Understand the basics of

packaged steam generators

A custom design has many
advantages over older, standard ones
V Ganapathy, ABCO Industries, Abilene,

ustom-designed steam generators should be considered

when evaluating packaged boiler designs because standard

designs have several limitations. Merits of convective
superheaters over radiant designs should be understood by
end-users. Evaluate operating and life -cycle costs for each
boiler application. The unit with lowest life -cycle cost and
good des ign should be selected, not the boiler with lowest
initial cost alone. Write specifications clearly and avoid
comparisons based on surface areas.
Specifying or selecting boilers based on pre-engineered
designs/tables is not recommended. Refractory-lined
designs have poor design and performance features and
serious maintenance concerns. Operating at low loads is
difficult for fans and superheaters and should be reviewed
carefully.
Oil- and gas -fired packaged steam generators are widely
used in chemical plants, refineries and cogeneration systems. They form an important part of the total steam system
in any plant and are available in capacities up to 250,000
lb/hr at pressures ranging from 150 to 1,500 psig and temp eratures from saturated steam to 1,000F. They are expected to last about 25 years, and therefore, cost-effectively
generate steam.
However,
when
making
purchasing decisions, plant
engineers, consultants and
engineering firms spend little
time on important aspects such
as long-term performance and
operating costs and often
recommend standard, off-the
shelf designs that have several
limitations. Here are important
design
and
performance
aspects of packaged steam
generators and recent trends
in their design that engineers
should be familiar with.

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING /JULY 1997

85

Standard designs have limitations. Standard boiler

designs were developed decades ago by boiler vendors to

simplify the process of manufacturing and purchasing
packaged boilers. Tables were developed showing major
dimensions, surface areas, tube count, etc., and the consultant's job was only to select a model number for a given
steam capacity from pre -engineered designs; plant layout
was not difficult because the major dimensions and weight
details were known. Engineering and manufacturing hours
were greatly reduced for the boiler supplier, resulting in
lower initial costs.
However, when standard designs were developed, there
were no emission regulations. Low excess air, about 5% to
10% air, was used to attain high boiler efficiencies for
natural gas and fuel oils. Using flue-gas recirculation (FGR)
to reduce NOx emissions was relatively unknown. Today,
15% to 20% excess air and 15% to 25% FGR rates are
common for natural gas-fired boilers to attain NOx less than
30 ppm and CO less than 100 ppm. Also, the flue gas
quantity flowing through the boiler is directly proportional
to the amount of fuel fired:
Fuel fired = boiler duty/efficiency(1)
Boiler duty, or energy
absorbed by steam, depends on
whether there is a superheater or
not. Efficiency depends on the
exit gas temperature, which in
turn depends on the presence of
economizer. Thus, even if the
boiler capacity is a nominal
100,000 lb/h as shown in Table
1, due to the effect of duty and
excess air and FGR rates, a
significant difference in flue gas
mass flow results among the
various cases.
Cases 3 and 6 have no
economizer, which affects the
fuel input. In case 5, which has
a superheater, the flue gas
quantity is nearly 40%

more than that of case 1 and, there fore, gas pressure drop
across the convection section is doubled. Calcula tions are
based on the assumption that no efforts were made by the
boiler supplier to offer a larger unit or change the tube
lengths, pitches, tube rows, etc., to lower the gas pressure
drop as in custom-designed units. The increase in gas pressure
drop causes additional fan power consumption, which is an
operating cost.
Fan power consumption (kW)
W x Ahw x 62.4 x 0.746
(2)
(3,600 x 12 x 550 x 0.7 x 0.075)
= 0.0000373 W x Ahw where W = flue gas flow, lb/h
Ahw = static head or pressure drop in boiler system,
in.WC

62.4 = density of water

0.746 = conversion from hp to kW 550 = conversion
from ft-lb/s to hp .075 = density of air, lb/ft 3
70% efficiency was used for the fan and an additional 8
in.WC loss was assumed for the burner and duct work. Case 1
power consumption =100,385 x 18 x 0.0000373 = 68 kW and
case 5 power consumption = 143,150 x 28 x 0.000373 = 150
kW. The difference is about 82 kW In reality, the difference is
more if actual burner drop and duct losses are considered.
Over a year, additional operating costs = 82 x 8,000 x 0.05
= $32,800 (at $0.05/kWh), which is not a small amount. The
fan size is also larger. Hence, if actual operating cost is
evaluated, the standard design is not costeffective, although
its initial price may be attractive. This could be a costly error
for the end-user, who will operate the boiler for 20 to 30
years.
In Table 1, the effect of additional mass flow on boiler exit
gas temperature is not considered, which makes the situation
even worse. Exit gas temperature increases by 10F to 40F if
gas flow increases in a given boiler. Note that a 40F rise in
exit gas temperature is equivalent to 1% change in boiler
efficiency, or about $30,000/yr, based on a fuel cost of
$3/MMBtu. A better selection would have been a model
generating 20% to 40% more steam or a 130,000lb/hr to
140,000-lb/h boiler vs. the nominal 100,000-lb/h unit. This
does not happen often because vendors want to be competitive
and push the lowest cost option. Custom designing is the only
way to arrive at optimum designs.
2

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING/ JULY 1997

Custom-designed boilers. Custom designing starts

with an understanding of the boiler parameters, desired
emission levels and fuels fired. The starting point is a furnace design based on discussions with a burner supplier,
who reviews information on furnace dimensions, excess
air and FGR rates and gives approval. The furnace, convection section, superheater and economizer are then
designed.
Based on actual gas flow generated, efforts are made to
minimize the gas pressure drop by adjusting the boiler
height, tube spacings, tube counts and even possibly using
finned tubes in the convection section if the gas is clean.
Thus, every boiler is designed new and not pulled up from
a pre-engineered table. The result is a unit with high efficiency and low operating cost, meeting the desired emis sion levels without flame impingement concerns.
Furnace performance. This is the most important
component of any steam generator. Its performance affects
not only the combustion process but also the heat-transfer
surfaces located beyond the furnace such as superheaters,
convection section and economizer. Using techniques such
as low-NOx burners, staged combustion and FGR, the
flame shape in the furnace will be different. Result: a possibility that the furnace dimensions of standard designs are
inadequate and flame impingement may occur on the furnace walls.
With custom-designed boilers, furnace dimensions are
reviewed with the burner supplier along with a fuel analysis
and required emission levels. The furnace dimensions are
based on the burner supplier's recommendations and not
vice-versa (checking if a given furnace is adequate for the
project in question).
Another poor practice carried over from decades ago is

using refractory in the furnace floor, front and side

walls. Engineers and boiler designers who had little
experience with boiling heat transfer and circulation in
those days found this practice convenient to prevent
overheating of floor tubes. However, with the abundance
of information on boiling heat transfer and boiler
circulation, backed up by the operation of several
hundred units, this practice is not necessary. Using
refractory also reduces the furnace effective radiant
surface area and increases the area heat release rate
and heat flux.
An important recent development is a completely watercooled furnace (Fig. 1) with several advantages:
1. The furnace front, rear, side walls and floor are completely water-cooled and are of membrane wall
construction, resulting in a leak-proof enclosure for the
flame. The entire furnace expands and contracts
uniformly, thus avoiding casing expansion problems.
When refractory is used on front and rear walls, hot
gases leaking from the furnace are always possible.
Casing corrosion is also likely since a gas-tight joint is
difficult to ensure between refractory-lined casings and
water-cooled walls; when corrosive gases condense
there is corrosion.
2. Problems associated with refractory maintenance are
eliminated. There is no need for a shutdown to check
the refractory or replace it.
3. Fast startup rates are difficult with refractory-lined
boilers. With a completely water-cooled furnace, quick
startups are possible. This is important in cogeneration
projects where the packaged boiler must supply steam
to the end-user as soon as the heat recovery system
fails.
4. Heat-release rates, on an area basis, are lower with a
water-cooled furnace (for the same furnace volume)
compared to a refractory-lined unit which has less
cooling surface. This also results in reduced heat flux.
Note that area heat-release rate is a more significant
parameter than volumetric heat-release rate, which
gives an indication of residence time for combustion
products and is pertinent only for difficult-to-burn fuels
like solid fuels. Area heatrelease rate affects furnace
heat flux and departure-fromnucleate boiling (DNB)
conditions and is significant. Typical area heat-release
rates vary from 100,000 to 175,000 Btu/ft2-hr for
packaged boilers. It makes more sense to specify area
heat-release rates rather than volumetric rates.

5. Reradiation from the refractory increases the flame's

local combustion temperature, which in turn increases
NOx formation. Water-cooled front walls, especially the
front wall where NO, formation potential is the highest,
have a beneficial effect on the flame -they cool it effectively
so NOx formation is reduced.
6. Another problem with us ing refractory in the furnace is
an increase in furnace exit gas temperature, which raises
the radiant heat flux and causes tube failures in the
radiant superheater (if present).
Radiant vs. convective superheaters. Radiant superheaters
are widely used in packaged steam generators (Fig 2). They
are prone to frequent tube failures because of their
location. Convective superheaters, located behind several
screen tubes, have fewer maintenance concerns and a
much longer life due to their lower tube wall temperatures;
but their size and cost are higher due to a lower log-mean
temperature difference. The following points on radiant vs.
convective designs should be understood by potential endusers, who can influence design specifications and
evaluation.
1. Radiant superheaters are located at the furnace exit
or turning section as shown in Fig 2. The furnace exit gas
temperature is a difficult parameter to estimate. Variations
in excess air, FGR rates and flame shape also add to the
difficulty. The furnace exit gas temperature could be off by
100F to 200F from predicted values. The turning section
is also subject to turbulence and nonuniformity in gas
temperature profiles, which also hinders an accurate
superheater performance evaluation. Thus, radiant superheater tube wall temperatures could be underestimated
significantly, leading to tube overheating and failures.
2. Several boilers operate at partial loads of less than
50% for significant time periods. The radiant superheater,
by its nature, absorbs more enthalpy at partial loads compared to convective designs. Also, at partial loads, steam
flow distribution inside the superheater tubes is less uniform and often questionable. If at 100% load, the superheater pressure drop is 30 psi, then at 25% load the pressure drop is barely 2 psi-this may not ensure good steam
flow distribution through all the tubes. Gas -side mixing
will also be poor due to low gas velocities. So there is a
double negative of higher radiant energy and poor steam
and gas flow distribution, which is likely to cause overheating of a few tubes in the radiant superheater.
The convective superheater, conversely, is located
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING/ JULY 1997

Table 2. Comparison of surface areas

Boiler 1
90,500

68,700

148,900

116,500

Heat release rate, Btu/ft -hr

Furnace length, ft
Furnace width, ft
Furnace height, ft
Furnace exit gas, F
Boiler exit gas, F
Economizer exit, F
2
Furnace proj area, f t (duty)
2

Boiler surface, f t (duty)

2
Economizer surface, f t (duty)
Geometry
Tubes/Rows
No. deep

22
6

Overall heat transfer coefficient

Developing boiler specifications. Consultants and AE

firms responsible for purchasing steam generators
should develop good and clear specifications. Highlight
the following aspects.
Steam parameters such as flow, pressure, degree of
superheat and feed water temperature should be stated
along with feed water quality and steam purity desired.
This enables the designer to select proper drum internals.
Amount of blowdown to be used while determining the
boiler duty can also be estimated if feed water quality is
specified. This is important since it affects boiler duty and
the amount of fuel fired.
If feed water is used for interstage attemperation, the
water should be demineralized with preferably zero
solids. Otherwise, solids from the spray water will carry
over into the steam and deposit in the superheaters or
steam turbine. If demineralized water is not available,
then the boiler designer can engineer a condensate spray
system, which essentially condenses the desired quan tity
of steam using feed water and uses it for desuperheating
(Fig 3).
Often, specifications do not state if steam for deaera tion is from the boiler or another source. This is important if the deaerator is supplied by the boiler vendor.
The total steam must be increased by 10% to 15%,
depending on the temperature and amount of condensate
83

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING /JULY 1997

29
6

10

10

2,364
683
315
802 (36.6)

2,255
611
315
1,026 (40.4)

3,972 (53.7)
8,384 (10.5)
evap/econ

4,760 (52.1)
8,550 (8.3)
evap/econ

11/15
66/14

10/15
87/10

Length, ft
9.5/11
Eco fins/in, ht, thick, serr 3x0.75x0.05x0.157
Transverse pitch, in.
4.0/4.0

beyond several screen tubes. Thus, better gas -side mixing

is likely. The heat flux and gas temperature entering it are
lower, resulting in a less hostile environment at all loads.
So, their performance can be predicted more accu rately
than radiant designs. The screen section can be larger
when the required steam temperature is less, thus ensuring
low tube-wall temperatures. Radiant superheaters,
however, are always located at the highest gas
temperature zone irrespective of whether the degree of
superheat is 20F or 400F.
3. Multistage superheaters with interstage desuperheating can be used with convective designs to ensure
that steam temperatures are not exceeded and the tube wall temperatures are predictable and under control.
End-users are better off with convective superheater
designs-their size and cost may be more but their life is
longer, with fewer maintenance concerns.

Boiler 2

Heat release rate, Btu/ft -hr

18.0/7.35

9.5/10
5x0.75x0.05x0.157
4.375/4.0
17.0/6.25

Parameters: 100,000 Ib/h, 300 psig steam, 230F feed water, 2% blowdown, nat
sat gas fuel, 10% excess air: Boilerduty = 100.8
ural
efficiency (HHV) =
MMBtu/h,
84.3%,
furnace back pressure = 7.0 in.

steam for deaeration is supplied from the boiler. Ignoring

this could result in a smaller boiler.
Some consultants think that if a boiler is designed for
700 psig, then it can operate at any lower pressure, even
100 psig. This is not so. Due to the significant difference
in specific steam volume, the velocity of steam at lower
pressure will be high, about 300 to 400 ft/s in the superheater or in the steam lines and could be a serious operating problem. The steam drum internals will also not
operate well at lower pressures and carryover of water
into steam is likely. A possible option is to reduce the
steam capacity at lower pressures or design the boiler for
the vary ing pressures. But state this point up front in the
specifications.
If superheaters are present, the steam temperature
control range should be specified. Typically, 50% to
100% load range is feasible. However, some consultants
not familiar with flow distribution problems at low loads,
suggest a load range of 10% to 100%. This is not
meaningful since it is very difficult to predict superheater
performance when gas/steam flow maldistribution
problems are likely.
Fuels and emissions. Fuel analysis and emissio ns to be
met should be stated clearly. Gaseous fuels containing
hydrogen have a higher combustion temperature, which
increases NO, formation. Low-Btu fuels result in large
amounts of flue gas to be handled by the boiler. This
affects fan power consumption and efficiency due to a
higher exit gas temperature.
The burner supplier must also ensure that emission
levels can be met with the fuels in question and suggest
appropriate excess air and FGR rates. If both natural gas
and fuel oils are used, the specifications should state this.
Furnace exit gas temperature is higher for natural gas
compared to oil. If convective superheaters are used, the
desired steam temperatures have to be attained on oil firing. Desuperheating could be done on gas firing to control
it. Presence of nitrogen in fuels also affects NOx formation. The burner supplier must be aware of this if NOx
guarantees are made.

One reason for using an economizer and not an air

heater as the heat recovery system is the impact on NO,
by the higher combustion temperature with hot air. Also
the gas- and air-side pressure drops are higher in an air
heater, which is an operating penalty.
Fan operation. A small margin should be used for
flow and head while sizing fans. This is because, unlike
utility boilers where multiple fans are used, a single fan
is used in packaged boilers. If a large margin is used,
the fan is not likely to operate well below 30% to 40%
(Fig. 4) unless a variable speed drive is used. At low
loads, even with fully closed damper positions, the
leakage air flow could be enough to blow out the flame.
These aspects must be discussed with the burner and
fan supplier and with the end-user to check if low-load
operation for long duration is really likely and
necessary.
Surface areas can be misleading. A common problem
even among experienced engineers is the comparison of
surface areas of different designs. Some consultants
even specify required surface areas. This is a poor
practice and should be avoided. Surface area is defined
as:
S = Q/(U T)
(3) where Q= duty or energy absorbed by the surface,
Btu/hr U= overall heat transfer coefficient, Btu/ft2-hr-F
AT= log-mean temperature difference, F.
U depends on gas velocity, temperature, tube pitch
and arrangement. Also, when extended surfaces are
used, the variations in S could be 100% to 300%.1, 1,2
Using a large fin density decreases U while a lower fin
density increases U. Therefore, unless one knows how to
compute U for bare and finned tubes, comparing surface
areas can be misleading and should be avoided.
Rules of thumb for surface areas should also be
avoided as they can lead to improper conclusions. Table
2 shows the design of two boilers for the same duty,
efficiency and gas pressure drop with different surface
areas. The reason for variations in S is that the amount
of energy absorbed in the furnace, convection and
economizer sections are different. Also, using different
fin configurations in the economizer distorts the picture.
LITERATURE CITED
Ganapathy, V, "Design and evaluate finned tube
bundles," Hydrocarbon Processing, September 1996.
Ganapathy, V., "Evaluate extended surfaces
carefully," Hydrocarbon Processing, October 1990.

The author
V. Ganapathy is a heat transfer
specialist with ABCO Industries Inc.,
Abilene, Texas. He is engaged in the
engineering of heat recovery boilers for
process, incineration and cogeneration
applications and packaged water tube
steam generators. He also develops
software for engineering of heat
recovery systems and components. He
holds a B Tech degree in mechanical
engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras,
India, and an MSc(eng) in boiler technology from
Madras. University. Mr. Ganapathy is the author of over
175 articles on boilers, heat transfer and steam plant
systems and has written five books: Applied Heat
Transfer, Steam Plant Calculations Manual, Nomograms
for Steam Generation and Utilization, Basic Programs for
Steam Plant Engineers (book and diskette), and Waste
Heat Boiler Deskbook, copies of which are available
from him. He also has contributed several chapters to
the Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing and Design,
Vols. 25 and 26, Marcel Dekker, New York.

Understand boiler
performance characteristics
Use these suggestions when
buying, designing or
optimizing steam generators
V Ganapathy, ABCO Industries, Abilene,

n understanding of the major differences in per-

formance characteristics of steam generators is

essential to better use and integrate them into plant
steam systems. Process and cogeneration plants
widely use gas- or oil-fired packaged steam generators
(Fig. 1) and gas-turbine-exhaust, heat-recovery steam
generators (HRSGs) (Fig. 2) to meet steam demands.
The most important differences are efficiency versus
load characteristics, gas/steam temperature profiles
and partial load behavior. Also, steaming in the
economizer is a concern at low steam flows for HRSGs,
but not for packaged boilers.

Packaged boilers. Completely shop-assembled pack-

aged boilers (Fig. 1) are used to generate steam up to

200,000 lb/h, 1,000 psig and 850F. Slight deviations
in these parameters are feasible on a case-by-case
basis and depend on permitted boiler shipping
dimensions. Typically, these steam generators fire
natural gas and distillate oils with burners located in
the furnace's front wall. A superheater and economizer
may be used if superheated steam is required and a
higher efficiency level is sought.
Two major configurations are available for
packaged boilers: the D-type and O-type. In the D-type
(Fig. 3a), combustion products of flue gases leaving
the furnace make a 180 degree turn and flow over the
convection tubes that may contain a superheater.
Gases leaving the convection section then transfer
energy to an economizer, which preheats the feed
water. Generally, air heaters are not used in packaged
boilers due to cost considerations, larger gas/air
pressure drops and increased NOx formation due to
higher flame temperatures.
In the 0-type boiler (Fig. 3b), the burner is mounted
on the front wall. Combustion products travel to the
furnace's end, make a 180 degree turn and flow
towards the front via the two convection banks. These
transfer energy to the convection tubes. In another
option (Fig. 3c), the

gases travel straight without making the turn. In this

case, the boiler will be longer because its length
includes

H Y D R O C A R B O N P R O C E S S I N G / A U G U S T 1 9 9 4 131

formation. But this method has less impact on conversion

of fuel- the convection pass and furnace. The bottom
drum in the 0-type may be replaced by two smaller drums
resulting in an A-type configuration (Fig. 3d).
Generally, packaged boilers operate with a pressurized
furnace design. A forced-draft fan sends combustion air
through the burner. It then sends resulting flue gases all
the way to the stack. Furnace pressures as high as 30 to
40 in H 20 are common. Natural circulation principles are
used to circulate a steam-water mixture through the riser
tubes in all of these units.
How emissions impact design of packaged
boilers. Generally, NOX levels of 30 to 80 ppm and CO

levels of 150 to 300 ppmv can be attained by using gas

recirculation, staged fuel or air combustion, low-NO x
burners, steam injection and excess-air control. Some
regions require less than 9 ppmv NOx and over an 85%
reduction in CO. This can be attained only with a
selective catalytic reduction system (SCR). These are
very expensive, on the order of 20% to 35% of boiler
cost.
Boiler design is impacted by emissions. Gas recirculation increases gas pressure drop through the boiler and
also affects gas/steam temperature profiles. Typically, 5%
to 15% gas recirculation is used. High excess air, around
15%, may also be required to control NOx and CO. If gas
recirculation is used, a separate recirculation fan can
transport cool flue gases from the boiler's rear to the
flame region. Alternatively, a forced-draft fan may induce
flue gases. Addition of cool flue gases at the burner
region reduces flame temperature and, thus, limits NO x
bound nitrogen to NOx, as with liq uid fuels.

Furnace dimensions should be discussed with the burner supplier

so that modeling of flame characteristics can be done for emissions
and burnout. The partition wall that separates the furnace and
convection section must prevent leakage of flue gases because gas
pressure can be 10 to 30 in H 20 higher in the furnace. Leakage can
result in higher CO emissions due to incomplete combustion.
Completely water-cooled furnaces. A completely watercooled membrane wall design that has the front and rear walls
cooled in addition to the sides (Fig. 1) offers the maximum cooling
surface for a given volume. This results in lower heat release rates
and, therefore, a lower heat flux. The cool front-wall design also
helps to minimize NO x formation. This is because most NOx forms
in a zone close to the start of the flame where a cooler front wall
helps. A refractory-lined front wall or floor radiates energy back to
the flame which increases NOx formation. A few decades ago,
refractory-lined floors and front/rear walls were common. But a
completely water-cooled design results in lower heat release rates,
lower emissions and fewer refractory maintenance problems. So
plant engineers and consultants generally prefer a boiler with little
or no refractory.
Superheater design. Superheaters in packaged boilers are
preferably the convective, drainable type. They are located at an
appropriate place in the convection section depending on required
steam temperature and load range over which the steam temperature
should be maintained. If the superheat requirement is small, around
20F to 50F, the superheater may be located between the evaporator and economizer. An interstage desuperheater can control the
steam temperature if its actual value exceeds the desired value.
Packaged boiler performance characteristics. Major boiler
performance characteristics of interest to the plant engineer are:
Efficiency
Steam/gas temperature profiles
Emissions
Efficiency
Bo iler efficiency depends mainly on excess air and exit gas
temperature. Fig. 4 shows major boiler heat losses and the effect
from exit gas temperature and excess air on efficiency. Either the
lower heating value (LHV) or higher heating value (HHV) should
be used when specifying boiler efficiency. The relation between the
two is: efficiency (LHV basis) x LHV =efficiency
(HHV basis) x HHV (1)
The variation of several parameters with load or duty for a
typical gas-fired packaged boiler is in Fig. 4. The gas flow decreases
at lower loads, and with the same surface area, a larger decrease in
gas temperature occurs. A 40F decrease in stack gas temperature is
equivalent to about a 1% improvement in efficiency. However,
efficiency does not vary significantly with load as radiation losses
increase in proportion to load. If the radiation loss is 0.5% at 100%
Load, it would be 2% at 25% load, thus compensating for a lower
exit gas temperature. Also, a higher excess air level

32

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING /AUGUST 1994

may be required at lower loads for proper combustion, thus

decreasing efficiency. At a load between 25% and 100%,
efficiency peaks (Fig. 4) due to exit gas loss and radiation
loss.
Gas/steam temperature profiles. The gas temperature
throughout the boiler decreases as load decreases, starting
from the furnace outlet. As a result, the convective
superheater also absorbs less energy at lower loads,
resulting in a lower steam temperature. If a constant steam
temperature is desired from 60% to 100% load, the d esign
approach is to ensure the desired steam temperature at 60%
load. At higher loads, steam temperature is higher and can
be controlled using interstage spray.
Feed water temperature leaving the economizer decreases
at lower loads. The approach point (d ifference between
saturation steam temperature and water temperature
leaving economizer) increases with load. This is because
the ratio of gas flow to steam flow is maintained near unity
in packaged boilers. With a given surface area in the
economizer and a lower inlet gas temperature, the energy
transferred is lower. Conversely, the approach point
decreases at lower loads in gas turbine HRSGs, leading to
steaming conditions in the economizer. This is due to a
higher gas flow to steam flow ratio in gas turbine units,
where gas mass flow does not decrease with load as in
packaged boilers. Hence, the economizer transfers a large
amount of energy, though the steam flow is low, resulting
in lower approach points at lower loads.

Heat-recovery steam generators.

Large HRSGs are generally the convective type (Fig. 2).
But they can resemble large utility boilers with radiant
furnaces if the firing temperature is above 1,600F to
1,700F. The duct burner is located ahead of the HRSG,
which con sists of a superheater, evaporator and

economizer. Additional modules may be required in

multi-pressure units. If a constant steam temperature
is required at all loads, the design philosophy is to
make sure that the steam temperature is achieved at
unfired conditions. In the fired condition, although
steam generation is larger, steam temperature is also
higher due to a higher inlet gas temperature.
Desuperheating may be restored to control the steam
temperature. Simulation methods can be used to
predict HRSG performance at different conditions.3

134

Table 1. Gas-turbine
temperature
Amb. temp, F

exhaust conditions vs. ambient

Gas flow, Ib/h
10

60
100

Table 2. HRSG performance (unfired)

temperature
Ambient temp, F
Gas flow, Ib/h
Gas temp to superheater,
Gas temp to evaporator,
Gas temp to economizer,
Gas temp leaving economizer
Steam flow, Ib/h
Steam temp, F
Feed water temp, F
Leaving economizer, F
Approach point, F
Note: steam pressure = 650 psig;
= 10.2, N2 = 73.6, 02 =12.9 HRSG

Gas turbine HRSGs, unlike packaged steam generators, have fewer options for controlling emissions
because exhaust gases are generated at the turbine.
Modifications
in
gas-turbine
combustors
and
steam/water injection have resulted in a low-NO,
exhaust, around 40 ppmv. Gas turbine HRSGs refer to
NOx and CO at 15% oxygen dry volume whereas
packaged steam generators use 3% oxygen as the
basis. 1,2 If a NOx level down to 9 ppmv is desired, an
SCR is presently the only option. But combustors are
now being developed by some large gas-turbine
manufacturers to achieve less than 10 ppmv NOx . SCRs
may be located at suitable gas temperature zones to
maximize emission reductions by separating the
evaporator or superheater modules.
Basic differences between HRGs and packaged
boilers.
Effect of ambient temperature. In packaged boilers, the required combustion air is the same for a given
fuel at any ambient temperature if excess air is main

Gas temp, F

588,600
545,600
474,300

vs ambient
10
588,600
F 900
F 853
F 516
F 388
74,000
632
250
492
7
3% blow down. Exhaust analysis, vol %:
consists of superheater, evaporator and

60
545,600
979
920
518
374
80,700
647
250
482
17
economizer

tained. Hence, flue-gas mass flow at a given load

does not vary with ambient conditions. It is
important to select a forced-draft fan to handle
the desired combustion air mass flow at the
lowest density case, which results in the largest
volume of air. Control methods, such as inlet
vane modulation, adjust the combustion air flow
to maintain desired excess air or air/fuel ratio.
Conversely, a gas turbine is a volume
machine. The exhaust gas flow and temperature
characteristics vary with ambient conditions in
single-shaft machines (Table 1). This has some
effect on HRSG performance, particularly on
approach point, exit gas temperature and steam
generation. Table 2 shows the performance of a
HRSG for different ambient conditions based on
data from Table 1. Note that the exit gas
temperature is higher and approach point is
smaller at low ambient conditions.

Efficiency vs. load. Fig. 5 shows the

characteristics of a gas turbine HRSG vs. load
(steam generation) at a given ambient
temperature. At the lowest load, exit gas temperature is the highest and as the
supplementary firing increases, more steam is
generated at a higher efficiency. The ASME
efficiency is defined in power test code 4.4 for
HRSGs.4
The reason for the difference between
HRSGs and packaged boilers is: Gas turbine
exhaust typically contains 15 vol% oxygen and
the mass flow through the HRSG varies only
slightly with load. At higher steam demand
conditions, this excess oxygen is used without
adding air by raising the exhaust gas
temperature to generate more steam. In effect,
the excess air is reduced at higher loads. Also,
due to the smaller ratio of gas/steam flows at
higher loads, the exit gas temperature decreases
with increased load. All these factors, coupled
with lower radiation losses, result in significant
improvement in efficiency with load.
Steaming in economizer. This is a concern at
lower loads in HRSGs because the gas to steam
ratio is very high and increases at lower loads.
It is nearly unity in packaged boilers at all
loads. Hence, a large increase in water
temperature occurs in the economizer at lower
loads in HRSGs, thus reducing the approach
point.
Steam temperature. If the superheater is
designed for a particular temperature in the
unfired mode, it will increase at higher loads due
to higher firing temperatures. This trend applies
to HRSGs and packaged boilers. Generally,
convective superheater designs are used in larte
HRSGs (Fig. 2).

