A-Z of Boiler Efficiency

Boiler House Division

Whats Boiler Efficiency

Boiler Efficiency is the percentage of heat input to the boiler which

is utilized in generating steam.
Boiler Efficiency =

Heat in the Steam generated

Heat supplied through Fuel combustion

Measuring Boiler Efficiency

1. Direct Efficiency :
Where

S
hs
FWT
GCV
F

%=

S (hs - FWT)
F X GCV

= Steam generation in Kg/hr

= enthalpy of steam at op. Pr. In Kcal/kg
= Feed water Temp
= Gross calorific value of fuel in Kcal/kg
= actual fuel flow in Kg/hr

Advantage:
Its the true delivered boiler efficiency & covers all kind of losses
Disadvantage:
It doesnt give break-up of losses

Measuring Boiler Efficiency

2. Indirect Efficiency :
% = 100 - All Boiler Losses
= 100 - stack loss L1
- loss due to water and hydrogen in fuel L2
- radiation loss L3-Un burnt losses(L4)

So,

% = 100 - (L1+ L2 + L3+L4)

This is far more useful, as this gives break up of all

boiler losses , emphasizing which area needs more attention.

Measuring Boiler Efficiency

Radiation
Loss
(1-2%)

Blow-Down
Loss
(2-5%)

Enthalpy Loss
(7-9%)
On-Off Losses
(0-2%)
Un burnt Losses
(0-6 %)

Stack Loss
(4-12 %)

Boiler Operating Efficiency Facts

Boiler Efficiency Data Collected from over a 100
boilers for CII

Gas Fired Boilers

90

85

80

75

70

65

Direct
69.8

60

55

In Direct
72.8

Ideal
81

50
1

10

11

12

Max Gap: 11%

Oil Fired Boilers

90

85

80

75

70

65

60

55

50

Direct
72.2

45

40
1

In Direct
77.3
9

11

13

15

17

19

Ideal
84
21

23

25

27

29

31

33

35

37

39

41

43

45

47

49

Max Gap: 12%

Solid Fuel fired Boilers

90

85

80

75

70

65

60

55

50

Direct
60.9

45

40
1

In Direct
64.8
9

11

13

15

17

Ideal
78
19

21

23

25

27

29

31

33

35

37

39

41

43

45

Max Gap: 18%

47

Cost of Boiler operationOil\Gas fuels

Maint Cost
5%

Electricity
cost
10%

Capital Cost
15%

Water Cost
5%

Capital Cost
Fuel Cost
Water Cost
Maint Cost
Electricity cost

Fuel Cost
65%

Cost of operation-Solid fuel

Maint Cost
10%

Capital Cost
25%

Electricity Cost
10%

Capital Cost
Fuel Cost
Water Cost

Water Cost
5%

Maint Cost
Electricity Cost

Fuel Cost
50%

What affects Fuel Bill?

Excess Air in flue gas%

Feed Water Temperature
Stack temperature
Un burnts
Number of Boiler On-Offs
Scaling on tubes
Soot Deposition
Blow down TDS
Moisture in Fuel

What to Monitor inside Boiler House

Parameters to monitor
1. Steam Flow
2. Steam Pressure
3. Fuel Flow
4. S: F ratio
5. Stack Temp
6. % O2 in Flue gas
7. Feed Water Temp
8. Blow down TDS
9. Furnace Pressure

Variation in S:F
is the culprit!

Losses: Cause, Effect & Control

Stack Loss causes
1. Excess Air
2. High Stack Temp (due to Scale/soot
Deposition)
Stack loss Control

1. Keeping Air to Fuel Ratio right

2. Keeping % O2 within limit

Oil Fired : 3-4.0 %

Gas Fired:2-3%

Solid Fired: 6-7%

3. Continuous monitoring of Stack Temp. Periodic tube cleaning

Losses: Cause, Effects & Control

Boiler On-Off Loss Causes
1. Fluctuating steam load
2. Narrow operating pressure band

Boiler On-Off Loss Effect

1. Combustion destabilization
2. Un burnts
3. Lower combustion efficiency
Boiler On-Off Loss Control
1. Changing boiler parameters according to
steam demand
2. Fuel feeding according to the load
3. Widening operating pressure band

