Fired heater coils

The petroleum feedstocks that contain sulfur as an impurity are handled under ambient conditions in carbon-steel tanks and pipelines where the corrosion attack by sulfur is less severe. In the desulfurization step, vaporized feedstock is processed at 400°C in the presence of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and carbonyl sulfide (COS) - both of which are highly corrosive. Stainless Steels (SS) 304, 316 or 321 (for the fired heater) are used as the material of construction for various pieces of process equipment in this section of the plant. Equipment failures occur because of external corrosion and thinning of fired-heater coils and interior deposition of carbon from coking which leads to overheating. Fuel-gas lines, that contain hydrocarbon vapors and H2S, should be constructed of SS 304 and heat traced to avoid condensation88. 

FIG. 23-1 Heat transfer to stirred tank reactors, a) Jacket, (h) Internal coils, (c) Internal tubes, (d) External heat exchanger, (e) External reflux condenser. if) Fired heater. (Walas, Reaction Kinetics for Chemical Engineers, McGraw-Hill, 1959). 

Fired heaters differ from other indirect-fired processing equipment in that the process stream is heated by passage through a coil or tubebank enclosed in a furnace. Fired heaters are classified by function and by coil design. 

FIG. 27-51 Representative types of fired heaters a) vertical-tube cylindrical with cross-flow-convection section (h) horizontal-tube cabin (c) vertical cylindrical, helical coil, from Berman, Chem. Eng. 85 98-104, June 19, 1978.)... 

The tubes that are around the flame get most of their heat energs t rom radiation. The tubes in the top of the chamber get their heat from com ec-tion as the hot exhaust gases rise up through the heater and heat ihc process fluid in the tubes. The principal classification of fired heaters relates to the orientation of the heating coil in the radiant section. The tube coils of vertical fired heaters are placed vertically along the walls of the combustion chamber. Firing also occurs vertically from the Hoor of the heater. All the tubes are subjected to radiant energy. 

The radiant section tube coils of horizontal fired heaters are arranged horizontally so as to line the sidewalls and the roof of the combustion chamber. In addition, tliere is a convection section of tube coils, winch are positioned as a horizontal bank of tubes above the combustion cham her. Nonnally the tubes are fired vertically from the floor, but they can also be fired horizontally by side wall mounted burners located below the tube coil. Tins economical, high dficiency design currently represents the majority of new horizontal-tube-t1icd heater installations. Duties run from 5 to 250 MMBtu/hr. Six types o) horizontal-tube-fired heaters arc-shown in Figure 3-21. 

Figure 3-20. Vertical-tube-fired heaters con be identified by the vertical arrangement of the radiant-section coil, (a) Vertical- lindrical all radiant, (b) Vertical-cylindrical helical coil, (c) Vertical-cylindrical, with cross-flow-convection section. d) Vertical-cylindrical, with integral-convection section, (e) Arbor or wicket type, (f) Vertical-tube, single-row, double-fired. [From Chem. Eng, 100-101 (June 19, 1978).]...

Volume 1, Chapter 9 explains the criteria for choosing a diameter and wall thickness of pipe. This procedure can be applied to choosing a coil diameter in an indirect fired heater. Erosional flow criteria will almost always govern in choosing the diameter. Sometimes it is necessary to check for pressure drop in the coil. Typically, pressure drop will not be important since the whole purpose of the line heater is to allow a large pressure drop that must be taken. The allowable erosional velocity is ffiven bv ... 

Figure 12.69. Fired heaters, (a) Vertical-cylindrical, all radiant (b) Vertical-cylindrical, helical coil (c) Vertical-...

Fired heater with radiant and convective coils... 

Figure 17.33. Heat transfer to stirred-tank reactors (a) jacket (b) internal coils (c) internal tubes (d) external heat exchanger (e) external reflux condenser (f) fired heater (Walas, 1959).

Startup heaters - electrical or direct-fired types - are used to heat synthesis gas for the converter dining startup. Some of the problems encountered with these heaters are hydrogen-induced tracks, overheating and flame impingement, thinning at bends, and furnace explosions. Normally, SS321 is used for startup heater coils and the downstream pipeline88. 

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