Boiler Efficiency

Introduction
Prof. M. M. Sorour Faculty of Engineering Alexandria University

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What do you mean by boiler load?

It refer to the total demand imposed upon the boiler by the equipment and its connecting piping system when there is the greatest requirement (usually at the time of start- up)
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What do you mean by boiler rating?

It refers to the manufacturer-stated capacity of a boiler capable of handling the boiler load. The boilers are rated on the basis of catalog heating surface area or by performance test or by both.
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What do you mean by maximum boiler output? This refers to the greatest amount of heat that can be developed at the boiler nozzle for a brief spell. It has no connection to normal operating limitations.
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What is nominal rating? It is the theoretical heating load a boiler is designed to handle. Of course, it does not necessarily indicate the correct boiler rating.
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What is net boiler rating?

It is the actual heating load the boiler is capable of handling.

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In which units may ratings be expressed?

1- Equivalent evaporation (Kg of steam generated per hr from and at 100 C or for a specified pressure and temperature) 2- Rate of heat generated (Kcal/hr) in furnace 3- for utility plants by their turbine capability in megawatts
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What are ECR and MCR of a boiler?

ECR stands for Economic Continuous Rating , i.e. it is the boiler load at which the boiler runs with optimum efficiency. MCR stands for Maximum Continuous Rating i.e. it is the maximum boiler load at which the boiler can run without any problem. ECR of a boiler is 70-80% of its MCR
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What is overloading of a boiler? It is the running of a boiler at a load higher than its MCR value for a considerable length of time.

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What are the consequences of overloading a boiler?

1- Affect the design circulation velocity. 2- Result in higher flue gas temperature. 3- Bring about higher superheated steam temperature that may lead to superheater coil failure by bulging or overheating. A boiler is never guaranteed for running at overload.
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Why is it not advisable to run a boiler at part load?

Constant running of a boiler at part load will cut short its life due to rapid wear and tear

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What do you mean by the firing regime of a boiler?

This is also called the start-up regime, and is basically heating the water-steam and gas-air paths. The process of steam generation sets in and the temperature and pressure of the steam is gradually raised to the specified value.
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Does the boiler start-up depend on the normal state of equipment? Yes, there are three states: 1- Hot start-up 2- Warm start-up 3- Cold start -up

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Combustion Efficiency:
Combustion efficiency is an indication of the burner's ability to burn fuel.
The amount of unburned fuel and excess air in the exhaust are used to assess a burner's combustion efficiency. Burners resulting in low levels of unburned fuel while operating at low excess air levels are considered efficient.
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Combustion Efficiency:
Well designed burners firing gaseous and liquid fuels operate at excess air levels of 15% and result in negligible unburned fuel. By operating at only 15% excess air, less heat from the combustion process is being used to heat excess air, which increases the available heat for the load. This is the effectiveness of the burner only
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Combustion Efficiency
Combustion efficiency is a measure of the chemical energy available in fuel that is liberated by the combustion process. Quantifying combustion efficiency involves : 1. losses from unburned carbon in the flue gas (CO) 2. losses from unburned carbon in the solid residue (bottom ash and fly ash) 3. losses from unburned hydrocarbons (UHCs) in the flue gases
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Combustion Efficiency
Under perfect combustion conditions, the following phenomena can occur. Carbon in hydrocarbon fuel combines with oxygen in the combustion air to form CO2. Hydrogen in the fuel combines with oxygen in the combustion air to form water vapor.
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Combustion Efficiency
The heat produced by this exothermic reaction is expressed as British Thermal Units (Btu's):

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Combustion Efficiency
Incomplete combustion due to an imbalance in the fuel-to-air ratio can result in significant energy loss that translates to decreased combustion efficiency. When insufficient combustion air (oxygen) is available for complete fuel combustion, some of the carbon remains unburned.
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Combustion Efficiency
Incomplete combustion can result in the formation of CO and carbon-laden PM known as soot. If no additional air is made available to complete the combustion process, two forms of energy are wasted. Heat is lost from the system as hot CO gas or soot particles leaving the stack, and energy is not extracted from the unburned or partially burned carbon
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Combustion Efficiency
If there is insufficient oxygen, the carbon is completely oxidized to carbon monoxide according to the following equation: 2C + 0 2 = 2CO + 3,960 Btu/lb of C If carbon monoxide is present in the flue gas, no complete combustion has occurred and there is a loss of (14,100 - 3,960) Btu/lb of incompletely burned fuel (10,140 Btu/Ib of C of wasted energy).
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Combustion Efficiency
Moisture in fuel represents another form of heat loss. The water vapor leaving the stack reduces the available energy by carrying away the associated latent heat of vaporization. As water vapor from the fuel is superheated, additional heat loss is experienced. The wasted energy from this form of heat loss can be significant for solid fuels but tends to be less for gaseous fuels, which usually have a lower moisture content.
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Combustion Efficiency
Air supplied to a boiler in excess of that required for complete fuel combustion (excess air beyond stoichiometric conditions) is also detrimental to efficiency. The efficiency reduction results from excess air entering the boiler at ambient temperature and exiting the system at the stack temperature.
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Thermal Efficiency:
Thermal efficiency is a measure of the effectiveness of the heat exchanger of the boiler. It measures the ability of the exchanger to transfer heat from the combustion process to the water or steam in the boiler.
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Thermal Efficiency:
Because thermal efficiency is solely a measurement of the effectiveness of the heat exchanger of the boiler, it does not account for radiation and convection losses due to the boiler's casing, water column, or other components. It is not a true indication of the boilers fuel usage and should not be used in economic evaluations.
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Fuel To Steam Efficiency:

Fuel-to-steam efficiency is a measure of the overall efficiency of the boiler. It accounts for the effectiveness of the heat exchanger as well as the radiation and convection losses.
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Fuel To Steam Efficiency:

It is an indication of the true boiler efficiency and should be the efficiency used in economic evaluations. This is the ratio of heat output divided by the heat input. This includes all the heat loss.
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Stack Losses
Stack temperature is a measure of the heat carried away by dry flue gases and the moisture loss. It is a good indicator of boiler efficiency.

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Stack Temperature
The stack temperature is the temperature of the combustion gases (dry and water vapor) leaving the boiler and reflects the energy that did not transfer from the fuel to the steam or hot water. The lower the stack temperature, the more effective the heat exchanger design, and the higher the fuel-to-steam efficiency.

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Radiation and Convection Losses

All boilers have radiation and convection losses. The losses represent heat radiating from the boiler (radiation losses) and heat lost due to air flowing across the boiler (convection losses).
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Radiation and Convection Losses

Radiation and convection losses, expressed in Btu/hr, are essentially constant throughout the firing range of a particular boiler, but vary between different boiler types, sizes, and operating pressures. However, these losses as a percentage of boiler output get worse whenever the load diminishes.
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Unaccounted losses
These losses, which are not related to the combustion process, are associated with cyclic rather than continuous boiler operations.

1. prepurge and postpurge losses, 2. natural-draft losses, 3. off-line shell losses.

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Unaccounted losses
Prepurge and postpurge losses involve forcing air through the boiler to remove unburned combustibles before startup and after shutdown. When this operation is performed, the flowing air removes some thermal energy from the boiler.
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Unaccounted losses
Similar to purging losses, natural-draft losses occur when the boiler is shut off and air circulates naturally through the boiler. Off-line shell losses are radiant heat losses that occur after the boiler is shut off. Firetube boilers typically have off-line shell losses much less than comparable size watertube boilers because the shell temperature of a firetube boiler is more of a function of the water temperature than the combustion gas temperature.
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In-Service Efficiency:
The resulting efficiency of a boiler when the total operating cycles are taken into account such as day, night, weekends, high loads, standby loads. It reflects how well a particular boiler design handles a particular operating model.
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The basic difference between Fuel-toSteam versus In-Service efficiencies The Fuel-to-Steam efficiency is measured at a fixed fire-rate In-Service efficiency measures how well a particular boiler design responds from idling to full fire under a projected operating schedule.
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Example
A 100% fire rate - which includes convection and radiation losses (fuelto-steam) - the efficiency of a boiler for natural gas at an operating steam pressure is about 80%. Drop the fire rate to 25% for the same boiler and the efficiency becomes about 78.5%.
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Example
In-Service efficiency of a boiler at 100% load, (meaning full fire 24 hours per day, 365 days per year) will be equal to Fuel-to-Steam efficiency. Drop the steam load to 25%, (i.e. full fire for six hours and idling for 18 hours) and the In-Service efficiency will be much lower than 78.5% efficiency.
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Example
Idle the boiler to keep it warm and ready to deliver steam upon demand and the In-Service efficiency becomes zero.

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In-Service Efficiency:
In-Service efficiency is the most conservative approach to efficiencies and should be considered in order to project what the bottom line fuel consumption of a boiler should be.
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Key Factors in understanding Efficiency calculations

The flue gas temperature Fuel specification Excess Air Ambient temperature Radiation and Convection losses
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The flue gas temperature:

It must be a proven value for the efficiency calculations to be reflective of the true fuel usage of the boiler. Dont be fooled by estimated stack temperature, make sure the stack temperature is proven.
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Fuel specification:
The fuel specification can have a dramatic effect on efficiency. In the case of gaseous fuels, the higher the hydrogen content, the more water vapor is formed during combustion. This water vapor uses energy as it changes phase in the combustion process.
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Fuel specification:
This is one reason why fuel oil fires at higher efficiencies levels than natural gas. At identical operating conditions, efficiencies can vary as much as 2.5-3.0 % based solely on the hydrogen to carbon ratio of the fuel.
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Excess Air:
Excess air is supplied to the burner because a boiler firing without sufficient air or fuel rich is operating in a potentially dangerous condition.

