Fired Heaters

Operation and Troubleshooting

❖ Heaters (Introduction)
❖ Parts of a Heater
❖ Miscellaneous terminologies
❖ Miscellaneous considerations
❖ Heater Draught
❖ Normal Furnace Operation
❖ Irregularities in Heater Operation
❖ Heater Startup
❖ Heater Dry Out
❖ Pig Decoking
❖ Emissions Control
❖ Heater Troubleshooting
❖Fired heater is an insulated enclosure in
which heat liberated by the combustion
of fuel is transferred to a process fluid
flowing through tubular coils.
❖Fired Heater is a type of heater in which
chemical energy of fuel is converted
into heat, which is then used to raise
the temperature of process fluid.
❖On industrial scale Heater is termed as
a Furnace.
❖Heat transfer occurs primarily by
radiation; it may also take place via
convection in a separate tube bank.
❖At very high heat transfer
requirements (above 300oC), normal
heat exchangers can not be used.
❖Peep Door
❖Louvers
❖Pilot
❖Burner
❖Refractory
❖Radiation zone
❖Shock/Shield section
❖Convection Zone
❖Breeching/Transition Duct
❖Damper
❖Stack
❖ Fluid Type
❖ Fluid composition
❖ Fluid flow rate
❖ Physical properties (e.g., densities, viscosities and
molecular weights)
❖ Fluid inlet and outlet conditions (e.g. temperatures,
pressures, densities, viscosities and vapor content,
in the case of hydrocarbon fluids, equilibrium-flash-
vaporization data, characterization factors, vapor
specific volumes at various pressures and
temperatures, and water, salt, sulfur and
Naphthenic acid content).
❖ The pressure-drop limitation must also be stated.
❖ Tubes are normally made of stainless steel structure
with mixture of some other substances to make
structure more durable at elevated condition of
Temperature and Pressure.
❖ Chromium and Nickel are added in tube material
composition to strengthen it.
❖ Normally, the chromium and nickel contents of tube-
support stainless-steel structures are 25%
chromium and 12-20% nickel. Tube Materials are
selected on the basis of:
o Corrosion characteristics of the process fluid
o High temperature oxidation resistance of material
o Creep rupture strength of material
❖Max tube length is 40-100 feet for
horizontal tubes and 60-65 feet for vertical
tubes
❖2-3% of chromium addition to CS increases
resistance to corrosion from sulfur
compounds and 5% chromium addition
reduces oxidation to about 12-13%.
❖Molybdenum increases resistance to creep.
❖Addition of Nickel makes Cr more resistant
to brittleness.
❖ Shock or Shield section:
This part of convection section contains bare tubes,
these tubes receive heat by convection mainly, and
little by radiation. Tubes in this area called “shield
tubes”
❖ Extended-surface convection section:
Extended surfaces come in a variety of shapes:
continuous fins, serrated fins, cut fins, round studs,
elliptical studs, etc. This section tube contains
finned tubes.
❖ Finned tube installed where lightened gas or
light oil.
❖ Studs are installed in case of residue fuels.
❖ Fins are 0.05 to 0.1 in. thick, and up to 1 in.
high.
❖ There are normally three to five fins per inch of
tube length.
❖ Studs are normally 0.5 in. diameter, with a
maximum height of 1.5 in.
❖ Heater outer skin temp should be max 50-60 oC
more than ambient temp.
❖ Convection section is to restrict the maximum
convection heat flux to 20,000 to 25,000 Btu/hr
based on bare-tube area.
❖ Main function is safe and efficient disposal of
flue gases.
❖ A heater stack must be large enough to handle
the maximum amount of flue gas as produced.
❖ Stacks are normally sized to provide a negative
pressure of 0.05 to 0.10 in of water column
under all operating conditions.
❖ Heater is design on 20% to 25% overloading of
excess air.
❖The flue gas velocity from the stack at
design operating conditions should be
between 25 to 40 ft/s, to prevent
inversion.
❖Stacks are mostly fabricated of steel plate
of a minimum 6-mm thickness, and lined
with 50-mm insulating castable.
❖It is always a good practice to oversize
the stack in the beginning to take care of
future expansions.
❖Only one butterfly damper regulates the
heater draft, if the stack's diameter is less
than 4 ft.
❖Damper-plate material is usually 18%
chromium, 8% nickel stainless steel.
❖For safety, total closure of the dampers
should not be possible.
❖At top of stack, the pressure should be 2.5
mm of H2O below atmospheric to keep
heater at negative pressure.
❖ Snuffing steam supply can be based on the requirement
of 8 lb/h per cubic feet of furnace volume.
❖ The number of peepholes should be sufficient to permit
viewing all the tubes and burners in the radiant section.
❖ One or two access doors, at least 24 in. square, should
permit entry into each combustion chamber.
❖ Another door is needed in the stack breeching for
access to the stack damper and convection section.
❖ Platforms are needed for access to the hearth level for
operation and control of burners, to the convection-
section, and soot blower. The platforms should be at
least three feet wide.
❖ Refractory is a material resistant to
decomposition by Heat, Pressure and chemical
attack. It retains strength at high temperature.
The flue gas temperature levels inside a heater
are higher and in order to cut down heat loss
and have a tolerable outside surface
temperature, the walls of heater are refractory
lined.
❖ Either insulating castables or insulating brick
and block refractory systems can be used.
❖ Radiant section linings are exposed to firebox
temperatures of 1000°C and higher, and
therefore necessitating high quality insulating
refractory materials to withstand the
environment and reduce the heat loss (lower the
casing temperature). Insulating firebricks backed
by lightweight insulating blanket is used.
Convection sections are lined with insulating
castable.
❖ Heat losses are held between 1.5 to 3 %
 Radiation Section/ Fire Box
❖Heat transferred to the tube surface by
direct radiation heat from burner flame.
Majority of heat is transferred in this
section.
Air Registers / Louvers
❖An assembly installed below radiation
section to control air required for
combustion.
 Normal Furnace Operation
Normal furnace operation will result in satisfactory performance
with the conventional heaters. Excellent control of certain
parameters shall allow optimum equipment life and economical
operation.

