What is a Fired Heater in a Refinery?

For
Dummies
Posted on September 29, 2021 (October 19, 2022)
Did you know that ancient algae impact our lives to this day? Read on to learn how
decomposed carbon-based life becomes petroleum products with the help of fired
heaters!
Oil comes from the remains of plankton and algae mixed with sediment on the ocean
floor.
What is a fired heater in a refinery? Fired heaters, or process heaters, are important
to refineries and petrochemical plants because they heat and vaporize the
hydrocarbon fluids to create necessities like gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.
As of January 2019, there are 135 petroleum refineries in the US.[1] In 2018, oil
refinery capacity in the US amounted to 18.76 million barrels per day.[2]

Basic Fired Heater Functions

1. Heat is produced by burning fuel

2. This heat transfers to the process fluid in the tubes via conduction, radiation, and

convection

3. Combustion gases created by burning fuel exit the fired heater through a stack

Anatomy of a Fired Heater

1. Stack: exhaust chimney or vertical pipe through which flue gases escape the fired

heater

2. Convection Tubes: tubes located in the convection section

3. Header Box: internally insulated compartment enclosing headers or manifolds

4. Radiant Tubes: tubes located in the radiant section

5. Casing: a metal shell, typically lined with refractory, enclosing the firebox and

convection section
 6. Refractory Lining: heat-resistant lining; commonly made from castable or

ceramic fiber

7. Convection Section: area where hot flue gases leave the radiant section and

circulate at high speed through a tube bundle

8. Arch (or Bridgewall): location where flue gas exits the radiant section

9. Radiant Section: area where tubes are directly heated by radiation from burner

flames

10. Breeching: transition where flue gas travels from the convection section to the

stack

11. Finned Tube: specialized tube with protruding fins that increase surface area and

heat absorption

12. Corbels: refractory material used to direct flue gases onto tubes as it passes

though the convection section

13. Crossover: connecting piping between any two coil sections

14. Shield Section/Shock Section: non-finned tubes that shield the convection

section from direct radiation

Important terms:
Flue Gas: gas produced as a byproduct of combustion inside the fired heater
Draft: the negative pressure of the air and/or flue gas in the heater
Tubes/Coils: a continuous metal pipe that transports fluid through a fired heater

Understanding Heat Transfer

Fired heaters utilize all three heat transfer methods (conduction, convection,
radiation).
Radiation is the transfer of energy from a heat source to objects in its path through
space. In fired heaters, this occurs when heat energy is absorbed by tubes exposed
to flames in the radiant section.
Convection is the transfer of heat from one place to another via fluid movement, like
gases flowing over process tubes in the convection section of the heater.
Finally, conduction is the transfer of heat via contact between two materials or
moving from one section of an object to another. In a fired heater, conduction occurs
when heat transfers from the tube walls to the fluid flowing inside.
Heater Styles

The temperature inside fired heaters can reach a toasty 2,200° F.

Heater and coil combinations vary by application, but cabin/box and cylindrical style
are the main types of heaters. The main difference is the orientation of tubes in the
radiant section. In a vertical cylindrical heater, the tubes are arranged vertically while
a cabin heater’s tubes are usually horizontal.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) sets the industry standards for fired heater
design, with aspects ranging from material selection to burner arrangement to
efficiency protocols.
Draft Systems
There are several methods to supply air and remove flue gases based on the
location of draft systems relative to the heater.

• Natural draft: the airflow induced by negative pressure (i.e. a vacuum) in the

heater relative to the pressure outside the heater. This requires no fans.

• Forced Draft (FD): air is supplied by forced draft fans that “push” air for a greater

heat release per burner.

• Induced Draft (ID): fans “pull” air to remove flue gases and maintain negative

pressure in the heater.

• Balanced draft: forced draft fans supply air while induced draft fans expel flue

gases in a dual-fan system.

Proper Flow of Process Fluid

Properly flowing fluid is critical for optimal performance. Problems like flame
impingement (flames contact tube directly) and slow flow cause heat transfer issues
and equipment damage.
Coking or fouling occurs when carbon deposits accumulate inside tubes, like plaque
buildups in arteries. This buildup decreases the tube’s usable area, thus restricting
flow and insulating the tube wall which leads to less heat transfer. Left uncorrected,
buildup can cause tubes to rupture leading to fires and potentially dangerous
situations.
Source: Primedia Workplace Learning – Furnaces
Conclusion
Fired heaters are very important to the refining process. Heat is produced via
combustion and transferred to the crude oil by radiation, conduction, and convection.
Heating and vaporizing separates oil into the products we use every day. Next time
you drive a car or board a plane, remember that fired heaters enable us to convert
algae into acceleration.

An Introduction to Fouling in Fired Heaters –

Part 1 | Interior Fouling of Heater Tubes
Posted on September 15, 2021 (September 24, 2021)

By Erwin Platvoet, Chief Technology Officer

Part 2 & 3 up next: Exterior and Burner fouling!

Introduction
Fouling is the accumulation and formation of unwanted materials on the surfaces of
processing equipment. It is an extremely complex phenomenon and considered the major
unresolved problem in heat transfer (Bott, 1995). Fouling in refineries and petrochemical
plants has an impact on safety, reliability, operation, the environment and profitability.

The cost of fouling is believed to be more than $2 billion per year in U.S. refineries alone
(source: www.energy.gov) due to increased production costs, production losses, unit
shutdowns and high maintenance costs. Fouling is further exacerbated by continued
increase in use of heavy, unconventional oil sources, deeper residue conversion to light
ends, tightening environmental demands and fuel standards and increased production
complexity.

The goal of this article is to provide an overview of the most common types of fouling in
fired heaters and preventive strategies. It addresses areas inside the tubes, on the outside
of radiant tubes, convection section, burners, air preheaters and selective catalytic
reduction (SCR).

Fouling is generally classified by six categories. The first three are commonly found in
fired heaters and related equipment.

Type Definition

Accumulation of suspended particles in the liquid or gaseous process streams

Particulate fouling onto the heat transfer surfaces. Main drivers are concentration of particles and
fluid flow velocity. Example: fouling of convection banks due to dust and soot.

Chemical reactions on the heat transfer surfaces. The surface material itself is
Reaction fouling not a reactant but can be a catalyst. Main driver is temperature. Example:
thermal cracking of hydrocarbons in the fluid film.

Accumulation of corrosion product on the heat transfer surface. The heat

Corrosion fouling transfer surface material itself reacts to produce the corrosion products. The
products of corrosion can cause particulate fouling downstream.

Crystallization of dissolved salts from saturated solutions due to solubility

Precipitation fouling
changes with temperature. Example: scaling in boiler tubes.

Biological fouling The attachment of living materials to the heat transfer surface.

Freezing of high-melting components from a multi-component solution on

Solidification fouling
subcooled surfaces. Example: wax formation on subcooled surfaces.

