FUEL OIL BURNERS

By Mark Butterfield

March 09

INTRODUCTION
The history of burners dates
back to the early shipping
days, when fuel oil first
started replacing coal as the
ships primary fuel source.

Since then, burner designs and

construction have come a long way, but
the principles behind their operation has
remained the same.

All makes and types of burners

have two things in common

They need to atomise the fuel

They need to mix the fuel with the air needed for

combustion

Why do we want
to use a burner?

To convert water into steam.

To heat
thermal oil

For direct firing

in cooking and oxidising

To provide heat to dry products

Why is it necessary
to atomise fuel?
Even though fuel oil is classified as a flammable liquid,
most fuels will not burn easily in a liquid state.
If you were to drop a lit match in a container of fuel oil, it
would PROBABLY go out almost immediately (dont try
this!).
In order for fuel oil to burn, it must first be transformed from
a liquid to a vaporised state ~ atomised. Atomisation
increases the exposure of the fuel to the oxygen in the
air; this promotes combustion.

A nozzle rated at 0.60 US gallons per

hour can generate as many as 50 million
droplets of oil in an hour.

EFFECTS OF BAD ATOMISING

If atomisation is incomplete, the droplet sizes are too
large for complete combustion. The larger droplets
will escape the flame only partially burnt. This can
usually be seen as fire flies when looking at the
flame. This will not only result in a poor flame, but
also soot deposits being formed inside the
combustion chamber. In addition the combustion
plants efficiency will reduce causing excessive fuel
usage for the required energy output.

There are generally four types of burners,

each of which atomise fuel
in different ways.

Pressure Jet

Air / Steam Atomised

Rotary Cup

Low Pressure Air Atomising

Pressure Jet Burner

The most common types of

pressure jet burners
in our industry are:

Riello

Weishaupt

Nu-Way

FBR

How a pressure jet atomises fuel

To create the fuel vapour, the fuel is
pressurised, and forced through the nozzles.
This breaks the oil into mist-like droplets, that get
mixed with the combustion air and ignited.
On heavy fuel oil, the fuel atomising pressure
might be as high as 3000kpa (30 bar), for light
fuel oils as low as 600kpa (6 bar).

Higher Fuel Pressure Lowers the

Average Droplet Size
50

Mean Drop Size (Micron)

45

40

35

30

25

20
7

7.5

8.5

Oil Pressure (kPa)

9.5

10

10.5

Selecting a Pressure Jet Burner

Single stage single nozzle - on / off ~ no

modulation, no turndown ratio.

Multiple stage (either 2 or 3 nozzles), the burner
switches between the stages, increasing /
decreasing the fuel throughput as required by the
plant load.

Spillback type nozzle one nozzle with a
variable throughput.

PRESSURE JET ADVANTAGES:

Good atomisation

Relatively low initial investment low Capex

Package type: plug and play

Nozzles and spares are relatively inexpensive

Maintenance is easily performed

Reliable

PRESSURE JET DISADVANTAGES:

Poor turndown ratio

A small drop in atomising pressure

or increase in fuel viscosity will increase

the droplet sizes, causing a reduction
of the combustion performance

Limited range of fuels can be used

Generally not suitable for very large appliances

AIR / STEAM-ATOMISED BURNER

HOW A STEAM-ATOMISED BURNER

ATOMISES FUEL
The fuel is supplied to the nozzle at a lower pressure
than that of the conventional pressure jet burners
(less than 600kPa ~ 6bar).
Steam or compressed air is also discharged into the
nozzle.
These mix uniformly in the nozzle.
As this mixture leaves the nozzle, the expansion of the
gases produces a spray of finely atomised oil.

STEAM/AIR-ATOMISING NOZZLE

ADVANTAGES OF STEAM ATOMISING

Steam atomising is tolerant to quality changes in the

fuel; can successfully burn wide range of fuels

These burners have better turndown ratios
Does not require a high fuel oil pump pressure
Lower pressures reduce nozzle and equipment wear
Robust and simple
Steam jacket can cool lance in hot furnaces

DISADVANTAGES OF
STEAM ATOMISING

Higher initial costs

Can have ignition difficulties

Suitable only for large installations

Requires a source of steam, or a large amount of

compressed air

Nozzles are more expensive

ROTARY CUP BURNERS

HOW A ROTARY CUP BURNER

ATOMISES FUEL
The fuel oil flows at low pressure (250kpa 2.5bar
max) onto the back of a spinning cup where it runs
down the sides and is thrown off the cup rim as a
very fine oil film.
The rotary cup is spun at high speed (about 5000
RPM) by an electric motor.
A primary air fan blows air concentrically around the
outside of the cup, striking the oil film at high velocity
and atomising it into tiny droplets.

ADVANTAGES OF
A ROTARY CUP BURNER

Good turndown ratio

Robust

Relatively unaffected by change in viscosity

If it will burn, a rotary cup burner can handle it.

DISADVANTAGES OF
A ROTARY CUP BURNER

Expensive.

Requires daily scheduled maintenance for reliable

operation.

Relatively complex to service

LOWPRESSURE AIR ATOMISING

BURNERS

PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
The oil is fed at very low pressure (20-50kPa) into a
high velocity air stream. The high speed air shears
the oil into droplets and air turbulence further mixes
and atomises the fuel. The air source is generally a
high pressure blower.