❖Flame
Burners should be adjusted so that no flame
impingement on the tubes is observed at any time. High heat
concentration caused by flame impingement result in higher
heat transfer ,which result in coke formation inside the tubes by
partial overheating of tubes. Flame height should be restricted
to 50% of the firebox height at maximum heat liberation. Flame
Impingement is caused by;
o Misallignment/Partial chocking of burner(s)
o Insufficient combustion air
 Miscellaneous Terminologies
Arch: A flat or slope portion of the heater radiant section opposite to
the floor.
Anchor or tieback: A metallic or refractory device that retains the
refractory or insulation in place.
Balanced draft heater: Uses induced draft fan to remove the flue gas
and a forced draft fan to supply combustion air.
Breeching: The heater section where flue gases are collected after the
last convection coil for transmission to the stack or the outlet ductwork.
Crossover: The interconnecting piping between any two heater coil
sections.
Damper: A device for introducing a variable resistance for regulating
volumetric flow of flue gas or air.
Jump Over: The interconnecting pipe work within a heater coil section.
Plenum or Wind Box: A chamber surrounding the burners that is used
to distribute air to the burners or reduce combustion noise.
Excess Oxygen
It must be between 3.5 % - 5%. It is measured in flue gas
component.
After Burning
Due to insufficient combustion air, after burning may take
place. The symptom will be rapid increase in stack
temperature. This results in overheating of heater internals.
Puffing
It is actually a violent often rhythmic shaking of furnaces. If a
burner is seriously out of air ,opening air control without
reducing firing rate can create a hazardous situation called
puffing.
*In such conditions first slow down firing rate and then adjust
air louvers.
❖Temp of flue gases entering convection
zone is called bridge wall temperature.

Draught
❖Difference of pressure which tends to
push or pull the air, fuel and flue gases
through the furnace. It is created due to
differential densities of hot flue gases and
ambient air.
A negative pressure must be maintained in every part of
the furnace. Draught reading in middle of furnace is used
for excess air and draught controls. Heater Draught is
necessary to pull out flue gases from heater.
How is Draught created?
❖ Open damper fully and close louvers.
❖ Open purging/snuffing steam for 20-30 mins until steam
appears coming out from heater stack.
❖ Shut off steam.
❖ Open louvers slowly as per requirement.

❖ Close damper as required to adjust draught.