Fouling Inside Fired Heater Tubes

Particulate, reaction, and corrosion fouling occur inside fired heater tubes. The most
common one is reaction fouling in the form of coking, which is driven by temperature,
residence time, velocity, and feed composition.

The heaters that are the most prone to this type of fouling are the ones that process crude
feeds, due to the wide range of components they require. This is especially true for
refineries that turned to alternative heavy feedstocks that are more cost-effective to
process. For example, bitumen (asphalt) is a highly viscous semi-solid form of petroleum.
Canada has the largest reserve of natural asphalt (“tar”) in the tar sands, which is a
combination of clay, sand, water, and bitumen. Tar sands can be mined and processed to
extract the bitumen, which is then refined into oil.

The first problem that occurs when heating Tar Sands Bitumen is the potential for
particulate fouling by clay particles. Alumina Silicate clay particles that are normally
dispersed in a colloidal system lose solubility and deposit upon heating.

The silicate deposits have low thermal conductivities and form a significant resistance
against heat transfer. This type of fouling usually occurs in the convection section or the
top of the radiant section. Clay deposits can only be removed by pigging, not by spalling
or steam air decoking.

This type of fouling is particulate fouling and therefore driven by concentration and
velocity. To minimize particle deposits, it is recommended to keep cold oil velocity above
6 ft/s at a minimum and ideally above 10 ft/s. Consider adding velocity steam to the
convection inlet to increase the tube side velocity.

A second problem is that bitumen typically contains 16 – 25% asphaltenes. Asphaltenes

are heavy, polyaromatic molecules that contain sulfur, nitrogen, and heavy metals.
Asphaltene molecular weight is in the range of 500 – 3,000 but the apparent molecular
weight can be up to 300,000 due to association by polar constituents.

Their weight and molecular structure make asphaltenes strong fouling precursors and
must be kept in solution as much as possible to prevent excessive deposition.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have shale oil. The production of shale oil, also
known as Light Tight Oil (LTO), has grown exponentially in the last 10 years. Shale oil has
many features that are attractive to refiners; it is a light oil with a low viscosity, a low
asphaltene concentration (typically less than 0.1 wt%), a low sulfur content, and due to
its recent abundance, has become a very economic feedstock.

Unfortunately, there are downsides to using LTO as well. It is highly paraffinic, with long
chain alkanes of 20 to 50 carbon atoms). This has significantly increased the risk of wax
deposition on cold walls of tanks and processing units.

Another downside for vaporization of LTO inside a fired heater is that its physical
properties are very inconsistent. Day to day variations in density and solids content can
be very wide, even for shale oil coming from the same basin.

A high variability in vaporization potential can lead to excessive vaporization inside the
tubes, which can lead to dry points. Dry points should always be avoided since they leave
behind residue and cause excessive fouling.

Refineries in the US are not designed to process either heavy bitumen or shale oil. They
are historically designed for medium crudes and cannot readily process very light or very
heavy crudes without significant (and expensive) changes.
For economic reasons, many refineries blend LTO and bitumen to achieve the
characteristics of a medium type crude. This has introduced yet another fouling problem
inside fired heaters. Blends of LTO with heavy asphaltenic crude can result in asphaltene
instability and precipitation, resulting in a strong increase in coking rate when onset of
precipitation occurs early.

Crude, vacuum and delayed coker heaters that used to run for years on Arabian crudes
without decoking now show runlengths of several months or less before the tubes are too
fouled to continue. Studies show that the paraffinic character of LTO causes the
ashpaltenes to lose solubility, an instability that is hard to manage with the daily changes
in LTO composition, and even harder when sourcing many different heavy crudes to
blend with the LTO.

Blending will have to be done extremely carefully to maximize asphaltene stability.

Toluene solubility tests according to ASTM D 7157 (“Standard Test Method for
Determination of Intrinsic Stability of Asphaltene-Containing Residues, Heavy Fuel Oils, and
Crude Oils”) help the refiner determine the optimum ratio of crude to shale.

Since coking is a type of reaction fouling, it is strongly dependent on the process film
temperature, which in turn is dependent on the incident flux profile from the flames.

See Figure 1 for two different kinds of flame interactions, leading to two very different
incident flux profiles. The flames that merge (on the left side of the figure) create a long
and uniform flux profile with a peak near the top of the firebox.

The flame interactions on the right create a much more intense peak near the bottom of
the heater due to flames impinging on the tubes. Note that the flux profiles are normalized
and that the absolute flux values of the flames on the right are much higher.
Neither flame behavior is desirable; the long merging flames will lead to poor fuel
efficiency, while the short impinging flames create hotspots and very high coking rates.
The difference in peak film temperature between the two cases is well over 100°F even
though they are the same heater and the same burner design.

Flame behavior and flux profiles from burners can be studied using CFD and manipulated
by changing burner type, quantity, and/or location. Figure 1 – Two types of flame
interactions creating two distinctly different flux profiles

The Mechanism of Coking

There are two main types of coking mechanisms. The first one is catalytic coking which
takes place at the tube wall itself. The shape (‘morphology’) of catalytic coke is
filamentous, which means that a network of fine carbon threads is formed on the tube
inner wall. Small metal particles can be found on the ends of these filaments. The process
of catalytic coking is demonstrated in Figure 2.

Catalytic coke is formed by

absorption and cracking of
hydrocarbons on surfaces containing
nickel. Hydrogen and solid carbon are
formed in a reaction that is catalyzed
strongly by nickel, and to some
extent, by iron.

Some of the deposited carbon reacts

with oxygen and steam to form CO. In
ethylene plants the CO is a catalyst
poison for downstream converters.
Some of the carbon diffuses into
the material along
intergranular boundaries
forming chromium carbides, a
process called carburization. It
also precipitates on the
backside of the nickel catalyst
particle

The carbon precipitation grows into a

filament. The catalyst particle at the
end of the filament activates the
filament into a site for “radical
coking”. The filament growth
continues as long as the catalyst
particle remains uncovered.

The catalytic coke layer is rigid and

branch-like in structure, creating
“trapping” sites for other cokes
particles
Solid particles like coke formed by the
pyrolytic coking mechanism cover the
catalytic sites and then takes over as
the dominant mode of coke
formation

Figure 2

Catalytic coke is the major form of coke formed in high temperature processes like gas
cracking (ethane, propane) to produce ethylene. The radiant tubes in these heaters
typically contain 35 – 45 % nickel. During operation, the catalytic coke layer continuously
dehydrogenates and changes into a very hard graphite-like material that is difficult to
spall and gasify. Due to its hardness and rigidness, it poses a risk of tube rupture during
a thermal shock.