ADVANTAGES OF A LP AIR
BURNER

Very robust and can handle a large variety of fuels

Relatively low initial cost

Very good turndown

Low running costs as no steam/compressed air is

required

DISADVANTAGES OF A LP AIR
BURNER

Not the best atomisation available

Generally suitable only for very hot or large furnaces

such as billet reheating, smelters, rotary kilns, etc

BURNER FUEL REGULATION

The amount of fuel being burnt obviously needs to be
regulated in order to maintain plant load as well as to
facilitate proper fuel / air ratios.

NOZZLES AND NOZZLE SELECTION

The smaller fixed firing rate nozzles, such as the

HAGO, or Monark range, all have ratings stamped

on them.

These ratings are always referenced to throughputs
in USG per hour ~ at 700kpa (100PSI) oil pressure,
on a light oil with a viscosity of 4cSt at 20 deg C.

They also include the spray angle ~ we mostly use
60 deg nozzles, but in smaller diameter combustion
chambers, a lower angle would be selected.

CALCULATING NOZZLE THROUGHPUT

For general purposes, change in flow rate due to
changes in pressure can be estimated as being
approximately equal to the square root of the
pressure ratio.
Flow @ desired pressure
= Nozzle size X

Desired pressure
7

Example:
Calculate the throughput of
a 12 USG nozzle at 25 bar

= 12 X

25
7

= 22.7 USG or 86 Liters per hour

ROTARY CUPS

Rotary cups dont have nozzles to meter the fuel.

The older type rotary cup burners would either control the

amount of fuel being burnt with volu-valves or with a V-type

regulator
o Volu-valves have a series of holes that are opened or
closed to vary the amount of fuel being delivered
o V-type are simple yet effective v-groves that simply
increase or decrease the open surface area, changing the
amount of fuel that passes through.

The newer designs use a positive displacement pump driven
off a VSD, i.e. as the pump speed changes, so does the fuel
delivery.

HEATER PACK
As burners have different methods of atomising their
fuel, so their fuel viscosity requirements also differ.
Most fuel oils are not viscous at ambient
temperatures, so it is necessary to heat them up
to require the correct atomising viscosity.
Unfortunately this is a weak point, as most burner
technicians stick to traditional atomising
temperatures and pay no attention to the required
viscosity for the burner in relation to the supplied
fuels .

FO150 VISCOSITY
FO150 Viscosity Graph
700

Viscosity cSt

600
500
400
300
200
100
0
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Tem perature (degC)

90

100

110

120

130

VISCOSITY REQUIREMENTS

Rotary Cup Burners

Can handle down to 3.5 centiStoke
and as much as 70 centiStoke

Pressure Jet

Up to 17 centiStoke (only on the larger nozzles)

TYPES OF IGNITION
There are two ways that burners ignite fuel oil (apart
from delayed ignition igniting from hot refractory)

Electric Spark

Gas

SPARK IGNITION
Spark ignition consists of a high voltage transformer,
usually between 6000VAC and 11000VAC.
The spark is emitted through a set of electrodes,
which ignites the atomising fuel oil.
Positioning the electrodes is a precise task.
If the electrodes are set too close to the nozzle tip,
the spark may jump to the nozzle, causing poor
ignition.
The same can be said if the electrode is in the oil
path - the spray will smother the spark, also causing
poor ignition.

GAS IGNITION
A gas flame, known as a pilot light, is directed straight on
to the atomising fuel oil causing it to ignite.
Gas ignition is more reliable than spark ignition and is
generally used in larger burners.

FLAME DETECTION
It is important to monitor the flame on all burners.
If the flame fails or goes out, the oil supply to the
burner must be shut down.
Flame monitoring is done by either using

A photoelectric cell or

Ionisation probe.

P.E. Cell
Photoelectric cells can be divided into two
categories.
One type detects visible light and the other
U.V. light.
The lower-cost burners will employ the
conventional light detector, whereas the higherrange burners will use the superior U.V. cells.

IONISATION PROBE
The ionisation probe consists of a rod insulated
by ceramic, which is immersed into the flame
space. Under flame conditions, the potential
difference between the probe and the earth body
increases and the probe, being immersed in the
flame, becomes ionised allowing current to flow
from the probe to the body. This current is
measured and if it drops off, the flame has gone
out.
This type of flame detection is only used on pilot
gas ignition and on gas-fired burners.

INTERLOCKS

All burners have (should have) safety interlocks

fitted. When they become unsafe the plant shuts

down. There is a tendency in industry to bypass
troublesome interlocks rather than to repair them,
which renders the burner unsafe. Some operators
even remove the flame detectors and place them in
direct sunlight when they are experiencing unstable
flames.

TYPES OF INTERLOCKS

Burner door switch

Low fan pressure

Low ring main pressure

Flame detection

Pilot light detection

Low fire oil position

TYPICAL LIGHT-UP CYCLE.

Fan on.

Dampers drive to high fire position.

Pre-purge (45 sec).

Dampers close to light up position.

Spark / pilot ignition (5 sec).

Oil solenoid opens.

Flame ignition detection.