air will increase at low turndown ratios.
Prof. Sorour 2008
BURNERS
Experience, however, shows that many burners are incorrectly adjusted. Changes that take place due to wear on cams, linkages, pins, etc, often results in a change in air /fuel ratio and consequent loss in efficiency. It is also difficult to properly set the combustion air damper position for manually controlled burners in the absence of instruments for measuring flue gas composition.
Prof. Sorour 2008
BURNERS
For example a scored or scratched burner tip on a pressure jet oil burner can lead to incorrect atomization of the fuel: some droplets may be small, some large. This results in inadequate mixing of fuel and air, and excessive formation of carbon monoxide. It is thus possible to have high oxygen levels in the flue gas (ie high excess air) at the same time as having high carbon monoxide. A similar effect can be caused by a burner tip which has been over-enthusiastic cleaning using abrasive tools of the small hole or jet nozzle in the centre, whose dimensions are critical for the proper atomization of a given fuel oil.
Prof. Sorour 2008
BURNERS
It is therefore important to understand that attaining the optimum excess air rate may be prevented by the use of damaged or incorrectly adjusted burner parts. Whenever high oxygen levels are found in conjunction with high combustibles (ie carbon monoxide, or in extreme case smoke) the mechanical integrity of the burner and air distribution system is suspect and should be checked.
Prof. Sorour 2008
BURNERS
An efficient natural gas burner requires only 2% to 3% excess oxygen, or 10% to 15% excess air in the flue gas, to burn fuel without forming excessive carbon monoxide. Recently most new good gas burners exhibit turndown ratios of 10:1 or 12:1 with little or no loss in combustion efficiency. A higher turndown ratio reduces burner starts, provides better load control, saves wear and tear on burner, reduce refractory wear, reduces purge air requirement, and provides fuel savings
Prof. Sorour 2008
BURNERS
Dont confuse turndown to fully modulating burners. Having a fully modulating burner with only a typical turndown of 4 will not benefit and will cost much more.
Prof. Sorour
2008
This figure show how the turndown ratio impacts the fuel cost for a small 100Hp boiler. When you combine the effect of low excess air and high turndown, the operating cost savings range from 10% to 15%
Prof. Sorour 2008
Example
Consider a 50,000 PPH (22.7ton/hr) process boiler with a combustion efficiency of 79% (E1). The boiler annually consumes 500,000 million Btu (MMBtu) of natural gas. At a price of $8.00/MMBtu, the annual fuel cost is $4 million. What are the savings from an energy efficient burner that improves combustion efficiency by 1%, 2%, 3%? Cost savings = Fuel consumption x Fuel Price x (1- E1/E2)
Prof. Sorour
2008
1 2 3
Energy Savings due to the installation of an energy Efficient burner If the installed cost is $ 75,000 for a new burner that provides an efficiency improvement of 2%, Simple payback= $ 75,000 / $98,760 = 0.76 year
Prof. Sorour
2008
Suggested action:
Perform burner maintenance and tune your burner. Conduct combustion efficiency test in full and in part load. If excess oxygen exceed 3% or combustion efficiencies values are low, consider modernizing the fuel/ air control to include solid state sensors and controls without linkage. Also consider installing improved process controls, an oxygen trim system, or a new energy- efficient burner
Prof. Sorour 2008
Suggested action:
A new energy efficient burner should be considered if repair costs become excessive, reliability becomes an issue, and energy savings are guaranteed. Install a smaller burner on a boiler that is oversized relative to its steam load
Prof. Sorour
2008
Prof. Sorour
2008
Prof. Sorour
2008
Oxygen Control
The most common method today is parallel positioning. The components include:
1-Controller:
2- Pressure or temperature sensor, 3 - O2 analyzer 4- Fuel valve actuator(s) (servomotors). 5- Air damper actuator (servomotor).
Prof. Sorour 2008
Oxygen Control
The Controller accepts inputs from the fuel and air actuators, O2 analyzer, flue gas temperature sensor and a header pressure or temperature sensor. The controller will interface with the burner management system for purge, low fire, fuel select and other functions.
Prof. Sorour 2008
Natural Gas 83.08% 82.37% 81.68% 80.71% 79.72% 78.60% 77.31% 75.32% 74.03% 72.01%
2008
Prof. Sorour
2008
Because some boilers operate with a very high percentage of excess oxygen, it is common for the first year savings to be substantially higher than this. Much of that savings can be attributed to a more reasonable manual tuning of the boiler, and not necessarily from the installation of an automatic O2 control system.
The equipment costs for O2 Trim varies only a little with boiler size. Investment Costs will vary mainly due to the torque requirements for the servomotors and types of O2 analyzers. Installation costs are highly variable.
Prof. Sorour 2008
Example
Assume a 500 hp boiler with an input of 20,000,000 BTUs, operating 8,000 hours per year with a 50% load factor could save a very conservative 2% with the installation of an O2 Trim system: 20 MMBTUs x 8,000 hrs x 50% x 2% = 2,560 MMBTUs or 2,560 MCF Natural Gas per Year.
Prof. Sorour 2008
Example:
If Natural Gas cost is $7.00 per MCF, 2,560 x $7 = $17,920 per Year Savings. Payback would be in the 1 - 2 Year Range, depending on Installation Costs. Note that if savings were 4%, the payback could drop to less than a one year payback.
Prof. Sorour 2008
Prof. Sorour
2008
Impact on Efficiency
Prof. Sorour
2008
Impact on Efficiency
The most common measurement for the purposes of efficiency is oxygen (O) or carbon-dioxide (CO2) and temperature. For a given fuel type, it is possible to calculate the percent O if CO2 is measured, or to calculate CO2 if O is measured.