Pyrolytic coke, also called condensation coke, is softer and less structured than catalytic
coke. It is formed in the bulk of the gas by several mechanisms, including
dehydrogenation, polymerization, and condensation of aromatic and olefinic compounds.
Pyrolytic coke is the major form of coke found in crude, vacuum, delayed coker heaters
as well in liquid (naphtha, gas oil) crackers. It has an amorphous structure, is softer, spalls
easily and fouls downstream equipment like transfer line exchangers.

Like any other kind of fouling, coking has a major impact on the heat transfer efficiency
due to its low thermal conductivity. Coke thermal conductivity as a function of its porosity
is illustrated in Figure 3.
Figure 3

Condensation / pyrolytic coke has a thermal conductivity in the range of 1 – 2 W/m*K

(0.6 – 1.2 Btu/h°F*ft) whereas catalytic coke thermal conductivity is in the range of 3 – 4
W/m*K (1.8 – 2.4 Btu/h°F*ft) due to its structure and lower porosity. Compared with the
conductivity this is an order of magnitude lower.

The impact of coking on tube temperature can therefore be profound. For example,
consider the outlet tube of a cracking coil with an absorbed heat flux of 50,000 W/m2. A
coke layer of 5 mm thickness and thermal conductivity of 2 W/m*K will increase the tube
wall temperature by

So, a modest coke layer of 5 mm (0.2 inch) thickness will increase the tube wall
temperature by 125°C (225°F). A typical ethylene coil will see a temperature increase of
100 – 150°C between Start and End of Run when the tube has reached its allowable
maximum temperature, all due to coking. This happens in a span of 30 – 90 days.

There are other issues associated with coking besides periodic decoking, like
carburization, creep, and chrome depletion. These can all damage the tube, resulting in
increased maintenance and replacement cost, and a risk of coil failure during operation
if not properly mitigated.

Carburization: the process of carbon enrichment of the material and the subsequent
formation of carbides. The presence of a coke layer greatly increases the rate of
carburization. Carburization results in

• Local volume increase, leading to tube bulging

 • Internal stresses due to volume increase, leading to intergranular cracking

• Embrittlement, causing loss of thermal shock resistance

• Reduced weldability

• Rupture of the tube

Figure 4 – local tube bulging and cracking due to carburization

Creep: the elongation / stretching of a tube due to its weight. The creep rate depends on
tube temperature, the load bearing cross-sectional area and the tube material. The
presence of coke on the tube wall increases not only the tube temperature but also
increases the total weight of the tubes dramatically. Deformation due to creep leads to
creep voids inside the material:
Figure 5 – creep voids

Chrome depletion: the surface of the tube becomes depleted of chrome by the
continuous process of chrome carbide formation and the removal of the chrome oxide
layer. Over time this diminishes the capability of the tube to form new chrome oxide
layers, which accelerates catalytic coking.

Tube failures: the combined effect of all the damage mechanisms can reduce the life of a
tube to as little as four years in severe services and make it especially vulnerable to
thermal shocks.

Factors That Impact Coking Rate

Temperature and velocity

Since coking is a reaction type fouling, the rate of coking strongly depends on
temperature. A high process temperature

• favors all reactions, coking included

• produces more reactive species like dienes

• increases diffusion of carbon into the coil material

In a crude heater, a 10 – 40° increase in outlet temperature can lead to 50 – 400% higher
fouling rates.
The model of Ebert and Panchal was developed to predict fouling behavior of crude oils
in heat exchangers. The combination of an Arrhenius type equation with a Reynolds
dependent factor shows that heat transfer and process flow velocity play important roles
in fouling:

In fired heaters, the process mass velocity in the radiant section should be kept in the
range of 300 – 500 kg/m2s to limit fouling.

Feed composition

In cracking heaters, liquid cracking (naphtha, diesel, gas oil) produces more coke than gas
cracking. Condensation coking is promoted when liquid feeds have a high End Boiling
Point (EBP), also called a “heavy tail”.

In any service, coke formation is accelerated if the feed contains high amounts of
asphaltenes, naphthenes (cyclo-alkanes) and aromatics.

Feed contaminants act as coking catalysts and change the coil surface characteristics:

Sodium: attacks the protective chrome oxide layer

Iron: coking catalyst

Potassium & Vanadium: attack radiant coil surface

Sulfur: the role of sulfur is complex. It promotes pyrolytic coke reactions but produces
weaker coke structure. At the same time, sulfur passivates coil surface and prevents
catalytic coking. At high levels it promotes carburization.

Steam
Steam is used to inhibit coke formation in various ways. It is used as ‘dilution steam’ in
cracking furnaces to lower the hydrocarbon partial pressure and to reduce the residence
time. Typical steam to oil ratios are 0.2 – 0.3 for gas cracking and 0.3 – 0.5 for liquid
cracking.

In vacuum and coking heaters, steam is typically used as ‘velocity steam’. Typical steam
quantity is 1 – 2% of feed flow rate. It is usually injected at the crossover to change the
vaporization profile and to increase the process velocity.

Any steam in the feed also inhibits coke accumulation by gasifying the carbon that has
been formed already.

Steam is sometimes used to passivate the coil surface prior to feed introduction by
subjecting the coil to high temperature steam for several hours. A chrome oxide layer is
formed under these conditions, which delays and prevents catalytic coke formation. This
method is less effective for older coils that have been decoked several times and have a
rough surface.

Decoking
The act of decoking also has an impact on coking rate. As mentioned, repeated cycles of
coking and decoking (spalling, erosion) deplete the chromium content at the coil surface.
Lack of chrome prevents the generation of protective oxide layers. The rough surface that
is created by the spalling of coke has more sites for surface reactions.

There are three main decoking methods:

1. Steam/air decoking

2. Online spalling

3. Mechanical pigging

Steam/air decoking is a process where a mixture of steam and air is introduced into the
coils to gasify and burn the coke. It is typically applied in cracking furnaces (on-line),
delayed cokers (off-line) and crude and vacuum heaters (off-line). The decoking process
starts with high temperature steam to gasify the coke:

C + H2O -> CO + H2

This reaction is endothermic, the process temperature must be higher than 1500°F
(800°C) for the reaction to occur. This step makes the existing coke layer porous, which
enables the next step of the decoking process. Air is added to oxidize the coke.

C + O2 -> CO2

This reaction is exothermic, so air must be added in a carefully controlled way to prevent
a runaway reaction. The coke burn-off starts as soon as the oxygen and the coke meet, so
this reaction proceeds from the beginning of the coil to the end. Coke ‘spalling’ is the
fragmentation of the cokes layer into smaller particles. This part of decoking is an
intentional part of the steam/air decoking process but needs to be controlled extremely
carefully. The entire decoking procedure must be carried out carefully, to avoid

• overheating the tubes, when the reaction proceeds too rapidly

• breaking the coils, when thermal shocks cause the tubes to contract faster than the coke

• erosion, due to excessive velocities of spalled coke particles

• tube plugging due to excessive spalling

• carburization, oxidation, tube bowing etc…

Online spalling is typically used in delayed coker heaters. This procedure uses high
pressure (superheated) steam at high velocity (100 – 115 m/s). The intent is to vary the
coil temperature to expand and contract the tubes to dislodge the coke.