 Excess Air and Draught
Excess air and draft are closely linked and they must be worked
together. The objective is to achieve an optimum excess air level for
combustion without restricting the flue gas flow to a point where
positive pressure is present in furnace radiant section.
Draft

High Draft / Low O2 High Draft / High O2

Action:- Open air registers Action:- Close stack damper

O2
Ideal Condition
Low Draft / Low O2 Low Draft / High O2
Action:- Open stack damper Action:- Close air registers
 Draught Effects
❖ A high draught will lead to more
combustion air being drawn in the firebox.
Conversely, insufficient draft may lead to
positive pressure inside the firebox
leading to flue gas leakage from the
openings.
 Draught Effects (continued)

❖If the draught specified is lower than the available

draught, it will result in oversized burners. On the
other hand, if higher draught is specified than what
is actually available, burners will not be able to give
maximum heat release.
❖As a rule of thumb every 10% extra air used in
combustion translates into a loss of 0.7% in terms
of efficiency.
 Natural vs Forced Draught
Natural Draught
Required higher level of Excess O2
Have long flame length
Air pressure drop limited to 0.3-0.6
WC
Combustion air has low velocities,
so no good mixing.
Required larger burners
Flame lengths of these burners are
generally one ft/MMBtu for gas firing
and two ft/ MMBtu for oil firing.
Forced Draught
Required lower level of Excess O2
Flames are short and stable
Air pressure drop limited to 0.3-0.6
WC
Good and efficient mixing.
Required small burners in size
Forced draft burners use 2-6 inch of
air pressure to induce high air
velocity.
❖ More efficient combustion
❖ Reduced particle emission,
❖ Better control of flame shape and stability,
❖ Quieter operation
❖ Possibility of preheating the combustion air.

❖A 10% reduction in excess air means a

0.5 to 1.0 percentage fuel saving.
 Heater Startup
❖ Ensure that all utilities are properly supplied to
heater.
❖ Confirm all instruments and safety devices are
operating properly.
❖ Confirm the fuel for burner are supplied with
operating pressure properly.
❖ Purge the combustible gas inside of the furnace by
snuffing steam to create a draught of -5 to -15
mmH2O in radiant section. This is done by fully closing
air registers and opening stack damper completely.
❖ Set all automatic control systems to manual mode.
❖ Ignite the pilot and then main burners, then
carefully check O2 concentration in flue gases and
Heater draught.
 Heater Startup (continued)
❖During times of low heat release, it is important
that as many burners as practical should be fired
thus promoting even heat transfer to the tubes.
❖Frequently, during low heat load operation,
burners may be extinguished without warning. Hold
carefully on the low firing, to maintain the stable
Heater firing rate.
❖The outlet temperature of process fluid shall be
raised at the rate of 30-50oC/hr maximum to
prevent over-firing and overheating of fluid stream.
❖When the furnace has been brought up to the
steady state, then swing to auto control may be
attempted.
 Irregularities in Heater Operation
❖Decrease in Process feed flow
a) Poor performance of feed circulation pump
b) Increase in pressure drop in process fluid circuit
❖Increase in Transfer Temperature
a) Increase of process inlet temperature
b) Decreased process flow circulation rate
❖Decrease in O2 concentration
a) Low excess air
❖Decrease in fuel supply pressure
a) Plugging of burner tip
b) Incorrect fuel control in supply system
❖Increase in Flue gas Temperature
