Determination of industrial boiler temperature profile for oil and gas fuels

Abstract

Paper presented at the 8th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Mauritius, 11-13 July, 2011.

Industrial boilers firing oil or gas with heat input of more than 100 MMBtu/hr are commonly used in a wide range of industrial applications. Their temperature profile is an essential design parameter allowing engineers build boilers with compact size with pertinent heat transfer areas for all boiler components including furnace, superheater, boiler bank tubes, and economizer. Determination of boiler temperature profile is a tedious task requiring knowledge of combustion details, heat transfer modes, heat transfer areas, and boiler operational modes. The profile includes boiler furnace exit temperature of flue gases leaving the furnace through screen tubes, temperature downstream screen tubes, superheater exit temperature, economizer inlet temperature, and stack temperature. This paper describes procedural approach in determining temperature profile across a boiler to assist in providing accurate boiler design as well as continuously monitoring of boiler operation for reliable operation assurance in industrial facilities.