The author
V. Ganapathy is a heat transfer
specialist with ABCO Industries Inc.,
Abilene, Texas. He is engaged in the
engineering of heat recovery boilers for
process, incineration and cogeneration
applications and packaged water tube
steam generators. He also develops
software for engineering of heat
recovery systems and components. He
holds a B Tech degree in mechanical
engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras,
India, and an MSc(eng) in boiler technology from Madras
University. Mr. Ganapathy is the author of over 175 articles
on boilers, heat transfer and steam plant systems and has
written fi ve books: Applied Heat Transfer, Stream Plant
Calculations Manual, Nomograms for Steam Generation and
Utilization, Basic Programs for Steam Plant EE nn gg ii nn ee ee rr ss
(book and diskette), and Waste Heat Boiler DD ee ss kk bb oo oo kk ,,
copies of which are available from him. He also has
contributed several chapters to the EE nn cc yy cc ll oo pp ee dd ii aa of
Chemical Processing and Design, Vols. 25 and 26, Marcel
Dekker, New York.

Emissions. As mentioned above, the only option

for emission control in HRSGs is using an SCR, while
in packaged boilers several options are available.
LITERATURE CITED
Ganapathy, V, Waste Heat Boiler Deskbook, Fairmont Press, Atlanta, 1991.
2

Ganapathy, V, "Converting ppm to Lb/MMBtus: an easy method," P o w e r

Engineering, April 1992.

s Ganapathy, V, "Simplify HRSG performance evaluation," Hydrocarbon

Processing, March 1990.
4
ASME Power test code PTC 4.4, "Gas turbine heat recovery steam
generators," 1981.

BOILERS

What you should know about

boilers and performance
Specifying a boiler is straightforward if
you know what to look for in a boiler

V. Ganapathy, ABCO Industries, Abilene,

Texas Most industrial plants use oil-

and gas fired steam generators.

Whenever a plant needs a steam
generator or boiler, it hires a
consultant or an A/E firm to develop
specifications, evaluate bids from ven dors, and purchase the boiler. Often,
plant engineers and operators that
must live with the boiler for several
decades are never consulted. First cost
considerations prevail in many cases
and the end

some recent trends in their design.

You then can ask the right questions
of consultants or A/E firms and be
involved in the evaluation process
before making a purchasing decision.

Trends in boiler designs

Packaged steam generators are

available in capacities to 250,000 lb/h
of steam at pressures to 1,500 psi and
steam temperatures to 1,000 degr F
Emissions of

Avoid air heaters as heat recovery equipment

because of their impact on combustion
temperatures and NOx levels.
user or the plant is left with a boiler
that has either too many
maintenance problems or high
operating costs. Before this happens
to you, consider a few important
aspects of boiler performance and

NOx are typically less than 30

ppmv for natural gas and less than
100 ppmv for CO. Low-NO X
burners with fuel/air staging and
flue gas recirculation achieve these
results. A few places such

as California require emissions of NOx

and CO below 9 ppmv and selective cat alytic reduction systems achieve those
levels. The high flame temperatures of
fuels of high hydrogen content yield
higher NOx emissions.
The temptation A/E firms and con sultants face is selecting or accepting
standard models or pre -engineered de signs to capitalize on their low initial
cost. However, these designs are not
suitable for every situation. These
designs must make serious compromises
in performance -efficiency, fuel costs,
boiler gas pressure drop, fan operating
costs assuming that desired emission
levels can be met.
The design of packaged steam generators has seen several improvements. For
example, water-cooled furnaces have
advantages over refractory lined casings
so prevalent decades ago. Radiant or
semi-radiant superheaters were the norm
in early designs. These exhib it operating
problems such as tube over-

Table 1: Effect of excess air, FGR on flue gas

October 1997

Plant Services 131

BOILERS

Why standard designs and models are

unsuitable

heating and frequent tube failures. The

trend is to use shielded convectioe superheaters with interstage desuperheating to achieve longer life and lower
tube wall temperatures.
Avoid air heaters as heat recovery
equipment because of their impact on
combustion temperatures and NO x
levels. Instead, opt for economizers.
Also, the pressure drops for gas/air
are higher with air heaters. That leads
to higher fan operating costs. Back end corrosion is more of a concern in
air heaters com pared to economizers.
Manipulating tube pitch, length, and
size or using extended surfaces in the
convection section significa ntly
reduces gas pressure drop through
boiler while optimizing energy
transfer.
To summarize, look at custom -d esigned boilers when evaluating options
for packaged steam generators. Look
for reduced maintenance concerns,
lower operating costs, and meeting the
emission levels. Don't focus
exclusively on first cost.

Why standard designs and

models are unsuitable
A 100,0001b/h model delivers a
nominal 100,000 lb/h steam. In the
early days, several boiler firms
developed standard models or designs
for various capacities. Unfortunately,
one reason these stan dards are still
being used today is that they save a lot
of engineering effort and

drafting time for the boiler firms. It is

also convenient for the consultants as
they can select a model with known
overall dimensions, weights, and other
measures to let them proceed with layout and engineering.
However, what the consultant does
not consider is the fact that boiler
duty, fuel heat input, air flow, and flue
gas quantity, and efficiency vary with
steam parameters. Excess air and flue
gas recirculation rates vary by fuel and
the emission levels of NOx and CO to
be attained. These, in turn, affect the
total flue gas quantity flowing through
the boiler. Also, a superheater and
economizer affect the duty.

Decades ago when concerns over

emissions were minimal, excess air was
typically 5 to 10 percent with natural
gas and flue gas recirculation was
unknown. The objective then was to
maximize efficiency alone.
As shown in Table 1, the flue gas
quantity flowing through the boiler
varies significantly depending upon
duty and efficiency, even at constant
boiler ca pacity. This results in high gas
pressure drop and fan power
consumption. The table assumes that
the standard boiler is not modified to
reduce gas pressure drop. It assumes
constant tube size, pitch, and
dimensions. With a given boil er

Lacking a proper evaluation, a

standard boiler furnace is likely to
have flame impingement problems.
Furnace geometry is a function of
emission levels. The burner supplier
must evaluate flame shape using
modeling techniques and the furnace
dimensions.
Lacking a proper evaluation, a stan dard boiler furnace is likely to have
flame impingement problems. Often,
10 to 20 percent excess air and 10 to
20 percent flue gas recirculation rates
meet emis sion levels of less than 0.05
lb NOx per million BTU input.

size, the exit gas temperature increas es

with increased flu e gas quantity. This
leads to lower efficiency and more fuel
consumption and, in turn, higher flue
gas flow. Thus, the boiler performance
is completely different from what the
stan dard boiler was supposed to do.
For example, in Case 5 of Table 1,
the additional fan power consumption
is 70 kW over Case 1. With electricity
cost at 5
Continued on page 134
132 Plant Services October 1997

Continued from page 132

cents/kWh, the annual incremental

cost is $28,000. Hence, simply by
overlooking the gas pressure drop, the
consultant does a disservice to the
plant or end-user. These calculatio ns
do not consider the effect of lower
efficiency. With a lower efficiency
resulting from higher exit gas

the amount of fuel wasted in heat-up

procedure.
Fast boiler startup and heating rates
are not a concern with water-cooled
designs. The entire furnace expands
and contracts uniformly as a unit. This
elim inates relative expansion problems

In several boiler designs, floor refractory

added to the problems of failures of radiant
superheater tubes located at the furnace exit.
temperature, the fuel input increases
that occur at the interfaces between
along with the flue gas quantity and gas
watercooled walls and refractory
pressure drop. The design of a custom
casings. Fast heat up rates are
designed boiler considers the duty and
important in cogeneration projects
the excess air, and flue gas recirculation
in which the packaged steam
rates on a case-b y-case basis. A good
generator must deliver steam to the
evaluation considers the operating costs
customer within minutes of shutfor fuel and electricity.
down of the gas turbines and
Also the furnace dimensions of
HRSGS. Fast startup rates also
stan dard units may not suitable for the
conserve substan tial fuel over the
fuels available and current emission
long-term.
levels. Flame shape is a function of
For a given volume, the waterexcess air and flue gas recirculation
cooled unit has lower furnace area
rates. The furnace width, height and
heat release rates and heat fluxes
length may need to be increased to
because the front and rear wateravoid flame impingement. As a result, a
cooled walls provide additional
standard model may have a much
effective surface area. Also, some
higher furnace exit gas tem perature that
boiler suppliers still use refractory
leads to radiant superheater tube
on the furnace floor that decreases
failures,
high
boiler
exit
gas
the effectiveness of the cooling
temperatures, and lower efficiency.
surfaces.
With a standard or prepackaged design,
the
customer
gets
a
poorly
compromised op tion though the price
and delivery terms may be attractive.
The additional cost of a custom - The cooling of the flame and the reradesigned boiler may have a payback of diation from the refractory walls
under a year.
impacts NOx formation. In the case of
completely water-cooled furnaces, the
Water-cooled f urnaces
cooler en velope for the flame reduces
One of the recent improvements in pack the NOx levels. In the case of boilers
aged boiler design is the water-cooled
with a refractory-lined front wall, the
furnace that offers several advantages
reradiation from the refractory
over refractory lined furnaces. The furincreases the combustion temperature,
nace front, rear as well as side walls and
thus adding to the NOx formation. A
floor are of membrane wall construction.
significant amount of NOx forms near
This results in a leak-proof enclosure for
the flame front and a cool envelope in
the products of combustion. It eliminates
the form of watercooled front wall
gas leakage and corrosion of casing as
helps.
seen in boilers with refractory lined
Some boiler vendors even use refracfront/rear walls.
tory on the floor, a practice taken from
The water-cooled design eliminates
decades ago when engineers were not
problems associated with refractory
familiar with heat fluxes and boiler
maintenan ce. Plant engineers and
circulation. They had to resort to this
personnel are familiar with the time it
practice
takes to replace boiler refractory and

to prevent floor tubes from

overheating. However there are
hundreds of boilers without floor
refractory in operation. The increased
area available for cooling the flue g ases
reduces the furnace exit gas
temperature. In several boiler designs,
floor refractory added to the prob lems
of failures of radiant superheater tubes
located at the furnace exit. Floor
refractory also adds to the flue gas
recirculation levels and increases the
furnace heat release rate and heat flux
and in creases furnace exit gas
temperature.
The welded membrane partition wall
between the furnace and convection
section also avoids bypassing of the
hot flue gases from the furnace to the
convection section. Earlier designs
used tangent tube construction for this
partition. That promoted the formation
of CO as it provided inadequate
residence time for the combustion
products. In creases in CO content not
only decrease boiler efficiency but also
add to emission levels.
Radiant and convective
superheaters: a comparison
Radiant superheaters were the norm in
the earlier designs of packaged boilers.
They are located at the furnace exit di rectly facing the flame or at the turn to
the convection section. Cus tom-d esigned boilers locate the superheater

Predicting the convective superheater

performance is easier and more accurate.
beyond a screen section and the size of
the screen section can be varied
depending upon the degree of superheat.
The radiant superheater is located at the
furnace exit. Variations in excess air, flue
gas recirculation rates, and flame patterns
make the exit gas temperature difficult to
predict. It could vary by 100 to 200 F
from predicted values. The boiler supplier
could be under-estimating the tube wall
temperature by 50 to a few hundred
degrees thus end angering the life of the
tubes. At 2,300 to 2,500 F the radiant
energy is intense and signifi cant. The
region is also subject to signif icant
turbulence and non-uniformity in gas
temperature profiles due to the turn
involved. Predicting the tube wall tem 134 Plant Services October 1997

BOILERS
Tubes with high fin densities have lower
heat transfer coefficients and vice versa.
perature is difficult. The only advantage is that the
superheater is lower in cost because it is smaller. It
requires less surface area because of a higher logmean tem perature difference.
The convective superheater, on the other hand, is
located at a zone of low gas temperature. The
superheater is shielded by several screen rows that
ensure not only the cooling of the flue gas but also
aid in better mixing and uniformity in gas
temperature profiles. Predicting the con vective
superheater performance is easier and more
accurate. The screen section can be designed such
that the gas temperature at the superheater inlet
could vary from 1,000 to 1,900 F depending on
steam temperature. The advantage is longer life
derived from lower and predictable tube wall
temperatures
. Several boilers operate at part loads for
significant periods of time. The radiant superheater
operates at higher radiant fluxes at lower loads
compared to convective designs. Also, at partial
loads, the steam flow distribution through superheater tubes as well as the gas flow across it will
not be uniform. It is diffi cult to ensure uniform
flow through the tubes because of the low steam side pres sure drops involved. If, say, at 100 percent
load the superheater pressure drop was 50 psi, then
at 25 percent load it is hardly 3 psi. Low pressure
drop causes flow maldistribution, keeping some
tubes
from minimum steam flow required for
.
cooling and thus overheating them. When the
radiant flux in the radi ant superheater is more, the
cooling effect is reduced -a double negative. In
convective designs, the gas temperatures are lower
at lower loads, the heat fluxes are lower and lower
steam flows will not cause increases in tube wall
temperatures compared to radiant des igns
It is possible to have interstage desu perheating
with convective designs, while most radiant designs
have a single stage, that can result in higher steam
temperatures and tube wall

temperatures
at
lower
loads.
Interstage
desuperheating
ensures
that
the
steam
temperatures do not exceed the desired final steam
temperature
and that
temperatures
Surface area
can tube
be wall
misleading
Now that
computers and spread sheet programs are easily
available, a common problem among even
experienced boiler engineers is comparing different
designs based on surface areas. I strongly recom mend against this practice. Surface area (S) is given
by the equation Q/(U x T) where Q is the energy
absorbed by the surface (Btu/h), U is th e overall
heat transfer coefficient (BTU/ft' h F), and T is
the log-mean temperature difference ( F). Unless
you are familiar with computing heat transfer
coefficients, do not compare on the basis of surface
area. Also T could vary depending on the ga s
temperature in the zone where the surface is
located.
Use of finned tubes also distorts the picture
significantly. With finned tubes, the surface areas can
be 100 to 200 percent higher while transferring the
same duty. This is due to poor choice of fin
configuration. Tubes with high fin den sities have
lower heat transfer coefficients and vice versa. In a
packaged steam generator it is possible to transfer
duty among radiant section, convection, and
economizer in different ways. This results in
different surface areas as shown in Table 2. Note
that the boiler duty, efficiency, and gas pressure drop
are the same for both options. The economizer uses
a higher fin density in boiler 2 thus requiring more
surface area while trans ferring lesser duty. Unles s
you know how to compute U and can develop the
gas/steam temperature profiles, com paring S values
is meaningless. If gas pressure drops were different,
the variations in surface areas would have been more
compelling.

October 1997

Plant Services 135

HEAT TRANSFER

Boiler circulation calculations

Steam

Steam generator studies can be

complex. Use these guidelines to
perform them effectively
V Ganapathy, ABCO Industries, Abilene, Texas

Fig. 1. Schematic of a water tube boiler.

atural circulation water tube and fire tube boilers

(Figs. 1 and 2) are widely used in the chemi cal process

industry. These are preferred to forced circulation boilers
(Fig. 3) where a circulation pump ensures flow of a
steam/water mixture through the tubes. In addition to being
an operating expense, a pump failure can have serious
consequences in such systems. The motive force driving the
steam/water mixture through the tubes (water tube boilers)
or over tubes (fire tube boilers) in natural-circulation
systems is the difference in density between cooler water in
the downcomer circuits and the steam/water mixture in the
riser tubes. This flow must be adequate to cool the tubes and
prevent overheating. This article explains how circulation
ratio or the ratio of steam/water mixture to steam flow may
be evaluated.
Circulation ratio (CR) by itself does not give a complete
picture of the circulation system. Natural-circulation boiling
circuits are in successful operation with CRs ranging from 4
to 8 at high steam pressures (1,500 to 2,100 psig) in large
utility and industrial boilers. In waste-heat boiler systems,
CR may range from 15 to 50 at low steam pres sures (1,000
to 200 psig). CR must be used in conjunction with heat flux,
steam pressure, tube size, orientation, roughness of tubes,
water quality, etc., to understand the bo iling process and its
reliability. Tube failures occur due to conditions known as
departure from nucleate boiling (DNB) when the actual heat
flux in the boiling circuit exceeds a critical value known as
critical heat flux-a function of the variables mentio ned
above. When this occurs, the rate of bubble formation is so
high compared to the rate at which they are carried away by
the mixture that the tube is not cooled properly, resulting in
overheating and failure.

deaerator. This mixes with the steam/ water mixture inside

the drum. Downcomers carry the resultant cool water to the
bottom of the evaporator tubes while external risers carry
the water/steam mixture to the steam drum. The heat
transfer tubes also act as risers generating steam.
The quantity of mixture flowing through the system is
determined by calculating the CR. This is a trial-and -error
procedure and is quite involved when there are multiple
paths for downcomers, risers and evaporator circuits. Each
boiling circuit has its own CR depending on the steam
generated and system resistance. One can split up any
evaporator into various parallel paths, each with its own
steam generation and CR. Splitting up is done based on
judgment and experience. A particular circuit may be
examined in detail if the process engineer feels that it offers
more resistance to circulation or if it is exposed to high heat
flux conditions. Several low heat flux circuits can be
clubbed into one circuit to reduce computing time. Hence,
an average CR for the entire system does not give the
complete picture.
Circulation ratio. CR is defined as the ratio of the mass of
steam/water mixture to steam generation. The mass of the
mixture flowing in the system is determined by balancing
the thermal head available with various system losses,
including:
Friction and other losses in the downcomer piping,
including bends
Two -phase friction, acceleration and gravity losses in
the heated riser tubes
Continued

Circulation process. Fig. 1 shows a typical water-tube,

natural-circulation waste -heat boiler with an external steam
drum and external downcomers and riser pipes. Feed water
enters the drum from an economizer or
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING/ JANUARY 1998

101

 Friction and other losses in the external riser

piping Gravity loss in the riser piping
Losses in drum internals.
COMPUTING THE VARIOUS LOSSES
Total thermal head. The total thermal head available

in psi = H/vl/144
where H is the thermal head, ft
(Fig. 1) vl is the specific volume of
3
water, ft /lb
Downcomer losses. Let the average
CR for the system = CR and the total
steam generation = WS lb/hr.
The total mixture flowing through the system =
W S x CR
Let the effective length (including bends) of the
downcomer piping in ft = L e
The frictional pressure drop, psi = 3.36 X 10-s x f
2
5
Le vi (W d) /di
(Here, it is assumed that the average flow in
each downcomer pipe is W d ). d i is the inner
diameter of the downcomer pipe in inches. f is the
friction factor. If there are several parallel paths or
series -parallel paths, then the flow and pressure
drop in each path is determined using electrical
analogy. This calculation may require a computer.
In addition to the frictional drop, the inlet (0.5 x
velocity head) and exit losses (1 X velocity head)
must be computed. Sometimes the pipe inner
diameter is larger than the inner diameter of the
nozzle at the ends, in which case the higher
velocity at the nozzles must be used to compute
the inlet/exit losses. Velocity V in ft /s = 0.05 Wd
2
v l/die and velocity head, psi = V /2 g vl/144.
Heated riser losses. The boiling height must first be

determined. This is the vertical distance the

mixture travels before the boiling process begins. It
can be shown by calculation that the mixture's
enthalpy entering the evaporator section is usually
less than that of saturated liquid.
The following is the energy balance around the
steam

Fig. 3. A forced-circulation system showing multiple streams

to reduce pressure drop.

Steam drum, as in Fig. 1:

Wmh+W f hf =Wmh m+W s h
Wm = mixtureflowing through the
system, lb/hr =Ws x CR
hv, hm, hf, and h are the enthalpies of saturated
steam mixture leaving the drum, feed water entering
the drum and mixture leaving the drum, Btu/lb.

h=(hv/CR)+(1-1/CR)hl
where hv, h j = enthalpies of saturated vapor and
liquid, Btu/lb.
From the above, hm is solved for. The boiling
height or the distance the mixture travels before
boiling starts, Hb, is determined from:
Hb = He X W S X CR X (hl - hm)/Qs
where He = height of evaporator
tubes, ft
(For conservative calculations, Hb may be
assumed to be zero.)
There are basically three losses in boiling
evaporator tubes:
Friction loss.
-1 0
2
pf= 4 X 10 vl X f L X Gi X r3/di
where Gi= mixture mass velocity inside tubes,
2
lb/ft hr
f= fanning friction
factor L= effective
length, ft
di= tube inner diameter, in.
r3= Thom's multiplication factor for twophase friction loss (Fig. 4a).
Gravity loss in tubes.
Pg = 0.00695 (He - Hb)
r4/v1
Thom's multiplication factor for gravity loss, r4 is
shown in Fig. 4c.

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING /JANUARY 1998

Fig. 4. Thom's two-phase multiplication factors for: a) friction

loss, b) acceleration loss, and c) gravity loss.

Acceleration loss. pQ=1.664x10-11x

vlXGi2 xr2
where r2, Thom's multiplication factor, is shown in Fig. 4b.
External riser losses. These are similar to the downcomer
losses except that the specific volume is that of the mixture
and not saturated liquid. Mixture specific volume v,, ft 3/lb, is
computed as:
vm = vs/CR + (1- 1/CR) v l
Riser gravity loss.
p, = (H - He)1vm/144
where vm is the specific volume of the mixture. Losses in
drum internals. These usually consist of losses in the baffles
and cyclones if used and range from 0.2 to 1 psi.
Total losses are calculated and balanced against the
thermal head available. If they balance, the CR assumed is
correct, otherwise, the iteration is repeated by assuming
another CR until the losses balance with the head available.
When there are several boiling circuits, one can split up the
total steam flow based on steam generation in each circuit
until the losses balance. A simple manual procedure is to
compute losses in the circuits as a function of flow and see
where it intersects the available head line, Fig. 5. Since the
available head and pressure drops in the riser and
downcomer system are same for all the evapo

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING /JANUARY 1998

Table 1: Boiler data for circulation study

Duty,
Steam Gas
Rows Surface, Fins/in x height
x thickness
MMBtu/hr
flow, temp,
2
1-4
691 bare
11.5
11,500
1,650
5-7
2,967 2.5 x 0.75 x 0.075
27.1
27,000
1,500
8-20
20,216 4.5 x .75 x .05
39.0
39,000
1,130
Riser 3. 8 in., 8-ft long, 2 bends Downcomers: 2. 6 in., 24-ft long,
s:
8 in., 12-ft long, 4 bends
6 in., 26-ft2long,
8 in., 8-ft long, 2 bends
3
Steam pressure = 645 psia. Total head =18 ft. Drum internal loss
Evaporator tube ID =1.738 in
length=11 ft.

rator circuits, this graphical method is sometimes

used, although it is tedious. If the downcomer or
external riser piping consists of several parallel or
parallel-series paths, the electrical analogy is used to
determine flow and pres sure drop in each circuit. A
computer program best handles this problem.
EXAMPLE CALCULATION

Fig. 1 is a waste-heat boiler operating under the

following conditions:
Gas flow = 200,000 lb/hr
Gas inlet temperature = 1,650F (vol% C02 =7,
H2O = 18, N2 = 69, 02 = 6)
Steam pressure = 500 psia
Feed water temperature = 230F
The total steam generated is 63,5001b/hr. The
first four rows are bare, followed by six finned tubes
and then 10 more with higher fin density. Details of
downcomers, riser pipes and other pertinent
information are in Table 1.
Determine the system's circulation ratio and the
flow in each pipe circuit. Note that the boiler design
calculations must be done before circulation studies
can be taken up. Also, one must have a good feel for
the downcomer and riser pipe sizes and their layout.
Often piping layout is changed at the last moment to
accommodate other equipment in the plant without
reevaluating circulation. A computer program was
developed to perform this analysis. The evaporator
4
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING / JANUARY 1998

Heat flux,
Btu/ft 2-hr
20,500
83,000
58,000
bends
bends

streams or paths for evaluating

circulation, even though the program
can analyze more circuits. Results
are shown in Table 2.
Analysis of results . Boiler heat -

transfer calculations have to be

done before a circulation study can
be undertaken. The maximum steam
0.3 psi.
generation
case
is
usually
evaluated.
The
heat -transfer
calculations
give
the
steam
generation,
flux tube
and gas
temperatures in each
section. heat
In water
boilers, the
heat flux inside the tubes is computed, while in fire
tube boilers the heat flux outside the tubes is important.
For water tube boilers, heat flux, q = Uo x ( t g - ts) x
At /Ai ,Where Uo = overall outside heat -transfer
2
coefficient, Btu/ft -hr-F
t g, i s are gas and steam temperatures, F
At , Ai are the tube outside and inside surface areas,
2
ft /ft. This ratio is for bare tubes, while for finned tubes it
could be high, say 5 to 12. Hence, one must be careful
while analyzing finned tube bundles, as the heat flux can
be very high inside the tubes.
In fire tube boilers, q = Uo x ( t g - ts)
Based on preliminary analyses, the CR in each circuit
and overall basis seems to be reasonable. The maximum
heat flux at the inlet to each section is in Table 1. Correlations are available in the literature for allowable heat flux
as a function of pressure, quality and tube size, etc. These
are mostly based on experimental data conducted in
laboratories and are often used for guidance only. The
actual permissible heat fluxes are much lower and are
based on industry experience and could be 10% to 30% of
the values given in correlations in handbooks.
Vertical tubes can handle much higher heat fluxes than
horizontal tubes, up to 40% to 50% more. Limits of
2
120,000 to 175,000 Btu/ft -hr inside tubes are permitted at
pressures ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 psig, while in fire
2
tube boilers the limit is around 100,000 Btu/ft -hr. The
higher the steam pressure, the lower the allowable heat
flux. Similarly, the higher the steam quality (lower CR), the
lower the allowable heat flux. As the CR increases, the
quality decreases and higher fluxes are permissible. With
higher flow, the tube periphery is wetted better and is
considered safer.
Another approach that is widely used is the comparison
between allowable steam quality and actual steam quality.
Fig. 6 shows a radiant boiler furnace, where the steam
quality, x, (x=1/CR) is plotted against the height. Based on
heat flux distribution along the height, the allowable quality
is calculated using a correlation similar to that shown
below. The allowable and actual steam qualities should be
apart in order to avoid DNB problems. This type of
analysis is similar to that using allowable and actual heat
fluxes.
The McBeth correlation shown below shows the relation among the variables involved in boiling inside vertical
1
tubes:
6
-0.1
6 0.51
q, = 0.00633 x 10 x hfg di (Gi/10 )
x (1-x)
2
where q, =critical heat flux, Btu/ft -hr
h f g= latent heat of steam, Btu/lb

Fig. 6. Actual vs. allowable quality and heat flux variation with
furnace height.

x= steam quality, fraction (x = 1/CR)

2
Gi Gi= mass velocity lb/ft -hr
di = tube inner diameter, in.
For example, the critical heat flux at a steam
pressure of 1,000 psi (latent heat = 650 Btu/lb), di =
2
1.5 in., Gi = 600,000 lb/ft -hr and x = 0.2 is:
6
-0.1
51
qa = 0.00633 x 10 x 650 x 1.5 x 0.6 (1-0.2)
6
2
= 2.43 x 10 Btu/ft -hr.
As discussed earlier, the above equation may be
used to study the effect of various variables involved
and not for determining critical heat flux. Actual
allowable critical heat fluxes are much lower on the
order of 10% to 30% of the above value.
Fire tube boilers. A similar procedure may be adopted
for fire tube boilers, Fig. 2. The frictional losses in the
evaporator section are usually small. The heat flux at the
tube sheet inlet is high and must be considered. CR
ranges from 15 to 30 due to the low steam pressures
compared to water tube boilers. Generally, there is only
one evaporator circuit. The correlation for allowable heat
1
flux by Motsinki is:
0.35
0.9
qc = 803 Pc x (P s /Pe)
x (1 -Ps /Pc )
Where PS and Pc are steam pressure and critical
pres sure of steam, psia. At 400 psia, qc = 803 x 3,208 x
0.35
0 9
6
2
(400/3,208)
x (1- 400 / 3,208) . = 1.1 x 10 Btu/ft -hr.
As mentioned earlier, the actual allowable flux would
be 10% to 30% of this value.
Forced-circulation boilers. In forced-circulation systems, the losses are determined as indicated above.
However, the available head is generally too small, so a
circulating pump is added (Fig. 3) to ensure desired CR.
The CR may be selected unlike in a natural-circulation
system, where it is arrived at through an iterative process. If the evaporator circuits are of different lengths
then orifices may also be added inside tubes to ensure
flow stability. CR could range from 2 to 6 in such systems to reduce operating costs.
Pump reliability is a must. In gas turbine HRSGs that
use horizontal tubes, the pressure drop inside tubes is

quite high compared to vertical tubes used in naturalcirculation

boilers. To reduce the pressure drop, multiple streams could be
considered as shown or the pump may be eliminated by
locating the drum sufficiently high, resulting in a naturalcirculation system.Final thoughts. Circulation studies are
complex and preferably done using a computer. The
analysis of results requires experience and is generally
based on feedback from operation of similar boilers in
the field. Specifying a minimum CR for a boiler is not the
right approach since CR varies with different circuits.
One has to review the heat fluxes and steam quality at
various points in the system to see if there could be
problems. Some evaporator circuits could be more
critical than others and require careful analysis. For
example, Fig. 7 shows the front wall of a packaged water
tube boiler with completely watercooled furnace design.
This wall has basically two parallel flow systems
between the bottom mud drum and the steam drum,
namely the tubes that connect the bot tom header to the
top header and the header itself, which has an L-shape.
Flow calculations were done and orifices were used to
ensure proper flow distribution in all the heated circuits.
LITERATURE CITED
Ganapathy, V, Steam plant calculations manual, 2nd
edition, Marcel Dekker, New York, 1994.
2 Thom, J. R. S., "Prediction of pressure drop during
forced circulation boiling of water," International Journal of
Heat Transfer No. 7, 1964.
3. Roshenow, W, and J. P. Hartnett, Handbook of heat
transfer, McGraw-Hill, 1972.
1

The author:V. Ganapathy is a heat transfer

specialist with ABCO Industries Inc., Abilene,
Texas. He is engaged in the engineering of heat
recovery boilers for process, incineration and
cogeneration applications and packaged water
tube steam generators. He also develops
software for engineering of heat recovery
systems and components. He holds a B Tech
degree in mechanical
engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras,
India, and an MSc(eng) in boiler technology from Madras
University. Mr. Ganapathy is the author of over 175 articles
on boilers, heat transfer and steam plant systems and has
written five books: Applied Heat Transfer, Steam Plant
Calculations Manual, Nomograms for Steam Generation
and Utilization, Basic Programs for Steam Plant Engineers
(book and diskette), and Waste Heat Boiler Deskbook,
copies of which are available from him. He also has
contributed several chapters to the Encyclopedia of
Chemical Processing and Designs, Vols. 25 and 26, Marcel
Dekker, New York.