Losses: Cause, Effects & Control

Blow down Loss Causes
1. Manual Blow down
2. TDS level above specified limit

Blow down Effects

1. Excess blow down is a direct loss
2. Lesser blow down leads to scale
deposition & lowers boiler efficiency
Blow down Control
1. Automatic Blow down control

Losses: Cause, Effects & Control

Radiation Loss causes
1. Fluctuating steam load
2. Radiation loss reduces with increase in
load
Enthalpy Loss causes
1. Fuel Hydrogen & Moisture content
Draft Loss causes & Control
1. Air leakage through Damper due to
chimney draft
2. Reducing on-off losses

Boiler Efficiency Thumb rules

1. 2% Decrease in % O2 -----
4% Efficiency improvement
2. 6 Deg C Increase in Feed water Temp due to condensate
recovery-------
1% lesser Fuel Consumption
3. 20 Deg C decrease in Stack temp-------
1% lesser Fuel
Consumption
4. 1% un burnts -------
2% Excess Fuel Consumption
5.

3 mm soot deposition on tubes increases fuel consumption by

2%

Scope for Saving

Boiler Rated efficiency: 89 %
Ideal S:F Ratio =

Boiler Rated Efficiency* GCV

(Steam Enthalpy at Op. Press-FWT)

e.g. for a Furnace Oil fired Boiler

FO calorific value : 9600 Kcal/kg
FWT: 70 Deg C
Steam enthalpy : 663 Kcal/Kg @ 9 Kg (g)
Ideal S:F Ratio =

0.89* 9600
(663-70)

= 14.4

If actual S:F ratio is 13

Scope of fuel saving = (13/14.4)*4.5

= 10 %

The gap calculated is between Actual & Ideal S:F.

Boiler Efficiency Vs Extra Fuel Consumption

Boiler Efficiency

Steam To Fuel ratio

Extra fuel consumption

89%

14.40

Not Applicable

85%

13.75

5%

80%

12.90

11%

78%

12.62

13%

Effimax: National Accolade

Copyright Forbes Marshall,

2006-07

What is Effimax??
SCADA based Online Boiler Efficiency Measurement System
Online Boiler Efficiency Measurement
Boiler House Losses Break up
Combustion quality monitoring
Logging & Trending of Boiler Parameters
Web Connectivity-Remote boiler
monitoring
Useful Diagnostics/Continuous
Performance Evaluation
Copyright Forbes Marshall,
2006-07

What Effimax helps in achieve??

Enhancing Boiler Efficiency
Knowing where we are??
Knowing gap between ideal & actual
Efficiency
Detailing areas of improvement
Effimax boiler data analysis
Fine tuning boiler SOP to meet loading
pattern
Fuel Bill Reduction
Copyright Forbes Marshall,
2006-07

EFFIMAX Variants with Application

Effimax 1000
What Its?

What It does?

Online Boiler Steam to Fuel Analyzer

Calculates S:F ratio

Touch Screen Based System with PC

Connectivity

Calculates Boilers Direct Efficiency

Plots variation in S:F with Load
Monitors Steam Flow, Fuel Flow,
Feed Water Temp & Steam Pressure

Application
All Oil/gas fired boilers up to 2 TPH
Copyright Forbes Marshall,
2006-07

Effimax 2000
What Its?

What It does?

Online Boiler Efficiency Analyzer

Calculates Boilers in- Direct Efficiency

Touch Screen Based System with

PC Connectivity

Break up of all boiler losses

(Stack Loss , Blow down Loss, Enthalpy
Loss , Radiation Loss)

Application
All Solid fuel fired Boilers

Automatic Blow Down control

Monitors Steam Flow, % O2 ,
Feed Water Temp , Stack Temp, Steam
Pressure, Boiler TDS,
Minute, Hourly & Daily Summary
Report

Copyright Forbes Marshall,

2006-07

Trending of Key parameters w.r.t Load

Effimax 3000
What Its?
Online Boiler Efficiency Analyzer
Touch Screen Based System with
PC connectivity

