Performance enhancement of an industrial fire tube boiler

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 blow down 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 a Energy Auditing. From the results of energy audit, the boiler’s thermal energy efficiency and combustion efficiency are found to be 70.09% and 75.7% respectively. It was also observed that these losses can be reduced by controlling stack temperature, excess air and optimized blow down. There covered energy can be utilized to preheat the combustion air and feed water. Economic evaluation of energy saving measure resulted in annual fuel saving 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.