JPIChE 48 (1) 2020: 43-48

Journal of Pakistan Institute of Chemical Engineers Journal of

The Pakistan Institute of
Chemical Engineers
Vol. XXXXVIII 2020 ISSN 1813-4092

journal homepage: www.piche.org.pk/journal

Performance Enhancement Of An Industrial Fire Tube Boiler

M.Z.U. Haq1,2, Z. Yahya1,2, H.M. Masood1, N. Ali1, M. Ashraf1,2

Submitted: 25/09/2020, Accepted: 13/12/2020, Online: 20/01/2021

Abstract
An Industrial boiler is considered as highly energy intensive equipment. The primary objective of this study is to
identify and quantify the potential losses of different energy sections of the fire tube boiler and its overall
performance. Several energy saving measures such as combustion optimization, excess air control, control of
flue gases temperature and effect of excessive or uncontrolled steam blowdown optimization, on the overall
performance of boiler are also applied. Energy as a result of energy saving measure has been determined as well.
In present study, some main causes of energy wastages are summed up, by using an energy auditing. From the
results of energy audit, the boiler's thermal energy efficiency and combustion efficiency are found to be 70.09%
and 75.70% respectively. The boiler overall energy efficiency from 70.09% to 73.27%. It was also observed that
these losses can be reduced by controlling stack temperature, excess air and optimized blowdown. There covered
energy can be utilized to preheat the combustion air and feed water. Economic evaluation of energy saving
measures in annual fuel resulted savings of 6.3 Million PKRs without any investment but only improving
working methodologies. As a result of these efforts, the savings in terms of cost has also been determined.
Keywords: Steam Boiler, Steam, Boiler Efficiency, Stack Gas, Blowdown
1. Introduction: increasing demand needs optimization at demand
The success and well being of the world is associated side. One possible way is to improve the existing
with the growth in energy sector. Since world is units for more efficiency i.e. by introducing new
facing severe energy challenges especially the new technologies and reduction of losses. Pakistan is
energy sectors must be environmentally feasible for developing country and installation of new energy
fulfilling the energy requirements. In 2040, the units is very difficult as it requires massive
residential and industrial growth will demand investment and time. Furthermore, improving the
higher energy requirements; therefore the world already existing energy units by replacing with new
must fulfill these requirements by increasing the advanced technologies is also very hard to achieve.
efficient use of energy and should focus on lower However, Pakistan could reduce the losses incurred
carbon fuels. during the generation and transportation of energy
In developing countries, energy requirements will as it requires relatively less investment and time.
grow close to 60 percent as five-sixths of the world's Steam is an integrated part of process industry and
population strives to improve their living values. a critical source in today's industrial world. The
Pakistan is currently facing the vital energy crises system in which steam is generated is called a boiler
both in domestic and industrial sector. The or a steam generator. Steam boilers are closed
1
Department of Chemical Engineering, NFC Institute of Engineering & Fertilizer Research, Faisalabad
2
Research & Development Department, NFC Institute of Engineering & Fertilizer Research, Faisalabad
* Corresponding Author: ([email protected])
44 Journal of the Pakistan Institute of Chemical Engineers Vol. XXXXVIII

vessels which are usually used to produce steam However, the cost of fuel could be a function of
from water by combustion fossil(Rajput 2010). ground realities of politics and international
Steam boiler is made up of two major parts, i.e. the market price of fuel fluctuations. Decreasing
combustion chamber, which provides heat by the system load or system efficiency, both can make the
combustion of fuel, and the heat exchanger which process more economical and energy efficient, while
transforms water into steam through heat the inverse is always avoided,[9].
exchange in the medium. The boiler operating parameters are summarized in
Boiler types comprises of fire tube, water tube, Table 1.
modular, coil tube and cast iron (Kakaç 1991). Fire-
tube boilers are safer to use, require less expertise, Table 1: Properties of the Fire Tube Boiler
and operate under lower pressures than water-tube Parameters Units Values
Design Ton/hr 18
boilers. Thus they are more suitable for small scale
capacity
applications (Saidur, Ahamed et al. 2010; De Santi
Operating Ton/hr 13
and Valentino 2011). Water tube boilers, on the
capacity
other hand, have a higher rate of steam production
Boiler Type - Packaged type,
and are easier to construct and transport.
Some recent papers have been published regarding Three Pass,
with other aspects of fire-tube boilers including the Fire Tube
options of their performance enhancement and Heating area m2 725
improvement in their energy efficiency,(Aydin and Draft type - FD
Boke 2010; Behbahani-Nia, Bagheri et al. Design pressure Bar 15
2010).Efforts have been made to improve and Operating Bar 13
enhance the performance of fire tube boiler. Since in pressure
Pakistan boiler's still finds lots of application in Burner type - Dual (Natural
industry, so it can save around 10-30% of thermal Gas & Diesel)
energy if boilers are operated more efficiently. The 3. Performance Analysis of the Boiler
optimization or improvement in operation of boilers Since there is a direct relation between energy
could leads to reduction in fuel consumption and conservation and boiler performance and the
improvement in steam and generation capacity. performance of the boiler which is highly dependent
2. Process Description: on time [10]. An efficient operation of boiler requires
In the present research work the procedure adopted
was based on the identification of losses incurred less amount of fuel in input and can produce
during the operation of an industrial fire tube boiler maximum energy at output, which is an indication
and the evaluation of these losses and its remedies. of an efficient energy conservation system. The
Boiler's performance was evaluated by the use of efficiency of the boiler [11] was found by carrying
the Flue gas analyzer, TDS meter and out performance tests at regular intervals using
Thermometers.
equations 3 and 4 mentioned below:
Energy required in the boiler and energy cost can be Heat in steam output(kCal)
found by using equations 1 and 2 as: Boiler efficiency=
Heat in fuel input (kCal)
* 100 (3)

