Process Heating Equipment

Here are several ideas for optimizing the use of electric process heating equipment. 

Declining demand has not been spread evenly across all fuels products, and there is a major and continuing shift in the relative demand for the different products. First, world economic recession has impacted more heavily on industrial activity than on transportation, and has reduced demand for heavy industrial fuels proportionally more than lighter transporation fuels. Secondly, while it is relatively easy to convert steam raising and process heat equipment to burn coal or gas and hence to replace heavy industrial oil fuels, there is no substitute in prospect for the liquid fuels used in road and air transport. Industrial users will continue to turn to coal and to... 

Induction heating equipment installations can require significant investment in electric power components as well as the work handling equipment made necessary by the process. These costs can be offset by savings in plant space, reduction in metal loss, precise control of product temperature, and reduced in-process inventory. A typical continuous induction heating line consumes about 360 kW h/t heating carbon steel bars to 1230°C. 

It is for these reasons that pneumatic equipment is especially suitable for processing heat-sensitive, easily oxidized, explosive, or flammable materials wriich cannot be exposed to process conditions for extended periods. 

For preliminary calculations it is sometimes assumed that the heat lost to atmosphere is approximately 5-10 % of the process heat duty for uninsulated equipment and 1-2% for insulated equipment. 

Heat transfer is a very widely used operation in chemical processing. Both heating and cooling affect the controllability of the hazards inlierent in chemical processing. Heat transfer equipment can produce temperatures ranging from -455 to 4000 F. 

The removal of heat within an enclosed space must be considered as a multi-step heat transfer process. Heat passes from the occupants or equipment to the air within the space, and from there to the refrigerant or chilled water. It follows that the temperature differences at each step are a reciprocal function of the air mass flow. Where there is a high latent heat load within the space, the relative humidity will also vary with the air flow - the variation being higher with low air flow. 

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