Application
All Oil/Gas fired Boilers above 2
TPH

What It does?
Calculates Boilers in- Direct Efficiency
& Steam to Fuel ratio
Break up of all boiler losses
(Stack Loss , Blow down Loss, Enthalpy
Loss , Radiation Loss)
Automatic Blow Down control
Monitors Steam Flow, Fuel Flow ,% O2
Feed Water Temp , Stack Temp, Steam
Pressure, Boiler TDS
Minute, Hourly & Daily Summary
Report

Copyright Forbes Marshall,

2006-07

Trending of Key parameters w.r.t Load

Effimax Schematic

Hourly Report

Copyright Forbes Marshall,

2006-07

Analyzing Effimax reports

EffiMax User interface

Hourly Report

Copyright Forbes Marshall,

2006-07

S: F Variation
captured

Variation in % O2
captured

Variation in % O2
captured

TDS maintained in the

boiler

Variation in steam
pressure captured

Boiler SOP as per EFFIMAX Reports

Correct blower fan settings

O2 variation
Action

Impact
Un burnts & stack
loss reduction

Boiler pressure variation

Correct Operating pressure band selection

Action

Impact
On Off loss reduction,
Improved dryness
Correct Fuel Feed Rate determination

Steam Load variation

Action

Impact
Improved combustion
efficiency

Partial Reference List

TEXTILES

SEP

Indocount

Kolhapur

Habib Agro

Mysore

Bindal Silk

Surat

Cargill

Gandhidham

Welspun

Gandhidham

Cargill

Paradeep

Janaki

Bhilwara

Kanpur Edibles

Kanpur

Sulzer Processor

Bhilwara

Sheel Chand Agro

Rudrapur

Ranjan Processor

Bhilwara

Shri Shri Niwasji

Raebareli

Sangam Processors

Bhilwara

Astha Industries

Rae bareli

Anant Syntex

Bhilwara

Hemraj Oils

Kolkata

RSR Mohota

Nagpur

Vaighai OIls

Madurai

Gimatex

Nagpur

Amrit Banaspati

Rajpura

Shriji Prints

Surat

Sita Edibles

Nagpur

Niharika

Surat

Aishwarya Prints

Surat

Alok Industries

Vapi

Partial Reference List

PHARMA

BREWERIES & BEVERAGES

Zydus

Sikkim

Balaji Breweries

Chennai

Zydus

Baroda

Millenium Breweries

Aurangabad

Hetero

Hyderabad

Som Breweries

Bhopal

DRL

Vizag

Fosters

Aurangabad

DRL

Hyderabad

UB

Mangalore

Ranbaxy

Mohali

UB-KBDL

Bangalore

Torrent

Ahmedabad

Pepsico Fritolays

Kolkata

Novartis

Goa

Pepsi

Malaysia

Lupin

Goa,Tarapur

Pepsi

Aurangabad

Cipla

Kurkumbh,Baddi,Sikkim

Pepsi

Mumbai

Piramal

Hyderabad

Coca Cola

Ahmedabad

Teva

UP,Canada

Brindavan Bottlers

Lucknow

Biological E

Hyderabad

UB

Daruhera,Delhi

Syngenta

Goa

Tata Coffee

Madurai

Partial Reference List

PAPER

FOOD,FMCG

Jollyboard

Aurangabad

Nestle

Malaysia

Madhya Desh

Nagpur

Nestle

Manesar (Haryana)

Nithya Packaging

Chennai

Maccain Foods Ahmedabad

Modinagar Paper

UP

HUL

Nashik

Prolific Paper

UP

Haldiram

Delhi,Nagpur

Kaygaon Paper

Aurangabad

Dabur

Delhi,Kolkata,Srilanka

Ganga Paper

Pune

P&G

Baddi

Banwari Paper

Kashipur

Amul Dairy

Baroda

Venkraft Paper

Chennai

Doodhsagar

Ahmedabad

Ballavpur Paper

Kolkata

Sabar Dairy

Ahmedabad

Chandariya Paper Mills Kenya

Supreme Duplex

Madurai

Boilers with EFFIMAX operate 5-10% more

efficiently than without it!

Boiler House Division

Forbes Marshall (P) Ltd
PB:29, Old Mumbai Pune
Highway
Kasarwadi, Pune