Quantity of steamg eneration

Boiler efficiency=
Quantity of fuel consumption *
100 (4)
It is the input-output method which comprises of
chemical energy gained from the combination of the
boiler fuel. The boiler efficiency was calculated with
It is not easy to get the energy requirements and
the help of recorded data, i.e. steam generated per
cost from above equations, as efficiency depends hour (kg/hr), fuel used per hour (kg/hr), operating
upon the load, weather conditions and time. condition (Temperature and pressure), boiler feed
2020 M. Z.U. Haq, Z. Yahya, H. M. Masood, N. Ali, M. Ashraf 45

water temperature (oC) and fuel heating value GHV decreasing the stack temperature from 319°C to
(kCal/kg of fuel). The primary objective of this 230 °C. Thi s imp rov eme nt in the val ue of
activity was to evaluate the actual performance of combustion efficiency can be achieved by adjusting
the fire tube boiler and to draw a comparison flow drift velocity, which can be obtained by
between its design values in order to get the effect of in st al li ng pr e- he at er s or ec on om iz er s (i .e .
time to be evalua ted so that the requir ed utilization of extra heat) as shown in Fig.-1. In
maintenance can be applied. The Boiler was tested addition, due to the reduction in the flue gas
according to American Society of mechanical temperature, the excess air quantity in combustion
engineers (ASME) power test code 4.1 (PTC-4-1) systems can also be optimized. When the fuel gas
which is specified for steam generating units fed to the boiler at 170°C, The percentage of oxygen
4. Results & Discussion: stack reduced to 2.6% (the maximum allowable
The major contribution factors in the thermal reduction flue gas analysis can seen from Table 3).
evaluation of subjected three pass, fire tube boiler Above this value the quantity of un-burned carbon
stack temperature and blowdown. in the stack was found to be increased, as seen in
Table 2. The reduction temperature of flue gases,
4.1 Stack Temperature & Excess Oxygen in
2.7 million PRS can be saved annually
Flue Gas
Combustion efficiency was improved by 3% by

Table 2: “Improved Efficiency and potential/ potential Cost Saving”

Improved
Parameters Units Actual Value Value
Mass flow rate
of steam Ton/hr 13 13
Existing Stack
Temperature °C 319 319
Controlled Stack
Temperature °C 170 230
Oxygen in Stack % 3.50 3.50
Excess Oxygen
Optimization % 2.20 2.60
Existing Thermal
Efficiency % 75.50 75.70
Improved Thermal
Efficiency % 83.15 79.82
Load Ton/hr 113,880 113,880
Cost Rs/Ton 1,215 1,215
Existing Operating Cost Rs/Yr 138,364,200 138,364,200
Saving in Yr Rs 5,019,356 2,743,915

Figure-1: Effect of reduction in stack temperature on Thermal Efficiency

46 Journal of the Pakistan Institute of Chemical Engineers Vol. XXXXVIII

Table-3: Flue gas analysis results

Parameters Units Actual Values Improved Values NEQs

Operating Pressure Bar 13 13 -
Ambient Temperature °C 37 37 -
Exhaust Gas °C 319 230 -
Temperature
CO2 % 10.76 11.92 -
O2 % 3.50 2.60 -
3
H2S mg/Nm ND ND -
3
CO mg/Nm 716 548 800
3
SO2 mg/Nm 0 0 -
2 3
NO mg/Nm 5 4 -
3
NO mg/Nm 106 131 -
3
NOx mg/Nm 111 108 400
Combustion % 75.70 79.82 -
Efficiency

By obtaining both of the above optimizations in our potential saving shown in Figure 2;
thermal system, we can achieve the following

annual savings can be increased.