MAINTENANCE: HEAT TRANSFER

Cold end corrosion:

causes and cures
Calculating dew points of various
acid gases and options for reducing
cold end corrosion of heat
recovery exchangers are
presented
V Ganapathy , ABCO Industries, Abilene, Texas
WHENEVER FOSSIL FUELS containing sulfur are fired
in heaters or boilers, sulfur dioxide, and to a small extent
sulfur trioxide, are formed in addition to C02 and water
vapor. The S03 combines with water vapor in the flue g as to
form sulfuric acid and condenses on heat transfer surfaces,
which could lead to corrosion and destruction of the
surfaces. This condensation occurs on surfaces that are at or
below the dew point of the acid gas. Also, when cooled
below the water vapor dew point, C02 can combine with
water vapor to form carbonic acid, which though weak, can
attack mild steel.
While thermal efficiency of the equipment is increased with
reduction in exit gas temperature (or enthalpy), lower
temperatures than the acid gas dew point are not advisable
for metallic surfaces in contact with the gas.
In municipal solid waste fired plants, in addition to sulfuric
acid, one has to deal with hydrochloric and hydro bromic
acid formation.
This article deals with methods for solving cold, or back
end corrosion as it is called, with the most commonly used
heat recovery equipment, namely economizers or water
heaters. These are used to preheat feed water entering the
system (Fig. 1) and operate at low metal temperatures,
thereby increasing their susceptibility to corrosion by sulfuric, hydrochloric, hydrobromic and carbonic acid.
Estimating the dew point of these acid gases is the starting
point in understanding the problem of back end corrosion.
Appendix 1 gives the dew points of the various acid gases
as a function of their partial pressures in the flue gas.' Fig. 2
gives the dew point for sulfuric acid.2
C0 2 + = 87%, H2 0 = 12%, N2 = 73%, S02 = 0.02%,
HCL = 0.015%, 02 = 6 % , HBR = 0.01%, all by volume.
To compute the sulfuric acid dew point, one should know
the amount of S03 in the flue gases. The formation of S0 3
is primarily derived from two sources.
1. Reaction of S02 with atomic oxygen in the flame
zone. It depends on the excess air used and the sulfur
content.
2. Catalytic o xidation of S02 with the oxides of vanadium
and iron, which are formed from the vanadium in the fuel
oil.
It is widely agreed that 1 to 5 % of S02 converts to S03 .
Hence the % volume in our case would be 4 ppm, assuming
a 2 % conversion.
Using these numbers and after proper conversion and

substitution in the equations in Appendix 1, we have: dew

point of sulfuric acid = 267 F, dew point of hydrochloric
acid = 128 F, dew point of hydrobromic acid = 134 F and
dew point of water vapor = 121F.
Hence, it is apparent the limiting dew point is that due to
sulfuric acid and any heat transfer surface should be above
this temperature (267F) if condensation is to be avoided.
There is a misconception even among experienced engineers that the gas temperature dictates the metal temperature of surfaces such as economizers. It is not so. To
explain this, an example will be worked to show the metal
tempera ture of an economizer with two different gas
temperatures . Appendix 2 shows this calculation.
Continued
Hydrocarbon Processing,

January 1989
57

It can be seen that the water side coefficient is so high that the
tube wall temperature runs very close to the water temperature in spite of a large difference in the gas temperatures.
Thus, the tube wall temperature will be close to the water
temperature and the water temperature fixes the wall
temperature and hence, the dew point. Some engineers think
that by increasing the flue gas temperature the economizer
corrosion can be solved; not so.
It should be noted also that the maximum corrosion rate
occurs at a temperature much below the dew point (Fig. 3).
Methods of dealing with cold end corrosion. Basically there are two approaches used by engineers to combat
the problem of cold end corrosion:
A. Avoid it by using protective measures such as main taining a high cold end temperature so that condensation of
any vapor does not occur.
B. Permit condensation of acid vapor or both acid and
water vapor, thereby increasing the duty of the heat transfer
surface, and use corrosion resistant materials such as glass,
teflon, etc.
Methods of avoiding cold end corrosion:
1. Maintain a reasonably high feed water inlet tempera ture.
If the computed dew point is say 250F, a feed water of
250F should keep the minimum tube wall temperature
above the dew point. With finned heat transfer surfaces,
the wall temperature will be slightly higher than with bare
tubes.
The simplest way would be to operate the deaerator at a
slightly higher pressure, if the feed water enters the
economizer from a deaerator (Fig.1).
58
Hydrocarbon Processing, January 1989

At 5 psig the saturation is 228F and at 10 psig it is 240F

2. In case the deaerator pressure cannot be raised, a heat
exchanger may be used ahead of the economizer (Fig. 4) to
increase the feed water temperature. It may be steam or wa ter heated.
3. Fig. 5 shows a method for using an exchanger to pre heat
the water. The same amount of water from the economizer
exit preheats the incoming water. By controlling the flow of
the hotter water, one can adjust the water te mperature to the
economizer so that a balance between corrosion criterion
and efficiency of operation can be maintained.
4. Hot water from either the economizer exit or the steam
drum (Fig. 6), can be recirculated and mixed with the
incoming water. The economizer has to handle a higher
flow, but the exchanger is eliminated and a pump is added.
Note that some engineers have the misconception that bypassing a portion of the economizer (Fig. 7) would solve the
problem; not so. While bypassing, the heat transfer surface
reduces the duty on the economizer and increases the exit
gas temperature; it does not help to increase the wall
temperature of the tubes, which is the most important
variable. A higher exit gas temperature probably helps the
downstream ductwork and equipment, but not the
economizer. One benefit, however, from bypassing is

The author

APPENDIX 1-Dew points of acid gases'

HCI, HBr, HN03 and S0 2 correlations were derived from vaporliquid equilibrium data .4 The H2 SO4 correlation is from reference 5.
Hydrobromic acid:
1,000/TDP = 3.5639 - 0.1350 In (PH20 )
0.0398 1 n (PHBr) + 0.00235 In (PH20 ) l n (PHBr)

V. Ganapathy is a heat transfer specialist

with ABCO Industries Inc., Abilene, Texas. He
is engaged in the engineering of heat recovery
boilers for process, incineration and
cogeneration applications. He also develops
software for engineering of heat recovery
systems and components. He holds a B Tech
degree in mechanical engineering from Indian
Institute of Technology, Madras, India, and
MSc(eng) inMr
boiler
tech
nology from MadrasanUniversity.
Ganapathy
is the author of

over 150 articles on boilers, heat transfer and steam plant

systems and has written four books: Applied Heat Transfer,
Steam Plant Calculations Manual, Nomograms for Steam
Generation and Utilization and Basic Programs for Steam Plant
Engineers (book and diskette), copies of which are available
from him. He also has contributed several chapters to the
that steaming possibilities in the economizer are minimized.
Permitting condensation on surfaces. By using proper
materials one can protect the heating surfaces from corrosion
attack, if condensation is likely. This concept has now been
extended to recovering the sensible and latent heat from the flue
gases, thereby increasing the thermal efficiency of the system by
several percentage points in what are called condensing heat
exchangers. If flue gases contain say 10% by volume water
vapor, by condensing even half of it, approxi mately 30 Btu/lb of
flue gas can be recovered. This is nearly equivalent to a 120F
drop in gas temperature if sensible heat alone is transferred.
A large amount of sensible and latent heat in the flue gas can
be recovered if the gas is cooled below the water dew point. This
implies that sulfuric acid, if present in the gas stream, will
condense on the heat transfer surfaces as its dew point is much
higher than that of water vapor.
Borosilicate glass and teflon coated tubes have been widely
used as heat transfer surfaces for this service. Glass is suitable
for low pressures and temperatures (less than 450F and 20 to
100 psig). However, presence of fluorides and alkalis is harmful
to the glass tubes.
One manufacturer of condensing heat exchangers uses teflon
coated tubes. A thin film (about 0.015 in.) is extruded onto
carbon or alloy steel tubes, and the surface is resistant to
corrosion of sulfuric acid. Finned tubes cannot be used as teflon
cannot be extruded onto these surfaces. Hence, these exchangers
will be larger than those with extended surfaces, however, the
higher heat transfer rates with condensation process improves
the overall heat transfer coefficients and partly compensates for
the lower surface area per linear foot of bare tubes.
The high initial investment associated with condensing heat
exchangers has to be carefully reviewed along with the energy
recovered, fuel costs, etc. If the fuel cost is not high, then the
payback period for this type of equipment may be long.
Materials such as cast iron and stainless steels probably have
better corrosion resistance than carbon steel, but still they are not
Conclusion The article outlined the importance of the dew
point of acid gas and methods for dealing with the problem of
condensation on heating surfaces such as economi zers. Similar
methods could be used for air heaters. The basic difference lies
in the fact that the back end temperature is a function of both
the gas and air temperatures. Steam air heating or air
bypassing have been used to combat the problem of corrosion.
Replaceable matrices and corrosion resistant materials such as
enamels have been used at the cold end of regenrative air
beaters.

Hydrochloric acid:
1,000/T DP = 3.7368 - 0.1591 In (PH2 0)
0.0326 In (PHCI) + 0.00269 In (PH2o) In (PHCI)
Nitric acid:
1,000/TDP = 3.6614 - 0.1446 In (P H )
Sulfurous acid:
1,000/T DP = 3.9526 - 0.1863 In (P H30) +
0.000867 In (PS0 2) - 0.000913 in (PH20) In (PS02)
Sulfuric acid:
1,000/T DP = 2.276 - 0.0294 In (P H20)
0.0858 In (PH3 SO4 ) + 0.0062 In (PH20) In (PH2 SO4 )
Where: T DP is dew point temperature (K) and P is partial pressure
(mmHg).
Compared with published data, the predicted dew points are within
about 6K of actual values except for H2 SO4 which is within about 9K.
REFERENCES
3

Pierce, R. R., "Estimating acid dewpoints in stack gases," Chem.

Eng., Apt. 11, 1973.
4
Perry, R. H., and Chilton C. H., ed., "Chemical Engineers'
Handbook," 5th ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 1973.
5
Verhoff, F H., and Banchero, J. T, "Predicting Dew Points of Flue
Gases," Chem. Eng. Prog., August, 1974.

APPENDIX 2-Determining tube wall

temperatures of economizers
The average wall temperature of a bare tube economizer is given by
the simple equation:
t w = 0.5[t; + t g - U(tg - t;) (1/h a - 1/h,)]
Where:

h; = heat transfer coefficient inside tubes, Btu/ ft 2 h F

It. = heat transfer coefficient outside tubes, Btu/ ft 2 h F
t; = temperature of water inside tubes, F tg =
temperature of gas outside tubes, F
t w = average tube wall temperature, F
U = overall heat transfer coefficient, Btu/ft 2h F 11U = 1
/h i + 11h., neglecting fouling and metal resistance,
which are much smaller.

Typically h; = 1,000, h a = 15 and hence U = 4.77

Case 1: Determine t w when t g = 750F and t i =50F tw = 0.5
[250 + 750 - 14.77 (750 - 250) (0.066 - 0.001)] =
260F
Case 2: t g = 350F, t; = 250F
t w = 0.5 [250 + 350 - 14.77 (350 - 250)
(0.066 - 0.001)] = 252F
Thus, for a variation of 400F gas temperature, the tube wall
temperature hardly changes by 8F Thus, the water temperature fixes the
tube wall temperature.

LITERATURE CITED
1
2

Kiang, Yen-Hsiung, "Predicting dewpoints of acid gases," Chemical

Engineering, Feb. 9, 1981, p. 127.
Ganapathy, V., "Nomograms for steam generation and utilization,"
Fairmont Press, 1986, p. 15.

Hydrocarbon Processing, January 1989

59

Fouling-the silent heat

transfer thief
Better boiler water chemistry can
improve overall heat
duty and efficiency by minimizing scale
and sludge buildup
V Ganapathy, ABCO Industries, Inc.
Abilene, Texas

boiler's primary function is to achieve and to maintain

maximum heat duty with the least operating costs and downtime.
Scale and sludge are silent heat transfer thieves who slowly steal
heat duty by reducing the overall heat transfer coefficient. The
effects of scale and sludge are more pronounced in finned tube
boilers. Tube side fouling on finned tubes generates higher tube wall
temperatures. Ultimately, high heat fluxes result in tube failures.
Implementing a quality feedwater program for boilers pays off in
improved exchanger efficiency, reduced operating costs and reduced
downtime
maintenance.
Clean is for
better.
Boilers or heat recovery steam generators
perform efficiently under clean conditions. Their performance is
significantly affected by fouling

Fig. 1. Bare tube HRSG for incineration heat recovery.

either on the tube or gas side whether it is a fire tube or water tube
exchanger. In addition to reduced duty, steam side cleanliness
impacts the tube wall temperature leading to its overheating and
failure in the long run.
Good water chemistry is an easy, efficient way to reduce the
effects of steam-side fouling on boiler performance and tube wall
temperature. Water tube waste heat recovery boilers shown in Figs.
1 and 2 will be used as examples. The concept applies to fired water
tube or fire tube boilers and heat recovery steam generators also.
Water tube boilers. Typical water tube waste heat boilers
(Fig. 1) are used in applications such as heat recovery from
municipal waste incinerator exhaust or effluents from fluidized
bed cat crackers. Bare tubes minimize fouling from particulates
or ash in flue gases. Finned tube heat recovery boilers (Fig. 2)
need clean gas streams such as exhaust from gas turbines or
fume incinerators to perform well. The bare tube boiler usually
operates at low heat flux inside the tubes, in the range of 10 to
30,000 Btu/ft 2/hr, while the finned tube waste heat boiler could
operate under heat flux of 50 to 150,000 Btu/ft 2hr. It is
extremely important that the proper water chemistry be
maintained in finned tube exchangers. A small increase in steam
side fouling factor on finned tubing can increase the tube wall
temperature significantly compared to the bare tube boiler. A
few calculations will demonstrate the different fouling effects
between the tube types.

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING / OCTOBER 1992

49

S = Q/UT
(1) where the duty is found by Eq. 2:
Design calculations. The surface area for the boiler is determined
from Eq. 1

Table 1. Suggested water quality limits*

Q = WCp (T l - T 2)h1= WSH

(2) If U is computed based on tube inner diameter, then the tube inner
surface area should be used for S. Similarly, if U is based on tube
outer diameter, S should be computed using the tube outer diameter.
Remember that

Boiler type: industrial watertube, high duty, primary fue l fired, drum type Makeup water percentage: up to 100% of feedwater
Conditions: includes superheater, turbine drives or process restriction on steam
purity Saturated steam purity target
Drum operating MPa
0-2.07
2.08-3.10
3.11-4.14
4.15-5.17
5.18-6.21
6.22-6.89
6.90-10.34
10.35-13.79
Pressure
(psig) (0-300)
Feedwater
Dissolved oxygen (mg/1 02)
measured before oxygen
scavenger addition
<0.04

(301-450)

(451-600)

<0.04

<!0.007

(601-750)

<0.007

(751-900)

(901-1,000)

< 0.007

<0.007

(1,001-1,500) (1,501-2,000)

<0.007

<0.0.007

Total iron (mg/1 Fe)

<0.100

<0.05

<0.03

<0.025

<0.020

<0.02

<0.01

<0.01

Total copper (mg/1 Cu)

<0.05

<0.025

<0.02

<0.02

<0.015

<0.015

<0.01

<0.01

total hardness
(mg/1 CaCO3)

<0.300

<0.300

<0.200

<0.200

<0.100

<0.05

<0.05

7.5-10.0

7.5-10.0

7.5-10.0

7.5-10.0

7.5-10.0

8.5-9.5

9.0-9.6

pH range @ 25C
Chemicals for preboiler
system protection

-Not detectable
9.0-9.6

Use only volatile alkaline materials

Nonvolatile TOC (mg/1 C)

<1

<1

<0.5

<0.5

<0.5

As low as possible, <0.2

Oily matter (mg/1)

water
Silica (mg/1 S102)
Total alkalinity
(mg/1 CaCo3)
Free hydroxide alkalinity
(mg/1 CaC03)
Specific conductance
(pmho/cm) @ 25C

<1

<1

<0.5

<0.5

<0.5

As low as possible, <0.2Boiler

<150

<90

<40

<30

<20

<8

<350

<300

<250

<200

<150

<100

without neutralization

<3500

Not specified

<3000

<2500

'Adapted from ASME 1979 consensus. See ASME 1979 for a complete discussion.
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING / OCTOBER 1992

50

<2

<1

-Not Specified-

Not detectable

<2000

<1500

<1000

<150

<100

the product U x S is the same whether U and S are based on Table 2. Watertube boilers recommended
tube ID or OD. U based on tube outer diameter is given by the water limits and associated steam purity
following equation for bare tube boilers:
At steady state full load operation
1/U o = 1/ho + (1/hi)(d./di) +ffi (d./di) +ffo
Drum Range
pressure,
total dissolved
+ (d/24Km)ln (do/di)
psig
solids' boiler
(3) and by the following equation for the finned tube boilers:
water, ppm (max)
1/U= (AT/hiAi) +ffi (AT/Ai) +ffo + (ATd/Aw24Km) In
0-300
700-3,500
(d/di) + 1/ ho
301-450
600-3,000
(4) The boiling heat transfer coefficient hi inside the tubes
451-600
500-2,500
2
200-1,000
will be very high on the order of 2,000 to 3,000 Btu/ft /hr F. 601-750
751-900
150-750
An error of 10% to 20% in its value will not affect Uo.
901-1,000
125-625
1,001 -1,800
1,801 -2,350

drum type boilers ABMA-1982

Range
total alkalinity
boiler water,
Ppm

Suspended solids
boiler water,
ppm (max)

140-700
120-600
100-500
40-200
30-150
25-125

15
10
8
3
2
1

100
50

N/A

Correlations for computing ho. The gas-side coefficient for 2,351 -2,600
25
N/A
bare and finned tube boilers consists of two components,
2,601 -2,900
15
N/A
namely hc- the convective heat transfer coefficient and h, Once through boilers
1,400 and
the nonluminous heat transfer coefficient. The hc is obtained
above
0.05
N/A N/A
from the Grimsons equation for bare tubes and from ESCOA
1
reflect the TDS in the feed water. Higher values are
1-3
Actual values within the range
correlations for finned tube boilers. Tube-side fouling
solids, lower values are for low solids in the feed water.
factor ff i affects duty and tube wall temperatures and the
2
are directly proportional to the actual value of TDS
Actual values within the range
impact is more significant in a finned tube boiler compared to water. Higher values are for the high solids, lower values are for low
water.
a bare tube design.
3
Scale formation and fouling factor ffo. Typically, with
treated feedwater and boiler water that is maintained
according to ASME or ABMA guidelines, a fouling factor of
0.0005 to 0.001 ft 2/hrF/Btu could be used. If the water
chemistry is not properly maintained, then sludge and scale
can accumulate on the inside of tubes hindering heat transfer.
ASME and ABMA guidelines for water chemistry are listed
in Tables 1 and 2.
Scale is a relatively hard and adherent deposit, while
sludge is softer and can be easily dislodged. The buildup of
scale is most severe in high heat flux areas. Scale buildup is
associated with compounds whose solubilities decrease with
increasing temperatures. Conversely, sludges are precipitated
directly from the boiler water when their solubilities are
exceeded. Scale and sludge increase the resistance to heat
transfer and decrease U. Most importantly, sludge and scale
raise the tube wall temperature. Fouling factor could be
approximated by dividing the scale layer thickness by its
conductivity:
ff i = thickness of scale/conductivity
Heat flux. Using the electrical analogy as an example, one can
show that the heat transfer across tubes is analogous to flow
of current in an electrical circuit. Current is analogous to heat
flux, while voltage drop is analogous to temperature
difference and resistance and fouling factor are analogous. To
compute the temperature drop across the fouling layer,
multiply the heat flux by the fouling factor:
Tf= q x ffi
(6)
Heat flux q computed on inner tube diameter basis is
calculated by Eq. 7:

Dictated by boiler treatment.

silica.

These values are exclusive of

Table 3. Thermal conductivities of scale materials

Material
Analcite
Calcium phosphate
Calcium sulfate
Magnesium phosphate
Magnetic iron oxide
Silicate scale (porous)
Boiler steel
Firebrick
Insulating brick
Table 4. Results of calculations
Case
1. Gas temp in
2. Exit temp
3. Duty
4. Steam flow
5. (5)
ffi The thermal conductivity of some c
6. Heat flux
7. Wall temp
8. Fin temp
9. A t/A;
10. Fins
11. Tubes/row
12. No. deep
13. Length
14. Surf. area
15. Gas Ap
Units:
Temp., F
Flow, Ib/hr
Duty, MMBtu/hr

Thermal conductivity, B

1,000
520
19.65
19,390
.001
9,314
437

1,000
545
18.65
18,400
.01
8,162
516

1.13
bare

1.13
bare

20
60
8
5,024
3.0

20
60
8
5,024
3.1

1,000
520
19.65
19,39
.001
35,36
490
730
5.6
(2x.75
x.05
x.157
20
16
8
6,642
1.80

ff, ft 2/hrF/Btu
heat flux, Btu/ft 2/hr
Surf. area, ft 2
Gas Ap, in., water column
Length, ft

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING/ OCTOBER 1992

51

q = Uo x (At/Ai) x (T - t)
(7)
At, Ai refer to external and internal surface areas. T, t refer to gas and
boiling water temperatures. Note that At/A i will be very large for
finned tubes compared to bare

tubes. Hence, the temperature drop due to the same fouling factor
can be large for boilers with finned tubes.
Example. A water tube boiler for a fume incineration system is
required to cool 150,000 lb/hr of clean flue gases from 1,000F to
520F. Gas analysis is:
vol%
C02 7
H2O 12
N2 75
02
6
Gas pressure is atmospheric. Steam pressure is 285 psig and
feedwater is at 230F. Carbon steel tubes of size 2 in. x 1.77 in. are
used. Assume that the gas side fouling factor = 0.001 ft2/hrFBtu;
metal thermal conductivity = 25 Btu/ft/hrF; steam side coefficient
= 2,000 Btu/ft 2/hrF; and heat loss = 2%.
Design the boiler using a steam side fouling factor ffi of 0.001
ft 2/hrFBtu (0.025 in. thick calcium phosphat e scale) and check the
performance with a ffi = 0.0 1(0.006 in. thick silicate scale).
Study three options: bare tubes, finned tubes with 2 x 0.75 x
0.05 x 0.157 (2 fins/in., 0.75 in. high, 0.05 in. thick with 0.157 in.
serration) and finned tubes with the geometry 5 x 0.75 x 0.05 x
0.157 and transverse and longitudinal pitch = 4 in.
Solution. Calculations were
performed
using
the
methodology discussed in
references 1-3. The results are
listed in Table 4. Several
important aspects may be
noted:
1. Tube wall and fin tip
temperatures increase significantly when ffi increases,
though Uo and heat flux are
lower with increased fouling
factor. The product of heat flux
and ffi determines the temperature drop across

Boilers or heat
recovery steam
generators
perform
efficiently under
clean conditions.

the fouling layer which increases the tube wall and fin tip temperature.
2. Duty decreases with increase in ffi. The decrement is large as a
percentage with finned tubes compared to bare tubes. With 5 fins/in.
design, the duty is much lower compared to 2 fins/in. design and
significantly lower compared to bare tubes. We generate only
14,4001b/hr steam with 5 fin/in. compared to 18,4001b/hr with bare
tube boiler for the same fouling factor, though the basic design is for
the same steam generation with the same fouling factor of 0.001.
3. More surface area does not mean more duty. Increased fin density
requires a larger surface area to transfer the same duty with a lower
Ua . Also, the tube wall and fin tip temperatures are higher with
increases in fin surface area for the same fouling factor.
4. Compared to bare tube design, a finned tube boiler is more
compact, weighs less and has lower gas pressure drop for the
same duty. However, one has to be careful about the falloff in
performance and possible overheating of tubes with increase in
tube-side fouling or scale formation.

Water chemistry is very important in boilers. Increases in the steamside fouling factor due to formation of thick layer of scale or sludge
can result in reduced duty and higher tube wall temperatures. The
problem is exacerbated when the heat flux across the tubes increases
due to use of extended surfaces. The larger the fin surface area
(obtained by using high fin density), the higher the temperature at the
tube wall and fin tip. Even in fired bare tube boilers, the furnace tubes
should have proper cooling. Otherwise, high heat flux and scale formation can produce overheating at the tube wall and result in tube
failure. Hence, one must be very watchful and monitor tube side
fouling which is affected by the feedwater quality and proper boiler
water maintenance. Even if tube failures may not be the immediate
concern, the decrement in energy transferred may be substantial and
prompt a review of current water treatment practices.
NOMENCLATURE
inner tube area, ft 2/ft
total external area, ft 2/ft
area of average wall, ft 2/ft
gas specific heat, Btu/lboF
do tube outer diameter, in.
di tube inner diameter, in.
ff fouling factors inside tubes, ft 2/hrF/Btu
ffo fouling factors outside tubes, ft 2/hroF/Btu
hi heat transfer coefficients inside tubes, Btu/ft 2/hrF
ho heat transfer coefficients outside tubes, Btu/ft2/hroF
HS enthalpy absorbed by steam, Btu/lb
Kn, thermal conductivity of tube, Btu/ft/hrF
q heat flux, Btu/ft 2/hr
Q duty, MMBtu/hr
S surface area, ft 2
T log mean temperature difference, F
T,t gas and steam temperatures, F
U overall heat transfer coefficient, Btu/ft2/hrF W
gas flow, lb/hr
W s steam flow, lb/hr
effectiveness of fin, fraction Subscripts
f temperature drop across fouling layer 1 entering
2 leaving
Ai
At
Aw
Cp

LITERATURE CITED
1 Ganapathy, V, Applied Heat Ransfer, Pennwell Books, 1982. Ganapathy, V, Waste Heat
Boiler Deskbook, Fairmont Press, 1991.
ue Ganapathy, V, "Evaluating extended surfaces carefully," Hydrocarbon Processing, Vol

68, October 1990, p. 65.

The author
V Ganapathy is a heat transfer specialist with
ABCO Industries Inc., Abilene, Texas. He is
engaged in the engineering of heat recovery
boilers
for
process,
incineration
and
cogeneration applications, and packaged water
tube steam generators. He also develops
software for engineering of heat recovery
systems and components. He holds a B Tech
degree in mechanical engineering from
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, and an MSc(eng) in
boiler technology from Madras University. Mr. Ganapathy is the
author of over 175 articles on boilers, heat transfer and steam plant
systems and has written five books: Applied Heat Transfer, Steam
Plant Calculations Manual, Nomograms for Steam Generation and
Utilization, Basic Programs for Steam Plant Engineers (book and
diskette), and Waste Heat Boiler Deskbook, copies of which are
available from him. He also has contributed several chapters to the
Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing and Design, Vols. 25 & 26,
Marcel Dekker, New York.

HEAT RECOVERY,

Simulation
Aids
Cogeneration
System

C ogeneration systems using

Simulating
theperformance
of heat-recovery
steam generators
provides valuable
information for
system design, as
well as for the
operation of an
existing system.

gas turbines and heat -recovery steam

generators (HRSGs) are widely used in
chemical pro cess industries (CPI)
plants. Because these plants are quite
expensive and the HRSG is an
important part of the system, it is
prudent to analyze the heat -recovery
system or simulate its performance
well in advance of finaliz ing plant
specifications. Simulation is a method
of predicting the performance of the
HRSG under different operating modes
and gas and steam conditions without
physically des igning the equipment.
Such a study will provide the engineer with valuable information about
the HRSG and its performance
capabilities. The simulation results
could influence the choice of steam
system parameters and the selection of
the steam or gas turbine. In addition,
one may also obtain information about
the performance of the HRSG and the
cogeneration system.
This article explains what HRSG
simulation
is
and
the
basic
methodology. Its applications are then
illustrated through several examples.
Wha t is HRSG simulation?

heat -transfer coefficient U and then

the surface area S from the equation
S=Q/UT

The simulation process does not

require the computation of U, which
requires information on tube size, pitch,
geometry, fin configuration, length, and
so on. In simulation analysis, the term US
= Q/ T is computed for each surface and
used in the prediction of off-design performance. The HRSG's mechanical
details are not important at this stage.
Thus, engineers can use the simulation
methodology to obtain valuable informa tion about the thermal performance of the
HRSG before developing its specifications or committing to a particular design
or supplier.
Two limitations apply to the simula tion technique discussed here:
The HRSG should be of the convec tive type. Nearly 85%-95% of the HRSGs
for gas turbines fall into this category.
The gas and the steam sides should
be clean. Gas turbine exhaust, even with
oil firing, may be considered clean compared to municipal solid waste or similar
applications.
Why simulate?

