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FURNACE / FIRED HEATER

An industrial furnace or direct fired heater is an equipment used to provide heat


for a process or can serve as reactor which provides heats of reaction. Furnace
designs vary as to its function, heating duty, type of fuel and method of
introducing combustion air.
Several classifications of furnace:
i)
ii)
iii)

Natural draft.
Induced draft.
Forced & Induced draft.

Burner
Fuel flows into the burner and is burnt with air provided from an air blower. There
can be more than one burner in a particular furnace which can be arranged in
cells which heat a particular set of tubes. Burners can also be floor mounted, wall
mounted or roof mounted depending on design.
Damper
The stack damper contained within works like a butterfly valve and regulates
draft (pressure difference between air intake and air exit) in the furnace, which is
what pulls the flue gas through the convection section

Radiant Section
The flames heat up the tubes, which in turn heat the fluid inside in the first part of
the furnace known as the radiant section or firebox. In this chamber where
combustion takes place, the heat is transferred mainly by radiation to tubes
around the fire in the chamber. The heating fluid passes through the tubes and is
thus heated to the desired temperature.
Convection Section
The gases from the combustion are known as flue gas. After the flue gas leaves
the firebox, most furnace designs include a convection section where more heat
is recovered before venting to the atmosphere through the flue gas stack. Heat
transfer takes place by convection here, and the tubes are finned to increase
heat transfer.
Crossover is the term used to describe the tube that connects from the
convection section outlet to the radiant section inlet.

Stack
The flue gas stack is a cylindrical structure at the top of all the heat transfer
chambers. The breeching directly below it collects the flue gas and brings it up
high into the atmosphere where it will not endanger personnel.

Insulation
Insulation is an important part of the furnace because it prevents excessive heat
loss. Refractory materials such as firebrick, castable refractory and ceramic fibre,
are used for insulation. The floor of the furnace are normally castable type
refractories while those on the walls are nailed or glued in place. Ceramic fibre is
commonly used for the roof and wall of the furnace and is graded by its density
and then its maximum temperature rating. For eg: 8# 2,300F means 8 lb/ft 3
density with a maximum temperature rating of 2,300F
Sootblowers
Sootblowers utilize flowing media such as water, air or steam to remove deposits
from the tubes. Sootblowers are found in the convection section. As this section
is above the radiant section and air movement is slower because of the fins, soot
tends to accumulate here

Burner Operation

Traditional premix burners on a process heater premix the fuel with the primary
air which is inspired to the burner by the fuel gas flow. The pressure of the fuel
gas supply is important since low gas pressure degrades performance. The
primary air flow should be maximized without lifting the flame off the burner. Most
of the air (as primary air) is delivered to the burner along with the fuel. Secondary
air is introduced and adjusted with the registers.
The primary air register supplies primary air, which is the first to be introduced in
the burner. Secondary air is added to supplement primary air. Burners may
include a premixer to mix the air and fuel for better combustion before introducing
into the burner.
A furnace burner can be lit by a small pilot flame or in some older models,
matches... Most pilot flames nowadays are lit by an ignition transformer (much
like a car's spark plugs). The pilot flame in turn lights up the main flame. The pilot
flame uses natural gas while the main flame can use both diesel and natural gas.
When using liquid fuels, an atomizer is used, otherwise, the liquid fuel will simply
pour onto the furnace floor and become a hazard. Using a pilot flame for lighting
the furnace increases safety and ease. (compared to using a match).
General Procedure to Ignite Burner
i)
ii)
iii)
iv)

Conduct pressure test on the gas pipework to ensure that it is gas tight.
Check the movement of the secondary and/or primary air register.
Lubricate the spindle if necessary.
Check that no combustible gas is present inside furnace chamber using
gas meter.
With the primary air register closed, insert gas lighting torch or igniter to
ignite the burner or the pilot burner. For burner that comes with pilot
burner, main burner can be ignited by simply open the valve to the main
burner.
Igniter or torch can be inserted through secondary air register or through
special opening for the torch.

v)
vi)

Slowly open the primary air register to give short bluish flame.
The secondary air register should be adjusted to give the required O 2
content in the furnace exhaust gas.

Burner Shutdown
i)
ii)

Close the primary air register (to ensure fuel rich mixture & to avoid pop).
Close the valve.

Burner Troubleshooting
Malfunction
Blow-off

Probable Cause
Draft too high.
Clogged gas tip.

Back-fire

Draft too low.