a) Overload operation of heater
b) Severe outside fouling on convection tube banks
❖Decrease in flue gas pressure
a) Severe outside fouling in convection tube banks
b) Too lower opening of stack damper
❖Extra emission rates (Dust and Particles)
a) Insufficient supply of combustion air
b) Mal-distribution of combustion air supply to the burners
Primary Products of Combustion
❖ Carbon monoxide/dioxide.
❖ Water vapors
❖ Nitrogen
❖ Partially oxidized organic materials
❖ Trace compounds;
o Nitric oxides
o Sulfur oxides and ash.
o Carbon monoxide
o Particulates
o Unburnt hydrocarbons
o Soot
❖A number of limitations are experienced when
the heaters are over-fired.
◦ High tube metal temperatures
◦ Flame impingement
◦ Positive pressure at arch
◦ Limitation of ID and FD fans
◦ Feed pump limiting
These limitations are due to original design,
once these limitations reached, heater
capacity cannot be increased further.
 Heat Transfer
❖In a good and efficient heater,
radiant section heat duty should
be more than 60-70 % of total
heat duty.
❖Bridge wall temp should range
between 760-900 oC.
 Burners
Burner Introduces fuel and air into a heater at the desired
velocities, turbulence, and concentration to establish and
maintain proper ignition and combustion. Burners are
classified by the types of fuel fired, such as: oil, gas, or
combination of gas/oil and may be designated as “dual fuel”
A number of shut downs and losses have been reported
due to wrong burner selection.
With the right type of burners, fired heater capacity can be
increased by 5-10% and thermal efficiency by 2-3%.
Burners are normally designed to provide 120% of their
normal heat liberation at peak heat duty.
Over-sizing burners normally leads to over-firing of the fuel.
 Heater Dry out
It is usually done when new furnace has been installed or
furnace has undergone a long shutdown. The refractory contains
large amount of moisture absorbed both from the atmosphere
and that present in the form of water of crystallization.
Temperature increase during drying out must be done gradually
to avoid structure damage & minimize surface shrinkage. Excess
air must be between 9-10%.
Test After Drying Out
After Refractory dry out, Lining damages, tubes and tube
supports, burners and burner tiles must be inspected for any
damages and should be repaired accordingly.
Shrinkage, voids and cracks must not be more than 3 mm width.
Refractory containing large cracks should be replaced.
 Heater Tube Decoking (Pig Decoking)
❖ Heater tubes decoking is performed using Pigs of variable size. Pig
decoking is preferred over chemical cleaning and combustion methods due
to couple of reasons like corrosion and other harmful thermal effects.
❖ A pig has pins uniformly studded around its surface. These pins help
scrapping carbon deposits and other contaminants from inside wall of tube
at ordinary temperature.
❖ It is important to examine scale/deposit thickness using Gamma rays
before performing Pig decoking process. It helps deciding number of pigs to
be used and frequency of pass through.
 Fuel Specification
❖ Specific gravity
❖ Net Calorific value
❖ Fuel oil viscosity
❖ Fuel pressure
❖ Temperature available at burner
❖ Molecular weight of gaseous fuels
❖ Oil tip design (for fuel containing abrasive
particles)
 Pilot
❖ Pilot burners should have a minimum
heat release of 10,000 kcal/h.
❖ A stable and at least 150-mm-long
pilot flame is desired for typical
process heater burners.
❖ All burners should have an igniter port
of at least 50-mm diameter in case
burners have to be lit manually.
 Atomizing Media