V. Ganapathy,
ABCO Industries

It is not necessary to design an

HRSG in terms of surface area, tube
size, fin configuration, and so on in
order to evaluate its performance under
different gas and steam conditions.
HRSG designers arrive at the
geome try of the HRSG by computing
the overall

One might wonder why simulation

is necessary when the HRSG supplier
can provide information on the thermal
performance of the HRSG. The
supplier may not have the time to

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS OCTOBER 1993 27

early stages of a study or

development of a cogeneration
project, particularly if the steam
system has multiple pressure
levels and is complex. The
engineer who is more familiar
with the plant require ments can
perform the simula tion and
conduct several "What if" studies
to arrive at firmer data on steam
parame ters and pressure
levels and to optimize the
gas/steam
temperature
profiles
based on the gas turbines being
considered. Such a study may also
eliminate certain gas or steam
turbines from consideration due to
incompatibilities between actual
and required steam parameters. The
HRSG designer also benefits by
having fewer options to work on.
And, since the plant owner will
know what to expect in terms of
steam-side performance, less time
is spent on evaluating or second guessing the HRSG design.
Some specific applications of
HRSG simulation are as follows:
The exhaust gas flow rate, temperature, and gas analysis of a gas
turbine
vary
with
ambient
conditions, load, fuel used, and
NOx control requirements. Using
simulation analysis, one can see
how a given HRSG behaves when
gas-side or steam-side parameters
such as steam pressure, feed water
temperature, or steam temperature
change.
Energy recovery can be optimized
by placing appropriate heat recovery
surfaces one behind the other or by
relocating heat -transfer surfaces,
particularly in multiple pressure
HRSGs, such that the gas and steam
temperature profiles are closely
matched. One may also con sider
adding secondary recovery surfaces, such as condensate heaters,
deaerators, or fluid heaters, to
maxi mize
energy
recovery.
Simulation helps in analyzing
gas/steam temperature profiles in
order to optimize energy recovery.
Plant engineers may use simula tion to predict the performance of
28

their existing units and study the

effects of variations in steam
and gas parameters. Such a
study can also pre dict fouling of
heat -transfer surfaces. If the
actual duty or energy transferred
is less than what is simulated
under clean conditions, then one
can infer that fouling has
occurred.
The simulation methodology

The entire theory and procedure

for performing simulation analysis
for a complex HRSG is outlined
in (1). Here we will briefly
describe
the
procedure
for
simulating the design and off

OCTOBER 1993 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS

design performance of a boiler

evaporator, such as the unit in
Figure 1.
1. Given the gas flow Wg,
inlet gas temperature T91 and
steam pressure, let us assume
that the evaporator has been
designed to cool the gases to a
temperature Tg2 and thus transfer a duty Q . The relationship
among the variables (neglect ing
heat losses for the sake of
simplicity) can be described by the
following equation, which we call the
design case:
Q = (US)d T = Wg Cp (Tg1 -Tg2 )
= W s H

(1)

The steam flow W s is obtained by

computing the enthalpy added to steam,
H , and solving Eq. 1. We now have all
of the process informa tion about the
evaporator except the surface area or the
geometry.
One of the objectives of the simu lation
process is to see how the above
evaporator performs under different
conditions of gas flow, temperature, and
steam conditions. This is outlined below.
2. From Eq. 1, compute the term
(US)d = Q / T
(2)
Under the new conditions of gas
flow and temperature, the heat-transfer
coefficient will be different. This is
accounted for by correcting the term
(US)d for the new conditions as follows:
(US)p = (US)d (Wgp/Wg)0.65F(t)
(3)
where Wgp is the gas flow under the new
performance conditions and F(t) corrects
for the different gas temperature in the
off-design mode [1]. The gas -side heat
transfer gov erns the overall heat -transfer
coeffi cient; hence, the design heat-transfer coefficient may be corrected for the
off-design case by using the fac tor
(Wgp/Wg)0.65 as shown in Eq. 2. [A
convective HRSG has been assumed

in which the gas-side heat-transfer

coefficient and hence the overall heattransfer coefficient is proportional to
the gas flow raised to the power of
0.65. [2].
4. The new duty is
Qp = (US)p T= WgpCp (Tglp - Tg2p )(4)
Equation 4 can easily be solved by
assuming the exit gas temperature Tg2p
computing T , and then calculating Qp .
One or two iterations may be required.
Steam flow is obtained by simply dividing
Qp by AH. Thus, we can arrive at the new
gas exit temperature, steam generation,
and heat transfer duty without computing
the surface area S per se.
In other words, we have simulated
the off-design performance of a boiler.
The complete simulation proce dure is
quite involved and requires several
trial-and-error
calculations
and
iterations, particularly for multipressure, complex HRSGs with auxiliary firing. In such cases, commercial
software developed for this purpose
(such as (3)) may be used. [For information on general simulation packages
and heat-transfer software, see CEP's
Software Directory, the next issue of
which is scheduled to be pub lished in
December. Editor or contact the
author.]

Examples
Example 1. An engineer is developing
specifications for a process plant and is
considering three gas turbines
(designated GT1, GT2, and GT3). The
major gas/steam data are shown in
Table l. The HRSG operates in unfired
and fired modes. Simulate the design
with 15F pinch and approach points;
obtain the firing temperature and fuel
consumption required to generate
40,000 lb/h of saturated steam in the
off-design mode using natural gas
containing 95% methane and 5% ethane.
The HRSG consists of an evapora tor
and economizer. "Pinch point" in this
case refers to the difference between the
temperature of the gas leaving the
evaporator and the steam
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS OCTOBER 1993

29

saturation temperature; "approach

point" refers to the difference
between the saturation tempera ture
and feed water temperature entering
the evaporator. (Reference 1
provides for more information on
the selection of these values and
their influence on HRSG size.)
Using a simulation program, the
design and off-design performances
for the three machines were
evaluated.
The
results
are
summarized in Table 2.
It can be seen that GT2 generates more steam than GT1 in the
unfired mode (27,300 lb/h vs.
25,450 lb/h). GT3 requires the least
fuel (11.76 MM Btu/h) to generate
40,000 lb/h steam. The HRSG for
GT3 will be larg er and, hence,
slightly more expensive than the
HRSG for GT2. If fuel costs are not
high, then GT2 may be a better
choice if the other aspects, such as
electrical power from the turbines
and the cost of the turbines, are
favorable.
The
purpose
of
simulation is only to see how a
HRSG would perform and what
range of steam-side performance
one can expect.
Example 2. While develop ing
specifications
for
the
HRSG,
engineers
often
assume
that
incorporating large surface areas can
lower the exit gas tempera ture to any
desired level. This may not always be
thermodynamically feasible, as this
example illustrates.
Consider the case where 150,000
lb/h of turbine exhaust gases at 900F
generate superheated steam at 450
psig and 650F with feed water at
240F. Is a 300F exit gas
temperature feasible for this single pressure system?

One need not physically

design an HRSG in order to
obtain information about its
performance.

Through simulation, the gas and

steam temperatures were obtained
using a 20F pinch and a 10F
approach, as shown in Figure 2. It
can be seen that the exit gas
temperature is 372F, nowhere near
300F. Even

with a pinch and an approach of 0

(which, of course, is physically not
possible as it would require infinite
surface area), the exit gas temperature
can be lowered to only 342F. To lower
the temperature to 300F, sec ondary

3O

OCTOBER 1993

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS

heat recovery or a multiple pressure

HRSG is required. Engineers often
compute steam generation based on a
certain exit gas temperature without
checking to see if it is even
thermodynamically feasible. Simulation
can help them in ana lyzing the gas and
steam temperature profiles and make
sensible demands on HRSG
performance, thus saving valuable time
when interacting with HRSG suppliers.
Example 3. It was mentioned earlier
that temperature profiles could be
maximized by relocating heat -transfer
surfaces. This example shows how this
is done for a multiple -pressure HRSG.

steam temperature profiles obtained

after performing the simulation.
In summary
A dual-pressure gas turbine HRSG
is to be simulated using the data shown
in Table 3. The high-pressure (HP)
steam flow required is 31,500 lb/h and
the low-pressure (LP) steam is to be
maximized.
Figure 3a shows an HRSG configuration consisting of a HP superheater,
evaporator, and economizer followed by
a LP evaporator and economizer. This
design will get the job done, but it does
not maximize the energy recovery.

Figure 3b shows another configuration, which generates the same HP

steam but more LP steam. This is
achieved by relocating the economizer, thus making the heat sink behind
the LP evaporator larger. The exit gas
temperature is now lower. Note that
this system has four modules, while
the system in Figure 3a has five
modules.
Table 3 shows the data and the
results. Figure 4 shows the gas and

HRSG simulation is a valuable tool

and has several applications. One
need not physically design an
HRSG in order to obtain
information about its perfor mance.
Such analysis can he lp consul tants, plant engineers, and HRSG
design ers to learn more about the
HRSG and the steam system and,
hence, arrive at optimum HRSG
configurations. ISO

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS

OCTOBER 1993 31

ENVIRONMENT/HEAT TRANSFER

Recover heat from

waste incineration
Improved waste-heat boiler design
criteria enhance thermal energy
recovery, reduce unit size and
increase heat transfer efficiency
V Ganapathy, ABCO Industries, Abilene, Texas

Using these guidelines, engineers can address critical

design problems associated with burning processwaste

streams and select cost-effective waste-heat boilers.
Incinerating contaminant streams is a win-win
situation: 1) Complete destruction of pollutant(s) is
attained and 2) Valuable thermal energy is recovered as
steam and returned to process, thus conserving energy.
However, recovering thermal energy from incinerated
flue-gas streams contains some caveats. This treatment
method creates a large high-temperature flue gas from
which valuable thermal energy is recovered as
saturated or superheated steam. Unfortunately,
because a processwaste stream is used as feed, this
stream will have variations in contaminant and
component concentrations which influence the load on
the boiler. Also, burning contaminants may create acid
gases which will accelerate corrosion problems for the
boiler at elevated temperatures. The following
guidelines and checklist clarify the do's

and don'ts when designing waste-heat boilers. Packaged

boilers are not designed for waste-incineration
purposes. Therefore, plant engineers must supply boiler
designers important operating parameters such as gas stream analysis, steam parameters, gas flowrates, etc.
Developing a better understanding of the waste stream
can reduce boiler size and cost, and improve its
operability.
Profit from waste. Incineration is a widely accepted
technique to dispose of various types of chemical and
refining solid, liquid and gaseous wastes. Due to stricter
federal and state regulations and the need for cleaner
environment, incineration has been under much
criticism. During incineration, large amounts of flue
gases are generated at temperatures ranging from
1,400F to 2,400F depending upon the wastes
incinerated, destruction levels desired and equipment
used. Energy from these gas streams can be recovered
as saturated or superheated steam, which can be used
for process or power generation.
Gas stream nature affects boiler design. The
starting point when evaluating a suitable boiler type for
incineration-heat recovery is the nature of the gas
stream, whether it is clean, dirty, dusty, corrosive, etc.
If fumes, VOCs or gaseous pollutants are incinerated
which is often done in refineries, the gas stream will be
usually clean; thus, finned tubes can be used for heattransfer surfaces such as

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING /SEPTEMBER 1995

superheater, evaporator and economizer to make the boiler

compact (see Fig. 1). In this boiler, the superheater is
located behind a screen section, which shields it from hot
gases and cavity radiation and which also helps to minimize
the fluctuations in steam temperatures due to load. Gas
velocities are limited only by gas pressure drop consideration and associated operating costs. In the boiler, gas
velocities can be high, exceeding 80 to 100 ft/s; however,
erosion is not a concern.
If a hazardous waste liquid or solid waste is incinerated, the
composition of the waste-gas stream, ash concentration and
its analysis must be known. Table 1 lists the melting point
of a few eutectics containing salts of sodium and potassium
which have a low melting point. These salts can form a
molten deposit on boiler tubes if the local temperature is
high enough. These salts can be cooled, forming a solid
mass on the tubes. This mass deposit blocks the passage
for gases and also attacks the protective oxide layer on the
boiler tubes, thus causing corrosion. A large water-cooled
radiant furnace may be required to cool gases below their
ash-slagging temperatures, followed by a convection section
and an economizer, all of bare tube construction (see Fig. 2).
The resulting boiler will be huge and costly. Retractable soot
blowers will be required to clean accumulated slag to keep
the boiler s urfaces reasonably clean. Wide -tube spacings
may be necessary at the boiler front end to minimize
plugging and blockage of tubes and ash hoppers may be
needed.
Operating parameters. Gas analysis is also important when
determining steam parameters. If the gas stream contains a
large amount of hydrogen chloride, high-temperature
corrosion may occur. This situation is accelerated at high
tube-wall temperatures exceeding 800F to 900F (see Fig.
3). It is preferred to avoid superheaters in such cases or if
they are used, then operate them at low tube -wall
temperatures. To ensure lower tube -wall temperatures,
select a lower steam temperature such as 650F to 700F
instead of 850F to 900F. Also, the superheater can be
located in a cool gas temperature zone (see Fig. 4), buried
deep into the boiler.
A screen section shields the superheater from hot gases and
also minimizes wild swings in tube-wall temperatures due to
varying loads. The superheater can also be designed as a
parallel-flow unit instead of a counter-flow unit, which has a
higher tube -wall temperature due to the combination

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING / SEPTEMBER 1995

of higher gas and steam temperatures. The log-mean temperature difference with a parallel-flow design will be lower,
resulting in larger surface area requirements. However, this
is a consideration in contrast to handling problems associated with high temperature superheater design. If a high
steam temperature is a must, then consider the combination of a waste-heat boiler generating saturated steam and
a separately fired superheater, operating on clean fuel.
Fire-tube or water-tube boilers. The choice between fire tube and water-tube boilers is often based on cost
aspects and steam parameters. Fire -tube boilers can
withstand high gas pressures, are cost-effective up to 70
to 100,000 lb/h gas capacity and are ideal for saturated
steam generation. When steam pressure exceeds 600 to
700 psig, the tube thickness must withstand external
pressure from steam increases and the weight. Result:
Cost of the boiler increases rapidly.
A supe rheater if used with a fire -tube boiler must be

located either at the front or at the exit of the evaporator,

which affects the superheater's performance and metallurgy. When gas inlet temperatures are high, exceeding
1,600F to 1,900F, do not locate the superheater at the
gas inlet zone due to the higher tube wall temperatures
and the large fluctuations of steam temperature with
load. Locating it behind the evaporator would result in a
very large superheater because of the lower gas
temperature. Also, a high steam temperature may not be
achievable. Water-tube boilers are very flexible in design,
and

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING !SEPTEMBER 1995

are suitable for large gas and steam flows and high
steam pressures. They can be made compact by using
extended surfaces which can transfer energy at much
lower pinch points (difference between saturation steam
temperature and gas temperature exiting evaporator)
compared to firetube boilers. Superheater location is
very flexible, often in between evaporator modules and
hence can result in better designs with lower tube-wall
temperatures. Water holdup is also less compared to
fire-tube boilers, resulting in quicker transient
performance. Due to compact designs, they often have
lower gas pressure drop, thus reducing operating costs.
With gas temperatures exceeding 1,800F to 2,000F, an
elevated fire -tube boiler (Fig. 5) is preferred because the
tube sheet at the front can be completely cooled by a circulating steam-water mixture. Often refractory is also
used at the tube sheet with ferrules to protect the tube
sheet and minimize the temperature drop across it. An
elevated-drum design enables using better steam drum
internals, hence improving steam purity.
A single shell-fire tube boiler (Fig. 6) is inexpensive and
may be used when gas temperature is less than 1,600F.
Typically, these boilers operate at heat fluxes of

Table 2. Dew points of acid gases'

Hydrobromic acid:
1,000/TDP = 3.5639-0.1350 In (P H20)0.0398 In
(P HBr) + 0.00235 In (P H20) In (P HBr )
Hydrochloric acid:
1,000/TDP = 3.7368-0.1591 In (P H20 ) - 0.0326
In (P HCI) + 0.00269 In (P H20 ) In (P HCI)
Nitric acid:
1,000/TDP = 3.6614-0.1446 In (P H20)
0.0827 In (PHN03) + 0.00756 In (P H20) In (PHN03)
Sulfurous acid:
1,000/TDP = 3.9526-0.1863 In (PH20)+ .000867
In (PSO 2) - 0.000913 In (PH20)In (PSO 2)
Sulfuric acid:
1,000/TDP = 2.276-0.0294 In (PH20)
0.0858 In (PH3S04) + 0.0062 In (PH20) In (PH2s04)
Where: TDP is dew point temperature oK and P is partial
pressure, mmHg.
Compared with published data, the predicted dew points are
within about 6K of actual values except for H 2SO4 which is
within about K.

Table 3. Engineering data or checklist to design

waste-heat boiler2 (or aspects to be considered
while developing specifications)
1. Application: Describe process; give flow diagram for
gas/steam; source of deaeration steam; distribution of process
and superheated HP, IP and LP steam.
2. Space limitations: Describe or provide drawings. Is a site
visit required?
3. Gas stream parameters:
a. Gas flow, pph: (at different loads/ambient conditions). b. Inlet
gas temperature, F: (associated with gas flow)
c. Analysis, o/a volume: C02, H 2O, N 2, 0 2, S0 2, HCL, S03,
H2S, CL 2; etc., corresponding to each gas flow condition
d. Gas pressure, psig
e. Suggested gas pressure drop: (at a given gas flow and inlet
condition) or the maximum value.
f. Nature of gas: dirty/clean; particulate concentration in
grains/scf; ash analysis to indicate slagging tendencies.
4. Duty or suggested steam generation/temperature profile or
exit gas temperature: Part load conditions; a/o of time in each
operating mode; steam temperature control if any; provide flow
diagram showing HP/IP/LP steam, makeup water, condensate
returns at various loads.
5. Auxiliary fuel data: Fuel analysis, augmenting air for
burners if any.
6. Emission data: NOx and CO at boiler inlet and outlet;
Contribution by burner (from burner vendor); Emission control
equipment suggested.
7. Feedwater or makeup water analysis: a/o condensate
returns if any. Is demineralized water available for spray
temperature control? Injection water TDS should be very low.
8. Cost of fuel, electricity and steam: In addition, the % of time
in each operating point in order to optimize life cycle cost.
9. Steam purity requirements: Drum holdup time criteria if
any.Quick startup or load change requirements.
10. Other special requirements, if any.

perature. This result differs from a packaged boiler, where

the steam temperature falls with load.
Influential design factors. Since several variables influ ence

less than 25,000 Btu/ft 2 h. Heat fluxes up to 100,000 Btu/ft 2 h

can be tolerated by steam at low to medium pressures. 1 If
the gas stream does not contain hydrogen and large amount
of water vapor, which is the case of reformed gases in
hydrogen plants, the heat flux is not a concern.2 Boiler
performance. As with any boiler, lowering the exit gas
temperature increases energy recovery. But if the gas
stream contains acid vapors such as hydrochloric acid,
hydrobromic acid, sulfuric acid, etc., one must evaluate dew
points so that the lowest tube-wall temperature at the
economizer is close to or above the stream's dewpoint.
Table 2 shows dew point correlations for several common
acid vapors. Since the tube-side heat transfer coefficient in
the economizer is very high compared to the gas-side coefficient, the feedwater temperature will determine the tubewall temperature and not the gas temperature.
Incinerators typically operate at high gas temperatures
with the mass flow changing due to load. Hence boiler
performance is different from a conventional packaged steam
generator. Fig. 7 shows the effect of mass flow and gas
temperature on the performance of the waste heat boiler. It
appears that the superheater steam and tubewall temperatures
increase at lower loads from a combination of lower steam
generation and high gas inlet tem
56

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING/ SEPTEMBER 1995

boiler type and its design features, plant engineers involved

in design or operation of an incineration facility should
provide proper information to boiler designers. Table 3
lists important parameters that should be furnished to
boiler vendors. Of particular importance are the gas
analysis, ash analysis (if present), steam parameters and
gas flow in mass units.
LITERATURE CITED
Ganapathy, V, Steam plant calculations manual, Second Edition, Marcel Dekker,
New York, 1992.
z Ganapathy, V., Waste heat boiler deskbook. Fairmont Press, Atlanta, 1991.

The author
V. Ganapathy is a heat transfer specialist with
ABCO Industries Inc., Abilene, Texas. He is
engaged in the engineering of heat recovery boilers for process, incineration and cogeneration
applications and packaged water tube steam
generators. He also develops software for engineering of heat recovery systems and components. He holds a B Tech degree in mechanical
engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India,
and an MSc(eng) in boiler technology from Madras University.
Mr. Ganapathy is the author of over 175 articles on boilers, heat
transfer and steam plant systems and has written five books:
Applied Heat Transfer, Stream Plant Calculations Manual,
Nomograms for Steam Generation and Utilization, Basic
Programs for Steam Plant Engineers (book and diskette), and
Waste Heat Boiler Deskbook, copies of which are available from
him. He also has contributed several chapters to the
Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing and Design, Vols. 25 and
26, Marcel Dekker, New York.

Optimize energy efficiency

of HRSG
With a better understanding of temperature profiles, plant
engineers can increase steam production and minimize losses
V. Ganapathy, ABCO Industries, Abilene, Texas

When optimizing the efficiency of heat-recovery steam

Arbitrary selecting the exit-gas temperature or pinch and

approach points to estimate steam generation can be faulty
and cause "temperature cross."
For example, assume that the gas flow, inlet-gas temperature, desired steam temperature and feedwater temperature
in the design case are known. Assuming a modest pressure
drop in the superheater,then the drum pressure and saturated
steam temperature can be derived steam tables. The pinch
and approach points are set in the design mode. (For the off
design case pinch/approach points and steam flow, an
evaluation of the HRSG performance must be done using
iterative procedures where: 1,2

generators (HRSGS,) fully understanding the temperature

profiles of these units is crucial. Gas turbine HRSGS are
unique and pose peculiar problems as compared to
conventional gas/oil-fired boilers when calculating efficiency or steam output. For conventional oil/gas -fired steam
generators or boilers, one can do heat balances, efficiency
calculations and fuel estimates by assuming an exit-gas
temperature of 300F to 340F from the steam generator
and assuming that the feedwater is at 220F to 250F
irrespective of steam pressure. However, these assumptions
are often not
Pinch point (PP) = gas temperature
thermodynamically valid with
leaving evaporator-saturation
HRSGS. Energy recovered in
temperature--(t g3 -ts)Approach point
a HRSG or the exit-gas
(AP)
=saturation temperature-water
temperature from a HRSG is a
temperature
leaving economizer(ts function of several variables
tw2).By assuming a nominal pinch
including:
point (10F to 30F in unfired mode)
Gas inlet temperature to
and a similar value for the approach
the HRSG
Fig.
1.
Pinch
and
approach
points
in
a
simple
HRSG.
point, the amount of steam generated
Steam pressure
Steam temperature
in the HRSG may be calculated as:
How the heat recovery surfaces are arranged
tg3 = ts + PP
tw2 = ts -AP
Number of steam pressure levels
Pinch and approach points.
The energy absorbed by superheater and evaporator, Q 1 2 ,
The reasons are:
is given by:
Low gas-inlet temperature to HRSGS (900F-1,100F in
Q12 = Wg x Cpg x (tg1-tg3)xhl = Ws X (hs2 - hw2)
unfired mode compared to the adiabatic combustion tem(
where:
Wg = gas flow, lb/h
perature of around 3,300F in oil/gas-fired steam
generators)
Cpg = gas specific heat at the average gas
Large ratio of exhaust gas flow to steam generation in
temperature, Btu/lb F
unfired mode (about 6 vs. 1.1 in conventional steam
Tg1,tg2,tg3,tg4=
gas
temperature at various locations as
generators) How gas-to-steam flow ratios change with
shown,
F
steam generation.
W S = steam flow, lb/h
In conventional steam generators, the ratio of gas -to-steam
flow does not change with steam generation. While in gas
hs2, hw2 = enthalpy of steam at superheater exit
turbine HRSGS, the exhaust gas flow remains nearly
and water at economizer exit, Btu/lbF hl= heat loss factor,
constant irre spective of steam generation, which affects the
typically 0.99 to 0.995. From Eq. 1, Q12 and then the steam
gas/steam temperature profiles significantly. Several
flow, Ws, may be calculated. In Eq. 1, blow down was
methods can be used to understand HRSG temperature
neglected.
profiles and offer ways to improve operating efficiency or
If we consider the energy absorbed in the
energy recovery.
superheater,Q1
Pinch and approach points determine HRSG gas/steam
temperature profiles. In a typical HRSG, the gas and steam
Q1=WgxCpgx(tg1-tg2)= Ws X (hs2 - hv)
(2)
temperature profiles are dictated by the design values for
pinch and approach points. Fig 1 shows the gas/steam
temperature profiles in a simple HRSG consisting of a
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING / DECEMBER 2001
41
superheater, evaporator and economizer.

where hv = saturated steam enthalpy, Btu/lb

Since the right hand side of Eq. 2 is known, Q1 is known, then
the only unknown is the gas temperature leaving the superheater,
tg2,which may be solved for. Since Q12 is known from Eq. 1,
then Q2 = energy absorbed in the evaporator-Q12-Q1.
Now from the economizer energy balance, the energy absorbed
Q3 is given by:
Q3 = Wg x Cpg x(tg3-tg4) hl = Ws(hw2-hw1)
(3)
where hw1 = enthalpy of feed water in, Btu/lb.
The unknown is tg4,which can be solved for. Thus, all of the
gas/steam temperatures and duty in each section can be determined along with the steam generation.
The exit gas temperature, tg4 or steam flow cannot be arbitrarily
assumed in a HRSG. An analysis similar to that presented
should be performed. Arbitrarily selecting tg4 or pinch and
approach points can lead to "temperature cross" situations an
undesirable condition.
Never arbitrarily assume pinch and approach points. The

overall energy transferred is:

Q13 = Wg x Cpg x (tg1-tg4) x hl = W S x (hs2 - hw1)

(4)

From Eqs. 1 and 4, we have

(tg1-tg3)/(tg1-tg4) = (hs2 - hw2/(hs2 - hw1) = K

(5)

This equation neglects small variations in gas specific heats. K is

a function of steam/water properties and is nearly a constant for
given steam/water conditions. For steam generation to occur,
two conditions must be met:
tg3>ts and tg4>tw1
If the pinch or the approach point is arbitrarily selected, then
there is a high probability that tg4 can be lower than tw1 or tg3 is
lower than ts. The lowest limit for tg3 is ts and for tg4 is tw1.
Substituting these conditions into Eq. 5 and calling the tg1 as
tg1c, we have:
(tglc-ts)/(tglc-twl)=K or tglc=(ts-Ktwl)/(l-K)

(6) For gas-

inlet temperatures greater than tglc, the feedwater

42

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING / DECEMBER 2001

temperature limits the temperature profile. For values below

tglc, the pinch point governs the temperature profile. Now
let us illustrate these issues using a few examples.
Example 1. Assume the steam pressure in a HRSG = 585
psig; steam temperature = 700F; feedwater temperature =
250F. Let the approach temperature = 20F, ts. = 488 F,
tw2 = 468F. From steam tables, hs2 = 1351.8, hw1 = 219.5
and hw2 = 450.7 Btu/lb.
From Eq. 5, K = (1351.8 -450.7)/(1351.8 - 219.5) = 0.796
From Eq. 6, tglc = (488 -.796 x 250)/(1 -.796) = 1,416F.
Below 1,416F, pinch point determines the profile and above
this value, the feedwater temperature sets the profile. If a
pinch point is arbitrarily selected, let us assume that gas-inlet
temperature is 1,600F and the pinch point is a 30F:
Tg3=ts+30=488+30=518F
From Eq. 5, then:
(1600 - 518)/(1600 tg4) = 0.796 or tg4 = 240F, which is
below the 250F feedwater temperature; thus, not a feasible
profile. However, if we used a lower tw2 or higher K, it may
work out. Assume tw2 = 400F and K = 0.862, or tg4 =
345F, which is feasible.
Example 2. Assume the exit-gas temperature = 290F. From
Eq. 5, then:
(1600 tg3)/(1600 - 290) = 0.796 or tg3 = 557 F or pinch
is (557 - 488) = 69F, which is feasible.
Example 3. Assume tg1 = 900F and pinch point = 20F,
then: (900 - 508)/(900 tg4) = 0.796 or tg4 = 408F, which is
feasible.
Example 4. Assume an entry temperature of 900F and an exit gas temperature = 300F. Is it feasible?
(900 tg3)/(900 - 300) = 0.796 or tg3 = 422F, which is
below ts and thus, not feasible.
Arbitrarily fixing the exit gas temperature in a single-pressure
HRSG to determine the possible steam generation is not a good
idea. Table 1 suggests typical pinch and approach points to be
used in waste-heat boilers. A detailed evaluation should be
done to confirm these assumptions of pinch and approach
points. Also, in off-design modes, the pinch and approach
points must be determined through complex iterative calculations. Also, it is a good idea to select pinch and approach

points for the HRSG evaporator in unfired mode since firing

introduces uncertainty and possible temperature cross
situations.
EFFECT OF STEAM PRESSURE AND TEMPERATURE
Steam pressure and temperature impacts the exit gas temperature, and hence, the steam generation.
Table 2 shows the effects of steam pressure and temperature on
exit-gas temperature in an unfired gas turbine HRSG. Some
observations are:
The higher the steam pressure, the higher the exit-gas temperature. The saturation temperature is greater at higher pressures; thus, the gas temperature, tg3, leaving the evaporator is
higher with less steam generation as compared to lower steam
pressure case. Steam generation is proportional to (tg1-tg3 ).
With less steam generated, the water flow through the
economizer is lower and the heat recovery potential is also
reduced. From Eq. 3, tg3 is fixed by assuming a pinch point.
Q3, the economizer duty, is smaller, but tg4 is higher as shown
in Eq. 3.
Higher the steam temperature (for the same pressure), the higher
the exit gas temperature. Less steam is generated in the
evaporator as shown by Eq. 1. If the enthalpy absorbed by
steam is higher (as with superheated steam), less is generated,
which results in higher tg4 . This is the reason for the lower exit
gas temperature with saturated steam in Table 2. With less
steam and less water flowing through the economizer, Q3 is
smaller, which causes less heat recovery and higher exit-gas
temperatures.
Exit-gas temperature cannot be arbitrarily assumed or
determined. If someone had assumed a 300F exit gas for the
last case of 600 psig, 750F steam, and determined the steam
generation, the error would be very significant, about 17%.
Also, it is not thermodynamically feasible. The author has seen
inexperienced engineers still do this. HRSG simulation methods
(as discussed previously for the design case) must be used to
determine gas/steam profiles and steam generation. 1,2
Energy-recovery calculations for HRSGs should be done with
the methods previously described since arbitrary assumptions
can lead to errors.
Improving energy recovery by lowering pinch and approach
points. With these procedures to evaluate HRSG temperature
profiles, let us investigate how to improve a typical HRSG.