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Excess Air:
A quality burner will allow firing at minimum excess air level of 15% ( 3%O2). When reviewing an efficiency guarantee check the excess air level. If 15% excess air is being used to calculate the efficiency, the burner should be of a very high quality with good damper and linkage features.
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Ambient temperature:
It can have a dramatic effect on boiler efficiency. When reviewing an efficiency guarantee check ambient temperature utilized.

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Ambient temperature:
If higher than the actual condition it is not consistent with engineering practice. The outside temperature gets really cold at night and should be considered.

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Radiation and Convection losses

Radiation and convection losses represent the heat losses radiating from the boiler vessel. Boilers are insulated to minimize these losses. However, every boiler has radiation and convection losses.
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Radiation and Convection losses

Some times efficiency is represented without any radiation and convection losses. This is not a true reflection of fuel usage of the boiler. The boiler design also can have an effect on radiation and convection losses
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Boiler efficiency calculations

Boiler efficiency calculations that are accurate and representative of actual boiler fuel usage require the use of proven and verified data, including:
Proven stack temperature Accurate fuel specification Actual operating excess air levels Proper ambient air temperature Proper radiation & convection losses
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Why choose the most efficient:

When you buy a boiler, you really are putting down a payment on purchase steam. The payment is ongoing over the life of the equipment and is driven by inservice efficiency and maintenance cost.
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Why choose the most efficient:

Although the cost of boiler is highly variable and depends on the capacity, pressure, and size, yet the fuel cost is always a significant proportion. Efficiency figures are only useful if it is repeatable and sustainable over the life of the equipment. A high efficiency boiler will not only be less of a drain on your bank balance, it will also reduce impact on the environment.
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General load in a factory

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Selection Of A Boiler
The average industrial load in a factory is much below the economic load and therefore high part load efficiency is important and will be used most of the time.

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Selection Of A Boiler
Selection of a boiler that have high efficiency at peak load and very low efficiency at part load is not wise. On the other hand selecting boilers with high part load efficiency will save thousands of dollars.
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Efficiency

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Fuel Savings

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Fuel Savings

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Efficiency
Continuous operation at peak efficiency is often impractical because of load variations, but operation at steady load and avoidance of cyclic or on-off operation can improve efficiency. However, on-off operation can and will reduce overall energy usage, depending on the output requirements.

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Efficiency
While every boiler and burner arrangement will perform somewhat differently, it is possible to project variations in efficiency based on boiler load. It is important to understand that efficiency loss can vary as much as 10% when operations change from the maximum continuous rating (MCR) to reduced boiler output (30 to 40% of capacity).

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What is the most efficient boiler?

One that not only starts up efficiently but continues to operate efficiently year by year. The burner technology must be proven to be capable of holding the air /fuel ratio. Make sure the burner design includes reliable and repeatable features.
Choosing the most efficient boiler is more than just choosing a boiler to meet a given efficiency value. 4/11/20082006

What is the most efficient boiler?

There are designs and types of boilers that are more efficient than the others. In order to compare between two different boilers the In-Service Efficiency should be used to account for the capability of the unit for a specific load.
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Replace or Repair.
The decision to purchase a new boiler is typically driven by the needed replacement of an old boiler, an expansion of an existing steam requirements. When considering the replacement of an old boiler, review the following points to make sure you are performing a comprehensive evaluation of your situation.
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Maintenance Costs
Review your maintenance costs carefully. The old unit is costing you money in various ways, including
Emergency maintenance, Downtime, Major maintenance requirements (past and pending), Difficult-to-find and expensive parts requirements, Operator time in keeping the unit on-line, and Overall problems in
Vessel, Burner Refractory.

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Maintenance Costs
Many of these costs can be hidden within your overall maintenance budget. You are paying the price for having outdated boiler room equipment. But the costs need to be investigated and totalled.

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Boiler performance
New boilers have much higher performance standards than older design units. Available on premium designed packaged boilers.
Turndown, Excess air, Automatic operation, Accurate-repeatable air/fuel ratio burner designs, Computer linked combustion controls, Low emission technology, 4/11/20082006 High guaranteed efficiency

Boiler performance
The result is low operating costs and automatic power generation for your facility. All cost saving reasons to consider a new packaged boiler.
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Fuel Usage
If your old unit is designed to fire low grade fuel oil, or if you need to evaluate propane or any other different fuel capability, Review the conversion costs along with existing maintenance, performance, and efficiency issues to see if

the time is right to consider a new boiler purchase.

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Fuel Usage
Many times an investment is made in an old unit when the costs associated with the next major maintenance requirement will justify a new unit.

The result is wasted money on the old unit upgrade.

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Energy conservation methods can be classified to: Selection of appropriate high efficiency boiler Selection of efficient steam piping system. Utilizing energy conservation schemes in improving efficiency. Energy conservation projects.
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