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CONTENTS
SECTION SUBJECT
1. PURPOSE
2. SCOPE
3. REFERENCES
4. GUIDELINES
4.1 Fired Heaters
4.2 Boilers
4.3 CO Boilers
4.4 Gas Turbine Exhaust-Fired Waste Heat Recovery Units
1. PURPOSE
The purpose of this guideline is to provide guidance in good practice for the
specification of control and safeguarding requirements for fired equipment. It
is applicable to fired process heaters, boilers, and fired heat recovery units.
2. SCOPE
Whilst this guideline provides useful background information it shall not take
precedence over the applicable standards for a project. The Process Control
Engineer shall liaise with both Process and Control and Instrument Engineers
to determine the design criteria and the applicable international, national, or
Client standards.
3. REFERENCES
1. API 556, Instrumentation and Control Systems for Fired Heaters and
Steam Generators
4. GUIDELINES
4.1.1 General
To provide stable operation it is essential that the flow of fuel to the heater
be controlled. This may be achieved either by controlling the pressure in the
fuel header to the burner(s) or by directly measuring and controlling the fuel
flow. Either method is acceptable, although generally flow control is more
precise, and in the case of fuel gas it is easier to provide pressure,
temperature, and composition compensation to a flow measurement (see
section 4.1.7).
The correct fuel/air ratio may be manually set by the operator using the
oxygen analyser as a guide or automatically controlled by the oxygen
analyser. If automatic control is used then it is recommended that high and
low limits be provided on the correction signal so that analyser failure does
not drive the fuel/air ratio out of the safe region. Because process heaters
usually operate at maximum loads for the majority of the time automatic
control of fuel/air ratio is not often implemented.
It is not possible to measure combustion air flow for natural draft heaters or
for heaters with induced draft fans only. In this case the air registers on the
individual burners are set manually such that there is excess air under all
operating conditions. Regulating the heater draft through operation of the
stack damper allows some adjustment of combustion air flow and hence
excess air, but this is limited by the permissible firebox pressure.
When the heater has a forced draft fan then the fuel flow/air flow ratio can
be automatically controlled because the air flow can be more readily
measured and controlled through a flow element and damper in the
combustion air supply duct. A cross-limiting control scheme is recommended
as this ensures excess air is always maintained under all firing conditions and
transients. The scheme uses selectors to ensure that more fuel cannot be
fired than can be supported by the current air flow, and the air flow cannot
be reduced below the minimum required for the current fuel flow. This
results in a scheme that increases air flow first when firing is being
increased, and decreases fuel flow first when firing is being decreased.
Combination fired heaters can burn more than one fuel simultaneously, e.g.
fuel gas and fuel oil. When combination firing occurs in a forced draught
heater, then the fuel/air ratio controls must take into account the relative air
demands of the different fuels.
Fired heaters are often used to dispose of waste process gas, e.g. on a
hydrogen plant the PSA unit tail gas is used as fuel in the reformer, and
overhead gas from the fractionator in a refinery VDU is used as fuel in the
feed heater. The need to allow for this fuel in the combustion control
scheme depends on the fraction of the total firing that it constitutes.
Fired heater duty is regulated by varying the fuel flow to the heater.
Typically the heated-fluid outlet temperature is used as an indication of the
required duty, but other variables such as column pressure, bottom level, or
product quality may be used. In some instances the operator may manually
vary the fuel flow in response to changes in the value of the process
variable, but it is more usual to utilise a cascade control scheme to
automatically adjust fuel flow, as shown in Figures 5 to 8 of Reference 1.
The firing side of the heater is usually well controlled, which means
disturbances normally enter through the process side of the heater. These
are typically changes in fluid flow and/or temperature. Fired heaters have
slow dynamics due to the inventory of fluid in the tubes and the thermal
inertia of the refractory and tubes. Therefore it is usually some time before
the duty controls can get the controlled variable back to setpoint after a
disturbance enters the heater. Where process side disturbances are
- Provide a low limit on the fuel pressure or flow controller output to the
control valve
- Provide a mechanical minimum stop on the fuel control valve
- Provide a minimum pressure override controller downstream of the main
fuel control valve
- Provide a pressure regulator set at the minimum burner pressure in a
bypass around the main control valve
The above requirements apply to fuel gas firing, and depending on the
application may also be required for fuel oil firing.
On heaters with a very large number of burners the minimum firing control
method is likely to be oversized for light off of the first few burners. This
leads to erratic fuel pressure in the header and difficulties in establishing the
first few burners. Additional facilities are required such as a small manual
globe valve bypass around the main control valve and/or a vent line to flare
from the burner header. This should be determined in conjunction with the
Commissioning Engineer.
Fuel gas flow is typically measured using an orifice plate meter. For this type
of instrument, and other differential head type meters, the measurement is
dependent on the actual gas conditions. If during operation the gas
conditions vary from design, then the fuel gas measurement becomes
inaccurate and can lead to variations in heat input. This can be overcome by
applying a correction to the measured flow. The type of correction depends
largely on whether the gas is of constant or varying composition.