Several methods are available. One method to optimize energy

recovered or lower exit-gas temperature is reducing the design
pinch and approach points when thermodynamically feasible.
Lower pinch and approach point imply that the log-mean
temperature difference in the evaporator and economizer would
be reduced and hence more heating surfaces would be required;
thus adding to the total cost of the HRSG. A techno-economic
evaluation may be done based on operating hours to see if the
lower pinch/approach point design is worth it.
Table 3 lists operating conditions of a HRSG for a 4500-Kw gas
turbine generating 150-psig saturated steam. It was designed with
a large pinch/approach point in the unfired mode (Case A) and
with smaller pinch and approach points in Case B. For these two
design basis, the performance is also verified in the fired mode,
when 30,000-lb/h of steam is required. It is obvious that in Case
A, the firing temperature will be higher; thus more fuel is consumed. Also due to the larger surface areas of evaporator and
economizer in Case B, the gas pressure drop across the HRSG
will also be higher than in Case A. In this example, assume:
Fuel cost = $5/MM Btu/ h Cost
of steam = $4/1,000 lb
Electricity = 7c/kwh.
Also assume an additional 4 in. WC in the HRSG, which equals
1.1 % decrease in gas turbine power output of nominal 4500 Kw.
Assume 8,000 hours of operation annually with 50% of the time
in unfired and fired modes. The following simplistic evaluation
may be done. Design B has an edge over design A in terms of
operating costs:
Higher steam generation in unfired mode: (22,985 22,107) x 4 x 4,000/1,000 = $14,048 Higher fuel
consumption in fired mode:
(8.1 - 6.9) x 5 x 4,000 = $ 24,000
Higher gas per drop of 1.2 in WC:
1.2 x 4,500 x 0.07 x 8,000 x 1.1/(4 x 100) =-$8,316 The
net benefit of design B over A = $(14,048 + 24,000 8,316)=$29,732/yr.

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING/ DECEMBER 2001 3

If the additional cost of Design B over A is

about $30,000, then the payback is about
one year.
One may perform such an evaluation to see
if the lower pinch/approach points are
worth the expense. If the HRSG will
operate continuously for years, then the
author suggests investigating the lowpinch-point designs. Such conditions may
justify the additional investment for the
long-term. The cost of the HRSG is also
not directly proportional to surface areas;
an additional 10% to 15% may be included
in the total HRSG cost for instrumentation,
controls, duct work, burner, etc., which can
be a substantial increase to the total cost.
Improving HRSG efficiency through
auxiliary firing . One of the simplest
methods to improve the efficiency of a
HRSG is to increase the steam output
through supplementary firing. Unlike conventional steam generators where the ratio
of gas-to-steam flow remains nearly
constant at all loads, the ratio varies for a
HRSG as shown in Table 4.
Auxiliary firing without additional air is feasible in HRSGs
since the typical exhaust contains 13 to 15 vol% oxygen. The
relation between oxygen content in exhaust gas and fuel consumption is shown in Eq. 7:1 2
Q = 58.4 x 10-6W gO

(7)

where: Q = fuel input (oil/natural gas) in MMBtu/h on LHV

basis (lower heating value) Wg = exhaust gas flow, lb/h
O = vol% oxygen consumed.
Example: If the exhaust gas is at 900F and must be raised to
2,000F, then the fuel input required = Wg x 0.31 x (2000 900) x 10-6 MMBtu/h. Equating with Eq. 7,we have:
O = 5.83 vol%. If we started with 15 vol% oxygen, we would
end up with about 9 vol%; thus, there is excess oxygen in the
exhaust gases.
Gas turbine HRSGs, which are free oxygen at 14 to 15 vol%,
can easily fire up to about 3,000E The HRSG design would
require water-cooled membrane walls beyond 1,700E Fig. 2
shows a HRSG firing to 2,300E It consists of an 0-type boiler
with water-cooled furnace section followed by a screen section,
superheaters, convection bank and economizer.
Fired HRSGS are efficient because:
When additional fuel is fired, air is not generally added.
This reduces the exit gas losses and improves the HRSG efficiency. More steam is generated with less heat losses from
exhaust gases.
With a single-pressure HRSG, the steam flow is higher with
firing; the economizer acts as a larger heat sink and lowers the
exit-gas temperature as compared to unfired case (see Table 3).

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING / DECEMBER 2001

The additional HRSG duty between

unfired and fired case is 7 MM Btu/h in
case B. We only used 6.9 MM Btu/ h
(LHV) as fuel input. Thus, it is more
than 100% efficient. Plant engineers
should always think of increasing steam
generation in cogeneration plants by
auxiliary firing in HRSGs. The
efficiency is much higher than in steam
generators, which typically have an
efficiency of 93% (LHV basis) for
natural-gas firing. Thus, fuel utilization
is improved by 6% to 7% when
compared to regular steam generators.
In conventional plant steam generators
when excess air is increased, the losses
increase and efficiency is reduced. In
HRSGs, auxiliary firing cuts excess air
requirements. The oxygen levels in the
exhaust gas are lowered and the
efficiency is improved.
Improve efficiency by adding secondary
surfaces. By adding secondary surfaces
such as condensate heater or deaerator
coil or a feedwater exchanger, as shown
in Fig 3 below, more energy can be recovered from the exhaust
gases. These options reduce the amount of steam required for
deaeration by preheating the makeup or generating low-pressure
(LP) steam. Corrosion may occur in the economizer or condensate
heater when fuel oils are fired and should be investigated.
Optimize efficiency through temperature profiles. With
multiple pressure HRSGs, it is possible to relocate the heating
surfaces and lower the exit-gas temperature and generate more
steam. Fig 5 shows two options for generating high-pressure (HP)
steam and LP steam in a HRSG. System conditions are: Gas flow
= 500,000 lb/h
Exhaust-gas temperature = 900F Gas analysis = vol%-CO2 = 3,
H2 O = 7, N2 = 75, OZ = 15 HP steam = 31,500 lb/h at 600 psig,
600F
LP steam: maximum in unfired mode at 150-psig sat
Feedwater = 230F
Assume heat loss = 1%.
Using HRSG simulation methods, two options were studied
as shown in Fig. 4. In Case A, the HP stage is followed by the
LP evaporator with a common economizer feeding both the
evaporators.
In Case B, the HP stage is followed by the LP stage each
with own individual economizer.
In Case A, the common economizer has a larger water flow
(equal to the sum of the steam flows in HP and LP stages.)
Result: A much larger heat sink and the gas temperature is
306F and is much lower than Case B, which is 342F. More
steam is generated in case 6. The LP steam is 43,450 lb/h in
Case A vs. 39,000 lb/h in Case B while the HP steam is 31,500
lb/h in both cases.
Rearranging the heating surfaces or relocating the surfaces can
improve the gas/steam temperature profiles, particularly with
multiple pressure steam generation. HRSG simulation-program

developed by the author-can be used to study complex multiple

pressure unfired or fired HRSGs.1,2
Overview. HRSG efficiency can be improved by several methods.

One can use any or the entire presented methods on a HRSG project.
Plant engineers must understand the significance of HRSG
temperature profiles. One must also look at the cost implications and
the period of operation to justify any additional expense. With
HRSGs being used widely in cogeneration and combined cycle
plants, a consideration for all of the presented methods will assist
when optimizing the total plant efficiency.
LITERATURE CITED
t Ganapathy, V, Steam Plant Ca lculations Manual. Second Fd., Marcel Dekker, New
York, 1993.
z Ganapathy, V, Waste Heat Boiler Deskbook, Fairtnunt Press. .Atlanta, 1991.

V.Ganapathy is a heat transfer specialist at ABCO

Industries, Abilene, Texas, a subsidiary of Peerless
Manufacturing, Dallas. He has a bachelors degree in
mechanical engineering from LI.T, Madras, India, and
a masters degree from Madras University. At ABCO,
Mr. Ganapathy is responsible for steam generator,
HRSG and waste heat boiler process and thermal
engineering functions, and has 30 years of experience in this field. He has authored over 250 articles
on boilers and related subjects, written four books and contributed
several chapters to the Handbook of Engineering Calculations and the
Encyclopedia of Chemical Proc essing and Design. He can be reached via
e-mail: [email protected].

Specify Packaged
Steam Generators
Properly
Packaged
Packaged steam
generators are no
longer purchased

"off the shelf."

Here's how to
evaluate the options.

V. Ganapathy,
ABCO Industries

G2

SEPTEMBER 1993

steam

generators

firing

natural gas and fuel oils are widely

used in chemical process industries
(CPI) plants, petroleum refineries, and
cogeneration systems to gener ate
steam for process use or for power.
These units are generally shop assembled (Figure 1) and can generate
saturated or superheated steam at
capacities up to 200,000 lb/h,
pressures ranging from 100 to 1,200
psig, and steam temperatures from
saturated condit ions to 900F.
(The 200,000 lb/h capacity is set by ship ping constraints on generator size. When
the required capacity exceeds this, the
steam generator has to be field-erected.)
Packaged steam generators were gen erally
considered "off-the-shelf" items until a
few years ago. That is, manufac turers
standardized on several sizes (for example,
20,000 to 120,000 lb/h in steps of 20,000
lb/h) and selected the unit that was closest
to the needs of the customer. If the
manufacturer had standard 80,000and
100,000-lb/h units, and if one customer
wanted an 89,000-lb/h boiler while
another wanted a 105,000-lb/h boiler, both
customers would get the same 100,000lb/h boiler.
In the past, manufacturers and customers
did not concern themselves much with the
implicat ions of variations in excess air,
gas recirculation, staged combustion, and
so on. However, these factors influence
emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO) and
carbon monoxide and affect the boiler size
and performance - and they are becoming
more and more imp ortant in boiler
selection and design.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS

Figure 1. Large packaged steam generator.

(The implications of emissions on boiler

design and the need for customized design
will be discussed later in the article.) Of
course, a standard "off-the-shelf" design is
less expensive than a "customdesigned" unit,
which considers each requirement on a caseby -case basis.
This article explains what packaged steam
generators are, discusses various aspects of
design, and outlines what information the
user needs to provide to the supplier when
specifying packaged steam generators.

Generator configurations
Two main types of packaged steam
generators are the D-type and the Otype, shown in Figure 2.
In the D-type, the burner is
mounted in the front wall. The
products of combus tion, on leaving the
furnace, make a 180 deg. turn and pass
through the convection bank of tubes,
which may contain a superheater if
superheated steam is gener ated.

The economizer is generally located

outside the boiler.
In the O-type, the burner is (as in the
Dtype) mounted in the front wall. The
products of combustion leave the furnace
and either come back toward the front
(denoted O-type-1 in Figure 2) or move
straight on (denoted 0-type-2). The
bottom drum in the O-type may be
replaced by two smaller drums and
another possible configuration results namely the A-type.
The choice of boiler type varies
among manufacturers.
Natural gas and oil are the main fuels
used in these types of boilers, although
solid fuels have been fired with
equipment modifications. This article
deals only with clean fuels such as gas
and oil.
Natural circulation moves the steamwater mixture through the evaporator
tubes. The rear convection tubes, where
the gas temperature is low (within 100F
to
250F
above
the
saturation
temperature), act as downcomer tubes,
while the rest of the tubes in the radiant
and convection section act as risers,
carrying the steam-water mixture to the
steam drum. Depending on how the
steam is utilized, cyclones and chevron
steam separators (Figure 3) are used to
achieve the desired steam purity, which
is in the range of 10 ppb to 1 ppm.
If a superheater is required, it is
generally preferred that it be drainable. It
can be located in the furnace (radiant
type) or in the convection zone
(convective type). Radiant superheaters
should be designed with greater care, as
they are subject to flame radiation and
frequent tube failures. Convective
superheaters (Figure 4) are the choice for
steam temperatures less than 750F ; a
semiradiant design may be used for
steam temperatures up to 950F.
Steam temperatures are generally
controlled
using
an
interstage
desuperheater or a spray attemperator,
which injects water into steam to control
its temperature. If a spray attemperator is
used for steam temperature control, the
feed water should preferably be
demineralized and have a very low solids
content. Otherwise, the superheated
steam could be injected with solids,
which could be deposited inside the
superheater tubes, leading to corrosion

Figure 2.
Boiler configurations.

N Figure 3.
Arrangement of
drum internals.

and overheating, or deposited in the steam turbine, leading to

turbine failure. If the degree of superheat is very low, say 20-50F,
the superheater may also be located between the evaporator and
economizer.
An economizer is often used to recover energy from the flue
gases once they leave the evaporator.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS SEPTEMBER 1993

63

Extended surfaces are utilized to

make the economizer compact. The
feed water entering the economizer
should be deaerated to mimimize tube
side corrosion and pitting. Feed water
temperatures
above
240F
are
preferred when firing fuels containing
sulfur to avoid dew-point corrosion.
In gas-fired units, the typical exit gas
temperature from the economizer
ranges from 300F to 350F at 100%
load. As the load decreases, the exit
gas tempera ture decreases.
Air heaters are rarely used for
heat recovery, because they are less
compact and because they also
increase the flame temperature, which
results in higher NOx emis sions. In
addition, the gas and air pressure
drops are higher and, hence, result in
higher operating costs. Air heaters
may be required when firing
"difficult" fuels, such as coal and
solid waste, however these are not
considered in this article.
3

SEPTEMBER 1993

Boiler efficiency depends on the

excess air and exit gas temperature, as
illustrated in Table 1. Efficiency is
based on either the lower or the
higher heating value (LHV and HHV)
and is denoted E, or Eh , respectively.
The relationship between the two
efficiencies is simple: E, x LHV = Eh
x HHV Simple calculations are also
available to relate excess air and
efficiency based on data from flue gas
analysis (1,2).
In large boilers (above about
100,000-lb/h capacity), the efficiency
is of great significance, because it
impacts
operational
costs.
For
example, if the difference in
efficiency between two 100,000-lb/h
boilers is just 1%, about 1.3 million
Btu/h of additional fuel is consumed
by the less-efficient unit. This
translates into $26,000/yr (based on
fuel costs of $2.5/million Btu and
8,000 h/yr operating time).

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS

Packaged steam generators are usually of the pressurized furnace type, in

which a forced-draft fan forces the
combustion air and flue gases to the
stack via the burner, furnace, convection tubes, and economizer. Large
field-erected boilers are usually of balanced-draft construction, in which a
forced-draft fan handles the air and an
induced-draft fan moves the flue gases.
Balanced-draft
designs
are
not
economical for packaged boilers.
Several decades ago, boiler furnaces were constructed of tubes set
against a refractory/tile enclosure, as
shown in Figure 5a. This design is no
longer used because of problems
associated with leakage of gases to the
casing, corrosion, and the massive
weight associated with the refractory.
The tangent tube design (Figure 5b) is
an improved construction, but it still
lacks the integrity and popularity of the
membrane wall design (Figure 5c),

which acts as a gas-tight enclosure

for the flue gases and also minimizes
problems associated with thermal
expansion and movement of the
various parts of the furnace.
In the membrane wall design, the
entire furnace operates at a uniform
temperature, so differential expansion concerns are absent. On lowpressure units, 2-in. O.D. tubes at a
4-in. pitch are generally used for the
furnace construction, while in highpressure units (those exceeding 800
psig), a lesser pitch is used to minimize the fin tip temperature.
Calculations have to be performed
by the boiler designer to ensure that
the fin tip temperature does not
exceed the value suggested for the
fin material under consideration. The
choice of tube size and pitch varies
among boiler manufacturers.
Recent trends
In order to meet emission criteria,
parameters such as furnace geometry, excess air, and heat release rates
must be commensurate with the recommendations
of
the
burner
supplier. In addition, depending on
the method adopted for NOx control,
the furnace and boiler design will be
impacted. Some of the widely used
methods of NO x control in packaged
boilers are described below.
Flue gas recirculation. In flue gas
recirculation (FGR), a certain
amount of flue gas is drawn from the
boiler exit and introduced into the
flame region to reduce the flame
temperature. Recirculating flue gas
may be induced into the forced-draft
fan suction, at the furnace close to
the flame via a separate recirculation
fan, or by the forced-draft fan itself.
NOx formation is basically of two
types - thermal NOx, which is a
result of the combustion process and
the resulting combustion temperature, and fuel NO.,, which is the conversion of the fuel-bound nitrogen to
NO x . A fuel that is rich in hydrogen,
for example, can lead to a higher
flame temperature and hence

increased thermal NO x. FGR reduces

the combustion temperature and the
availability of oxygen in the flame,
which result in lower thermal NOx .
However, FGR has less impact on fuel
NOx .
The amount of flue gas recirculation
may range from 5% to 20%, depending
on the extent of NO x reduction
required. This results in a larger boiler
or higher gas pressure drop through the
boiler for the same duty, compared to a
boiler without FGR, and therefore
higher operating costs. An additional
gas pressure drop of 1 in. w.c. in the
boiler is nearly equivalent to 4 kW
more of fan power consumption in a
100,000lb/h boiler; at 7/kwh, this is
equivalent to $2,240/yr.
Staged combustion. Staged air
burners utilize off-stochiometric combustion under controlled conditions. Air
is introduced into the furnace in two
stages - the primary (60-80% of the air),
and the secondary. The short age of
oxygen generates high partial pressures
of carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
These reducing gases limit the NOx
formation and also reduce any NOx that
is formed to molecular nitrogen. The
secondary air is introduced at a
different location to complete the
combustion after some energy has been
transferred by the flame, thereby
reducing thermal NO x formation.
Furnace geometry must ensure that
proper mixing occurs so that carbon
monoxide and soot formation are
minimized.
Staging of fuel accomplishes a
similar objective. A portion of the fuel
and all of the air are mixed in the
primary
combustion
zone;
rapid
combustion is achieved in a highexcessair atmosphere, resulting in a lower
flame temperature. Additional fuel is
introduced downstream at a region
where the presence of flue gases results
in a lower flame temperature, leading to
thermal NO, reductions of as much as
50 %.
Up to 30-60% reduction in NOx can
be attained by the above methods alone
or in combination.

Use of catalysts. When NOx lev els

of 6-9 ppmv (dry) are specified, as in
some California regions, selective
catalytic reduction (SCR) is used,

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS

SEPTEMBER 1993

although it is very expensive. In this

method, ammonia is injected into the
flue gas upstream of a catalyst
reactor and the reactants pass
through the catalyst blocks, which
are of some proprietary precious
metal construction. Depending on
the catalyst, a gas temperature range
of 550F to 750F is recommended
at the SCR to ensure that the reactions for NOx reduction are favorable
and complete.
The use of SCR affects the boiler
design in a few ways. In order to
accommodate the SCR, which operates
efficiently only within a narrow band of
gas temperatures, methods such as gas
bypassing via dampers must be used to
ensure the proper gas temperature
range to the SCR at all boiler loads.
This gas bypassing may be done
externally or internally to the boiler.
The SCR also adds to the gas pressure
drop through the system by 2-4 in. w.c.
A convenient location for the SCR is
between
the
evaporator
and
economizer.

problems and maintenance con cerns

associated with refractory are also
absent, because the entire unit
expands and contracts uniformly.
Another factor that leads to
increased CO formation is the leakage of the products of combustion
from the furnace to the convection
section. This can occur if the partition walls are not of the membrane
wall design. Tangent tube construction for the partition can lead to
leak age of the combustion products
because the differential pressure
between the furnace and convection
exit can be in the range of 16-30 in.
w.c. in pressurized furnace designs.
A membrane wall construction
elimi nates the leakage concerns.

HRR may be specified on a lower

or higher heating value basis.
Typical HRR values range from
60,000
to
180,000
Btu/ft 2 h
depending
on
boiler
capacity
(smaller capacity units gener ally
have the lower heat release rates).
The heat release rate affects the
furnace absorption and the furnace
exit
gas
temperature.
Energy
absorbed in the furnace may be
computed by evaluating the net
energy released in the furnace and
subtract ing the energy at the furnace
exit, which varies with the furnace
exit gas temperature. It may also be
not iced that the furnace exit gas
temperature is higher for natural gas
compared to oil.

Furnace design and emissions

All of the above methods of NOx
control have significant impact on
boiler design, particularly on the furnace and convection sections. Gas
recirculation also affects the gas
temperature profile through the
boiler, which in turn affects the
steam tem perature if a superheater is
used.
Furnace construction has a
signifi cant impact on emissions. A
completely
water-cooled
design
(with front, rear, and side walls
cooled) ensures adequete cooling of
the flame as soon as it is formed.
The absence of refractory on the
front wall results in a benign
environment for the flame, because
the refractory can cause reradiation
to the flame. The completely watercooled membrane wall furnace
(Figure 6) also results in a lower
heat release rate per unit of area for
the same furnace volume, since the
front and rear walls are effectively
cooled. Thermal expan sion
5 SEPTEMBER 1993

Furnace heat release rates

A distinction must be made between
the heat release rate and the heat flux.
The heat release rate (HRR) is the
amount of energy released by the fuel
and air divided by the effective
projected area of the furnace. Effective
projected area is the flat projected area
of the furnace walls (tubes, fins, and
the membranes between the tubes)
including the opening to the convection section. One should be careful
when comparing bids, because some
manufacturers use the circumferential
area of the tubes plus the flat projected
area of the fins, thereby resulting in a
larger surface area.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS

Typically the furnace absorbs 35%

to 50% of the total energy.
The average heat flux is the
amount of energy absorbed in the
furnace divided by the effective
project ed area. This is an
important variable, particularly in
high-pressure boilers.
Allowable heat fluxes range
from
130,000
to
200,000
Btu/ft 2 h, depending on steam
pressure,
tube
size
and
orientation, mass velocity inside
the tubes, and circulation ratio. If
the maximum local heat flux
exceeds the allowable heat flux, a
condition called "departure from
nucleate boiling" (DNB) results,
leading to overheating and tube
failures (1,2). This is quite rare, as
pack aged steam generators

operate at a low heat flux and steam

pressures are low compared to large
utility boilers. Customizing designs.
Packaged steam generators have
come a long way since they were
introduced a century ago. For
instance:
Furnace dimensions are set in
consultation with burner suppliers,
whose modeling of NO, and CO
emissions may not favor a given
geometry for different emissions.
Borrowing the concepts from gas
turbine heat-recovery steam generators (HRSGs), packaged steam generators have been made compact by
utilizing extended surfaces in the
convection
section.
Lowtemperature superheaters have been
designed with finned tubes. The use
of extended surfaces reduces gas
pressure drop, thus reducing
operating costs.
The location of the superheater
may also be optimized to match the
steam temperature requirements,
particularly in units where a large
portion of the saturated steam is
extracted for process use and the
balance is superheated.
Operating costs could be reduced
by designing the convection section
with appropriate tube spacings
rather than a standard value.
Dimensions such as boiler width,
depth, or height may be changed to
fit a given space or shipping
limitation.
Finally, the completely watercooled membrane wall design
results in less maintenance, as well
as the other advantages discussed
earlier regarding NO, formation and
heat release rates.
Specifying steam generators In
order to properly specify a suit able
packaged steam generator, the
engineer should provide, as a minimum, the following information:
1. Steam parameters, such as
flow
rate,
pressure,
and
temperature, as well as the feed
water temperature. If a portion of
the saturated steam is taken off

for deaeration or process use, this

should be stated, as only the balance
flows through the superheater.
Specifications should state whether the
net output from the boiler should
include the deaeration steam or not.
2. Steam temperature control, if
required. It is very difficult to control
steam temperatures over the entire
range from 10% to 100% load, which
is sometimes specified by engineers
not familiar with boiler design. One
can imagine that even if a superheater
is designed for, say, 75-100 psi pressure drop, at 10% load the flow
through the tubes cannot be properly
distributed at 1/100th the pressure
drop, which would be less than 1 psi.
The same concern occurs outside the
tubes, where the gas velocity is only
1/10th and heat transfer will not be in
the forced convection regime. A more
realistic spread for control could be
60% to 100% load. Also, it does not
make sense to control the steam temperature when the degree of superheat
is only 30F to 50F.
A more sensible way of specifying
the design is to allow the steam
temperatures to float. Many engineers
do not even ask the question, "What
will happen if the steam temperature
drops by, say, 40F at lower loads?"
One has to understand the implications
on downstream equipment before
calling out unrealistic specifications
on the steam temperature control
range.
3. Emission requirements, if any.
These should be stated early in the
design process and not after the boiler
is ordered or built, because, as
discussed earlier, the impact on boiler
size or performance is significant.
4. Feed water analysis. Such
information helps determine the blowdown requirements and whether the
feed water can be used as spray for a
steam attemperator. Any solids present
in the water can be deposited within
the superheater tubes, causing problems for the superheater. The final
steam will also have a low purity.
5. Fuel analysis - that is, the
composition of the fuel gas, such as
methane, ethane, propane, hydrogen,
and so on.

These data help in analyzing the

boiler performance and combustion
process and the impact on NOx and
CO emissions. The presence of
higher hydrocarbons increases the
combustion temperature and hence
NO,, emissions. The presence of
nitrogen in fuel oil also contributes to
high er NOx. A low-Btu gas, for
example, generates a larger amount
of flue gas for the same duty than a
high-Btu gas and, therefore, results in
higher pres sure drop through the
system.
6. Space restrictions, if any. The
boiler configuration may be changed
to accommodate a horizontal or vertical gas flow economizer if space is a
concern. Furnace dimensions and
tube pitch may also be modified to fit
the boiler within the given space.
To receive a free copy of this
article, send in the Reader Inquiry
card in this issue with No. 149
circled.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS SEPTEMBER 1993 6

FOR HEAT TRANSFER by gases flowing through tubes at

high pressure, the effect of pressure on specific heat, vis cosity and thermal conductivity cannot be neglected. Since
this situation exists for many commercial heat exchangers,
graphs are presented to id entify the pressure effect.

The basic equation for convective heat transfer is the

same as for Part 1 of this series:
Nu = 0.023 Re 0 . 8 Pr 0 . 4

(1)

Equation 1 is expanded to give the following:

h = 2.44 (W0.8/d1.8)k 0.6 Cp0.4 /0.4

To get heat
transfer
coefficients

(2)

Where
Cp = fluid specific heat, Btu/ (lb) F
d = tube inside diameter, inches
Nu,Re,Pr are Nusselt ,Reynolds and Prandtl numbers
h = heat transfer coeff., Btu/ (hr) (sq ft) (F)
k = thermal conductivity, Btu/ (hr) (sq ft) (F/ft)
W = mass flo w rate per tube, lb/hr = G (area)
= fluid viscosity, lb/(ft) (hr) = 2.42 (centipoise).

Fluid properties shown in Equation 2 are combined

into a single term as follows:
C = k 0.6 Cp 0.4/0.4

(3)

Then Equation 2 becomes

h = 2.44 (W0.8/d1.8) (C)

Pressure effect on gases

V. Ganapathy, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd.,

Tiruchirapalli, India

About the author

is a senior development
engineer with Bharat Heavy Electricals
Ltd., Tiruchirapalla, India. He holds a
B. Tech. degree from Indian Institute of
Technology Madras and a M. Sc.
(Engg) degree in boiler technology from
Madras University. His work includes
studies pertaining to optimization of
heat exchangers, waste heat boilers and
related equipment.
V. GANAPATHY

Circle 180 on Reader Service Card

(4

Pressure effects on the various thermodynamic and

transport properties were determined with a computer
program using Gambill's method for variations of specific
heat and using the Stiel and Thodos method for thermal
conductivity and viscosity.1 , 2 The program can be used
for individual gases as well as for mixtures of gases at
various pressure and temperature. The data from the
program for many individual gases were checked with
available data 3 , 4 and variations were found to be insig nificant.
A subroutine was developed to calculate the value of C
as defined by Equation 3. The results for some common
gases are shown in the accompanying figures. The effect
of pressure on the value of C is more predominant for
gases at lower temperatures. At higher temperatures, the
pressure effects usually can be neglected.
Heat transfer coefficients for these gases are found by
substitution of C from these figures into Equation 4 or by
entering the C scale on one of the nomographs pre sented
in Part 1 (October 1977).
LITERATURE CITED

' Reed, Robert C. and Sherwood,. Thomas K., The

Properties
liquids, 1st Ed., McGraw-Hill, 1958, Chapt. 7 and 8.

of

gases and

z Holland, F. A., et al, Heat transfer, Am. Elsevier Pub. Co., 1970, pp. 324 340.
s "Thermodynamic and transport properties of gases, liquids and solids,"
papers presented at the symposium on thermal properties, ASME, McGrawHill.
Standards of Tubular Exchanger Manufacturers Assoc. (TEMA).