The benefit of this method is that it is faster and easier than steam/air decoke or off-line
pigging, but the risk is that tubes can be plugged during excessive spalling.

Mechanical pigging is the process of propelling a “pig” through a coil with the help of a
pig launcher. A pig is a studded device that travels through the pipe, driven by a motive
fluid. Contrary to steam/air decoking or online spalling, there is no risk of overheating of
overpressurizing the coils.

The downside of this procedure is that it requires heater shutdown, and an external
company is needed to execute the work. It is typically the most thorough decoking
method unless tubes are oval. Likewise, special attention must be paid to heater coils with
varying tube wall thicknesses.

Watch out for Part 2 on Exterior Fouling! Have fouling related questions? Reach out
to us at [email protected]!

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An Introduction to Fouling in Fired Heaters –
Part 2 | Exterior Fouling
Posted on September 21, 2021 (November 29, 2022)

By Erwin Platvoet, Chief Technology Officer

Part 3 up next: Burner fouling!

If you didn’t read Part 1, catch up here!

Exterior Fouling of Radiant Process Tubes

The main fouling mechanism on the fireside is corrosion fouling. According to the
National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors, all fossil fuels, with the possible
exception of natural gas, contain constituents that promote corrosion on the fireside of
boiler components. The bad actors are compounds of sulfur, vanadium, and sodium; but
in the case of municipal-refuse boilers, chlorine is an increasing concern. In fired process
heaters the main problem is hot fuel ash corrosion that occurs when firing heavy fuel oil.

Hot Fuel Ash Corrosion

Hot fuel ash corrosion is an accelerated form of corrosion in which molten sulfate salts
form a film that destroys the normal protective oxide layer. The problems occur with fuel
oils containing sodium and/or vanadium and sulfur (0.6 – 3.6 wt%). Salts like
Na2SO4 form at high temperature and condense on the tubes, causing rapid metal
consumption at about 550 °C. Reducing conditions will exacerbate fuel-ash corrosion.
The presence of carbon monoxide and/or unburned carbon and hydrogen sulfide
promote the formation of metallic sulfides. Iron sulfide, for example, is inherently less
protective than iron oxide. Sulfides tend to be less protective because they are porous and
less firmly attached to the steel.

Figure 6 – Hot fuel ash deposition and corrosion

Corrosion rates can be exceedingly high. In boilers, where this type of corrosion is more
common, carbon steel wastage rates of about 1/2 inch per year (failure in less than 2,000
hours of operation) are
known.(source: https://www.nationalboard.org/index.aspx?pageID=164&ID=196)

High Temperature Oxidation

High temperature oxidation is a corrosion process that occurs when tubes are operated
above their limits. The reasons for overheating can be flame impingement, overfiring of
the heater or incorrect selection of tube metallurgy for the service. The resulting
oxidation layer (“scale”) will result in tube wall thinning and can reduce the local
absorbed heat flux by half:

• the lower emissivity of the scale reduces the radiant absorbed heat flux

• the thermal conductivity of the scale is of the same order of magnitude as coke and

therefore has a comparable effect on the overall thermal resistance

• the problems become exponentially worse if the oxide layer loses contact with the tube

and prevents any heat transfer by convection, conduction, or radiation

Each cycle of scale formation and removal reduces the tube wall thickness until the tube
is too thin to contain the fluid pressure, and failure occurs. The problem can be detected
in several ways:

• visual tube inspection during outage. When inspecting the radiant tubes, metal oxides

are sometimes confused with combustion deposits. Since oxide scales are magnetic, they

can be distinguished from combustion deposits with a magnet.

 • IR thermography when the heater is in operation. It can be used to compose a tube

temperature map, where areas of high temperature can be the result of

internal/external fouling, an oxidation layer or a combination of these.

• CFD can be used to model the temperature patterns inside the heater and demonstrate

high local fluxes that will result in high metal and film temperature.

• Skin thermocouples can identify a scaling trend, but only if they are installed in the

correct location. Scaling can be a very local problem depending on the root cause of the

high temperatures.

Figure 8 – flame impingement, predicted by CFD (left) and actual operation (right)
Figure 9 – IR maps of radiant coil Figure 10 – Scale on radiant tube

(https://integratedglobal.com/industries/oil-gas/cru-catalytic-reformer-heaters/)

Mitigation / Prevention

High temperature oxidation can be prevented by reducing the hot spots on the coils.
Flame interactions that result in impingement and hot spots on the tubes can be
prevented by changing burner design or burner layout inside the firebox, or by adding
the patented Xceed technology developed by XRG.

Tube metallurgy can be upgraded to higher chrome and nickel alloys to better withstand
high temperature oxidation. While a chromium-rich oxide layer mainly accounts for the
corrosion resistance of stainless steels, the addition of nickel improves the creep
resistance of austenitic steels. Nickel also promotes the stability of the protective oxide
film and reduces spalling during thermal cycling.

While cleaning tubes during outages is easiest and most effective, severe scaling and
fouling may have to be removed while the furnace remains online. Specialized companies
have developed methods to clean radiant tubes, as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11 – Online chemical blasting of radiant tubes (https://www.furnace-solutions.com)

Ceramic coatings can be applied to the exterior surface of the tubes to prevent oxidation.
For example, Cetek Ceramic Coatings provide a durable, protective, thin-film layer on the
surfaces of process tubes which prevents oxidation, corrosion, and carburization of the
metal and maintains the tube thermal conductivity coefficient close to new tube
conditions.

Convection Fouling

To maximize the heat transfer in the convection bank of a heater, the tubes are fitted with
radial fins of up to 1 inch high, spaced at maximum 5 fins per inch. The dense spacing
makes the fins great trapping sites for refractory fiber, ash from oil combustion, dust and
sand.
Figure 12 – fouled fins

Even with a small layer of deposits, the heat transfer efficiency is severely reduced
(Figure 13).

Convection section fouling can be detected as follows:

• High convection pressure drop due to the accumulation of fouling on the fins

• The heater can become draft limited when the convection section pressure drop exceeds

the draft capacity of the stack

• Low firebox oxygen, even with the stack damper full open

• Low crossover temperature due to the loss of heat transfer in the convection section

• High convection section exit temperature

• High stack temperature

Figure 13 – Finned tube efficiency vs deposit thickness (M. Watson – AIChE, 2015)

The risks of excessive convection fouling are:

 • Running the burners out of oxygen, accumulation of unburned hydrocarbons in the

firebox

• Increased flue gas temperature can overheat tube supports, fins, and any downstream

component that is not rated for such high temperatures

• Low fuel efficiency, high fuel consumption

• Heater throughput becomes limited

Convection Bank Cleaning

Various methods are available to clean the convection bank tubes. Their efficiency
depends on the ability to reach every part of the fouled surface.