Prof. Sorour 2008
Impact on Efficiency
Another common indicator is CO; if O is high, there won't be any significant CO. Measurable CO means the unit is starved for O or there is something very wrong with the flame. The O and/or CO2 measurement along with the temperature of the flue gas and the combustion air temperature are the needed variables to determine combustion efficiency.
Prof. Sorour 2008
Impact on Efficiency
Electronic instruments are programmed to calculate and display efficiency directly.
Prof. Sorour
2008
Impact on Efficiency
Prof. Sorour
2008
Impact on Efficiency
The increase in excess air ratio will increase the convective heat transfer but the reduced flame temperature will reduce the radiant heat transfer.
(where t1, is the temperature of the gases leaving the radiant section and entering the tubes). The thermal resistances of the metal tube wall and the water film on the outside surface of the tube are negligible and hence we can assume that the inside surface of the tube is approximately equal to the saturation temperature of the steam, ts,.
Prof. Sorour 2008
Impact on Efficiency
(Therefore the LMTD is given by (t1 tG )/ln {(t 1 - tg)/( t G - tg) , and then substituting in the equation above we have:
Prof. Sorour
2008
Impact on Efficiency
The heat transfer by convection is controlled by the heat transfer coefficient for the inside of the tube which varies with the mass flow rate to the power 0.8. Hence for the case where only the mass flow rate changes (i.e. neglecting changes in properties due to the change in the temperatures ) we have
(where k is a constant).
Prof. Sorour 2008
Impact on Efficiency
For the case of an increase in excess air the temperature t1 will be reduced. However it can be seen that as the mass flow of gases increases k/mGo.2 which offsets the decrease in t1 and the resultant is an increase in flue gas temperature.
Prof. Sorour 2008
Impact on Efficiency
As the mass flow is increased through the outlet is increased. The mass amounts is analogous to the amount of excess air used by the gas burner.
Prof. Sorour
2008
Using Thermox Oxygen And ppm Combustibles Analyzers For Efficiency And Nox Reduction: Portable Versus Fixed (Dry Versus Wet O2)
Do not try to use the oxygen value determined from a portable analyzer as the set point for the fixed oxygen analyzer. The portable, typically fuel cell or paramagnetic based, measures on a dry basis since the water must be removed before it hits the cell.
Prof. Sorour 2008
Using Thermox Oxygen And ppm Combustibles Analyzers For Efficiency And Nox Reduction: Portable Versus Fixed (Dry Versus Wet O2)
The fixed analyzer, normally zirconium oxide based, measures the flue gas as is, including the water and thus measures on a wet basis. The dry is always higher than the wet and it can be a significant difference.
Prof. Sorour
2008
Using Thermox Oxygen And ppm Combustibles Analyzers For Efficiency And Nox Reduction: Portable Versus Fixed (Dry Versus Wet O2)
For example if you have 20% moisture in the flue gas and 3% O2 , the fixed analyzer will read 3%, whereas the portable will read 3.75%. Neither is right or wrong. They are just different ways of looking at the same thing and in fact this principle is used to measure flue gas moisture.
Prof. Sorour 2008
Using Thermox Oxygen And ppm Combustibles Analyzers For Efficiency And Nox Reduction: Portable Versus Fixed (Dry Versus Wet O2)
If you use a portable to determine the optimum O2 setpoint, and then set the O2 control at this level, the boiler will run at too high an O2 level. Thermox oxygen analyzers are designed for direct installation at the high temperature radiant section, typically 1500 - 2000 F (815 1093 C)
Prof. Sorour 2008
Excess Air % 0.0 4.5 9.5 15.0 21.1 28.1 35.9 44.9 55.3 67.3 81.6 98.7 119.7 145.8 179.5 224.3
Excess O2 % 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 10.0 11.0 12.0 13.0 14.0 15.0
Excess CO2 % 11.8 11.2 10.7 10.1 9.6 9.0 8.4 7.9 7.3 6.7 6.2 5.6 5.1 4.5 3.9 3.4
Combustion Efficiency at Net Temperature Difference 170F 86.3 86.2 86.1 85.9 85.7 85.5 85.3 85.0 84.7 84.3 83.9 83.4 82.7 82.0 81.0 79.6 220F 85.3 85.1 84.9 84.7 84.5 84.2 83.9 83.5 83.1 82.7 82.1 81.5 80.6 79.6 78.3 76.6 270F 84.2 84.0 83.8 83.5 83.2 82.9 82.5 82.1 81.6 81.0 80.3 79.5 78.5 77.3 75.7 73.5 330F 83.0 82.7 82.4 82.1 81.7 81.3 80.9 80.3 79.7 79.0 78.2 77.2 75.9 74.4 72.4 69.8 380F 81.9 81.6 81.2 80.9 80.5 80.0 79.5 78.8 78.1 77.3 76.4 75.2 73.8 72.0 69.7 66.7 430F 80.8 80.5 80.1 79.7 79.2 78.6 78.0 77.3 76.6 75.6 74.5 73.2 71.6 69.6 67.0 63.5 480F 79.7 79.3 78.9 78.4 77.9 77.3 76.6 75.8 74.9 73.9 72.7 71.2 69.4 67.1 64.2 60.4 530F 78.6 78.2 77.7 77.2 76.6 75.9 75.2 74.3 73.3 72.2 70.8 69.2 67.2 64.7 61.5 57.2 580F 77.5 77.0 76.5 75.9 75.3 74.5 73.7 72.8 71.7 70.4 68.9 67.1 64.9 62.2 58.7 54.0
Note that each fuel has its own characteristics. Therefore, these numbers are valid ONLY for natural gas.
Prof. Sorour
2008
Burner Performance
PPM of combustibles in flue gas
Loss due to excess air
Prof. Sorour
2008