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Boiler Ef ciency Calculation: a complete


guide
Boiler ef ciency is a quantity that indicates the relationship between input energy
entering the boiler with output energy produced by the boiler. However, the boiler
ef ciency calculation can be de ned in three ways:

1. Combustion Ef ciency
2. Thermal Ef ciency
3. Fuel-to-Steam Ef ciency

Boiler Combustion Ef ciency

Combustion boiler ef ciency generally describes the ability of a burner to burn the entire
fuel into the boiler combustion chamber (furnace). The ef ciency of this type is calculated
from the amount of fuel that does not burn along with the amount of air combustion air
(air excess). Burning boiler can be said to be ef cient if there is no remaining fuel in the
end outlet of boiler combustion chamber, so does the number of residual air.

To obtain high combustion ef ciency, burner and boiler combustion chamber must be
designed as optimal as possible. On the other hand differences in the use of fuels also
affect the ef ciency of combustion. It is known that liquid fuel and gas (LNG and HSD)
produce higher combustion ef ciency than solid fuels such as coal.

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Calculating the combustion ef ciency of the boiler is not dif cult, we just need to reduce
the total amount of heat energy released by thermal energy burning that passes out
through the stack (chimney) divided by the total heat energy.

Where:

: boiler combustion ef ciency (%)

: The total heat of combustion energy (calories; Joule)

: Heat energy passing out through the chimney (calories; Joule)

The only dif cult thing in calculating the combustion ef ciency is how to pursuit the
optimal number. Combustion ef ciency is characterized by the overall fuel burning in the
combustion chamber. While the control parameters are used to ensure the overall fuel
burning, is the amount of air combustion (air excess) coming out through the stack. The
more the amount of air excess coming out through the chimney, then the more likely the
amount of unburned fuel can pass through the chimney. But you should remember that
the more the amount of excess water passing through the chimney, the amount of heat
energy escaping the rest of airborne is also growing. Therefore there is an optimum

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number of excess amounts of air, so that the boiler combustion ef ciency can obtain the
most optimal number.

Appears in the graph illustration above that the higher the amount of air (oxygen) passing
through the stack, the smaller amount of fuel including carbon monoxide burned
imperfectly. But as we have discussed above, the higher the amount of air excess, so the
combustion ef ciency chart is going to go back down, since the heat energy was coming
away with the rest of the air. Then certainly there is an optimum value of the air excess to
obtain the best combustion ef ciency. As an illustration, the optimum value of air excess
to the combustion of natural gas is 5 to 10%, liquid fuel at the rate of 5 to 20%, and 15 to
60% for coal combustion.

Boiler Thermal Ef ciency

Boiler thermal ef ciency shows how the performance in terms of its function as a heat
exchanger. The ef ciency calculation will show how effective the transfer of heat energy
from the combustion process of fuel into the air. However, the ef ciency calculation is not
very accurate, because it does not account for the loss of heat radiation and convection
that are not absorbed by water. In addition, the calculation of the thermal ef ciency of the
boiler cannot be used for economic analysis, because these calculation doesn’t take
notice carefully the amount of fuel consumed. On this basis we will not discuss more
about the calculation of the thermal ef ciency of the boiler.

One that is considered the most effective way to determine the performance of broiler
more closely is to count Ef ciency of Fuel-to-Steam (commonly referred to as Fuel
Ef ciency). In addition to considering the effectiveness of the boiler as a heat exchanger

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(thermal ef ciency), the calculation of boiler’s fuel ef ciency also notices losses due to
radiation heat transfer and convection. The calculation of boiler’s fuel ef ciency boiler
should consider the consumption amount of fuel used, so it is very appropriate to be used
as a point of boiler economic analysis.