Figure 15 – Convection tubes before and after cleaning

Water Wash

Water washing can damage refractory and produce cement like fouling deposits on and
between fins. Tarp systems are required to catch the water. Cleaning progress can be
measured by sampling the water and checking its color after each cycle. Detergent can be
added to improve cleaning efficiency.
Figure 16 – Convection section water wash

CO2 (Dry Ice) Pellets

For efficient contamination removal, the pellets system shoots small dry ice pieces at the
cleaning target. This system is designed to clean by applying thermo-mechanical impact
shock.

Sand Blasting

Like water washing, requires collection and disposal. Abrasive methods can damage fins
and refractory.

Robotic Cleaning

Self-propelled robots move along the tubes to clean the surface.

Figure 17 – robotic cleaning (www.TubeTech.com)

Soot Blowers

Fixed or retractable system of lances that periodically clean the tubes by injecting steam
or high-pressure air from opposing nozzles while the furnace remains online. Typically,
soot blowing is only effective on softer types of fouling (i.e.,“soot”).

Figure 18 – Soot blower module

The appropriate cleaning method is selected based on these considerations:

• Access

To allow proper access to the tubes, be sure to provide cleaning lanes in the convection
section. The cleaning lane height should be at least 2 feet. The maximum vertical coverage
of a lane should not exceed three tube rows. Make sure they cover all rows, including
shield and future rows.

• Efficacy / Time

While the online sootblowers require much less time than off-line cleaning methods, they
are not nearly as capable of removing anything other than soft types of fouling like ash
and soot. Since robotic cleaning is less dependent on the number of access doors, its
cleaning efficiency is typically the best of all methods.

• Disposal

Compared to water washing and sand blasting, soot blowing, and dry ice pellets do not
require any tarps to catch and dispose of the effluents.

• Erosion

Abrasive cleaning methods such as dry ice and sand blasting may damage refractory and
fins.

• Safety

Some end users have concerns with accumulation of CO2 and asphyxiation risks when dry
ice pellets are used.

• Cost

While it is the most efficient, robotic cleaning is often the most expensive cleaning
method.

Sulfuric Acid Corrosion

Another potential source of convection fouling is sulfuric acid corrosion. Any sulfur in the
fuel forms sulfur oxides in the flame. For example, dihydrogen sulfide reacts with oxygen
to form sulfur dioxide as follows:

H2S + 1.5 O2 -> SO2 + H2O

The sulfur dioxide then reacts with excess oxygen to make sulfur trioxide:
SO2 + 0.5 O2 <- -> SO3

The SO3 then condenses as sulfuric acid:

SO3 + H2O ->H2SO4

Even at low sulfur concentrations, the sulfuric acid dewpoint is well over 110°C / 230°F,
as shown in Figure 18:

Figure 19 – General relationship between sulfur content and acid dewpoint (source: API 560
– Annex)

The effects of sulfuric acid corrosion can be dramatic:

Figure 20

Disposing of the cleaning effluent poses another problem, since water washing will result
in a potentially strong sulfuric acid.

Studded tubes are used in applications that require frequent cleaning such as oil firing.
They are more resistant to corrosion, such as sulfuric acid. While they are more resistance
to aggressive and frequent cleaning methods, opinions differ whether they are easier to
clean than solid fins when the studs are arranged in staggered fashion.
Figure 14 – Fouling in studded tubes

SCR / APH Fouling

The deNOx reactor and air preheater are located downstream of the convection section
and suffer from the same types of fouling as the finned tubes:

• Particle deposition of ash, soot, refractory fibers, and dust

• Sulfuric acid corrosion

• Fouling by ammonia salts

Since the air preheater is usually much cooler than the convection tubes, sulfuric acid
corrosion is a bigger problem. It can be challenging to design the system so that the heat
exchange surface is well above the acid dewpoint (ADP). The problem can be severe in
plate type exchangers where plate thickness is in 1 – 2 mm and corrosion quickly leads
to holes and leakage between the air and flue gas side. It is important to monitor the cold
corners using thermocouples or IR cameras. Use cold air bypass or hot air recirculation
to maintain the cold corner above the ADP. If steam or water is available, a small heat
exchanger (‘calorifier’) can be used to preheat the air before entering the APH. All these
methods come with an efficiency penalty, so they should be used in moderation.
Figure 21 – Sulfuric acid corrosion in plate type APH

If an SCR is used to reduce the NOx in the flue gas, a fouling problem may occur. Sulfur in
the fuel is converted to ammonia salts as follows:

First, SO2 to SO3 conversion is catalyzed by V2O5 catalyst. From the previous discussion we
know that SO3 reacts with H2O to form the sulfuric acid. The sulfur trioxide reacts with
ammonia to form ammonium salts:

Ammonium sulphate is a powdery substance:

2NH3 + SO3 + H2O <–> (NH4)2SO4 (s)

Ammonium bisulphate is sticky and hard to remove:

NH3 + SO3 + H2O <–> NH4HSO4 (l)

The rate of salt formation depends on the ammonia concentration (slip) and flue gas
temperature. The formation rate becomes very significant below 500°F.

Risks & Mitigation

The fouling results in SCR catalyst masking and eventual deactivation. It fouls
downstream equipment like air preheaters. Cleaning with water can create sulfuric acid
and ammonia and could cause severe corrosion.

Since the formation rate depends on the flue gas composition and temperature it may be
extremely difficult to control in cycling services.

It is important to monitor the ammonia slip and keep it as low as possible. Monitor the
APH metal temperature in the coldest corner and maintain it well above the ADP
temperature. Use soot blowers on the cold APH passes. Use cold air bypass, preheat
combustion air with an external fluid, or recirculate hot air.
Figure 22 – Fouling by ammonia salts

Conclusion

Exterior fouling of the radiant process tubes, convection section, and the SCR/APH
reduces heater efficiency and reliability. The best mitigation strategy is to prevent fouling
from occurring by using design and operation best practices, including CFD. When fouling
cannot be prevented, choosing the right maintenance strategy can have a large impact on
long-term equipment health.
An Introduction to Fouling in Fired Heaters –
Burner Fouling | Part 3
Posted on December 6, 2022 (December 8, 2022)

By Erwin Platvoet, Chief Technology Officer

If you didn’t read Part 1 and 2, catch up here!

Burner Fouling
To keep a fired heater operating optimally it is important to distribute heat as evenly as
possible. A maldistribution of heat will result in a poor absorbed heat flux profile and
local hot spots. Elevated tube metal temperatures can accelerate fouling inside the tubes
and reduce coil life. Burner fouling is a frequent cause of heat maldistribution. The most
frequent location of burner fouling is in the gas tips. It is mostly reaction type fouling, so
it depends on fuel composition and residence time, as well as the local gas tip
temperature.