30

TO GET HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENTS

304

November 1977

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING

November 1977 305

TO GET HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENTS

306

C i r c l e 1 8 1 o n R e a d e r S e r v i c e C a r d -*

To get heat
transfer
coefficients

HEAT TRANSFER coefficients for fluids flowing over tube

bundles are calculated with a slightly different equation
than the one used in Parts 1 and 2. For a staggered
arrangement of tubes, the equation is as follows:

NU = 0.33Re 0.6 Pr0.33

(1)

Expanding Equation 1 to include the terms making up the

dimensionless numbers, defining the tube diameter in
inches and rearranging gives the following:
h = 0.9(G0.6 /d 0.4 ) (k0.67Cp 0.33/0.27)

(2)

where Cp= fluid specific heat, Btu/ (lb) (F)

d = tube outside diameter, inches
G = mass velocity, lb/ (hr) (sq ft)
h = heat transfer coeff., Btu/ (hr) (sq ft) (F)
k =thermal conductivity, Btu/ (hr) (sq ft) (F/ft)

Pressure effect on crossflow

V. Ganapathy, Bharat Heavy Electricals

Ltd., Tiruchirapalli, India

= fluid viscosity, lb/ (f t) (h r) = 2.42 (centipoise) . Fluid

properties shown in Equation 2 are combined into a single
term as follows:
F =(k0.67Cp 0.33/0.27)
(3)
where the value for F for some common gases can be
obtained directly from the accompanying figures. Take
note that the powers for the physical properties in F are
different from those used for C in Parts 1 and 2.
The figures for F are the results of a computer program in
which pressure effect on specific heat is determined using
Gambill's method and the effects on thermal conductivity
and viscosity are by the method of Stiel and Thodos.
The figures cover a wide range of pressures; namely, 1
to 250 atmospheres. Hence they can be used for the more
common cases at atmospheric pressure as well as for the
higher pressures encountered in waste heat recovery
applications.
For in-line arrangement of tubes, the value obtained for
heat transfer coefficient by the equations herein should be
multiplied by 0.8. For a baffled heat exchanger, an
additional multiplier of 0.6 should be used.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
' McAdams, William H., Heat Transmission, 3rd Ed., McGraw-Hill, 1954. 2
Rohsenow, Warren and Hartnett, J. P., Handbook of Heat Transfer, McGrawHill 1972.
s Kern, Donald
Process Heat Transfer McGraw-Hill, 1972.
' Perry, Robert. and Chilton, Cecil H., Chemical Engineers' Handbook, 5th Ed.,
McGraw-Hill, 1973.
s "Steam, its generation and use," Babcock & Wilcox, USA.
' Reed

Robert C. and Sherwood, T homas K., The Properties of Gases and

Liquids, 2nd Ed., McGraw-Hill, 1966.

7

Lord, R. C., et al, "Design of heat exchangers," Chemical Engineering, Vol. 77,
No. 2, Jan. 26, 1970, pp. 96-118.
s Ganapathy V.,
Quick estimation of gas heat-transfer coefficients," Chem-

TO GET HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENTS

106

December 1977 HYDROCARBON PROCESSING

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING

December 1977 107

TO GET HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENTS

108

Circle 150 on Reader Service Card -

HEAT TRANSFER

Simplify heat recovery

steam generator evaluation
Insights, equations and
examples illustrate a simpler
method
for predicting heat recovery
steam generator
V Ganapathy, ABCO Industries, Abilene, Texas
HEAT RECOVERY STEAM generators (HRSGs ) are widely
used in process and power plants, refineries and in several
cogeneration/combined cycle systems (Fig. 1). They are usually designed for a set of gas and steam conditions but often
operate under different parameters due to plant constraints,
steam demand, different ambient conditions (which affect the
gas flow and exhaust gas temperature in a gas turbine plant),
etc. As a result, the gas and steam temperature profiles in the
HRSG, steam production and the steam temperature differ
from the design conditions, affecting the entire plant
performance and economics. Also, consultants and process
engineers who are involved in evaluating the performance of
the steam system as a whole, often would like to simulate the
performance of an HRSG under different gas flows, inlet gas
temperature and analysis, steam pressure and feed water
temperature to optimize the entire steam system and select
proper auxiliaries such as steam turbines, condensers,
deaerators, etc.
HRSG suppliers can provide this information, but if a
simpler approach is made available to every engineer involved with HRSGs, it would be a powerful tool for plant
engineers, consultants and cogeneration system engineers,
who would only like to simulate HRSG performance. Usually they do not want to get involved in the thermal and mechanical design of HRSGs, which is best done by the supplier of the HRSG. This article describes a simplified
approach to predicting the performance of HRSGs. Soft ware
is available that can save valuable time and drudgery, as
performance evaluation of HRSGs is a tedious process. 1,2
Advantages of this approach. Configuration of the HRSG
or its geometrical details such as the width, height, tube size,
pitch or fin density, number of rows, etc., need not be
known. Based on known or assumed pinch and approach
points (see Fig. 2 for definitions), a "design" is simulated, the
gas/steam temperature profiles are determined and the steam
flow is obtained. Then, using the procedure described below,
the "performance" at any other gas or steam parameters can
be obtained using quick converging iterative logic. The
procedure may be used for both unfired and fired HRSGs.
Heat transfer coefficients or surface area need not be
computed per se. The product of U (overall heat transfer
coefficient) and S (surface area) is computed for each surface

based on the duty and log-mean temperature difference,

corrected for gas flow, analysis and temperature, and used
in the performance calculations. Since US can be obtained
for any HRSG surface for a particular set of design or
operating conditions, this information is in everybody's
domain.
Importance of pinch and approach points. To obtain
the performance of an HRSG with a different set of gas/
steam conditions, one should have either t he design condi
Hydrocarbon Processing, March 1990

TABLE 1 -Data for "design" and "performance"

calculations
1
.
2
3.
.
4.

Case no.
Gas flow, pph
Exhaust temp., F
% vol C02
H2 O
N2
02
5. Steam press., psig
6. Steam temp., F
7. Feed water temp., F
8. Blow down, %
9. Process steam, pph
10. Heat loss + margin,
11. SH press.%drop, psi
12. Pinch point, F
13. Approach point, F
14. Steam flow, pph
15. Ambient temp., F

Desig
1

150,00
0 900
3
7
75
15
450
650
240
2
1
7
20
10
?
80

Perf

Perf

Perf

2
3
4
165,000 165,00 165,000
840
840
840
0
3
3
3
7
7
7
75
75
75
15
15
15
450
450
300
?
?
650
240
240
240
2
2
2
2,500
1
1
1
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
26,000 26,000
50
50
50

Natural gas used: % vol

C1= 96, C2 =2,C3=2
C,
Note that steam is required at a controlled temperature of
650F in case 4. In cases 2 and 3 it is uncontrolled. Also, in
case 4, 2,500 pph of saturated steam is taken off the drum and
the balance of 26,000 pph is to be superheated to 650F. The
steam exit pressure is 300 psig in case 4. It will be seen
later that cases 3 and 4 are fired and cases 1 and 2 are unfired.

TABLE 2a-Gas properties-unfired case

(% vol C0 2 = 3, H20 = 7,N2=75,O 2=15

Temp., F
Cp
900
650
400

0.2736
0.2658
0.2584

0.083
0.0724
0.0612

0.0304
0.0261
0.0218

TABLE 2b -Gas properties-fired case

(% vol
Temp.,
1,050
700
350

CO2=3.45,H2O=7.87,N2=74.65,O2=14.01
N = 74.65,
k

Cp
0.2800
0.0887
0.0330
0.2689
0.0743
0.0267
0.2583
0.0586
0.0208

Units: Cp-Btu/IbF, - Ib/ft h, k-Btu/fthF

(Interpolate for gas properties at intermediate temperatures)
tions or the HRSG performance under a set of gas/steam
parameters.
HRSGs for gas turbine exhaust are usually designed in
unfired conditions and the performance evaluated at other
unfired or fired conditions. The reason for this is that two
of the important variables which affect the gas and steam
temperature profiles, namely the pinch and approach
points, cannot be arbitrarily selected in the fired mode.
The follow ing problems can result if this is done:
1. A realistic temperature profile may not result. That
is, a temperature cross can occur in the economizer, with
the gas exit temperature being lower than the incoming
feed water temperature. ;
2. An unrealistic boiler size can result due to very
small pinch or approach points especially if that is the
basis for selecting the temperature profile in the fired
mode. Pinch and approach points up to 10F can be
achieved with practical boiler configurations in unfired
modes. Unless one has a great deal of experience in
designing HRSGs, pinch and approach points should be
selected in unfired modes and the HRSG performance
evaluated in fired modes.
3. Steaming in the economizer is likely if one selects an
78
Hydrocarbon Processing,
March 1990

HRSG temperature profile in the fired mode and operates

the boiler in unfired mode.',' The performance of' the HRSG
has to be checked in the unfired coldest ambient conditions, when the gas flow is the highest and the gas inlet
temperature to the HRSG is the lowest to make sure the
economizer does not steam. If it does, the original temperature profile selected has to be revised, resulting in a waste
of time and effort.
4. The amount of spray water used for steam
temperature control cannot be simulated a priori in the
fired mode. This is particularly important in HRSGs where
the steam temperature has to be controlled over a wide
load. The steam temperature will fall off as the gas inlet
temperature reduces and as a result, if the steam
temperature is chosen (say 700F) in the fired mode, it will
be lower in the unfired mode. Several performance checks
would have to be made to ensure that the steam
temperature is being achieved over the desired load range.
On the other hand, if the steam temperature is selected in
the unfired mode, it will increase with an increase in gas
inlet temperature and hence, can be controlled with spray
water or other means.
Hence, it is prudent to arrive at a design temperature
profile in gas turbine HRSGs based on cold ambient,
unfired conditions and then check the HRSG performance
in other unfired or fired conditions, even if the HRSG
operates in the fired mode most of the time.
Pinch and approach points lie in the range of 10 to 40F
in unfired conditions for clean applications such as gas
turbine exhaust, where extended surfaces can be used.
Higher numbers may be selected if the steam generation can
be lower. In the case of HRSGs for applications such as
incineration exhaust or chemical plants where the gas inlet
temperature could be in the range of 1,400 to 1,800F, and in
HRSGs where extended surfaces cannot be used due to dirty
gas, a higher pinch point in the range of 100 to 250F should
be used.

Design temperature profile and calculations. A superheater and economizer are assumed to be in counterflow
arrangement, which is the widely used configuration.

Example 1. A gas turbine HRSG is to be designed for

the parameters shown in Table 1. Determine the gas/steam
profiles and the steam flow. Let the gas pressure drop = 6.0
in. WC.
The drum pressure = 450 + 7 = 457 psig. The saturation
temperature is 460E Gas temperature leaving the evaporator = 460 + 20 = 480E Compute the gas properties for
the given analysis.' The data are shown in Table 2. Using
an instantaneous specific heat of 0.267 for the range 900 to
480F, and a heat loss factor of 0.99, the duty in the superheater and evaporator is: Q1 + Q2 = 150,000 (0.267) (0.99)
(900 - 480) = 16.65 x 106 Btu/h = Wsd[(1,330.8 - 431.2) +
0.02(442.3 - 431.2)] = 899.8 Wsd. Where 1,330.8 = enthalpy
of superheated steam at 450 psig, 650F, 442.3 = enthalpy
of saturated water at drum pressure, 431.2 = enthalpy of
water entering the evaporator at 450E 0.02 is the blow
down factor.
From the above, Wsd = 18,510 pph. Superheater duty,
Q1 = 18,510(1,330.8 - 1,204.4) = 2.34 x 106 Btu/h, where
1,204.4 is the enthalpy of 'saturated steam. Gas temperature drop in the superheater = 2.34 x 106/(150,000)
(0.273) (0.99) = 58E Hence, gas temperature to evaporator
= 900 - 58 = 842F. Q2 = Evaporator duty = 16.65 - 2.34 =
14.31 x 106 Btu/h. Economizer duty = 18,510 (1.02) (431.2
- 209.6) = 4.19 x 106 Btu/h, where 209.6 is the enthalpy of
feed water at 240F.

Gas temperature drop in the economizer = 4.19 x 106 /

(150,000) (0.99) (0.26) = 109F. The gas specific heat at the
average gas temperature in the economizer, obtained from
Table 2 by interpolation is 0.26. Hence, the exit gas temperature = 480 - 109 = 371F. The temperature profile is
shown in Fig. 2. Using a similar approach, the temperature
profiles for any other pinch or approach points can be obtained.
To proceed with the performance calculations for case 2
shown in Table 1, a few parameters should first be computed, as discussed in Appendix 2. These parameters help
relate the heat transfer coefficients in the "design" mode to
those in "performance."
For the superheater: K1 = Q1/(T1 ) (Wg0.65 ) (Fg) where
T1 = log-mean temperature difference = [(842 - 460) (900 - 650)]/ln[(842 - 460)/(900 - 650)] = 311F, Fg =
Cp 033 k0.67 /0.32 = 0.135, using a Cp = 0.273, k = 0.029, and
= 0.0826. Hence K1 = 2,340,000/150,0000.65/311/ 0.135 =
24.10. Similarly for the evaporator K2 = 387.6 and K3 =
218.4 for the economizer.
K1, K2 and K3 will be used to compute (US)p the product
of U and S in the performance modes as discussed in
Appendix 2.
Performance calcbulations. Let us see how the unit per-

forms when the conditions are as shown in case 2, Table 1.

The gas flow is 165,000 pph at 840E The gas analysis,
feed water temperature and steam pressure remain the same
as earlier. The performance of the HRSG is arrived at
through an iterative process described in Appendix 1, using
the equations discussed in Appendix 2.
Trial 1. As a first approximation, assume that the steam
flow is proportional to the gas flow and temperature drop.
Ws = 18,510(165,000/150,000) (840 - 371)/(900 - 371) =
18,050 pph.
Superheater performance. Let ts 2 , the steam exit temperature = 640 F. Then, from steam tables, the enthalpy =
1,325 Btu/lb. The assumed duty = 18,050 (1,325 - 1,204.4)
= 2.177 x 106 Btu/h. Gas temperature drop =
2,177,000/(165,000) (0.99) (0.271) = 49F. Hence, gas
temperature leaving the superheater = 840 - 49 = 791F.
Compute the transferred duty, Q1t, using Eq. 2 in Appendix
2. Fg = 0.135, Wg = 165,000, K, = 24.1, Wsd = 18,510, Ws
= 18,050. Hence (US)p = 165,0000.65(0.135) (24.1)
(18,050/18,510)'5 = 7,974. T = log-mean tempera turedifference = [(840 - 640) - (791 - 460)]/ln[(840 - 640)/
(791 - 460)] = 260F. Hence, Q1t = 7,974(260) = 2,074,000
Btu/h. This is close to the assumed value. If it were not, we
would have to assume another steam temperature and repeat
the steps. Let us continue.Evaporator performance.
Compute Fg at the average gas temperature in the
evaporator. Fg = 0.129, K2 = 387.6. Then, (US)p =
165,0000.65(0.129) (387.6) = 123,123. Using Eq.8,[(791460)/(Tg3 -460)]= e(123,123/165,000/0.99/0.266) = 17,00.
Hence Tg3 = 480F; Q2 = 165,000(0.99) (0.266) (791 - 480)
= 13.522 x 106 Btu/h. Note that the gas properties have to
be interpolated for the values at the average gas temperature
in the section.
Economizer performance. Let the water temperature
leaving the economizer be 450 F. hW2 = 431.2 from steam
tables. Assumed duty Q3a = 1.02(18,050) (431.2 - 209.6) =
4.08 x 106 Btu/h. The gas temperature drop = 4,080,000/
165,000/0.99/0.26 = 96F, exit gas temperature = 480 - 96
= 384F. Fg = 0.130, K3 = 218.4. Hence (US)p = 218.4

(165,000065 ) (0.120) = 64,535. Transferred duty = Q3t =

64,535(72.7) = 4.69 x 106 Btu/h, where 72.7 is the log mean
temperature difference.
Since the transferred duty is more than the assumed, let us repeat
the calculations with say tw2 = 457 F.Q3a = 18,050( (1.02) (439 209.6) = 423,000 Btu/h. The exit gas temperature = 381. T= 65.
Then, Q3t = 64,535(65) = 4,190,00( Btu/h. Since this is closer to Q3t
let us continue. The total transferred duty = Q1t + Q2t + Q3t = 2.07 +
13.52 + 4.19= 19.78 MMBtu/h. The corrected steam flow, Ws =
19.78x 106 /[1,325 - 209.6 + 0.02(442 - 209.6)] = 17,660 pph. per Eq.
14, Appendix 2. Since this is not close to the assumec value of
18,050 pph, another trial is warranted. Try Ws = 17,770 pph.
Trial 2. Let the revised steam flow = 17,700 pph. Follow a
similar procedure as before.
Superheater performance. Let ts 2 = 640 F . Q1a = 17,700(
(1,325 - 1,204.4) = 2.134 MMBtu/h. Gas temperature drop =
2,134,000/(165,000) (0.99) (0.271) = 48F. Tg2 = 840 - 48 = 7920 F.
T = 260F. Fg = 0.135. K, = 24.1. Then, (US)p = 165,00065 (0.135)
(24.1)(17,700/18,510)0.15 =7,957. Q1t = 7,957(260) = 2.07 MMBtu/h.
Since Q1 , is less than Q1a, try a lower steam temperature, say 635 F.
Then Q1a = 17,700(1,322 - 1,204.4) = 2.081 MMBtu/h. Gas temperature drop = 47F. Tg2 = 840 - 47 = 793F. T = 264F. Hence,
Q1t = 7,957(264) = 2.1 MMBtu/h. This is close enough. Continue.
Evaporator performance. Solve for Tg3 as before. [(793 460)/(Tg3 - 460)] = 17.00; hence Tg3 = 480F. Q2 = 165,000 (0.99)
(0.266) (793 - 480) = 13.6 MMBtu/h. (The factor 17 computed
from Trial 1 is unchanged.)
Economizer performance. Let tw2 = 455; hW2 = 436.8; Q3a =
17,700(1.02) (436.8 - 209.6) = 4.1 MMBtu/h. Gas temperature drop
= 96F. Tg4 = 480 - 96 = 384F. T = 68F. Using the same (US)p as
before, Q3t = 64,535(68) = 4.36 MMBtu/h. Since the variation
between Q3a and Q3t is large, try tw2 =458 F. Then, Q3a = 4.14
MMBtu/h. Tg4 = 383F. T = 64.6F. Hence, Q3a = 64.6(64,535) =
4.16 MMBtu/h. This is quite close. The total transferred duty = 2.1 +
13.6 + 4.16 = 19.86 MMBtu/h. The corrected steam flow, Ws =
19.86x106 /[(1,322 - 209.6) + 0.02(442 - 209.6)] = 17,770 pph.

Hydrocarbon Processing, March 1990 3

lier one. However, additional steps are necessary to

iterate for the firing temperature, as discussed in
Appendix 2. The method of computing the fuel input,
firing temperature and gas analysis is discussed
elsewhere. 6 Let us only check the final results which
are shown in Fig. 4.
Superheater performance. Table 2b shows the gas
properties for the gas analysis after combustion. From the
printout, Fig. 4, it is seen that the HRSG gas inlet
temperature is 1,034F and the burner fuel input is 9.29
MMBtu/h (LHV basis).
Wg = 165,430; Ws = 26,000; ts 2 = 677F. Fg at the
average gas temperature is 0.142. The saturation
temperature is 462 F, at the corrected drum pressure of 463
psig. Q3a = 26,000(1,346.0 - 1,204.3) = 3.69 MMBtu/h.
Gas temperature drop= 3,690,000/(165,430) (0.99) (0.278)
= 81F. Exit gas temperature, Tg2 = 1,034 - 81 = 953F;
T = 420F. K1 = 24.1. (US)p = 165,43065 (0.142) (24.1)
(26,000/18,510)15 = 8,840. Then, Q3t = 420(8,840)=3.71
MMBtu/h.
Evaporator performance. Fg = 0.135; K2 = 387.6; hence
(US)p = 165,43065 (0.135) (387.6) = 129,437. Using Eq. 8,
[(953 - 462)/(Tg3 - 463)] = e(129,437/165,430/0.99/0.27) =
18.67. Hence, Tg3 = 489F. Q2 = 165,430(0.99) (0.27) (955
- 489) = 20.52 MMBtu/h.

Since this is close to the assumed value of 17,700, let

us stop here. The final temperature profile is shown in Fig.
3. The gas pressure drop, using Eq. 15, Appendix 2 =
6(165,000/ 150,000)2 [0.5(840 + 383) + 460]/[0.5(900 +
371) + 460)] = 7.1 in. WC.
Let us check the
performance for case 3 shown in Table 1, where it is
desired to make 26,000 pph of steam. The steam
temperature is uncon trolled.
It is obvious that with the same inlet gas conditions as in
the earlier case, we need additional fuel input to the HRSG
to generate 26,000 pph. The procedure is similar to the ear
4
Hydrocarbon Processing, March 1990
Performance check-fired case.

Economizer performance. Tw2 = 435; hw2 = 414.45;

Q3a = 26,000(1.02) (414.45 - 209.6) = 5.43 MMBtu/h. Gas
temperature drop = 128F; Tg4 = 489 - 128 = 361F. T =
83F. K3 = 218.4; Fg = 0.120; (US)p = 165,4300.65 (218.4)
(0.120)=65,000. Hence Q3t = 83(65,000) = 5.4 MMBtu/h.
Total energy transferred = 3.71 + 20.52 + 5.4 = 29.63
MMBtu/h. Ws=29.63 x 106 /[(1,346.7 - 209.6) + 0.02(442.6
- 209.6)] = 25,970 pph. The gas pressure drop could be
corrected as before.
This gives an idea of the complexity of performance
calculations if fuel firing is involved. Several iterations
of performance calculations would be required before the
correct firing temperature is arrived at. Also, if the steam
temperature has to be controlled, the superheater has to
be split up into two stages with a spray desuperheater in
between. The method of computing the spray water for
steam temperature control is discussed elsewhere.' In
such an HRSG, more iterations are involved before the
spray water flow and the final temperature profiles are
arrived at. Without a computer it would be extremely
tedious and time consuming. Fig. 5 shows the results of
case 4 where steam temperature control and fuel firing
are involved.
Note that gas inlet temperature is 1,067 F. The spray
quantity has been arrived at based n a split in the ratio of
6:4 in design U times S values between the first and
second stages of the superheater. This ratio is built into
the program. Slight changes in the temperature profile
and spray quantity can result due to a different split in
the surfaces between the two stages of the superheater
while actually building the HRSG. Also, note the higher
steam pressure drop in the superheater due to the lower
steam pressure. The economizer flow includes the 2,500
pph saturated steam taken off the drum.
A note of caution on U, S and U times S values. Note that
US values could be computed for each surface from its Q and
T data. For instance in the "design" case, for the superheater,
US = 234,000/311 = 7,524. These would naturally change
depending upon the gas flow, analysis and temperature profile.
Hence, these values should be interpreted with caution.After
arriving at the US values,some enginners

Appendix 1: Performance calculation procedure

The procedure is discussed for a single pressure HRSG.
Fig. 6 shows the various configurations of HRSGs consid ered. The first case is quite involved. The methodology
for this case will be discussed. The gas flow, gas inlet
temperature and analysis, steam pressure and feed water
temperature are assumed to be known. The design
calculations, which are the basis of establishing an initial
design, are as sumed to be done and the results available,
along with K 1, Kz, K 3 factors.
1. Assume the steam flow. A good estimate is obtained
by using a ratio of the "performance" to "design" gas
flows and temperature drop.
2. Solve the superheater performance. This is an iterative process. See Appendix 2, Eqs. 1 to 5. If the
transferred and assumed duty are not equal, repeat with
another steam temperature or else continue.
3. Solve the evaporator performance. Obtain the duty
and exit gas temperature using Eqs. 6 to 9.
4. Solve economizer performance using Eqs. 10 to 13.
This is again an iterative procedure. Calculate the total
transferred duty.
5. The steam flow is then corrected based on the total
transferred duty and enthalpy rise, Eq. 14. If this is close
to the assumed steam flow in step 1, continue or else
repeat steps 1 to 5.

6. If the final steam temperature is greater than that

desired, the steam flow is corrected for the desired steam
temperature.
7. If the desired steam flow is zero (unfired mode) or
less than the corrected flow, proceed to step 11.
8. If the desired steam flow is larger than the corrected
flow, calculate the fuel input required to raise the gas
temperature to the required level to achieve the desired
steam flow. This again involves several iterations, and for
each firing temperature, all the steps from 1 to 8 have to
be repeated until they match.
9. If the final steam temperature is higher than
desired, calculate the interstage spray quantity based on a
split superheater.
10. Another round of fine tuning is done to check the
temperature profiles and steam flow.
11. It can be easily seen that a lot of iterative calculations are involved. For each round, the gas and steam
prop erties have to be computed based on the gas analysis
and temperature. If there is steaming in the economizer,
the economizer is split up into two stages, a small
evaporator and an economizer and calculations are done
to evaluate the extent of steaming. It is obvious that
without a com puter, the calculations can be
overwhelming, particularly if there are several alternate
performance conditions, and steam is generated at several
pressure levels.

Appendix 2: Equations used in performance calculations

Superheater performance. Assuming that the steam
flow = Ws, from energy balance we have:
Q1a = Ws(hs 2 - hs,) = Wg(Cp) (hf) (Tg1 - Tg 2) (1)
where ts2 = exit steam temperature and hs 2, the enthalpy.
Compute the exit gas temperature, Tg2, from the above.
The transferred duty is then:
Q 1 t = (US) p T
(2 a)
T = log-mean temperature difference
T = [(Tgl - ts 2 ) - ( T g2 - ts l )]/ln[(Tg, - ts2)/(Tg2-ts1)1

assuming counter flow configuration, which is widely

(Tg2 -(US
tSi)])p is the product of S and U in performance
( b)
used.
mode and is obtained from the (US) value in the design
case by adjusting as follows for the gas properties and
flow.
(US) p = Wgo.65 FgK 1 (WS/Wsd)o.15
(3)
K, is obtained from Q1, T, Wg and Fg values in design
case:
0.65 ) (Fg))
(4)
K 1 = Q1/(T(Wg
0.32

k
/(
)
(5)
If for the assumed steam temperature Q1a and Q1, do not
come close (say within 0.5%), another iteration is warranted. All of the above steps are repeated until Q 1a and
Q1, match.
Evaporator performance. From energy balance,Q2 =
Wg(Cp) (hf) (Tg2 - Tg3) = (US) p T (6) where T= [(Tg2
- ts) - ( T g3 - ts)]/ln[(Tg2 - ts)/ (Tg3 - ts)]
= (Tg2 Tg3)/ln[(Tg2 - ts)I(Tg3 - ts)] (7)
Fg

= (Cp

o.33 o.67

From Eqs. 6 and 7 after simplification, we have:

[(Tg2 - ts)/(Tg3 - ts)] = e[(US)p/(Wg)(cp)(hlf)]
(8)
try to split up the U and S values and compare alternate designs
based on S values alone. This can lead to very misleading
conclusions and the author strongly recommends against it,
particularly if extended surfaces are used.
With finned tubes, the gas side heat transfer coefficient and
fin efficiency are affected by variables such as fin den sity,
height, thickness and fin or tube material .6, ',s By using

where:

(US)p = Wgo.65FgK 2

(9)

K2 is computed as in Eq. 4 from the design conditions. Fg

is computed for the performance conditions. Tg3 is solved
from Eq. 8 without iteration. Q 2, the duty, can be obtained
from Eq. 6.
Economizer performance. Assume tw2, the water exit
temperature. Then,
Q3a = Ws(hw2 hw1)(1+bd)=W gCp(Tg3 -T g4 )hf (10)
Obtain Tg4 and then the T, assuming counter flow
conditions
T = [(Tg4 tw 1) - (Tg3 - tw2)]/ln

[(Tg4 - tw I )/(Tg3 - tw2)]

Transferred duty:
transferred duty Q3t = (U S)p T
where
0.65
(US) p = Wg

.Ks

(11)
(12)
(13)

K 3 is obtained as in Eq. 4 from design conditions. If Q3a

and Q3 , are close, continue or else the iteration continues

from Eqs. 10 to 1 3 with a different tw2. The steam flow
is then corrected as follows:
W S , =(Qlt+ Q 2 t+ Q 3t )/[(hs 2 - hw,) + bd(hf hw1)]
(14)
If Ws, is not close to the assumed flow, Ws, the
calculations are repeated starting with the superheater.
The gas pres sure drop is corrected for performance
conditions:
P = (P)d (Wgl Wgd) 2 [(Tavg + 460)1(Tavgd + 460)]
(15)
tubes with high fin density, say six, one could show more surface in
the HRSG, but due to the lower U associated with it, it does not
mean that the energy transferred is more com pared to a design
which has a lower fin density, say two to four, and hence, lower S.
Lower fin density should be used whenever possible to increase U
and minimize gas pressure drop and fin and tube wall temperatures.
This is more im
Hydrocarbon Processing, March 1990

HRSGs fall under the category discussed in Fig. 6 , and hence

the methodology discussed can be applied to a wide variety
of HRSGs used in the industry.
While the method of predicting performance using U values
based on actual tube geometry, fin configuration, etc., gives
accurate results, this methodology has been checked against
several designs and operating results. For the pur poses of
engineering analysis, trend projections, evaluation of
alternate designs and for studying the effect of different
gas/steam parameters on performance, this approach is very
effective and hence a powerful tool.
Considering the complexity of the calculations and iterative
nature of the procedure, particularly if multipressure HRSGs
are involved, a program has been developed by the author for
HRSG design and performance evaluation. For more
information on the software and its availability, contact the
author at PO. Box 673, Abilene, Texas 7 9 6 0 4 , U S A .
NOMENCLATURE
bd-Blow down fraction; if blow down = 2%, then bd = 0.02
Cp-Gas specific heat, Btu/1b F
Fg-A factor accounting for gas properties, de fined in Eq. 5
hlf--Heat loss factor; if heat loss = 2%, then h l f = 0.98
hs2, hs1-Enthalpy of superheated steam and inlet steam, Btu/lb
hw t, hw 2 -Enthalpy of water at eco inlet and exit, Btu/ lb
k-Gas thermal con ductivity, Btu/ft hF

portant in surfaces with low tube side heat transfer coefficients

such as superheaters. One could show that S can be 100 to
200% more by using six fins/in. compared to two, but due to
the higher U, the duty can be the same or even more. The
author has performed studies on optimization of finned tubes', 7
and advises engineers against comparing and select ing HRSGs
simply because the surface area, S, is more com pared to
another design which uses lower fin density. Unless the
engineer is familiar with all aspects of heat transfer with
extended surfaces and the impact of each variable on U,
comparisons of S alone can be misleading and should be
avoided.