Lack of air.
Gas tip burnt.
Firing rate is not ok.

Countermeasures
Adjust draft.
Dismantle the main burner &
clean the gas tip.
Increase the draft.
Increase the air flow.
Replace the gas tip.
Adjust the firing rate.

Combustion Fundamental
Combustion is a chemical reaction between combustible material or fuel &
oxygen releasing heat. The basic reactions of combustion are:

Types of Combustion
i)

Perfect combustion:
When the amount of O2 supplied is in stoichiometric:

ii)

Complete combustion:
When the amount of O2 is bigger than stoichiometric:

iii)

Incomplete combustion:
When the amount of O2 supplied is not enough:

Heating Value:

Definition HHV: when a perfect mixture air-fuel at 25 oC is burned and the product
composition is cooled to 25oC, the total liberated heat is called the high heating
value.
1st reaction : the liberated heat is the HHV.
2nd reaction: the liberated heat is the LHV.
The heating value of gaseous mixture can calculated using following formula:
LHV mix = LHVi yi

Air- fuel Ratio


The percentage of excess air can be expressed as follows:

It can also be expressed as:

The amount of oxygen in the stack is obtained by analysis of the flue gas,
therefore the sampling & analysis of such gas is very important.

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START UP OF A FURNACE / FIRED HEATER


1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)

Ensure there is flow inside heater tube.


Start IDF.
Start FDF.
Wait for 30 minutes to purge any combustible gas inside the
furnace.
Control draft at -4 to -5 mm Hg.
Leaktest of the gas line. If no leakage, no pressure drop is
observed.
If leaktest pass, reset to open shut off valves (double block &
bleed).
Open valve to flare and use PCV to control pressure at 0.15 kg/cm 2.
Ignite burner according to schedule (1 or 2 at one time). Heating rate is
50oC/hr.
After all burner ignited, firing is increased by increasing the burner
pressure. Stick to the rate 50oC/hr to 920oC..
Increase flow, temperature etc as scheduled.

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SHUT DOWN
Shut down is the reverse of start up.
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

7)

Reduce the flow as scheduled.


At the minimum gas flow rate reduce the firing at the rate of 50 oC/hr by
reducing the back pressure of the burner followed by burner extinguishing.
Open the valve to flare if required.
When the temperature is at 800oC, shut down the furnace by pressing the
shut down button without vent (IDF & FDF will shutdown, double block &
bleed valves to the burners will close).
Close the individual burner valve.
Close the blocking valves for NG to double block & bleed shut off valves &
NG valve to flare.
Restart the IDF & FDF to cool the coil.
Close the dampers & burner air register to avoid rapid cooling inside the
furnace. Stick to the cooling rate of 50oC/hr of the radiant chamber (by
adjusting the dampers.
If available, let N2 flowing through the furnace tube to avoid local
overheating.

Dry Out
Dry out is procedure to dry the refractory bricks during commissioning at a very
slow heating rate (10oC/hr 30oC/hr) to avoid crack from occurring due
vaporization of humidity inside the bricks.
Dry out need to be carried out for any new installed bricks during initial start up or
after changing to new bricks.
Normal Operation
Operator needs to monitor the followings:
i)
ii)
iii)
iv)
v)
vi)
vii)

The temperature at every parts of the heater.


The draft.
Visual check of the tubes by opening the peep holes.
Visual inspection of heater outer shell.
Check the burner firing, adjust the air register if necessary. The flame
should not touch the furnace tube/coil, no back fire & not extinguished .
Measure the skin temperature of the tube. Skin temperature should not
exceed the design skin tube temperature. Adjust the burner firing if
necessary.
IDF & FDF operations: check any abnormal sound, check the lubrication
oil, bearing and motor temperature.

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Furnace Interlock
Some of the important interlocks for furnace:
i)
ii)
iii)
iv)
v)

Furnace will shut down if the temperatures are exceeding certain limit
(depends on the location of the temperature detector).
Furnace will shut down if IDF or FDF is not operating.
Furnace will shutdown if the pressure of fuel is too high or too low.
Furnace will shutdown if the draft is too high or too low.
Furnace will shutdown if no flow is detected inside the tubes.

Control & Instrumentation


As in simplified PFD. In general there are important control loop:
i)
ii)

Draft control.
Temperature control.

Instrumentation:
Some of the important instrumentation in a furnace:
i)
ii)
iii)

Draft.
Temperatures of the radiant, convention & stack.
Temperature of the gas inlet, cross over & the outlet.

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