Figure 23 – Poor flame quality

Impact of Fuel Composition
The main fouling precursors in the fuel are unsaturated components like olefins (i.e.,
propylene, butene), polyolefins (for example butadiene) and aromatics (benzene,
styrene, toluene) form polyaromatics that condense to form aerosols that coalesce into
larger droplets. The droplets hit the hot gas tip walls and form coke. The dienes are the
most reactive, but olefins are known to cause problems too.

Figure 24 – coke accumulation inside gas tip

The severity of the fouling problem depends on the concentration of unsaturated

components in the fuel, i.e. olefins, poly-olefins, and aromatics. At first glance, the typical
fuel shown in Table 1 does not seem to present a problem; the total concentration of
olefins is 6.5 vol%, but this is equivalent to 16 wt%. To put that in perspective, a 10
MMBtu/h burner will see 80 lb/h of C4 olefins. Compare this to the amount of coke that
causes problems inside gas tips: it is measured in ounces. The worst component in the
fuel in Table 1 is butadiene. The amount of 0.018 vol% does not seem like much but a 10
MMBtu/h burner sees 2000 lb per year of this highly fouling component.

To prevent the formation of the aerosols it is important to keep a fuel gas like this at
elevated temperature (>120°F) to prevent aerosol condensation.

Table 1 – Typical composition of refinery fuel gas

Typical RFG Vol%

Butadiene 0.018

1-Butene 1.228

C6 and Heavier 0.122

Cis-2-Butene 1.524

Ethane 5.696

Ethylene 0.334
Hydrogen 25.230

Isobutane 1.832

Isobutene 0.156

Isopentane 0.236

Methane 47.350

Normal Butane 4.398

Normal Pentane 0.142

Nitrogen 1.860

Propane 6.105

Propene 0.247

Trans-2-Butene 3.062

Impact of Burner Type

Conventional process burners usually have a single gas gun positioned inside the air
stream. The gas gun is kept cool by the incoming combustion air. Since all the fuel arrives
through a single gun, the fuel ports are relatively large. On the contrary, an Ultra-Low NOx
(ULN) burner has many gas tips located outside the burner tile in order to entrain and
mix as much flue gas into the flame as possible. These tips are much hotter and the fuel
ports are smaller than in a conventional burner. Ignition ports on these tips are as small
as 1/16 in.
Figure 25 – conventional burner (left) vs ULN burner principle (right)

Impact of Burner Design

We have already seen that the difference between conventional and ULN burner designs
has an impact on burner fouling propensity. There are other burner design factors to
consider for fouling concerns as well.

Tip Metallurgy

The tip metallurgy has been shown to influence catalytic coking. Typical 310 stainless
steels (or CK-20) contain 19 – 22% nickel which promotes catalytic coke formation.
Changing the tip material to ceramic, for example, will all but eliminate this type of coking
inside the gas due to the absence of nickel. The low thermal conductivity of the ceramic
material reduces the inside wall temperature reducing coke formation.

Double Drop
Some burner designs use an orifice plate inside the manifold to keep the gas ports above
a minimum size. The adiabatic expansion causes a large temperature drop in the fuel and
subsequent condensation of heavy components.

Example:

In extreme cases, freezing / hydrate formation has occurred in a natural gas fuel
containing water, where the double drop caused the burner manifold temperature to
drop below 40°F.

Design of the Gas Tip

The design of the gas riser and tip itself has an impact on the fouling behavior. For
example, an improperly designed gas riser / tip with high residence time or dead zones
inside the riser will provide more time and opportunity for aerosols to dehydrogenate
and attach to internal surfaces.

Gas tips that have large, exposed surface areas will absorb more radiant heat from the
firebox and be much hotter than small diameter tips.

Other Factors

Burners that use heavy oil fuels suffer from substantial fouling when the atomizing steam
flow is too low, or too cold. Poor atomizing results in oil droplets that are too large for
efficient volatilization, which causes a buildup of tar and ash inside the regen tile and on
top of cones and swirlers.

Hoar Frost / Rime Ice

Hoar frost and rime ice can be very problematic in cold conditions. The name hoar frost
originates from Old English where hoar is defined as “showing signs of old age.” It was
thought to make trees resemble a white beard through its feathery or hairy appearance.
Rime ice occurs when supercooled droplets freeze and attach onto an exposed surface.
Figure 26 – Hoar frost on perforated plates

Other sources of fouling are dust and sand entrained by the ambient air, refractory or
burner noise suppression lining that has come loose from the walls and ceiling, and rust
from the upstream fuel piping.

Symptoms of Burner Fouling

Burner fouling can have severe consequences. In ULN burners, the smallest ports are
typically the ignition ports. This means that the fuel ports that are the most important for
flame stabilization are also the most prone to plugging. Plugged gas ports can result in a
variety of symptoms:

• Glowing gas tips. Once the flow of the fuel is reduced to such an extent that it stops

cooling the gas tip, the tip assumes the firebox temperature and will start to glow. If left

untreated, the gas tip will be completely destroyed.

• Reduction of burner tile temperature. The thermal inertia of burner tiles is often used

to anchor a flame to the top or a ledge of the tile. A plugged gas port or tip can result in a

local dark color of the burner tile, where it should be bright yellow/white.

• Lifted flame. At locations where ports are plugged and tiles become cold, flames lose

their anchoring point and “float” above the tile.

• Flame huffing.The lifted flame may attempt to re-attach itself to the tile or the cone. The

repeated resulting changes in flame temperature and air side pressure drop can excite

other parts of the burner or even other flames. In extreme cases, the flame may be

extinguished.

• Yellow, lazy flames.When ports become plugged, the fuel/air ratio is distorted, and

parts of the flame will see much richer conditions. The mixing energy from the gas tips is

reduced, which lowers the reaction between air and fuel. The flames become more
 susceptible to the firebox aerodynamics and roll into the coils, causing hot spots and

radiant tube problems.

• Firebox flooding.Plugged ports, bad flames, and fuel/air maldistribution can result in

accumulation of unburned hydrocarbons inside the firebox. During normal operation

with a hot firebox, this typically causes emissions issue of CO; but, during startup or

turndown operation where the firebox is cold, flame instability can create serious safety

risk to startup personnel.

• High emissions.An imbalance in stoichiometry between burner tips or between

burners can cause an increase in unburned hydrocarbons and NOx emissions. Soot

deposition in the convection section may foul the finned tubes. In extreme cases,

afterburning in the convection can overheat convection tube supports and fins.

• Reduced capacity. The plugging of fuel ports causes the burners to operate at a higher

fuel pressure, up to the point where it is limited by the trip settings.

• Reduced fuel efficiency. Incomplete combustion and poor heat flux profiles can result

in reduced radiant efficiency, high arch temperature and high stack temperature.