K1, K 2, K3-Factors obtained from design conditions, Eq. 4

Q1, Q2, Q3 -Energy absorbed in superheater, evaporator and
economizer, Btu/h; subscript a = as sumed and t = transferred
Tgl, T g2 , T g3 , T g4-Gas temperature distribution,
S-Surface area, sq ft
T-Log-mean temperature difference, F
Tavg, Tavgd-Average gas temperature in HRSG in per formance
and design modes
Tw 1 , tw2-Water temperature at inlet and exit of economizer, F
ts l, ts2 -Saturated and superheated steam temperature, F
U-Overall heat transfer coefficient, Btu/sq ft hF
(US) p -Product of U and S in performance mode Wg,
Wgd-Gas flow in performance and design modes, pph
Ws, Wsd-Steam flow in performance and design mode

(P)d,p -Gas pressure drop in design and performance, in. WC

-Gas viscosity, lb/ft h

Note: "Design" case is the basis used to arrive at initial temperature profiles, steam flow, and the design. "Performance" case
predicts the performance of the HRSG so designed at different
gas or steam parameters.

Limitations and software. The approach discussed has a

limitation. It cannot be used in HRSGs which have a radiant
section. However, the author is of the view that 80 to 9 0 % of

The author

V. Ganapathy is a heat transfer specialist with

ABCO Industries Inc., Abilene, Texas. He is engaged in the engineering of heat recovery boilers
for process, incineration and cogeneration
applications. He also develops software for engineering of heat recovery systems and components. He holds a B Tech degree in mechanical
engineering from Indian Institute of Technology,
Madras, India, and an MSc(eng) in boiler tech
nology from Madras University. Mr. Ganapathy is the author of over 150
articles on boilers, heat transfer and steam plant systems and has written
four books: Applied Heat Transfer, Steam Plant Calculations Manual,
Nomograms for Steam Generation and Utilization and Basic Programs for
Steam Plant Engineers (book and diskette), copies of which are available
from him. He also has contributed several chapters to the Encyclopedia of
Chemical Processing and Design, Vols. 25 & 26, Marcel Dekker, New York.

Hydrocarbon Processing, March 1990

LITERATURE CITED

1.Ganapathy, V., Applied heat transfer, Pennwell Books,

Tulsa, 1982.
2 Ganapathy, V., "HRSG features and applications," Heating,
piping and air -condi tioning, Jan. '89.
s Ganapathy, V., et al., "Heat recovery boilers for process
and cogeneration applications," Seventh Industrial
Energy
Technology Conference, Houston, May '85. 4 Ganapathy, V.,
"HRSG temperature profiles guide energy recovery," Power,
Sept. '88.
s Ganapathy, V., "HRSGs for gas turbine applications,"
Hydrocarbon Processing, An g. '87.
b Ganapathy, V., "Charts simplify spiral finned tube
calculations,"
Chemical Engi neering, April 25, 1977, p. 117.
7
Ganapathy, V., "Charts help evaluate finned tube
alternatives," Oil and Gas ,Journal, Dec. 3, 1979, p. 74.
e Ganapathy, V., Nomograms for steam generation and
utilization,
Von Nostrand Reinhold, 1988, p. 77.
9
Ganapathy, V., "Program computes fuel input, combustion

temperature," Power Engineering, July '86.

'0 Ganapathy, V., "Determine spray water to desuperheat
steam," Healing, piping and air-conditioning, Dec. '87.

Understand
Steam Generator
Performance
The key
performance
variables are
excess air, fuel
type, exit gas
temperature, load,
and emissions.

everal variables affect

plant engineers plan their opera
tion better.
This article discusses the effects
of such variables as excess air,
fuel type, exit gas temperature,
load,
and
emissions
on
generator design and operation.
It also discusses some of the
potential
benefits
of
customized steam generators
over standard, prepackaged
designs, which often compromise on overall performance.
The focus of the article is limited to gaseous and oil fuels.

BOILER EFFICIENCY
V. Ganapathy,
ABCO Industries

42

DECEMBER 1994

Fuel composition

the

Figure 1. Large packaged steam generator.

The single most important variable from a

performance standpoint is the steam
generator efficiency. This is particularly
true for base-load steam generators that
will operate most of the time (unlike a
standby boiler, which operates for only a
few hours per year).
During the design stage, the consultant or
the end user specifies a certain efficien cy.
Efficiency is primarily affected by the fuel
composition, unburned carbon losses,
excess air, exit gas temperature, and the
type of fuel (Table 1).
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS

The fuel composition is important, as

it affects the flue gas composition, which
in turn affects the various heat losses.
While variations may not be significant
between typical natural gases, differences
between a low-Btu and a high-Btu gas do
matter.

increase the fuel moisture loss. Similarly,

the percentages of hydrogen and carbon in
oil fuels affect the fuel moisture loss and
hence the efficiency, as shown in Table 1.

Unburned carbon losses

The various boiler heat losses are evaluated at the design stage using the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers' Power Test
Code heat-loss method, ASME PTC 4.1.
One of the losses impacted by the com bustion process is the unburned carbon

loss. Carbon in the fuel is converted to

carbon monoxide instead of carbon
dioxide, which results in lower carbon
utilization. With gaseous fuels this
may be insignificant. However, with
fuel oils, the amount of CO formed can
be very high - on the order of several
hundred ppm.
The type of burner used, the
amount of excess air, turbulence in
the combustion zone, and the type of
furnace construction (that is, whether
it is a membrane wall or tangent tube
design) influence this loss. Leakage of
combustion products from the furnace
to the convection section via a tangent
tube partition wall contributes a great
deal to CO formation, because the
combustion products do not have the
residence time in the furnace to
complete combustion before entering
the convection section. A highexcessair operation may be required to
minimize this loss; however, this
decreases the efficiency due to
increased heat losses, as shown in
Table 1.
The loss L (in Btu/lb) due to CO
formation is given by:
L = 10,160 C [CO/(CO + CO2)]
where CO and CO 2 are the volume
percentages in the flue gas and C is
the weight fraction of carbon in the
fuel.

Excess air
Excess air affects efficiency significantly, as indicated in Table l.
The choice of how much excess air
to use depends on the type of fuel
used and the desired levels of NOx and
CO emissions, as well as the degree of
flue gas recirculation (FGR). Burner
suppliers often recommend the
amount of excess air after reviewing
the emission levels to be guaranteed,
the fuel analysis, and the furnace
dimensions. A high excess air (on the
order of 10-15%) is often suggested
even for natural gas fuels. This is
because FGR is used to limit NO,
which in turn affects the burnout of
CO; higher excess air helps to
complete combustion. Figure 2 shows
the typical relationship between excess
air and emissions.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS DECEMBER 1994

43

For each fuel there is range of excess air

that achieves the desired CO and NOx levels.
Higher molecular weight hydrocarbons have a
higher flame temperature, which produces
higher NOx, which in turn requires a higher
degree of FGR to limit it, which in turn may
require higher excess air, depending on the
CO levels to be guaranteed. The experience
of burner suppliers with units burning similar
fuels and having similar emissions often
determines this parameter.
Exit gas temperature

The lower the exit gas temperature, the

higher the boiler efficiency. A rule of thumb
is that every 40F difference is equivalent to a
1 % change in efficiency. However, if the
temperature of the feed water entering the
economizer is higher, then the stack
temperature will also be higher. Otherwise, a
very large economizer may be required to
maintain the same exit gas temperature
compared to a low feed water temperature
case.
One factor influencing the exit gas
temperature is the sulfuric acid dew point.
When fuels containing sulfur are fired, SO2 is
formed, and some of it (1-5%) is converted to
SO3, particularly if vanadium is present in the
oil ash, which acts as a catalyst. When the acid
vapor gets cooled by the feed water,
condensation may occur if the temperature of
the tube surface is at or below the acid dew
point. Dew point is a function of the partial
pressure of the acid vapor and water vapor in
the flue gases. Table 2 shows a few
correlations for acid vapors (1, 4, 5).
There is a misconception, even among
experienced engineers, that condensation in
the economizer can be avoided by
maintaining the exit gas temperature high
enough. When an economizer is used as the
heat recovery equipment, the cold end
temperature is mainly a function of the feed
water temperature entering the boiler and the
gas temperature has little effect on it. This is
due to the high tube-side heat-transfer
coefficient. Table 3 shows a simple
calculation where the exit gas temperature
varies by as much as

44 DECEMBER 1994 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS

400F, while the economizer tube wall

temperature varies by only a few
degrees (/, 2, 6).
However, it is not necessary to have
the feed water temperature at or above
the acid dew point to minimize corrosion problems. While this is a sure way
to prevent acid condensation, research
has shown that corrosion is significant
at 50-100F below the acid dew point,
as illustrated in Figure 3 (/, 6). Hence,
one need not specify a high feed water
temperature, which results in a lower
efficiency. If the acid dew point is,
say, 275F, a 230-250F feed water
temperature is a good compromise. An
exit gas temperature of 300 -320F can
be achieved with moderate costs.
Air heaters are often avoided as backend heat -recovery equipment. This is
because they contribute to high er
combustion temperature and hence
NOx, which calls for higher FGR rates,
which in turn results in a higher gas
pressure drop through the boiler or a
larger boiler or both. Also, the gas
pressure drop through an air heater is
much higher, by 2 -3 in. w.c., which is
a continuous loss of energy.
When an air heater is used, it is usu ally
one of two types - the tubular or
recuperative, or the regenerative or
rotary air heater. Rotary air heaters
have the additional problem of leakage
from the air to the gas side, which
affects the fan size and air heater performan ce. An advantage of air heaters,
though, is that they may be more compact than tubular air heaters. Air
heaters are primarily recommended
when difficult fuels, such as solid fuels
and low-Btu gaseous fuels, are fired.
Flue gas quantity
Using higher excess air and FGR
rates for the same boiler duty increases
the flue gas quantity to be handled by
the boiler. This naturally results in a
larger boiler or, if dimensions are
limited
because
of
shipping
restrictions (which is often the case), a
higher gas pressu re drop is incurred in
the
convection
section
and
economizer. Table 4 shows the flue
gas quantity produced with different
excess air and FGR factors.

This is one of the reasons why it is

often beneficial to go with a custom
designed steam generator - tube spacings, tube height, and the number of
tube sections can be varied to
minimize gas pressure drop.
Unfortunately, packaged boilers are
often treated as predesigned or off -theshelf items. Some consultants even
suggest model numbers while
developing specifications. This
practice should be avoided. Otherwise
you could be purchasing a design that
was developed several decades ago,
when emis sions were not a concern
and FGR was not considered while
sizing the convection section and
economizer. These steam generators
were designed with skimpy furnaces
and low excess air factors and without
any FGR. Hence, even if the steam
parameters may be the same, the flue
gas flow through the unit

can be nearly 30 -40% more, resulting

in higher gas pressure drops, higher
exit gas temperatures, and therefore
lower efficiency and much higher
operating costs. Engineers should
understand these aspects and opt for
custom designed units, which can
incorporate several design features to
minimize operating costs and improve
efficiency.
As an example, if 130,000 lb/h of flue
gases have to be forced through an
additional 3 in. w.c. in the boiler
because a standard rather than custom
design is used, the additional fan
power consumption is 14.5 kW, based
on a 70F air temperature and a fan
efficiency of 70%. Assuming that the
boiler operates for 8,000 h/yr and that
electricity costs 1 /kWh, the
additional cost is $11,600/yr.
Capitalizing this cost over the lifetime
of the boiler
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS DECEMBER 1994 45

ENERGY TRANSFER/CONVERSION

shows that when one considers both

the operating and the initial costs, it
pays to select a custom designed unit,
since the additional capital costs for a
custom-designed system is generally
only about $20,000 to $30,000, and in
some cases is virtually nil.

at lower loads, they absorb more

energy due to radiation and thus have
higher steam temperatures.
The spraying of feed water into the
steam for steam temperature control
can increase the solids content of the

L o w- l o a d o p e r a t i o n
There are also a few issues of concern at low loads, particularly with
superheater and fan operation.
The number of streams (the area
through which steam flows in a super

SUPERHEATER DESIGN
It is very important to know where
the steam generated by the boiler is
used. Steam turbines require a high
steam purity, which calls for good
drum internals such as chevrons and
cyclones. If saturated steam is
generated, simple mist eliminators may
be adequate.
Another aspect to be determined is the
range of load over which the steam
temperature has to be maintained. A
wide load range calls for a large and,
therefore, expensive superheater. Consultants must discuss with clients and
turbine suppliers before specifying this
requirement. While 70-100% load
range of superheat temperature control
is common, some designers unknowingly specify steam temperature control
from 40% to 100% load, which
complicates the superheater design.
The superheater is the equipment most
significantly affected by parameters
such as excess air, flue gas recirculation, and furnace sizing. A larger
furnace results in a lower exit gas temperature, which increases the superheater size due to the lower log mean
temperature difference available. A
high FGR rate increases the size of the
superheater and the gas pressure drop.
Typically, the steam temperature is
maintained at 70% to 100% load. With
convective type superheaters (Figure
4), this means that the steam temperature will be higher at higher loads.
Interstage attemperation should be
incorporated to control the steam temperature at higher loads.
Radiant superheaters, which are located
in the furnace zone or exposed to
direct flame radiation, generally operate
at higher tube wall tempera tures. Thus,
unless these units are very carefully
designed, failures are more likely.
Radiant superheaters behave differently
than convective superheaters -

46 -

Figure 4. Superheater for steam generator.

steam. Thus, the feed water should
have the same amount of solids as the
final steam - in the ppb range.
Demineralized water is preferred for
such applications. If demineralized
water is not available, saturated steam
may be condensed in a heat exchanger
and sprayed into steam, as shown in
Figure 5a and 5b.

DECEMBER 1994 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS

heater) has to be chosen so that a good

distribution occurs even when the boiler operates at the lowest load. Some
consultants specify turndown of 1:8 or
even 1:10. From a practical point of
view, a turndown this high is not recommended.
The real problem is in the ability of
the superheater and fan to handle such

low-load conditions. If the steam

pres sure drop is, say, 50 psi at 100%
load, it will be 3 psi at 25% load. At
lower loads, it is difficult to ensure
that the flow distribution will be
uniform through all the tubes. One
has to be also concerned about
reverse flows, which can result in
overheating of some tubes and
possibly failure.
The author recommends a load range
of 50% to 100%, not 10% to 100%,
since performance is difficult to
predict at low gas and steam
velocities.
Another problem with low-load
operation is the fan performance. If
the fan is selected with high margins
on flow and head, then at low loads,
the operating point may fall below the
capacity of the fan even at the lowest
vane opening position (Figure 6).
This may cause problems with fan
operation, such as vibrations,
instability, and noise. This is likely in
packaged boilers, which typically
have one forced draft fan. If two fans
each having half the capacity are used
instead, then a higher turndown is
feasible. Also, at low flows, the fan
operating point can drift into the
unstable operating regimes of the fan
curve.
Using a high margin for the fan flow
and head should be avoided. The
author suggests 10% on flow and 20%
on head.

LOAD VS.
PERFORMANCE
Figure 7 shows the performance of a
boiler at different loads. The efficiency peaks at a certain load and
then drops off. This is expected, as
the nature of the two important losses,
namely radiation and flue gas heat
losses , differ. At higher loads, the
radiation loss will be lower and the
heat losses due to the flue gases will
be higher; the opposite is true at
lower loads. The combination of these
losses results in a peak efficiency, at
some load between 0% and 100%.
The exit gas temperature drops off
with load. An economizer acts as a
heat sink, which limits the gas
temperature so that gas is not cooled
to dew point levels.

The approach point, or the feed

water temperature leaving the economizer, decreases when load decreases
(unlike in a gas turbine heat -recovery
steam generator, or HRSG). Hence,
steaming is not a problem at low
loads.
CUSTOMIZED DESIGNS As
mentioned earlier, adopting a standard
design developed decades ago to
present -day operating conditions with
high excess air and FGR

rates results in a compromise on performance

and
operating
costs.
Customized designs can overcome these
concerns. Following are some of the
aspects reviewed in customized designs.
1. Furnace design, which considers
the excess air and F GR rates and
flame dimensions for each fuel, after
discussions with the burner supplier
so that the flame is contained entirely
within the furnace.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS DECEMBER 1994

47

2. Convection section design, which

can have longer tubes, wider tube
spacing, and more tube sections to
reduce gas velocity and hence pres sure drop to acceptable levels.

3. The possible use of extended

surfaces in the convection section if
clean fuels are fired. Extended surfaces can result in compact designs,
lower gas pressure drop, and lower

exit gas temperatures from the convection section (1).

4. Superheater location and whether it
is in the appropriate gas temperature
zone in the convection section to
operate safely over a wide load range.
If the steam temperature is low
enough, the superheater could even be
located downstream of the convection
section and ahead of the economizer.
5. Horizontal or vertical
economizers to match the layout
requirements.
To receive a free copy of this article,
send in the Reader Inquiry card in this
issue with the No. 180 circled.

48

DECEMBER 1994
PROGRESS

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Superheaters: design
and performance
Understand these factors to improve operation

V Ganapathy, ABCO Industries, Abilene, Texas

Steam

superheaters are widely used in steam

generators and heat-recovery steam generators
(HRSGs). Their purpose is to raise steam temperature
from saturation conditions to the desired final
temperature, which can be as high as 1,000F in some
cases. When used in steam turbines, superheated
steam decreases steam heat rate of the turbine and
thus improves the turbine and overall plant power
output and efficiency. Also, steam conditions at the
steam turbine exit will have little or no moisture,
depending on the pressure ratio; moisture in the last
few stages of a steam turbine can damage the turbine
blades. This article outlines some of the design
considerations
and
performance
aspects
of
superheaters, which should be of interest to plant
engineers.

Superheaters in packaged steam generators

and HRSGs- general features. Packaged steam

generators generate up to 300,000 lb/h steam, while a

few gas turbine HRSGs generate even more depending
on the gas turbine size. Steam pressure in cogeneration
and combined cycle plants typically ranges from 150 to
1,500 psig and temperature from saturation to 1,000F
Seamless alloy steel tubes are used in superheater construction. Tube sizes vary from 1.25 to 2.5 in. Commonly used materials are shown in Table 1.
Allowable stress values depend on actual tube wall
temperatures. Tube thickness is determined based on
this using formulae discussed in the ASME Code, Sections 1 and 8. Different designs are available for superheaters depending on gas/steam parameters and space
availability. The inverted loop design (Fig. 1) is widely
used in packaged boilers, while the vertical finned tube
design is common in HRSGs. The horizontal tube design
with vertical headers is used in both. Bare tubes are
generally used in packaged steam generators, where gas
temperatures are high (typically 1,500-2,200F) and
tube wall temperature is a concern.
However, in gas turbine HRSGs, finned superheaters
are used. Gas inlet temperature is generally low, on the
order of 900-1,400'F, which requires a large surface
area. Use of finned tubes makes their design compact.
Superheaters can be of convective or radiant design or a
combination of these in packaged boilers. Final steam
temperature may or may not be controlled. In unfired
and supplementary fired HRSGs, the superheaters are
or convective design only.

Steam velocity inside superheater tubes ranges from

50 to 140 fps depending on steam pressure, allowable
pressure drop and turndown in load. Typical pressure
drop in industrial applications ranges from 10 to 70 psi
depending on size, pressure and load turndown
conditions. In utility boilers, where multiple stage
superheaters are used, pressure drop will be much
higher, say 150-200 psi. If the superheater has to operate over a wide load range, a higher steam pressure
drop at full load ensures reasonable flow at lower loads.

Convective and radiant superheaters in packaged boilers. Fig. 2 shows typical location of superheaters in a packaged boiler. Superheaters are basixally

HYDROCARBON

PROCESSING

/JULY

2001
4

cally classified as radiant or convective, depending on

their location.
The convective superheater is shielded away from the
furnace and the flame, while the radiant design is
located at the furnace exit, facing the flame and direct
radiation from the furnace. While the radiant design
requires less heating surface (due to the higher LMTD
and direct radiant energy contribution), it has several
drawbacks compared to the convective design.
A convective superheater is located behind a screen
section, which helps to cool gases from the furnace and
also ensures that a uniform gas mixture enters the
superheater. This permits the designer to predict
superheater performance with much higher reliability
and accuracy. The furnace is a difficult section to
evaluate due to the complexity of the combustion
process. Adding to the difficulty is use of varying excess
air and flue gas recirculation rates (used for NOX control)
for different fuels at different loads, which in turn affects
flame temperature and its temperature distribution
along the flame.
Only models based on experience of similar units could be
considered reasonable since no simple mathematical
formulae can accurately predict the furnace energy
balance. Hence actual furnace exit gas temperature can
easily be off from predicted values by 50-150F, which
affects the radiant superheater performance significantly.
If act ual gas temperature is higher than predicted, we
have tube overheating problems and if it is lower, we may
not obtain the desired steam temperature.
The radiant superheater is located in a region where
the flue gases make a turn and, hence, the gas flow
distribution pattern over the tubes is difficult to predict
at various loads.
The radiant superheater receives direct radiation from
the furnace, which in turn depends on exit gas temperature. Again, if we do not predict exit gas temperature
accurately, radiant heat flux will be off from estimates,

which affects steam and tube wall temperatures.

Margin of error on gas temperature estimation is much
higher at furnace exit compared to the convective
superheater inlet, which is located behind a screen
section.
Steam temperature characteristics are different
between convective and radiant designs. The radiant
design absorbs more energy at lower loads, while the
convective design absorbs more at higher loads (Fig 3).
This is due to the increase in convective heat transfer
rates. In large field-erected industrial or utility boilers,
the superheater is in multistages. The combination of
radiant and convective designs helps ensure a uniform
steam temperature over a wide load range.
However, when only a single-stage superheater is usedas in packaged boilers-the radiant design is subject to
higher steam temperatures at low loads, when flow
distribution on both gas and steam sides is poor. If at
100% load the steam pressure drop is, say, 30 psi, at
25% load it will be hardly 2 psi, which cannot ensure
good steam flow distribution in various elements. The
same is true of flow distribution on the gas side at low
loads due to the low gas velocity. Thus, this fact, along
with lack of steam temperature control methods, can
result in overheating and possible tube failure.
Creep analysis using Larson-Miller parameter methods
may be done to estimate life at various tube wall
temperatures and remaining superheater life, based on
number of hours of operation at each load. The convective design, on the other hand, is located in a much
cooler gas temperature zone-1,600-1,800F, compared
to 2,200-2,400F for the radiant design. Hence, it runs
much cooler and tube wall temperatures are also more
accurately predictable. At lower loads, gas temperature
to the superheater will be lower as well as the heat
transfer rate and tube wall temperature. Thus,
convective superheater life is longer than the radiant
design.
Steam turbines usually require a constant steam
temperature. Lower steam temperatures affect the heat
rate; however, this occurs at a lower load with
convective designs and, hence, loss in output is not significant. Oversizing convective superheaters may also
be done to ensure that desired steam temperature is
achieved over a wider load range if necessary-say from
about 30% to 100%.
With convective designs, it is possible to have twostage
designs with interstage attemperation. With radiant
designs in packaged boilers, single stages are generally
used, which causes concerns with steam temperature
fluctuations and tube overheating.
42

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING ' JULY 2001

Steam temperature control methods in superheaters. Generally, steam temperature is maintained

constant from about 60% to 100% load. Interstage

attemperation or spray water injection (Fig. 4) is done to
achieve the desired final steam temperature. Water
injected should be demineralized since solids contained in
feed water can get carried into the superheater and
turbine and selective deposition can occur.
Salt deposits in the superheater can result in tube
overheating. Turbine blade deposition is a big concern
with turbine maintenance engineers since it reduces
power output, restricts flow passages, causes corrosion
and can damage the blades. Hence, high steam purity on
the order of 20-50 ppb is generally desired in high steam
temperature applications. Good steam drum internals
using a combination of baffles and Chevron separators
can achieve the desired steam purity.
In case demineralized water is not available for spray,
some of the steam may be condensed using a heat
exchanger as shown in Fig. 4, and the condensate is
sprayed into the desuperheater. Steam flow through the
exchanger and superheater should be balanced in the
parallel paths either by using flow restrictions, control
valves in each parallel path or by raising the exchanger
level to provide additional head for control. Feed water
from the economizer cools and condenses steam used for
desuperheating (Fig. 4a). In Fig. 4b, the feed water is
directly injected into the steam between the stages.
Desuperheating beyond the superheater is not recommended since moisture can be carried to the steam
turbine along with the steam if downstream mixing is not
good. Also, this method permits steam temperature in the
superheater to increase beyond the desired final steam
temperature and, hence, the premium on materials used
for superheater construction will be high.
There are several other methods used for steam
temperature control such as varying excess air, tilting
burners, recirculating flue gases, etc., but in packaged
boilers and HRSGs, interstage attemperation is generally
used.
The basic difference in
superheater design used in steam generators and
HRSGs is that in HRSGs, as mentioned earlier, finned
tubes may be used to make the design compact. The
large duty and large gas-to-steam flow ratio coupled
with the low LMTD necessitates this. However, while
selecting finned tubes, a low fin density should be used
conside ring the low steam side heat transfer coefficient
inside the tubes. The heat transfer coefficient due to
superheated steam flow is small, on the order of 150300 Btu/ft2hF, depending on steam flow, pressure,
temperature and tube size.
A large fin area would only increase heat flux inside the
tubes, tube wall temperature and possibly gas pressure
drop as discussed in an earlier article.' Note that the gas
side heat transfer coefficient is lower with higher fin
density or surface area. Hence, it is misleading to evaluate
finned superheater designs based on surface areas.' In
large gas turbines, steam after expanding from the steam
turbine is again reheated in the HRSG to generate
additional power. Design considerations

Superheaters in HRSGs.

of the low-pressure superheater, also known as a

reheater, are similar to those discussed previously for
superheaters.
There are two basic types of calculations with any heat transfer surface. One is the
design calculation, in which the objective is to arrive at
the surface area, tube layout, steam and gas-side
pressure drops, and preliminary material selection. The
off-design performance calculation tells us how the
same surface will perform at other gas or steam
conditions. There is only one design calculation, but
performance could be checked at different loads or offdesign conditions. A computer program is generally
used for these purposes since the calculations are quite
involved and iterative. Only after these two types of
calculations are completed can we say that the engineering process is over.
Here's the energy balance equation for a
superheater. Total energy absorbed by the
superheater is:

Sizing procedure.

Qs = Ws(hs2 - hsl) = Qc + Qn + Qr (1)

Relating this to the gas temperature drop:

(Qs - Qr) = Qn + Qc = UST = Wg(hgl - hg2)

(2)

External radiation, Qr, is generally absent in convective

type designs. Also, if a screen section is used, Qr gets
absorbed in about four to six rows of screen tubes
depending on tube spacing.
The fraction of energy, F, absorbed in each row is
given by:
F=

3.14(d / 2St) - (d / St) [sin - 1(d / St) +

{(St /d)2 1} - (St 1d)]

(3)

If S/d = 4, then F = 0.361. The first row absorbs

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING /JULY 2001

The procedure for determining these are well

documented. 2.3
Gas side heat transfer coefficient, hc, for finned and
bare tubes may be obtained from published charts or
equations 1.2.3 as also the procedure for determining hn. A
simplified approach to estimating hi is:

h i = 2.33w

0.361 of the external radiation. The second

row absorbs: (1- 0.361)0.361= 0.23 and so
on. If (S / d) were smaller, fewer rows would
be required to absorb the direct radiation. Qr
is estimated from gas emissivity and furnace
exit gas temperature.
Overall heat transfer coefficient is
obtained from: 1 / U = ( A t / A i) / h i + ffi
( A t / A i ) + ffo + ( A t / A w ) d / 24Km ln(d/
di) + 1 /h o

(4)

for finned tubes. For bare tubes, the same

equation is used, however,
A t / A i = d / d i and fin effectiveness =1 =1

Fouling factor, ffo, is typically 0.001 ft 2hF/Btu

in clean gas applications, while ffi ranges
from 0.0005 to 0.001.
The gas side heat transfer coefficient, ho =

hn + hc.

0.8 c

/ di 1.8

(5)

where factor C is given in Table 2.

Once the duty Qs are known and resultant gas and
steam temperatures at the superheater inlet and exit,
then the LMTD may be estimated. Knowing the various
gas and steam side heat transfer coefficients, fouling
factors and tubes sizes, overall heat transfer coefficient,
U, is obtained. Surface area, S, is determined as shown
previously from Eq. 2. Then the tubes are laid out and
the gas/steam side pressure drops are evaluated. Several
factors such as tube size, number of streams carrying the
steam flow, tube spacing, gas mass velocity, etc., are
selected based on experience.
Gas side pressure drop may be found from equations
discussed in citations 2 and 3.
Tube side pressure drop is give by:

P = 3.36 x 10-6 fw2 Le v /di 5

(6)

If superheaters are of such a design (say the inverted loop

design in Fig. 2) that tube length in various elements is
different, a flow balance calculation has to be performed
to determine steam flow in each element. The tube with
the lowest flow is likely to have the highest tube wall
temperature.
If there are, say, four elements, the following equations help evaluate flow in each.
Pressure drop across the headers is the same across
each element and from the previous equation for pressure
drop:
w1 2 RI = w22 R2 = w3 2 R3 = w4 2 R4 = M(constant) R = resistance
of each element = fLe/di5

Thus, we first determine resistance of each element

with different tube lengths, R1, R2, R3, R4. Then we can
solve for flow through each element:
w 1 + w 2 + w 3 + w 4 = known as the total steam flow is known
or
MR, + MR2 + MR3 +`MR4 = total flow
or
M can be obtained from the above since all resistances
are known.
Then wl, w2, w3 and w4 can be obtained.
The tube wall temperature calculations are done. In
simple terms, heat flux is first estimated:
Q = U ( t g - t s ) ] Temperature drop across the steam film is:

heat flux / hi.