As the blowdown process involves the continuous

removal of water from a boiler to remove
accumulated dissolved solids which in the return
prevents the scale formation. Scale, having low
thermal conductivity, causes fuel wastage typically
up to 5% in fire tube boilers. As a rule of thumb, one
millimeter of scale build-up can increase fuel
consumption by 2%[12].Hence the blowdown
wastes energy because the blowdown water is at
boiler working pressure and temperature at which
the steam is produced. Higher blowdown quantity
results in the loss of fuel and eventually the boiler
efficiency. Blowdown losses also include the losses
through the additional cost for makeup water
supplied and its softening costs [13]. In current
Figure 2: Improved Efficiency and Potential/ boiler system, the efficiency was enhanced by
Improved Annual Cost Saving reduction in blowdown, i.e. by decreasing the
More ever, the annual savings as a function of blowdown time, increasing the limits of blowdown
thermal efficiency has been depicted in Figure 2. TDS and adopting proper blowdown sample
Due to the decrease in flue gas temperature the collection method.
2020 M. Z.U. Haq, Z. Yahya, H. M. Masood, N. Ali, M. Ashraf 47

Table 4: Blowdown Calculations The proposed results were determined and

represented along with improved values of the
Improved
Existing Values blowdown system. (See table 5).
Parameters Units against the
Values
Actual Values
Time hr 0.25 0.20
Blowdown per 3 3
Frequency day
Feed water ppm 50-100 50-100
TDS
Blowdown TDS ppm 2500 3500
Blowdown Loss % 3.80 2.20

Table 5: Proposed and Improved Savings in Blowdown System

Parameters Units Actual Values Improved Values
Mass flow rate of steam Ton/hr 11.37 11.37
Blowdown % 3.80 3.80
Steam waste in Ton/day 10.37 10.37
blowdown steam
Proposed blowdown % 1 2.20
Proposed steam Ton/day 2.73 6
waste in blowdown
Steam saving Ton/day 7.64 4.37
Amount of gas required Nm3/Ton 73.26 73.26
for 1 ton steam
1 MMBTU is equivalent to Nm3 30.14 30.14
MMBTU for 1 ton steam MMBTU 2.43 2.43
MMBTU saved MMBTU 18.56 10.62
by improving blowdown
Cost of MMBTU PKR 500 500
Financial saving Rs/day 9,284.20 5,310
Financial saving Rs/yr 3,388,731 1,938,150
Due to the reduction in the blowdown the annual
savings and reduction in energy losses are shown in
Fig.-3. It can be observed from the table 6 that as the
blowdown was reduced to 2.2%, the thermal and
overall efficiencies increased up to 73.27% and
79.8% respectively. While, on the other hand, stack
gas temperature also reduced to 230 C, which leads
to less thermal pollution. In addition, the
cumulative effect of the improvement in overall and
thermal efficiency can be observed by performing
the cost analysis. It can be deduced from the table 7
that as a result of the decrease in the amount of
blowdown will augment the financial savings
(composed of fuel and energy saving) significantly, Figure 3: Blowdown reduction and Potential/
i.e. up to 6.2 million PRS. Improved Annual Cost Saving
48 Journal of the Pakistan Institute of Chemical Engineers Vol. XXXXVIII

Summarizing the results, we need to adopt engineering department, NFC-IEFR for giving us
following changes in our system, shown Table 6: the opportunity to present and implement it on
Table 6: Proposed improvements industrial scale Besides this we also would like
Parameters Units Present Proposed Improved to express our deep thanks for the kind support
Overall Efficiency % 70.00 75.00 73.27 of the internal advisor, all lab technicians,
Combustion Efficiency % 75.70 83.20 79.80 lecturers and R&D Department in NFC-IEFR,
Stack Gas °C 319.00 170.00 230.00 for their supreme guidance and support all over
the project.
Temperature
References:
O2 % 3.50 2.20 2.60
1. I. O. Ohijeagbon, M. A. Waheed, S. O.
Excess Air % 11.70 10.50 10.90
Jekayinfa, O. E. Opadokundevelopmental
Blowdown % 3.80 1.00 2.20
design of a laboratory fire-tubesteam
Blowdown limit TDS 2500 3500 3500
2. I. O. Ohijeagbon, M. A. Waheed, S. O.
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We would like to acknowledge the chemical
Kitto,