Mitigation / Prevention Strategies

Since burner fouling can result in safety risks and efficiency losses, it is important to
mitigate and prevent fouling as much as possible.

Monitoring / Inspection

Visually inspect burner tiles for color changes. See if any gas tips are glowing. Check the
temperature of gas risers outside the firebox (a fouled tip may be warmer than clean tips).
Monitor flame quality and check for detached or lifted flames. Inspect flame size from
burner to burner. They should be the same. Check the brightness of the refractory
glow. It should be uniform from burner to burner.

Monitor the trend of the fuel pressure versus heater duty. Rising fuel pressure may
indicate gas tip fouling. Check the flue gas CO at the arch (preferred) or stack. Compare
the radiant pass outlet temperatures; a large difference may indicate a flame issue.

Fuel Piping

Install fuel gas filters, strainers, and/or coalescers. Note that a fuel gas coalescer removes
aerosols and droplets from the fuel gas stream. It is therefore extremely important to
maintain sufficient temperature between the coalescer and the burner. Apply insulation
or heat tracing. To prevent rust particles from plugging the gas ports, consider using
stainless steel fuel piping up to the burner.

Burner Design

Minimize the diameter of the gas tip portion that is exposed to the radiant heat. This will
maximize the fuel gas velocity and gas tip temperature in the most critical part of the tip.

Figure 27 – Small diameter gas tips

Consider Sched. 80 wall thickness of the gas tip to maximize fuel gas velocity and
minimize residence time.

Use a ‘double drop’ orifice upstream of the gas tip increase the size of the gas ports.
However, verify that the drop in fuel gas temperature does not cause excessive
condensation of heavy components.

Thank you for reading! Reach out to us with fouling related questions
at [email protected].
What is the brick wall on the heater floor used
for?
Posted on August 29, 2022 (November 3, 2022)

By: Joe Tleimat, Senior Principal Engineer

Fired Heater Features – What’s That For?!

There are four main reasons a brick wall (typically 3-5 bricks tall with some space
between bricks) is installed on the floor between the burners and tubes:

1. At heater turndown operation, the flue gas recirculation off the tubes can be cool
enough to cause high CO emissions, especially with Ultra-Low NOx burners. A brick wall
can help in two ways:

• by reducing the flow of relatively cool flue gas off the tubes

• by reradiating heat back to the burners

While not a complete solution, the bricks frequently help the heater run at a 25-50°F
lower bridgewall temperature for the same CO emissions. Unfortunately, as a trade-off,
NOx tends to be slightly higher at normal and design heat release if installed
correctly. Also note that if the wall is too close to the burner, too tall, or does not have
adequate brick spacing, it can block flue gas flow into the flame zone, which results in
much higher NOx. If your heater has CO emission problems at turndown operation and
has room to give on NOx emissions, consider adding a wall.

2. Occasionally, flue gas circulation currents in the radiant section are strong enough to
push flames around in an undesirable manner, causing impingement. A common attempt
to improve this condition is to install a brick wall to change the flue gas flow patterns. It
does not always work but is still frequently tried. CFD modeling is improving at predicting
these behaviors and is increasingly used to decide whether to install a wall.

3. For many years, some heater manufacturers installed the brick wall (Reed wall) by
default as low-cost insurance against the above issues. Whether there would be any ill
effect of removing the wall was hard to predict prior to CFD modeling.

4. Occasionally a wall is installed to shield the radiant tube bottom guide pins from
excessive radiant heat.

If your heater has a brick wall but suffers from issues such as high NOx or poor flame
patterns, consider XRG to analyze the situation and get your heater operating at peak
performance!
10 Easy Hacks for Heater & Combustion
Engineers
Posted on October 12, 2022 (December 6, 2022)

Since you can’t run a heater simulation every time you’re out in the field, here are some
easy hacks, rules of thumb, and formulas to help fired heater engineers in their daily
routine, especially when it comes to estimating the effect of fuel and air changes on
burner capacity and heater efficiency.

1. Convert percent excess air

to percent excess O2
Process heaters do not operate at exactly the right amount of air, so we need to provide
“excess” air to the system to ensure complete combustion of the fuel. The recommended
excess air level for a gas fired process furnace is 15%, according to industry
recommended practices, like API 535. In certain process plants, such as ethylene and
hydrogen production, furnaces operate steadily at high temperature. Here, the industry
norm is an excess air level of 8 – 10%. Combustion of liquid fuels, on the other hand,
requires excess air levels of 20 – 25% to prevent soot formation. Since the operator of the
furnace typically only knows the firebox oxygen level, use the following formula to
convert to excess air (EA) percentage.

The equations work well for typical refinery fuel gas mixtures but deviate for fuels that
are very high in inverts, hydrogen or carbon monoxide.

Example:
2. Fired heater efficiency
Fuel efficiency of a fired heater is an important indicator. It tells you how close the heater
runs to the design sheet conditions, if there is fouling or damage causing excess fuel use,
and ways to improve capacity or fuel consumption.

The precise calculation of the fuel efficiency is a bit of an undertaking, as shown in Annex
G of API 560, which requires the fuel composition, excess air, stack temperature, fuel
temperature, combustion air temperature, etcetera.

However, it is possible to get a good estimate of efficiency just from excess air and stack
temperature. See Figure 1 for the heater efficiency when operating on natural gas and
ambient air.

The graph can be used for other fuels as well, but accuracy will drop if the amount of
hydrogen or inert components is high. Also note that the graph does not account for
external heat sources like preheating the combustion air or fuel with waste steam.

If you do not know the excess air but only the stack O2 content, an even faster method is
available:

Metric:
Imperial:

These linear equations are only valid for O2 < 5%; above 5% the efficiency drops
exponentially.

Example:

Stack temperature = 300°C and stack oxygen is 2%: Efficiency = 100 – 300/20 – 2/2 =
84%

3. Firebox draft
Fired heaters are typically controlled to a draft of around 0.05 – 0.15 in.H2O at the exit of
the firebox.

Sometimes we need to know what the draft is in other locations, for example if we want
to estimate the pressure drop over a natural draft burner. Since draft varies linearly with
height inside the firebox, this can be easily estimated with the vertical distance (in feet)
between the location of the draft measurement and the point of interest.

By multiplying this number by 0.01 we get the draft difference expressed in inches of
water column:

For example, if a firebox is 45 ft. high and the arch draft is 0.15 in.H 2O, the draft at the
firebox floor is

0.15 + 45 x 0.01 = 0.60 in.H2O

For natural draft burners, this is the maximum available pressure drop for the
combustion air.

4. Estimate burner air capacity

If the performance of a burner is known at one condition (i.e. the design conditions on the
data sheet), you can estimate the effect of changes, like air temperature, on capacity.

Change in burner duty as a function of air temperature (with constant pressure drop):
Change in burner pressure drop as a function of air temperature (with constant duty):

where T is the absolute temperature (in K or °R).

