Furnace firing, industrial

Bunsen is remembered chiefly for his invention of die laboratory burner umned after him. He engaged in a wide range of industrial and chemical research, including blast-furnace firing, electrolytic cells, separation of metals by electric current, spectroscopic techniques (with Kirchhoff). and production of light metals by electrical decomposition of their molten chlorides. He also discovered two elements, rubidium and cesium. 

Figure 5-23 has been used to correlate furnace performance data for a multitude of industrial furnaces and combustors. Typical operational domains for a variety of fuel-fired industrial furnaces are summarized in Table 5-7. The WSCC approach (or speckled furnace model) is a classic contribution to furnace design methodology which was first due to Hottel [op. cit.]. The WSCC model provides a simple furnace design template which leads to a host of more complex furnace models. These models include an obvious extension to a tanks-in-series model as well as multizone models utilizing empirical cold-flow velocity patterns. For more information on practical furnace design models, reference is made to Hottel and Sarofim (op. cit., Chap. 14). Qualitative aspects of process equipment have been treated in some detail elsewhere (Baukal, C. E., ed., The JohnZink Combustion Handbook, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fla., 2001). 

The matching of coal rank, with the combustion equipment and furnace designs is based primarily on standard analytical techniques on laboratory techniques, which have been developed by the manufacturers and on firing in the test furnace simulating industrial conditions. 

The nineteenth century was associated with an increase in the scale of industrial sources, the advent of coal-fired industrial boiler furnaces, the development of pollution-producing metallurgical and chemical processes, and, in the home, the increasing substitution of coal for wood as fuel. 

W. Trioks, Industrial Furnaces, Fuels, Furnace Types and Furnace Equipment—Their S election and Influence Upon Furnace Operation, 4th ed., Vol. II, John Wiley Sons, Inc., New York, 1967, 358 pp., emphasis placed on heating furnaces (fuel-fired and electric) rather than melting furnaces. 

Heat/Solvent Recovery. The primary appHcation of heat pipes in the chemical industry is for combustion air preheat on various types of process furnaces which simultaneously increases furnace efficiency and throughput and conserves fuel. Advantages include modular design, isothermal tube temperature eliminating cold corner corrosion, high thermal effectiveness, high reHabiHty and options for removable tubes, alternative materials and arrangements, and replacement or add-on sections for increased performance (see Furnaces, fuel-FIREd). 

For gas-fired systems the state-of-the-art is represented by the preheater described in Reference 69. A pebble bed instead of a cored brick matrix is used. The pebbles are made of alumina spheres, 20 mm in diameter. Heat-transfer coefficients 3—4 times greater than for checkerwork matrices are achieved. A prototype device 400 m in volume has been operated for three years at an industrial blast furnace, achieving preheat temperatures of 1670 to 1770 K. 

RCF is sold in a variety of forms, such as loose fiber, blanket, boards, modules, cloth, cements, putties, paper, coatings, felt, vacuum-formed shapes, rope, braid, tape, and textiles. The products are principally used for industrial appHcations as insulation in furnaces, heaters, kiln linings, furnace doors, metal launders, tank car insulation, and other uses up to 1400°C. RCF-consuming industries include ferrous and nonferrous metals, petrochemical, ceramic, glass, chemical, fertiH2er, transportation, constmction, and power generation/incineration. Some newer uses include commercial fire protection and appHcations in aerospace, eg, heat shields and automotive, eg, catalytic converters, metal reinforcement, heat shields, brake pads, and airbags. 

Most gas turbine appHcations in the chemical industry are tied to the steam cycle, but the turbines can be integrated anywhere in the process where there is a large requirement for fired fuel. An example is the use of the heat in the gas turbine exhaust as preheated air for ethylene cracking furnaces as shown in Figure 4 (8). 

REIST Aerosol Science and Technology, Second Edition RHINE, TUCKER Modeling of Gas-Fired Furnaces and Boilers and Other Industrial Heating Processes ROSSITER Waste Minimization Through Process Design SAMDANI Safety and Risk Management Tools and Techniques in the CPI... 

Source of Heat Industrial furnaces are either fuel-fired or electric, and the first decision that a prospective furnace user must make is between these two. Although elecdric furnaces are uniquely suited to a few apphcations in the chemical industiy (manufacture of sihcon carbide, calcium carbide, and graphite, for example), their principal use is in the metallurgical and metal-treatment industries. In most cases the choice between elecdric and fuel-fired is economic or custom-dictated, because most tasks that can be done in one can be done equally well in the other. Except for an occasional passing reference, electric furnaces will not be considered further here. The interested reader will find useful reviews of them in Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology (4th ed., vol. 12, articles by Cotchen, Sommer, and Walton, pp. 228-265, Wiley, New York, 1994) and in Marks Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers (9th ed., article by Lewis, pp. 7.59-7.68, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1987). 

NFPA 86C Standard for Industrial Furnaces Using a Special Processing Atmosphere. National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA. 

Scotch marine boilers (SM boilers) derive their name from the Scottish shipyards that built marine vessels for the British Navy. They were the first design of FT boiler to incorporate both furnace tubes and fire tubes inside the shell and replaced the brick-set boilers that used to burn through the bottoms of ships. The SM boiler was a particularly versatile design and quickly became the boiler of choice for many stationary (land) applications as well as for marine duty. Land-based SM boilers (now commonly called Scotch boilers) were not simply marine boilers adapted for stationary duty but incorporated specific design modifications to meet the requirements of land-based industry. 

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