Vs ∝ ∆pρ
where:
ρ ′′
Vs′′ = Vs′
ρ′
where:
P
ρ∝
T
and therefore:
P ′′T ′
Vs ′′ = Vs ′
P ′T ′′
where:
∆p.Pa
Q = Hs.Vs = Hs.ks
G.Ta
where:
For a gas having a variable composition, both Hs and G will change. These
two terms may be singled out of the above equation for purposes of applying
compensation for variable composition. This function is known as the
“Wobbe Index”:
γ = Hs / G
Fuel gases in most petroleum refineries contain hydrogen and some heavier
hydrocarbons along with methane. The effect of hydrogen on the Wobbe
Index differs from that of the heavier hydrocarbons. When the index is
plotted against specific gravity for several light hydrocarbons, a straight line
is formed if hydrogen is absent (see Reference 5). This allows a correction
factor, which is a function of specific gravity, to be applied to the gas flow
measurement.
If the process fluid flow and/or its temperature to the fired heater are subject
to fluctuations, control can be improved by using the feedback controller in
conjunction with a feed forward load demand. The control scheme for this is
shown in the diagram below. The feed forward load demand varies the heat
load dependent on the process fluid flowrate and temperature on the inlet to
the heater. That means the heat input can be adjusted before the variation of
heat load is detected by the fluid outlet temperature measurement. The
process fluid outlet temperature controller provides feedback to make a final
adjustment to the heat input.
TEMPERATURE OF TEMPERATURE OF
PROCESS FLUID PROCESS FLUID
AT OUTLET AT INLET FLOW OF
FROM HEATER TO HEATER PROCESS FLUID
TT TT FT
01 02 01
SETPOINT -
TC OF TC-01 TY
01 01
+ X
UY UY
01 02
TO AIR/FUEL CONTROLLERS
The output from TC-01 should be set to 0.5 when the measured temperature
equals its setpoint.
References 1 and 3 give typical alarm and trip initiators for fired heaters. In
addition to the automatic shutdown of the heater when an unsafe condition
is detected, the BMS may also provide automated start-up logic. The method
of heater start-up can vary from a completely manual local operation to a
semi-automated start-up with an operator interface at a remote location such
as a control room. The level of automation provided depends on such factors
as the purpose of the fired equipment, its required flexibility, and the abilities
of the operating and maintenance staff. Usually the Client will specify the
type of start-up method to be applied.
4.2 Boilers
4.2.1 General
The objectives of a boiler control system are identical to those for fired
heaters, except that the final aim is to maintain steam production. In addition
the water side of the boiler must be carefully controlled.
All the requirements for safe combustion of fuel outlined in 4.1.3 above are
applicable. Boilers are almost always forced draught, and cross-limiting
fuel/air ratio control schemes are therefore employed. Boiler load is usually
variable, and hence automatic feedback from a flue gas oxygen analyser to
the fuel/air ratio is more common to maximise efficiency.
Whereas duty control for fired heaters is usually stand-alone, the duty
control for boilers must be integrated into the overall steam system control
strategy.
Boiler feed water make-up to the steam drum must be carefully controlled to
prevent either dry out of the drum or carryover of water into the steam
header. Three-element drum level control should always be used, utilising the
steam flow, drum level, and boiler feed water flow measurements.
References 1 and 3 give details of this scheme and the reasons for using it.
Water density varies significantly between ambient pressure and the high
pressures normally encountered in boiler steam drums. As a result the level
instruments can be significantly in error when the boiler is starting up from
cold at low pressure. Consideration should be given to compensating the
level measurement for density utilising the drum pressure measurement.
4.2.5 Interfaces
4.3 CO Boilers
4.3.1 General
are unusual in that the control strategy has to meet a number of competing
objectives, usually resulting in the use of multiple controllers with override
signal selectors.
As these are special units the control scheme design will not be gone into
detail here, except to say that all the usual requirements for safe combustion
and operation must be met. Reference 1 and previous FCC project designs
should be consulted for further details.
4.4.1 General
Gas turbines are frequently used as drivers for process and utility
compressors, and for electricity generation. The turbine exhaust gases are
often routed through a heat exchanger to generate steam or heat a thermal
fluid. The turbine exhaust gas has relatively high oxygen content, and can
therefore be used to support combustion of a fuel ahead of the heat recovery
unit to increase the amount of heat recovered. This is known as
supplementary firing.
Depending on whether the unit raises steam or heats a thermal fluid, the
duty control scheme will be the same as for a boiler or a fired heater.
Whilst the firing controls for a supplementary fired heat recovery unit are no
more difficult than any other item of fired equipment, it is important that the
unit’s actual operation is properly thought through.
There may be a limit on the turbine exhaust temperature, above which the
supplementary firing cannot be started, necessitating turndown of the
turbine. However if the turbine is driving a process compressor this may not
be feasible. If the heat recovery unit is running on auxiliary combustion air
only, how is the gas turbine started up? These and other considerations
should be discussed with the relevant Process engineers and the turbine and
heat recovery unit supplier(s).