❖ Steam is normally preferred.

❖ It should be dry and slightly superheated.
❖ Consumption normal range of 0.2 to 0.3
kg/kg of oil in case of steam.
❖ Compressed dry air can also be used .
❖ Consumption normal range of 0.4 to 0.5 kg
per kg of oil in case of air.
 Noise Level
❖ Control of noise pollution and providing a
better environment is Extremely
important.
❖ Noise in burners is caused by three
sources:
→ Flow of gas through the orifice.
→ Flow of air through the register.
→ Actual combustion of fuel.
❖ Max Noise level = 80-85 dB
❖ Can be controlled by using Air muffles on
individual burners and using sound
absorbing material in heater.
❖ NOx or oxides of nitrogen have adverse effects
on health and environment.
❖ NOx play an important role in:
oAcid rain deposition
oPhotochemical smog in lower atmosphere
oDepletion of ozone in upper atmosphere.
❖Formed by high temperature of flame.
❖Source of NOx is combustion.
❖Influenced by:
o Fuel nitrogen
o Flame temperature
o Burner design
o Combustion air temperature
o Long residence time at high temp.
❖ Extracts a portion of the flue gas from the stack and
returns it to the furnace along with combustion air. This
lowers the peak flame temperature and cuts thermal-
NOx formation. The addition of flue gas also reduces the
oxygen content of the combustion air, thereby limiting
the amount of oxygen available to react with the
nitrogen.
❖ Increase circulation, decrease NOx. But flame instability
and thermal output becomes higher, this limits rate of
circulation.
❖ Reticulation15-25% max flue gas (gas fired heater)
❖ Result = 50 % reduction of NOx
❖ Selective catalytic Reduction (SCR) involves
injecting ammonia into the flue gas upstream
of a catalyst bed. The chemical reaction
involved is:
O2 + 4NO + 4NH3 ➔ 4N2 + 6H2O
❖ The NOx and NH3 combine on the catalyst’s
surface, forming an ammonium salt
intermediate that subsequently decomposes
to produce elemental nitrogen and water. The
optimum temperature range for SCR is 600°
to 700°F.
❖Selective Non-catalytic Reduction (SNCR)
is a post-combustion control method that
reduces NOx to N2 and H2O. Ammonia is
injected into the upper part of combustion
chamber or into a thermally favorable
location downstream. The various
reactions are:
6NO + 4NH3 ➔ 5N2 + 6H2O
6NO + 8NH3 ➔ 7N2 + 12H2O
❖ Sulfur comes from fuel only.
❖S may form SO2 or SO3 at elevated temp which
are acidic in nature, or may further proceed to
form H2SO4.
❖ Flue gases must be released at elevated temp so
that no chances for SOx condensation.
❖ If temp of flue gas is at dew point of SOx or near the
dew point, then it either damage stack structure by
acidic action or can cause acid rain of high
concentration.
❖ In 1980’s, an acid rain of pH = 2 recorded in an
American state, which effect the area of about 5 Km
badly, caused serious injuries/skin diseases to people.
❖ In conventional atomizers, fuels of inferior
quality tend to convert oil droplets into small
coke particles. The droplets burn slowly and
are not totally consumed by the flames.
Entrapped in the flue gas, the particles are
carried out through the stack. The oil fuel
should be filtered if it contains solids.
❖ Soot can reduce efficiency of heater up to 10 %
❖ Soot blowing is carried out using dry saturated
or slightly superheated steam.
❖ Soot blowing should be done once a day.
❖ Now a days, micro processor based soot
blowers are used which blow away soot in
varying time.
❖ Soot Blower: A device to remove soot or other
deposits from heat absorbing surfaces in the
convection section. Steam is the usual medium
used for soot blowing.
 Air and Oxygen
❖ Air is used in normal heating condition
where conditions are not critical.
❖ Pure oxygen is used where products are
heat sensitive, like pharmaceuticals and
food products etc (where a little
temperature decrease or rise can discard
whole batch of product).
 Air Fuel Ratio
Air–fuel ratio (AFR) is the mass ratio of air to fuel present in a
combustion process such as in an industrial furnace to completely
burn all of the fuel, the ratio is known as the stoichiometric
mixture. For precise AFR calculations, the oxygen content of
combustion air should be specified because of possible dilution by
ambient water vapor, or enrichment by oxygen additions. The AFR
is an important measure for anti-pollution and performance-tuning
reasons. The lower the AFR, the "richer" the mixture.
Stoichiometric Combustion
Under ideal conditions, fuel combines with exactly the right
amount of oxygen to allow complete combustion. There is no
unburnt fuel and no excess oxygen. This is called stoichiometric
combustion. In the simplest of the cases of methane burning in
air;
CH4 + 2O2 → CO2 + 2H2O
 Air Fuel Ratio (continued)

In Real combustion some excess air is always

needed to ensure complete combustion of the
fuel. Otherwise, significant amounts of CO are
produced, reducing efficiency and increasing
pollution levels.
❖Effects of Excess Fuel (Low air/fuel ratio)
→ Loss of fuel
→ CO produced
→ More smoke and soot produced
❖Effects of Excess Air (High air/fuel ratio)
→ High air reduces the temp
→ Excessive Heat loss
 Heat losses
❖ Heat storage in the furnace structure
❖ Losses from the furnace outside walls or
structure
❖ Radiation losses from openings, hot
exposed parts, etc.
❖ Heat carried by the cold air ingress into the
furnace
❖ Heat carried by the excess air used in the
burners.
❖ Furnace exhaust heat losses =
M * Cp * (T exhaust – T ambient)
Where:
❖ M = Mass of the exhaust gases

❖ Cp = Specific heat of the exhaust gases

❖ T exhaust = Flue gas temperature entering the

furnace exhaust system (stack)
❖ T ambient = Ambient temperature (usually
assumed 60°F)
Every 35 °F drop in the exit flue gas temperature boosts thermal efficiency
by 1%. Total savings range from 8% to 18%.
 Saving

❖1% improvement in thermal

efficiency translates into
energy savings of $600,000
per year.
Burner Troubleshooting
Burner Troubleshooting (continued)
Knowledge is
having the
right answer

Intelligence is
asking the
right Question