ESL-IE-10-05-01
New Approach to Optimizing Fired Heaters
Ashutosh Garg, Vice President, Furnace Improvements Services, Sugar Land, TX
Fired heaters are the largest consumers of energy heaters load keeps on changing due to several factors
in refineries and petrochemical plants. Most heaters such as feed flow rate, feed temperature, variation in
in the industry are not operating at their peak fuel composition, etc. Even changes in the ambient
efficiency. There could be several reasons for that. temperature can affect the performance of the heater.
One of the common reasons is the fluctuation in the As a result, the design parameters in which the Fired
heater operating conditions and continuous need for Heater operates become inadequate to optimize the
optimization of the heater operating parameters. It is heater performance.
not possible to optimize the heater operation with
fluctuating loads using current equipment. A recent heater optimization survey, carried out
on a heater in Germany, indicated that it is possible to
FIS has developed a two-prong approach to take optimize a heater by making simple adjustments. The
care of this problem. The “Heater Performance results of energy savings were in the order of 2-3%.
Index” software is built into the DCS and monitors With this knowledge we have developed a
the key performance indicators round the clock. It is combination of software and hardware based controls
based on modeling of the heater and provides that can control the heater and optimize the
direction to the operators to optimize the heater. In performance at all times. For a 100,000-barrel-per-
addition, FIS has developed hardware based control day (BPD) refinery, even 2-3% improvement in
schemes which can optimize the heater automatically. thermal efficiency translates into energy savings of
Optimizing the heater operation will prolong heater almost 2.5 Million Dollars per year. These schemes
life and reduce NOx emissions. will pay out in less than a year!
INTRODUCTION
Petroleum Refining is the most energy intensive
industry in the USA and accounts for 7.5% of the
total energy consumption in the country. Energy
purchases from outside sources cost about 3.8 Billion
Dollars (1998) per year. Large percentage of energy
is produced inside the refinery. If we include that we
are estimating a total energy cost of 20 Billion
Dollars at 6 $/MMBtu, energy consumed in the
refining industry is around 7.1 Quadrillion Btu/year.
Petroleum refining relies heavily on refining by-
products as energy sources. About 6% of the
petroleum is used as fuel. The situation is very
similar in the Petrochemical and Fertilizer Industry.
The production of Ethylene, a basic raw material for
plastics, requires 22 MMBtu/ton of Ethylene. The
energy required for the production of Ammonia, the
basic raw material for urea and other fertilizers, is
around 28.5 MMBtu/ton of Ammonia.
Fired heaters are major consumers of energy in the
Refining and Petrochemical Industries. Almost 40 to
70% of the total energy consumption in a refinery or
petrochemical plants is in fired heaters. While most
of the heaters are designed for a thermal efficiency of
70-90%, the actual operating efficiencies are much
lower. This is due to the fact that these heaters are not Figure 1. Typical Cabin fired heater
constantly operating at the design conditions. The
Proceedings from the Thirty-second Industrial Energy Technology Conference, New Orleans, LA, May 19-22, 2010.
ESL-IE-10-05-01
FIRED HEATERS section and stack, flue gases encounter friction
A typical fired heater consists of three major resistance and these are known as draft losses.
components: Radiant section, Convection section and
Stack. Figure 1 shows an inside view of a typical Draft depends directly to the ambient temperature.
Cabin fired heater. In a fired heater, the heat Any variation in the ambient temperature affects the
liberated by the combustion of fuels is transferred to draft availability. For example, if we have a 30° F
fluids contained in coils. differential between the maximum and minimum
temperature during the day, the draft available across
The combustion is an exothermic reaction the burner will change from 0.30 to 0.35 in WC, a
resulting from rapid combination of fuel with change of almost 20%. This change in draft will lead
Oxygen. Fuel and air must be mixed thoroughly for to more combustion air supplied to the burners,
complete combustion. In theory, it is possible to burn making the operation inefficient. It is very important
fuel completely with just the stoichiometric amount to maintain a constant draft in the heater at all times.
of combustion air. In actual operating conditions, it is
not possible to have perfect mixing of fuel and air. If The heaters must be kept always under negative
theoretical amount of combustion air is provided then pressure. Negative pressure makes the heater
some fuel would not burn completely. Therefore, it inherently safe and prevents hot flue gases to escape
becomes necessary to supply excess air to complete from the fired heater. A positive pressure inside the
combustion of the fuel. Excess air is expressed as a heater will cause flue gas leakage and damage to the
percentage of the theoretical quantity of air required fired heater casing and structure. And more
for perfect combustion. This excess air shows up as important, a positive pressure can be hazardous to the
excess Oxygen in the flue gases. Minimizing the operating personnel.