Temperature drop across the fouling layer

inside is: heat flux x ffi.
Then drop across the tube wall is
determined by multiplying tube wall resistance,
(d/24K)ln(d/di), by heat flux. All these are
added to the steam temperature to arrive at the
tube wall temperature. This calculation may be
done at different tube locations using local tg,
ts, hi and U values.
Off-design performance. To arrive at the offdesign performance, one can resort to the NTU
method. 2,3 In this calculation, surface area is
known and gas flow, steam flow and their inlet
temperatures are known. It is desired to predict
the duty and exit gas and steam temperatures.
This method is discussed in various textbooks
2,3 and will not be explained here. Based on
actual
gas/steam
flow
conditions,
an
estimation of U is done. Using the NTU method,
superheater duty
V Ganapathy is a heat transfer specialist at
ABCO Industries, Abilene, Texas, a
subsidiary of Peerless Manufacturing, Dallas.
He has a bachelors degree in mechanical
engineering from I.I.T., Madras, India, and a
masters degree from Madras University. At
ABCO, Mr. Ganapathy is responsible for
steam generator, HRSG and waste heat
boiler process and thermal engineering
functions, and has 30 years of experience in
this field. He has authored over 250 arti
cles on boilers and related subjects, written four books and
contributed several chapters to the Handbook of Engineering Calculations and the Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing and Design. He
can be reached via e-mail. [email protected].

can be found. Tube wall temperatures at various

locations are again evaluated. Based on both
design and off-design conditions, a final material
selection is made. One may revise the design if
off-design performance is not up to expectations.
NOMENCLATURE
Af, Ai, At = area of fins, inside tube area and total tube surface area per unit length, ft 2/ft
C = constant for determining tube side coefficient
d, di = tube outer and inner diameters, in.
F = fraction of direct radiation absorbed
f = friction factor inside tubes
ffo, ffi = fouling factors outside and inside tubes, fthF/Btu
hg l, hg 2 = gas enthalpy at inlet and exit of superheater, Btu/lb
hc, hn, ho = convective, nonluminous and outside heat
transfer coefficients, Btu/ft 2hoF
hsl, hs2 = steam enthalpy at superheater inlet and exit, Btu/lb
K= tube thermal conductivity, Btu/fthF
Le = tube effective length, ft
M = a constant
Qc, Qn, Qr, Qs = energy due to convection, nonluminous heat
transfer, direct radiation and that absorbed by steam, Btu/h
S = surface area, ft 2
Tg, is = local gas and steam temperatures, F
Wg, WS = gas and steam flow, lb/h
w = steam flow per tube, lb/h
T = log-mean temperature difference, F
P = pressure drop inside tubes, p si
v = steam specific volume, ft 3/lb
= fin effectiveness
1

LITERATURE CITED
Ganapathy, V, "Evaluate extended surface exchangers carefully,"

Hydrocarbon Processing, October 1990.

Ganapathy, V, Steam. Plant Calculations Manual, Marcel Dekker, New York,

1994. s Ganapathy, V, Waste Heat Boiler Deskbook, Fairmont Press, Atlanta,
1991.
2

How Important is
Surface Area .?
"

Fire-tube
It's important, but
it should not be
the only criterion
you use to size
and specify
boilers and safety
valves. Consider
the factors
outlined here as
well.

V. Ganapathy,
ABCO Industries

and water-tube boilers are

widely used in the chemical process
industries (CPI), for example, to recover
energy from flue gas streams and to
generate steam in gas- or oil-fired packaged
steam generators. One of the main criteria
that engineers use to specify or eval uate
boilers is surface area. Packaged firetube
boilers, for instance, are often specified as
requiring 5 ft= per boiler horsepower (one
boiler horsepower is equivalent to 34,500
Btu/h of output).
However, surface area is a misleading
variable because heat transfer depends on
other factors as well, including gas velocity,
the size of the tubes, the tube pitch and
arrangement, the configuration of tube
fins, fouling factors, and others. For the
same duty or energy transferred, one can
develop different designs with significant
differences in surface areas, and the
various designs can have widely different
costs.
This article outlines how to size and
specify boilers other than by simply stating
surface area. In addition, it discusses the
selection of safety valves, which is still
done based on surface area, and describes
a more practical approach.
FIRE-TUBE BOILERS

In fire-tube boilers (Figure 1), flue gas

flows inside the tubes while the steam is
generated outside the tubes. Depending on
the cleanliness of the gas, tube sizes can
vary from 1.5 to 3.5 in. O.D. If slagging is
a concern, as in municipal solid waste
incineration applications, the boiler should
be of a multipass design, where the first
pass is a pipe with a diameter ranging from
30 to 48 in. and subsequent passes consist
of smaller diameter tubes. Packaged oil- or
gas-fired boilers have a similar
configuration. The
OCTOBER 1992

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS

specified gas velocities can vary, depending

on the allowable gas pressure drop.
Both of these factors - tube size and gas
velocity - influence the heat -transfer coefficients and, hence, the surface area.
Sizing procedure

The procedure for sizing a fire-tube

boiler is as follows.
The required surface area, S, is
calculated from:
( 1a)

S = Q/(UAT)

If U is based on the tube outer diameter,

then the surface area is also based on the
tube outer diameter; likewise, if U is based
on the tube inner diameter, then the
surface area should be based on the tube
inner diameter. This can also be expressed
as Uo So = Ui Si , where So = do NL/12 and
Si = = di NL/12. Thus, Eq. 1 a can be
rewritten as either
Si = Q/(UiT)

(lb)

or
So = Q/(UoT)

(1c)

The energy transferred, Q, is:

Q = Wg Cp,(T1-T2)h l=Ws Hs

(2)

The term h, represents the heat loss factor

and is equal to one minus the losses due to
radiation and convection from the boiler
surfaces. A 2% loss, or h l = 0.98, is typical.
The log mean temperature difference,
T, is determined by:
T= (T 1-t s)-(T2 -ts)/ln[(T 1-t s)(T 2 t s)

(3)

The overall heat-transfer coefficient, Uo, is

given by:

The tube-side heat-transfer coefficient,

hi, is the sum of the convective heat-transfer
coefficient, h,., and the nonluminous heattransfer coefficient, h n . The value of hn
depends on the partial pressures of the tri atomic gases in the flue gas (e.g., CO2 , H2 O)
and is usually small - on the order of 5% of
h c in fire -tube boilers. Thus, many designers
are conservative and neglect hn. (In watertube boilers, however, h n is very significant
and cannot be neglected.) Further details on
calculating hn can be found in (1).
The value of h i is obtained from the DittusBoelter equation:
Nu = 0.023Re0.8 Pr0.4
(5)
where Nu = h c di /12k, Re = 15.2w/( d i), and Pr
= Cp/k. Substituting these expressions into

Eq. 5 and simplifying yields:

h,. = 2.44w 0. 8F/di 1.8
(6)
0.4 0.6
where F = (Cp /) k
The inside and outside fouling factors are
denoted by ffi and ffo , respectively. For

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS

OCTOBER 1992

* 71

clean gases and boiler water, they can

be assumed to be 0.001 ft2hF/Btu.
For gas streams that can cause fouling, ff can be much higher - on the
order of 0.05 ft 2hF/Btu. Tables of
fouling factors are available in several
published sources, such as (2) and (3).
The boiling heat-transfer coeffi cient,
ho is very high - on the order of 2,000
Btu/ft2hF. Thus, even a 20%
variation in its value will not impact
U, because the tube-side coefficient,
hi, which is typically on the order of
10-20 Btu/ft 2hF, governs U.
The last term in Eq. 4 is the resis tance
of the tube wall to heat transfer. The
thermal conductivity of the tube
material, K, is about 20 -25 Btu/
fthF for carbon steel, the typical
material used for boilers.
To size the boiler, the mass flow per
tube, ranging from 120 to 200 lb/h
for a 2-in. tube, and the gas velocity,
typically ranging ranging from 60 to
170 ft/s, are assumed and the tube
count is calculated. The relationship
between mass flow and velocity is:

72

OCTOBER 1992

V = 0.05wv/d i2
(7)
While it may seem easier to assume a
number of tubes than to assume a
mass flow rate and gas velocity, in
practice, because these calculations
are done by computer the terms are
essen tially conceived in parallel.
Based on the temperature and
properties of the gas, h c and then U
are determined. Then Eq. 1 is used to
calculate S, which is in turn used to
determine the tube length, L. The gas
pressure drop is then calculated based
on geometry (1):
Pg = (93x10-6)fL e vw2/d i 5
(8)
If the computed pressure drop is
higher than that allowed by the specification, another mass flow rate per
tube is assumed and the procedure is
repeated.
Example 1
Consider a fire-tube waste heat
boiler required to cool 100,000 Ib/h
of flue gas from 1,300F to 474F.
The gas is at atmospheric pressure
and consists of (by volume) 12% CO2
12% H 2O, 70% N2 and 6% O2. Feed

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS

water temperature is 220F and steam

pressure is 150 psig.
Fouling factors of ffi = 0.002
ft2hF/Btu for the gas and ff0 = 0.001
ft2hF/Btu for the steam, heat losses
of 2%, and an outside heat-transfer
coefficient of h = 2,000 Btu/ft2hF are
assumed. Tube sizes of 1.75 x 1.521, 2
x 1.773, and 2.5 x 2.238 (outer x inner
diameter) will be considered. What are
the effects on surface area
requirements of tube size and gas
velocity (which can range from 90 to
170 ft/s)?
For simplicity, most of the calculation
details are omitted. The results of the
calculations for the various tube sizes
and velocities are summarized in
Table 1.
For the same amount of' energy
transferred, one can see significant
variations in the surface area - by as
much as 50%. As the gas velocity
increases, U increases, which brings
down the surface area,

and the gas pressure drop increases.

Also, as the tube size increas es, U
decreases for the same velocity.
This, along with the fewer larger
tubes, results in longer tube lengths.
The main point to be noted is that
for the same duty, the surface area
can vary depending on the tube size
and gas velocity.
These conclusions also apply to
packaged fire-tube boilers firing oil or
gas. A rule of thumb that, unfortunately, is still being used by specifying
engineers is 5 ft2 of surface per boiler
horsepower. One can, by using a
higher gas velocity or smaller tube
size, develop a boiler design that will
work fine with up to 10% to 20% less
surface area. However, through lack
of knowledge of heat-transfer design,
several good designs are being overlooked by potential buyers, consultants, and end users.
Boiler cost generally increases with an
increase in surface area. However, it
does not rise proportion ately because
other items, such as boiler trim,
controls, casing, insulation, and so on,
account for a consid erable part of the
total cost and these may not increase
proportionately. Labor costs are
significant and may not be
proportional to surface area. Each
case, therefore, must be reviewed
independently.
WATER-TUBE BOILERS

extended surfaces, often called finned

tubes, may be used. The use of finned
tubes makes the design very compact.
Other advantages include lower
weight and lower gas pressure drop.
If the gas stream is dirty, as in
municipal solid waste incineration
systems, only bare tubes should be
used.
Design procedure

As with fire-tube boilers, the heat transfer duty, Q, is calculated by:

Q = Wg Cp(T1-T2)hl,
= W sH s. = U S T

(9)

U refers to the overall heat-transfer

coefficient, and it is usually based on
the outside surface area of the tube.
Uo is given by:

where A, and Ai, which refer to the

total external and internal surface area
per foot of tube, are used instead of
do and di. (In the case of bare tubes,
At/Ai = d o / d i ) . Fin effectiveness is
represented by n, which equals 1 in
the case of bare tubes. In wat er-tube
boilers, h o is the gas -side heattransfer coefficient, which is the sum
of hc and h n ; h, is the tube-side
boiling heat transfer coefficient,
which is in the range of 2,000 -3,000
BtU/ft2hF.
Bare tubes. The procedure for
computing h o for bare tubes is as follows. Grimson's correlation for convective heat transfer is used for tubes in
either an in -line or staggered
arrangement (depicted in Figure 3):

In water-tube boilers (Figure 2), if the

gas stream is clean (such as with gas
turbine exhaust gases), tubes with

The gas properties are evaluated at

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS

0 OCTOBER 1992 73

the gas film temperature, and the coefficients B and N are obtained from
Table 2. (The ratio of transverse pitch
to outside diameter (S t/d o) and of lon gitudinal pitch to outside diameter
(Sl/d o ) are computed. (S t /d o) is read
across the top of the table, and Sll d o
down the side, under "Staggered" or
"In-line," as appropriate. The values of
B and N are then read from the chart.)
Gas mass velocity, G, is
calculated by:

triatomic gases present, and the beam

length, L b . b is given by:

where "surface" refers to the total

external surface area touched by the
gas. Hottels' charts (2) are used to
determine the gas emissivity, s, from
the above data. One can then calculate
h from:

The gas pressure drop, Pg , is

then obtained from:

where f is the friction factor. For an

inline arrangement, f is:

(18a)
The nonluminous heat-transfer
coefficient, h, could be significant
depending on the tube pitch, the partial pressures of water vapor and
other
OCTOBER 1992

Once ho is computed (here, too,

ho = hc + hn), Eq. 10 can be used to
calculate Ua. S is then obtained from:

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS

and for a staggered arrangement, f is:

Finned tubes. The correlations

for heat transfer in finned
tubes are more complex, so
only the chart technique for
computing hc will be discussed
here, since the objective of this
article is only to show the effect
of a few variables on surface
area and not the complete
design procedure for finned
tubes. [The interested reader
can find further details in (1).[
Figure 4 can be used to estimate h,., the convective heattransfer coefficient, for in -line
arranged tubes having a 2-in.
O.D. and a 4-in. square pitch.
The heat-transfer coefficient, fin
effectiveness (11), and gas pressure
drop are shown for 10 tube rows
based on a gas turbine exhaust at an
average temperature of 600F.
The real value of the chart, however,
is not in estimating hc. Rather, it
illustrates the effect of fin configuration (that is, fin density, n, and fin
height, h) on hc . From this figure, one
can see that:
as fin density increases, h
decreases;
the higher the fin density, the
higher the gas pressure drop will be,
even after adjusting for the effect of
the different number of rows
required; and
fin effectiveness decreases with
fin height.
Hence, the simple conclusion
that can be drawn from Figure
4 is that a higher fin density
(or surface area per unit
length) results in a lower hc
and a lower Uo, which in turn
means that more surface area
is required.
Let us now look at two specific
examples to see how different
fin configurations, and how the
difference between bare and
finned tubes, can significantly
affect surface area.
This example also illustrates
the advantages of using
extended surfaces, particularly
in clean gas applications.
A boiler evaporator needs
to be designed for a gas
turbine

exhaust. Gas data: Flow = 150,000

lb/h. Iinlet gas temperature =
1,000F. Exit gas temperature =
382F. Feed water temperature =
240F. Inside and outside fouling
factors = 0.001 ft2hF/Btu. ho =
2,000 Btu/ft2hF. The geometry
is as follows: 18 tubes/row, tube
O.D. = 2 in., I.D. = 1.77 in., length
= 10 ft, in-line arrangement with
transverse
and
longitudinal
(square) pitch = 4 in., and material
of construction is carbon steel.
How do designs using bare tubes
and serrated finned tubes (fin
density = 5 fins/in., height = 0.75
in., thickness = 0.05 in.) compare?
Again, the calculation details
are
omitted.
[The
complete
procedure can be found in (1).]
Here we will discuss the most

The con vective and nonluminous heat-transfer coefficients,

hc and hn are computed for bare
tubes using the procedure
described above, and Uo is evaluated from Eq. 10. The outside
tube area, So is then computed
and is used, along with the
assumed tube length (L) and
number of tubes wide (Nw), to
determine Nd, the required number of rows of tubes deep. Then
Eq. 17 is used to calculate P g.
For finned tubes, the gas
mass velocity is calculated and
is used to obtain h . from Figure
4. The fin effectiveness, and the gas
pressure drop for 10 rows are also
read from the chart. At and Aw can be
obtained from standard reference
charts or can be calculated based on
the fin geometry (1). Beam length is
calculated and used to determine h.
Then Eq. 10 is employed to compute
U(), which is used to determine Nd
and P g.
Table 3 summarizes the results
and compares the bare-tube and
finned tube cases. The advantages
of using finned tubes are clear: The
finned tube boiler is more compact
(it has only 20 rows deep, vs. 122
rows of bare tubes), has a lower gas
pressure drop (3.2 vs. 4.5 in the
bare tube boiler), and weighs less
(26,000 lb vs. 48,000 lb). On the
other hand, the sur

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS * OCTOBER 1992

* 75

LITERATURE CITED
1. (:antipathy, V., "Waste Heat Boiler
Deskbook," Fairmont Press, Atlanta
(1991) (also available from the
author). 2. Ganapathy, V, "Applied
Heat Transfer," Pennwell Books,
Tulsa, OK (1982).
3. Tabular Exchanger Manufacturers
Association, "Standards of the
Tubular Exchanger Manufacturers
Association (TEMA), 7th ed., New
York, NY (1988).
4. American Society of Mechanical
Engineers, Sec. I, Rules for
Construction of Power Boilers, 1989.

face area is much higher - nearly

twice the area of the bare-tube
boiler - because of the lower overall
heattransfer coefficient.

Example 3
The choice between bare and finned
tubes is not the only factor that
affects surface area. One can also see
significant variations in surface area
for the same duty with finned tubes
of different configurations.
Consider a finned-tube superheater
being designed for the following condi tions: Gas flow = 200,000 lb/h. Gas
inlet temperature = 1,200F. Gas
analysis (vol. %) = 7% CO2 ,12% H2O,
75% N 2 and 6% O2. Steam flow=
100,000 Ib/h. Steam inlet temperature = 491F (saturated) at 600 psig.
Fouling factors for the gas and steam=
0.001 ft2-hF/Btu. The tube configuration is: tube O.D. = 2 in., I.D. =
1.738, 22 tubes/row, length = 10 ft,
inline arrangement with square pitch
= 4 in., countercurrent flow, and 22
streams (100,000 lb/h of steam flows
through 22 tubes). The duty is
between 14 and 18 million Btu/h.
What happens when the number of
rows deep is varied, the fin density is
varied from 2 to 5 fins/ in., and the
fin height is varied from 0.5 to 0.75
in. (fin thickness is constant at 0.075
in.)?
The procedure is very similar to
that used in Example 2. In this case,
though, the tube-side heat-transfer
coefficient, hi must be computed using
Eq. 6. The results are presented in
Table 4.
Though cases l and 2 transfer the
same energy, the surface areas are
significantly different, varying by
nearly 100%. The reason is that the
high fin density coupled with a

Btu/ft2hF compared with 2,000

BtU/ft2hF for boiling water) results
in a much lower U . Hence, more
surface area is required for the
same duty. Similar results are
obtained for cases 3 and 4, which
have the same duty.
Comparing cases 2 and 3, we see
that case 3 transfers more energy
with less surface area. This is due
to a better fin configuration [as
explained fully in (l)].
Thus, the bottom line is that simply
relying on surface area for
specifying a boiler is simplistic and
can lead to wrong decisions by
eliminating designs that can
transfer the same duty but with a
lower surface area.

SAFETY VALVE SIZING AND

ASME CODE
Section 1 of the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers'
Code (4) on boilers recommends
that safety valves should be sized
based on the surface area used in
the boiler. This is not a prudent way
of sizing safety relief valves. As we
have just seen, one can transfer the
same duty with variations in surface
area of 50 to 100%.
It is more practical to use the
steaming capacity as the criterion
for relief valve sizing. For example,
in gas turbine exhaust applications,
one can generate anywhere from
20% to

smaller hi (on the order of 200-250

76

OCTOBER 1992

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS

100% of the steam simply by varying

the fuel input to the burner. To illus trate, a heat recovery boiler for a
typical 3-5 MW gas turbine can
generate about 20,000 lb/h of steam
in the unfired mode but can be
designed to generate up to 100,000
Ib/h of steam with the same surface
area simply by firing auxiliary fuel.
That is, the same boiler with th e
same surface area can generate a
maximum of only 30,000 lb/h at one
site because the demand is only
30,000 Ib/h or 90,000 Ib/h at
another location because that site
needs 90,000 lb/h of steam. Now,
according to ASME code, the safety
valve sizing remains unaffected, as
the surface area is the same!

Avoid heat transfer

equipment
vibration
Plant
heat transfer modifications and
additions can change equipment
dynamics. Use these design checks to
predict and reduce vibration
and noise problems
V Ganapathy, ABCO Industries, Inc., Abilene, Texas
TUBE BUNDLES in heat exchangers, boilers, superheaters
and heaters are often subject to vibration and noise problems. Vibration can lead to tube thinning and wear, resulting in tube failures. Excessive noise can be a problem to
plant operating personnel. Large gas pressure drop across
the equipment is also a side effect, which results in large
operating costs. 1 ,2 With the design checks presented here,
one can predict during design if problems associated with
noise and vibration are likely to occur.
Vibration causes. Vibration and noise problems are

caused when air or flue gases flow over tube bundles, which
may be arranged inline or staggered (Fig. 1). Vortices are
formed and shed beyond the wake of the tubes, resulting in
harmonically varying forces on the tubes perpendicular to
the flow direction. It is a self-excited vibration. If the frequency of vibration of the Von-Karman vortices, as they are
called, coincide with the natural frequency of vibration of
the tube bank, resonance occurs which leads to tube vibration.
Another phenomenon that occurs with vortex shedding is
acoustic vibration, leading to noise and high gas pressure
drop. The duct or the bundle enclosure vibrates when the
acoustic oscillation frequency coincides with the vortex
shedding frequency.' The acoustic oscillation is normal to
both the direction of gas flow and tube length.
Design methods to check vibration and noise. The

first step in the analysis for possible vibration or noise is the

estimation of the vortex shedding frequency, fe Vortex shed

ding is prevalent in the Reynolds number range of 300 to

100,000, which is the operating range of many boilers, heaters and exchangers. The vortex shedding frequency may be
estimated once the Strouhal number, S, is known which is
given by the expression:
S=fe d/(12V)
(1)
Here d is the tube outer diameter, V is the average gas
velocity and S is a function of tube geometry. Figs. 2 to 5
give typical values of S.
The natural frequency of vibration of the tubes is then
determined. For a uniform beam supported at each end, fn is
given by the expression 8 :
fn =C(EI/MeL4 ) /2
(2)
C is a constant depending on end conditions and is given in
Table 1. The tube length in feet is l and Me is the total
weight of the tube, which includes the contribution of the
fluid weight inside and outside the tubes. For carbon steel
tubes the above equation may be simplified and written as 8 :
fn = 90C[(d 4 - d,4 )/Me ]0.5 /l2
(3)
The next step is estimation of acoustic frequency, fa
fa =Vs/
(4)
Vs is the sonic velocity of the gas and is the wave length.
= 2w/n where w is the width of the duct in feet and n is the
mode of vibration.For air or flue gases, Vs is approximately
49T where T is the gas temperature in degrees R. For a
cylindrical duct
f, = NV s/D
(5)
(
N is a constant - 0.5681 for mode 1, 0.9722 for mode
2 and
1.337 for mode 3.
0.5

Checks and analysis for vibration and noise. To

analyze for possible vibration or noise in the tube bundles

caused by flow of gases across tube banks, the following
calculations are performed:
1. Calculate fn for different modes and load conditions.
Compute fe. If fn and fe are within 20% of each other, vibra tion is almost certain to occur.
2. Estimate fa at different loads. Compare fa with fe. If
Hydrocarbon Processing, June

Large gas pressure drop

across the equipment
is also a side effect
o f noise and
vibration, which
results in large
divide the gas column into smaller channels or ducts and
thereby increase the acoustic frequency, moving it away from
the vortex shedding frequency. If the gas temperature is high,
the materials for baffles must be chosen with care. Acoustic
vibrations usually lie in the range of 40 to 100 Hz.

Example problem. A tubular air heater 11.7 ft wide, 17.5

ft deep and 10 ft long is used in a plant. Carbon steel tubes of

2 in. OD and 0.08 in. thick are arranged inline with a transverse and longitudinal pitch of 3.5 in. The bundle is 40 tubes
wide and 60 tubes deep.
Air flows over the tubes, while flue gas flows inside. Air
flow is 300,000 lb/h at an average temperature of 260F.
The tubes are fixed at each end in tube sheets.
Analyze the bundle for possible noise and vibration
problems.

Solution: Estimate fe . For st/d = s1/d = 3.5/2 = 1.75,

TABLE 1-Values of

C
Mode of
vibration

End support conditions

Both ends clamped
One clamped, one hinged
Both hinged

1
2
22.37 61.67
15.42 49.97
9.87 39.48

TABLE 2-Summary of results

n
1
fn
fe
fa (no baffles)
fa 1 baffle)
fa (2 baffles)

33.1
54
56.1
112.2
168.3

3
120.9
104.2
88.8

91
54
112.2
224

179
54
168.3
336.6

336

504

they are within 20% of each other, excessive noise is likely.

4,5,6The first mode of vibration is the most critical one as the
amplitude of vibrations is large.

Eliminating noise and vibration problems. By

changing the tube span, tube pitch, or end conditions, the

natural frequency may be altered keeping and fe apart to
avoid vibration problems. Gas velocity can also be changed
so that fe is altered. This may be done by changing the tube
length and number of tubes wide.
Primary correction devices for noise are baffles. 5,7
Baffles

62

Hydrocarbon Processing, June

from Fig. 3, S = 0.3. From Fig. 5, we see that S = 0.31.

Calculate the air velocity, V. Air density = 0.081(492)/
(460 + 260) = 0.055 lb/ft.' V = 300,000(12)/[366(0.055)40
(3.5 - 2)10] = 30 ft/s. Hence fe = 12SV/d = 12(30)0.30/ 2
= 54 Hz.
Estimate fn using Eq. 3. l = 10, d = 2, di = 1.84, M =
1.67 lb/ft = Me (neglecting weight of air/gas). For the first
three modes, C1 = 22.37, C2 = 61.67 and C3 = 120.9, from
Table 1.
Then, fn1 = 33.1,fn2 = 91 and fn3 = 179 Hz, using Eq.
3. Let us compute the acoustic frequencies, fa . Sonic
velocity, Vs = 49(460 + 260)-' = 1,315 ft/s. Width, w =
11.7 ft and X = 2(11.7)/n, fa1 = Vs/ = 56.1, fa2 = 112.2,
f a3 = 168 Hz. The summary of results is shown in Table
2, which also shows the fa data with one and two baffles
(w being 11.7/ 2 = 5.85 ft and 11.7/3 = 3.9 ft).
Note that fa and fe are very close to each other in the
very first mode. Hence, acoustic vibration leading to noise is
likely. If one baffle is used, fa and fe are kept well apart in
all the modes. Also, fa and fn are well apart in all modes,
and tube vibrations are unlikely.

Conclusion. The above calculations show how one can

check a tube bundle design for possible vibration or noise

problem. A simple approach was discussed. For elaborate
analysis, one would use the methods discussed in
literature.-`'
However, noise and vibration problems are better predicted based on field operating experience of similar sized
units. Performing the above calculations and modifying a
design to keep the forcing frequencies well apart may not
avoid noise/vibrations in all cases, as vibration and noise
phenomenon are inexplicable at times.
Damping effect of finned tubes, presence of' ash in flue

gases, manufacturing tolerances used and effect of end connections are variables that cannot be quantified. Hence, field
experience coupled with analysis would be the ideal way to deal
with the problem of noise and vibration.

NOMENCLATURE
C Constant used in Eq. 3
d

E
fa
fa
fn

Tube outer diameter, in.

Tube inner diameter, in.
Youngs modulus of elasticity, psi
Acoustic frequency, hertz
Vortex shedding frequency, hertz
Natural frequency of vibration of tubes, hertz

L
M
n
S
sl
st
T
V
V

Tube length, ft
Total we ight of tube per foot, lb
Mode of vibration
Strouhal number
Longitudinal pitch, in.
Transverse pitch, in.
Gas temperature, R
Gas velocity, ft/s
Sonic velocity, ft/s

dj

Moment of inertia of tube

Width of duct, ft
Wave length, ft

LITERATURE CITED
Chen, Y. N., "Flow induced vibration and noise in tube bank heat exchangers due to
Von Karman Streets," Trans ASME, Jour. of Engg for Industry, Vol 1, 1968, pp.
134-146
2 Rogers, J. D., et al., "Vibration prevention in boiler banks of industrial boilers,"
American Power Conference, 1977
s Fitzhugh,.J. S., "Flow induced vibration in heat exchangers," Symposium on vibration problems in industry, UK, April 1973
} Rogers, J. D., and Peterson, C. A. "Predicting sonic vibration in cross flow heat
exchangers-experience of model testing," ASME 1977 WA/DE 28
Barrington, E. A., "Acoustic vibrations in tubular exchangers," Chemical Engineer ing
Process, Vol 69, No 7, July 1973
t' Putnam, A. A., "Flow induced noise in heat exchangers," Trans ASME, Jour. of
Engg for Power, Oct. 1959, p. 417
Deane, W. J., and Cohan, L. J., "Baffle plates cure boiler vibration," Power, Feb.
66, P. 82
t Ganapathy, V., "Applied Heat Transfer," Pennwell Books, Tulsa, Okla. 82, pp.
650-658
"Symposium on Flow Induced Vibrations, Vol 3, Vibration in heat exchangers,
ASME, 1984, pp. 87-101

The author
V. Ganapathy is a heat transfer specialist with
ABCO Industries Inc., Abilene, Texas. He is
engaged in the engineering of heat recovery
boilers
for
process,
incineration
and
cogeneration applications. He also develops
software for engineering of heat recovery
systems and components. He holds a B Tech
degree in mechanical engineering from Indian
Institute ofMr.
Technology,
India, and
an
nology from Madras University.
GanapathyMadras,
is the author
of over
125 articles on boilers, heat transfer and steam plant systems and
has written four books: Applied Heat Transfer, Steam Plant
Calculations Manual, Nomograms for Steam Generation and
Utilization and Basic Programs for Steam Plant Engineers (book and
diskette), copies of which are available from him. He also has
contributed several chapters to the Encyclopedia of Chemical
Processing and Design, Vol. 25, Marcel Dekker New York.

Hydrocarbon Processing, June 1987

63