T13 HeatingEquip2012 ME 414/514 HVAC Systems Topic 13 Combustion Fuel + air carbon dioxide + water + excess oxygen + nitrogen

en + pollutants (NO, CO, unburned HCs, PM, SO2, Hg, dioxins ) If we model natural gas as methane, the reaction for complete combustion is as follows: CH4 + 2/ (O2 + 3.78 N2) CO2 + 2 H2O + (2/ - 2) O2 + 2/ 3.78 N2 where is the equivalence ratio (the actual fuel-to-air ratio divided by the stoichiometric fuel-to-air ratio; stoichiometric combustion means that there is exactly enough fuel and air). However, practical combustion is never complete. Carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxide (NO), and unburned hydrocarbons (HCs) including soot are always released. (Take ME529 Combustion and Air Pollution if you want to learn more.) Furnaces Types of hot-air furnaces used in large buildings Design and selection (vendor data) Heat load known including duct losses Morning recovery from setback De-rating issues Humidification load Residential fan and housing shared for AC, space Efficiency and energy calculations Boilers Steam or hot water production for heating A furnace may power a boiler Large heat of vaporization of water makes steam an efficient heat transport fluid Low-pressure High pressure Heat rate expressed as pound-mass of steam per hour (or kW) ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code followed for construction of boilers. Design and selection (vendor data) Typical output ratings of furnaces, boilers, and heat pumps Residential Commercial Furnace 35,000 - 175,000 Btuh (10 51 kW) 1,000,000 Btuh (300 kW) Steam Boiler 50 50,000 lbm/hr (15 15,000 kW) Hot Water Boiler 50 50,000 lbm/hr (15 15,000 kW) Heat Pump 10 kW 15,000 kW Heating Equipment

T13 HeatingEquip2012 Fuel Output rating Pressure and working fluid Efficiency and part-load performance Space, control, combustion air, safety, ASME code compliance, water softening Add maximum heat load of each zone during peak demand to size the boiler. Adjust natural gas boilers for atmospheric pressure (fans are constant volume devices; forced draft burners needed to bring in more combustion air) The rule of thumb for sizing boilers in section 9.2.2.1 of the text says that the input rating for the boiler per heated square foot of space is 1/3 to 1/5 the design temperature difference (the difference between the indoor and outdoor 99% design temperature). Verify this by calculating the heating load for a building and choosing a boiler to meet this need. Steam traps for separating out condensate; calculate condensate rejection rate Pressure relief valve Expansion tanks In class we will take a closer look at flue gas analysis, the rules of thumb in section 9.2.2.3 of the text and values calculated in Table 9.4 The chemical reaction for stoichiometric combustion of methane, when = 1, is CH4 + 2/ (O2 + 3.78 N2) CO2 + 2 H2O + (2/ - 2) O2 + 2/ 3.78 N2 EA = excess air = (V of air supplied V of air at = 1)/( V of air at = 1) Excess air is required for boilers to meet their exhaust emissions permit. Smaller power plants do not have to provide continuous emission monitoring equipment (CEMS). During their permitting process, the fraction of oxygen in the stack is recorded along with the criteria pollutants (SO2, NOx, CO, PM). The plant must always be operated with that fraction of O2 or install CEMS equipment. Higher and Lower Heating Values The chemical composition of many practical fuels is not known. Also, the enthalpy data must be known for ALL the reactants and products to calculate the enthalpy of combustion. Otherwise, the enthalpy of the combustion reaction must be obtained experimentally in a calorimeter. Both flow calorimeters and constant-volume (bomb) calorimeters usually measure the higher heating value (HHV) of a fuel. Engineers need to distinguish between HHVs and the lower heating value (LHV) of fuels.

T13 HeatingEquip2012 The HHV includes the heat of vaporization of water vapor formed during combustion because it assumes that all of the water in the combustion products has condensed to liquid. The LHV assumes that all of the products of combustion remain gaseous. When experiments are done at room temperature in the calorimeter (that is, reactants start out at 298 K and reactants are cooled to 298 K), water vapor formed during combustion will condense. This increases the apparent heat release due to the latent heat of vaporization.

Since exhaust temperatures are usually high enough to prevent condensation, the LHV is more relevant. Hence, when the HHV is given, it often needs to be converted into a LHV. LHV = HHV - n hfg,H2O ________________________________________________________________ Example on HHV and LHV The HHV of a fuel oil with the molecular formula CH2.186 is measured as -44,135 J/g. Calculate the LHV in kJ/mol and J/g. Solution: The latent heat of vaporization at 298 K for water is -43,961 kJ/kmol. LHV = -44,135 J/g x (12 + 2.186) g/mol- 2.186/2 mol/mol x ( -43,961) J/mol = -626,099 J/mol + 48,049 J/mol = - 578 kJ/mol -578,000 J/mol x [1/(12 +2.186) g/mol] = -40,744 J/g ________________________________________________________________ The boiler efficiency is defined by the Boiler Efficiency Institute as:
boil =
Q steam m steam HHV

Where Qsteam is the steam output rate (BTU/hr); mfuel is the fuel supply rate (lbm/hr); and

T13 HeatingEquip2012 HHV is the higher heating value of the fuel HHV is measured in standardized laboratory tests (there is an ASTM standard for this), often in a bomb calorimeter. The method allows all the water formed in combustion to condense. In practice, usually exhaust products are kept above their dewpoint to prevent condensation in the stack. Hence, not all of the energy is extracted from the fuel and combustion products. The HHV is corrected for the condensation of water analytically and the result is the lower heating value (LHV). The LHV is more useful for most engineers and power production processes. Why the Boiler Efficiency Institute chose to ignore this is puzzling. The best way to get boiler efficiency for sizing a boiler is from a manufacturer, who should have available results from standardized testing including efficiency at full load and either data or an expression for efficiency at part-loads. The Part Load Ratio (PLR) is quantified as: PLR = Qo/Qo,full Find the PLR here.

Where Qo is the boiler heat output at part load, and Qo,full is the rated output at full load. From manufacturers data (or from a curve fit provided) you can fit an nth order polynomial:
Qi = A + B( PLR ) + C ( PLR ) 2 + Qi , full

Use the PLR here to calculate the fuel input.

Here, Q is the fuel input (energy input to the furnace) needed to meet the part-load requirement. All this gets simplified by a bin analysis using the same temperature and bin data from Topic 9 Energy Calculations.
Qi , year =

T n T Q o j j

( ) ( j) boil (T j )

Qo is the heat load (boiler load) that depends on outdoor temperature; n is the number of hours every year that this location experiences the outdoor temperature, and is the boiler efficiency. Example 9.3 illustrates the mechanics of the calculation. Electrical Resistance Heating (Section 9.3) can be performed by an electric furnace, an electric baseboard heater, or electric portable space heaters. The heating for single phase = i E , where i is the current and E is the voltage of the electrical power supply is, Q power.