Advanced Combustion Diagnostics and Control for Furnaces, Fired Heaters and Boilers
The objective of this project was to develop and apply enabling tools and methods towards advanced combustion diagnostics and control of fired-equipment in large-scale petrochemical manufacturing. There are a number of technology gaps and opportunities for combustion optimization, including technologies involving advanced in-situ measurements, modeling, and thermal imaging. These technologies intersect most of manufacturing and energy systems within the chemical industry. This project leveraged the success of a previous DOE funded project led by Dow, where we co-developed an in-situ tunable diode laser (TDL) analyzer platform (with Analytical Specialties Inc, now owned by Yokogawa Electric Corp.). The TDL platform has been tested and proven in a number of combustion processes within Dow and outside of Dow. The primary focus of this project was on combustion diagnostics and control applied towards furnaces, fired heaters and boilers. Special emphasis was placed on the development and application of in-situ measurements for O2, CO and methane since these combustion gases are key variables in optimizing and controlling combustion processes safely. Current best practice in the industry relies on measurements that suffer from serious performance gaps such as limited sampling volume (point measurements), poor precision and accuracy, and poor reliability. Phase I of the project addressed these gaps by adding improved measurement capabilities such as CO and methane (ppm analysis at combustion zone temperatures) as well as improved optics to maintain alignment over path lengths up to 30 meters. Proof-of-concept was demonstrated on a modern olefins furnace located at Dow Chemical's facility in Freeport TX where the improved measurements were compared side-by-side to accepted best practice techniques (zirconium oxide and catalytic bead or thick film sensors). After developing and installing the improved combustion measurements (O2, CO, and methane), we also demonstrated the ability to improve control of an olefins furnace (via CO-trim) that resulted in significant energy savings and lower emissions such as NOx and other greenhouse gases. The cost to retrofit measurements on an existing olefins furnace was found to be very attractive, with an estimated payback achieved in 4 months or less.
- Research Organization:
- Dow Chemical Company
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE; USDOE EE Office of Industrial Technologies (EE-2F)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG36-06GO16093
- OSTI ID:
- 1041251
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/GO/16093; TRN: US201215%%166
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
03 NATURAL GAS
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
ALIGNMENT
ALKENES
BOILERS
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
COMBUSTION
ENERGY SYSTEMS
FLUE GAS
FURNACES
GREENHOUSE GASES
HEATERS
LASERS
MANUFACTURING
METHANE
OPTICS
OPTIMIZATION
OXIDES
PETROCHEMICALS
RELIABILITY
SAMPLING
SENSORS
ZIRCONIUM
Combustion Measurements
Fired Equipment
Heaters
Boilers