Direct Method

There are two popular methods for calculating the fuel ef ciency of the boiler; the direct
method and the indirect one. The direct method, known as method of input-output, is
done by comparing directly the heat energy absorbed by the water so that the change
phase into a vapor (output energy) with the thermal energy generated by burning fuel in
the boiler’s combustion chamber (input energy). Simple formulation of calculation using
the direct method can be described as follows:

Where:

: Boiler Fuel Ef ciency (%)

: Total heat energy absorbed by water vapor (calories; Joule)

: Discharge of water vapor out of boiler (kg / h)

: Steam enthalpy out of boiler (kcal/kg)

: Water enthalpy entering boiler (kcal/kg)

: The heat energy produced by fuel burning (calories; Joule)

: Debit of fuel requirement (kg/h)

: Gross Calori c Value (kcal/kg)

In the direct method, there are some parameters that should be measured with precision
in order to get an accurate calculation results. These parameters include:
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1. Water discharge (feedwater) into the boiler


2. Water discharge desuperheater
3. Overall secondary ow rate as boiler blowdown, auxiliary steam, and so forth.
4. Pressure and temperature of the entire ow of a working uid such as water entry, exiting
steam superheater, entering and exiting reheater steam, auxiliary steam, and others.
5. Debit fuel needs
6. Calori c value (heating value) fuels
7. Other incoming energy

The following table shows the advantages and disadvantages of the methods of direct
and indirect in the calculation of Boiler Fuel Ef ciency.

Advantages Disadvantages

Direct Method

Debit and fuel heating value, as well as debit


The primary parameters of the de nition of
and steam water properties, should be
Boiler Fuel Ef ciency (input-output) are
calculated as accurately as possible to
calculated directly.
minimize inaccuracies.

Not able to demonstrate the potential


Only requires a little calculation.
causes of inef ciency.

Does not require the value assumption of Must use indirect methods to assess the
immeasurable loss. accuracy of the calculation.

Indirect Method

The primary calculations such as ue gas


Requiring more calculations than the direct
analyzer and exhaust gas temperature can
method.
be done very accurately.

Calculations correction can be done to


Not able to provide the data capacity and
pursue the existing standards or to the
output automatically.
ful llment of the warranty.

Has a low level of uncertainty, because the


calculation of the loss re ects only a small Some loss points can’t be measured so that
fraction of the total available energy its value should be assumed.
conversion.

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Biggest loss source can be known.

Error calculation rate is relatively low.

Indirect Method

What is meant by the indirect calculation of Boiler Fuel Ef ciency is a calculation that
does not directly involve the formulation of the main components of the input and output
boiler ef ciency energy, but by calculating the losses that exist. Let us consider the
following formula:

And if:

And then:

The de nitions of inputs, credit, outputs, as well as the losses are in accordance with the
following illustration which we have quoted from the standard book of ASME.

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In accordance with the formula above, the calculation of the ef ciency of indirect done by
reverse the focus to the parameters of losses and credit energy. What meant by credit
energy is secondary energies entering the boiler in addition to the primary energy of the
fuel. While losses are parameters of wasted energy that are not converted into heat
energy in the steam. Calculation instruction and measurement of these parameters are
elaborated clearly through standardization issued by the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers (ASME).

The indirect method is done with great detail on each measured parameter, so that the
level of accuracy is considered much better than the direct method. But of course the
indirect method requires a greater cost because it requires special equipment. For this
reason many experts consider the indirect method is more suitable for use in large-scale
boilers and certainly not very suitable used to calculate the ef ciency of small boilers.

One parameter that should be taken into account in the both methods (direct and indirect)
is the input energy from the fuel. In the indirect method, the input energy symbolized by
the QrF is formulated as follows:

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Where:

= The ow rate of input fuel (kg/s)

= The heating value of fuel (J/kg)

The above formula looks identical to the formulation of the input energy in the calculation
of the direct method’s ef ciency. One important component coming into the formula
above is the heating value of fuel. As we discussed in another article about the heating
value, that there are two types of heating value, namely the higher heating value (HHV)
and the lower heating value (LHV). Both are equally re ect the calori c value contained in
the fuel, but both have a distinct difference in value. In most of the fuel, the HHV value
tends to be bigger than the LHV. So if it is associated with the calculation of the ef ciency
of the boiler, the boiler ef ciency value using HHV as a reference would be relatively small
compared with the calculation of Boiler Fuel Ef ciency using LHV as a reference.

References:

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME PTC 4-2008)


The Engineering Toolbox
Automation Wiki: Boiler Ef ciency
Boiler Ef ciency and Combustion

*Original article: Cara Menghitung E siensi Boiler


*Translated by: Todi

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