If a burner is designed for a certain pressure drop with 250°F air temperature, and the
new air temperature drops to 150°F, we gain 8% extra capacity:

Using the same example but keeping the duty constant, we get 14% lower pressure drop:

5. Volumetric air to fuel ratio

for any hydrocarbon
The volumetric air requirement for any hydrocarbon can be calculated from the ratio of
carbon to hydrogen in the molecule (CxHy) and the fraction of excess air (EA) :

For example, methane is CH4, so x=1 and y=4. For an excess air of 20%, the air to fuel
volume ratio is:
Which means that we need 11.424 ft3 (or m3) of air to combust 1 ft3 (or m3) of methane.

For hydrogen (H2), x=0 and y=2. So, hydrogen combustion with 10% excess air yields:

6. Air to fuel mass ratio

In many cases we need to know the mass ratio of air to fuel. This can be calculated from
the volumetric ratio, the respective mole weights of air (which is 28.96), and fuel:

Methane mole weight is 16.04, so the air to fuel mass ratio for methane combustion at
20% excess air is

In other words, it takes 20.62 lb (or kg) to combust 1 lb (or kg) of methane with 20%
excess air. For hydrogen with 10% excess air:

7. Calculation of the amount of

flue gas
Now that we know how much air is needed for combustion, we can calculate the amount
of flue gas that is produced by adding 1.0 to the air to fuel mass ratio.

So, the flue gas to fuel mass ratio for methane combustion at 20% excess air is:

And for hydrogen with 10% excess air:

8. Estimate burner fuel
capacity
Being able to estimate the heat release as a function of fuel pressure can be very useful to
determine if a burner is fouled, check its maximum capacity for a new fuel, and/or verify
maximum heat release.

The actual equations to determine the fuel mass flow through orifices are a bit
cumbersome, but the general trend of fuel capacity curves helps make quick estimates.

Fuel is injected through nozzles, also known as fuel ports, into the flame. If the fuel
pressure is below a critical value, the flow through the nozzle will be subsonic.

Above this critical pressure the flow turns sonic. The absolute critical pressure ratio can
be calculated using:

where y is the heat capacity ratio cp/cv.

The heat capacity ratio and critical pressure for common fuel gases is shown below,
assuming the atmospheric pressure P0 = 14.7 psia (1.013 bars):

Table 1 – heat capacity ratio and critical fuel pressure

Pcrit Pcrit
g
psig Barg
Hydrogen 1.41 13.2 0.91

Methane 1.32 12.4 0.86

Ethane 1.22 11.5 0.79

Propane 1.13 10.7 0.74

n-Butane 1.09 10.4 0.72

n-Pentane 1.09 10.3 0.71

See Figure 2 for an example capacity curve. Below the critical pressure, duty varies
approximately with the square of the fuel pressure. In the choked flow region, it varies
linearly with fuel pressure. We can use this behavior to estimate burner duty.

As long as the flow is choked, the burner capacity can be estimated linearly. If we know
that the burner duty is 10 MMBtu/h at 16 psig, the duty at 25 psig will be:

As long as the flow is subsonic, the duty can be estimated assuming a square root
dependency on fuel pressure. For example, if the duty is 8 MMBtu/h at 10 psig, the duty
at 1 psig is approximately:

Figure 2 – methane capacity curve

To estimate the duty going from choked flow into subsonic flow or vice versa, divide the
estimate in two parts using the critical pressure. Say, for example, we know the heat
release for methane at 30 psig is 14.3 MMBtu/h, and we wish to know the heat release at
7 psig.

First, estimate the drop in heat release from 30 psig down to the critical pressure which
is 12.4 psig:

Then estimate the drop in heat release in the subsonic region:

9. Estimate casing heat loss
Fired process heaters are usually designed for a casing heat loss of 1.5 – 2.5%. This means
that on average about 2% of the fired duty is lost to the environment. Heat loss through
a casing is largely driven by a combination of natural convection and radiation as a
function of the outside casing temperature.

The calculation of heat transfer coefficients and thermal gradients can be tricky, but to
estimate the heat loss, all you need to remember is that insulation in an API heater is
designed to keep the casing temperature at 180°F (80°C) at zero wind conditions and
80°F (27°C) ambient air temperature.

Vertical walls with typical emissivity lose about 200 Btu/h-ft2, so only the total surface
area is needed to calculate total heat loss.

For example, a 15 ft. VC heater that’s 36 ft. tall with a 14 x 6.5 x 23 ft. convection section
on top has a total surface area of about 3900 ft2. A quick estimate of the heat loss = 3900
x 200 = 780,000 Btu/h.

For higher casing temperatures we can see a quick increase in heat loss. To get an idea,
see Figure 1 for heat loss as a function of casing temperature under zero wind conditions.

Figure 3
10. NOx correction
The chemistry of NOx formation is complex, but important since NOx is a major factor in
the formation of smog and ozone. The concentration of NOx is usually permitted to a
standard oxygen concentration to prevent dilution effects that obscure the real emission
values.

The typical standard for fired heaters is 3 vol% O2 (dry). To correct an actual stack
measurement to the right flue gas O2 level, use:

So, if the stack NOx concentration is 25 ppmvd at 4.5% O2, the corrected NOx to 3% O2
(dry) becomes

For gas fired heaters, most of the NOx formed is thermal NOx, which makes it a strong
function of the flame temperature. The amount produced is therefore strongly dependent
on the type of fuel because different fuels result in different flame temperatures, as shown
in Table 2.

Table 2 – Adiabatic flame temperature for stoichiometric combustion with air

AFT AFT
Component
(°F) (°C)
Methane 3565 1963

Ethene (Ethylene) 4249 2343

Ethane 3551 1955

Propane 3596 1980

n-butane 3578 1970

n-Pentane 3591 1977

Hydrogen 4089 2254

Carbon Monoxide 3850 2121

The impact of fuel composition on thermal NOx is calculated using the rate constants of
the (limiting) first step of the Zeldovich mechanism:

The change in NOx for two different adiabatic flame temperatures (AFT) is:

For example, to evaluate the effect of switching from a natural gas with a NOx level of 20
ppm to 100% hydrogen:

This is an extreme case, but it clearly shows the important effect that flame temperature
has on thermal NOx. Ambient conditions like humidity, excess air, and inert components
can have significant impact on the AFT and create swings in NOx production.

If fuel and air compositions are known, a precise calculation of the AFT allows engineers
to make accurate calculations of the thermal NOx variations.

More On New Fired Heaters

This is an extreme case, but it clearly shows the important effect that flame temperature
has on thermal NOx. Ambient conditions like humidity, excess air, and inert components
can have a significant impact on the AFT and create swings in NOx production.

If fuel and air compositions are known, a precise calculation of the AFT allows engineers
to make accurate calculations of the thermal NOx variations.