excess air will improve the efficiency of the heater
and reduce the NOx emissions. However, sufficient A typical draft profile is show in Figure 2. The
air must be provided to obtain the correct and floor of the heater, where the burners are typically
desirable flame shape and complete combustion. located, gains draft due to the radiant section’s stack
effect. Typical draft gains are of the order of 0.1 in
Burners start and maintain combustion in the WC per 10 ft of box height. A typical value of heater
firebox of the heater. They introduce fuel and air in draft at the floor is of the order of 0.3-0.4 in WC for
the correct proportions, mix the fuel gas and air, cabin heaters and 0.5-0.7 in WC for tall vertical
provide a source of ignition, and stabilize the flame. cylindrical heaters. In the convection section, the flue
Most of the burners in fired heaters operate under gases encounter resistance due to the tubes but gain
natural draft. All natural draft burners are sized for a some draft due to the convection section height. In
specific draft loss across the burner throat. Providing
higher draft than design will induce more air and
providing lower draft will lead to insufficient air for
combustion. There are also self inspirating premix STACK
EXIT LOSS
burners. These are used in special heaters such as
Steam Methane Reforming heaters, and Ethane and STACK
(SE)a STACK
EDC Cracking heaters. Most of these are partially ________ EFFECT
dependent on the draft available in the heater. Other IN STACK
Pc
type of burners are forced draft burners which get the
air supply from a fan and are not dependent on the
NEGATIVE PRESSURE
heater natural draft. 0.05"- 0.1" W.G. AT
TOP OF RADIANT
CONVECTION (SE)c SECTION
SECTION
Draft has many meanings, but in our case it refers
to the air or flue gas pressure that should always be
slightly negative with respect to the atmospheric 0.05"- 0.1"
RADIANT SECTION
W.G. DRAFT
pressure. The hot flue gases inside the fired heater are DRAFT AT RADIANT
Pb
lighter than the cold ambient air outside. This results SECTION OUTLET,
R0
in the creation of a slightly negative pressure inside
the fired heater. Combustion air is drawn into the
(SE)r
burners from the atmosphere and the hot gas flows
out of the stack to the atmosphere due to the pressure Pa
NEGATIVE POSITIVE
differential. While passing through the convection BURNERS
PRESSURE PRESSURE
0
Figure 2. Draft profile
Proceedings from the Thirty-second Industrial Energy Technology Conference, New Orleans, LA, May 19-22, 2010.
ESL-IE-10-05-01
case the convection section becomes fouled the In most of the heaters, existing dampers installed
pressure drop across the convection section will go have a very poor quality and are not suitable for
up and the heater arch draft can become positive. controlling draft. Most of these dampers are not
designed for control and have only a limited number
The draft in the fired heater is controlled by means of blades. It is important to have multiple opposed
of a stack damper (natural draft systems). The arch of blades damper for control. With a parallel blade
the heater or inlet to the convection section is the damper, the control becomes very difficult. It
point with the highest pressure and thus has been becomes clear when you look at the control
used as a point of control. A typical value of 0.1 in characteristic of the two types of dampers.
WC should be maintained at the arch. Controlling the excess Oxygen and available draft are
key parameters to improve the efficiency of a fired
In the stack, the stack damper is provided to heater.
control the draft and there is a certain draft loss
associated with the damper. If the stack damper is OPTIMIZING FIRED HEATER
closed too far, the arch draft will become positive and In a recent field optimization exercise at a refinery
similarly if it is opened too far, it will lead to a very in Germany for 3 heaters, an important impact of
high draft at the arch. The required stack height field optimization was accomplished in the heaters.
provides the draft required to maintain negative
pressure at arch and take care of losses in the One of those heaters was a horizontal tube cabin
convection section and stack. The stack damper heater in a reboiler service. It was designed for a heat
works as an upstream pressure controller. The duty of 87.3 MMBtu/hr. The process feed was heated
burners are provided with air register to control the from 435° to 453° F. The heater had 15 burners
air supply to the burners. Closing the burner’s air installed at the floor and it was almost 50 ft long. The
registers reduces the airflow but increases the heater heater had two off takes on top of the convection
draft. Closing the stack damper reduces the fired section that are connected to the common duct
heater draft. In order to adjust excess air, the stack leading to a 600 ft stack which serve for 14 other
damper must be adjusted in conjunction with the heaters.
burner’s air registers.
Before After
Before After
Before After Before After
Figure 3. Heater performance, before and after adjustments
Proceedings from the Thirty-second Industrial Energy Technology Conference, New Orleans, LA, May 19-22, 2010.
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Typical Draft Control & Instrumentation
Figure 3 shows the performance of the heaters before
and after making the adjustments in the stack damper
To
and burner’s air registers. DCS/ PdT I/P PIC
PLC
ZSL
The results obtained are listed below:
Process Fluid
Inlet
Draft decreased from (-) 0.6 in WC to about (- PT
Existing
O2, CO
) 0.27 in WC. AT
DCS / PLC
Operating excess Oxygen was around 4-5% PT
before adjustments. It was reduced to 3%. PAHH
PI
Stack temperature was reduced from 635° to To
DCS/
AIC
PT
Heater
600° F. PLC
The thermal efficiency of the heater increased
by about 3%. Heater efficiency went up
from 79% to 82%. Process Fluid
NOx Emissions from the heater were Outlet
reduced from 110 mg/Nm3 to 50 mg/Nm3. FT
FI
To
DCS/
PLC
Because the fired heater’s conditions changes Fuel gas
constantly, the stack damper and the burner’s air Burners
registers have to be adjusted also constantly in order
to maintain these improvements. These adjustments Figure 4. FIS automatic draft control
are not complicated when the fired heater has the
adequate instruments and controls working correctly.
However, most of the heaters have manual damper The scheme proposed is very reliable as it takes into
operation. These days, operators are having a lot of account a number of parameters before making any
problems to control draft using the stack damper. It is adjustments.
almost impossible to do this job manually.
Heater Oxygen control
This problem could be solve by adding a pneumatic Fuel firing rate
operator to the stack damper and control manually ΔP across damper
from the control room. This approach will require a Damper position switch
panel mounted draft gauge pneumatic.
Arch draft
However, one of the problems in pneumatic operated
By monitoring these parameters, the adjustment to
dampers is the under sizing of the pneumatic
the heater draft is very safe and secure. Figure 4
operator. As a result, the damper movement is not
illustrates the draft control system proposed by FIS.
smooth and takes place intermittently. This needs to
be avoided as operators are scared to operate such
Another approach to improve the efficiency of the
dampers. These actuators should be sized at
heater is the “Heater performance Index (HPI)”. This
minimum operating air pressure. The dampers should
is a software solution which will not only increase the
be provided with a manual hand wheel to be used in
efficiency of the heater; it will also ensure the best
case of emergency. The linkage should be stronger. A
possible performance of your heater at all times and
typical over sizing should be 300% of the calculated
all conditions.
torque to take into account duct deposits, dead loads
and thermal distortion.
The HPI is a computer based analytical system
that can be used for any kind of fired heater. It is an
A better approach is The Automatic Control of Draft.
online tool many used to monitor the performance of
In this option draft is automatically controlled to the
the heater 24/7. The HPI software thoroughly
set value by adjusting the stack damper. In the past,
analyzed the current performance of the heater by
this scheme has not worked successfully as it was not
taking live data from the DCS and performing
implemented correctly. In today’s world with
calculations. It is really easy to use and if the heater
improved instrumentation and controls, this scheme
is found deficient in any area, action items are
can be implemented on DCS system or in a
alarmed to correct the issue immediately generating a
standalone PLC controller. The typical control
scheme developed by my company is explain below.
Proceedings from the Thirty-second Industrial Energy Technology Conference, New Orleans, LA, May 19-22, 2010.
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Figure 5. HPI monitor view
message to provided guidelines for the operators I highly recommend the installation of “The
(Figure 5). Automatic Control of Draft” and the use of “Heater
performance Index (HPI)”. Both, hardware and
HPI will analyze the following parameters: software based controls, will improve the efficiency
• Tube Metal Temperatures of your heater, increase the run length and optimize
• Coking inside Tubes their performance. The payback time for these minor
• Burner plugging & Fuel Gas Pressure at Burners modifications is estimated to be less than 6 months.
• Draft and Excess Oxygen
• Flow Distribution ABOUTH THE AUTHOR
• Stack Temperature and Efficiency Ashutosh Garg has more than 36 years of hands on
• Convection Section Performance practical experience in design, engineering and
• Fuel Saving Potential troubleshooting of Fired Heaters. He has also being
giving Fired Heaters Training for more than 13 years.
HPI is custom built for each heater based on He graduated from I.I.T. Kanpur, India in 1974. He
analysis of heater operating data and modeling. HPI worked with KTI India, Engineers India and, KTI
helps increase the run length of heaters by taking Corp in their heater group for almost 20 years. Since
corrective action. Any significant deviations of the 1996, he is leading more than 50 engineers and
key process parameters from the desired values are designers at Furnace Improvements. He is a
highlighted and can be corrected. registered professional engineer and member of
AIChE and ASME. He is also a member of API
CONCLUSIONS subcommittee on Heat Transfer Equipment. He has
Improving the efficiency of a fired heater can be published several papers on Fired Heaters in
done without major modifications. Controlling the magazines such as Chemical Engineering,
draft and excess Oxygen in the fired heater will Hydrocarbon Processing, International Petroleum
reduce the fuel consumption and NOx emissions. Refining and others.
Proceedings from the Thirty-second Industrial Energy Technology Conference, New Orleans, LA, May 19-22, 2010.
