CL405

Process Equipment Selection

Furnaces
(Fired Heaters, Process Heaters)
and
Furnace Reactors

Prof. Ranjan Kumar Malik

Professor (Adjunct) of Chemical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
Powai, Mumbai 400076
rkmalik@iitb.ac.in
 Furnaces (Fired Heaters, Process Heaters)
and
Furnace Reactors

Topics as per Syllabus

Furnaces: Types of furnaces, simple 1-D, 2-D heat
transfer models of furnaces.

Presentation in Three Parts

1. Introduction to Furnaces and Furnace Reactors (this
presentation)
2. Review of Heat Transfer by Radiation (separate
presentation)
3. Design and Rating of Fired Heaters (separate
presentation)
rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 2
 Furnaces (Fired Heaters, Process Heaters)
and
Furnace Reactors

Recommended References
1. Chemical Process Equipment – Selection and Design, Stanley M.
Walas, Butterworth-Heinemann Series in Chemical Engineering,
1990 (Revised Edition can also be used)
2. Perry’s Chemical Engineers’ Handbook, Chapter 27 (Industrial
Furnaces), The McGraw Hill Companies, Inc., 8th Edition (1999).
3. Furnaces, NPTEL Course Material (Can be uploaded on
Moodle).
Must-Read Article
Process Burners 101, Erwin Platvoet & Charles Baukal, Chemical
Engineering Progress (AIChE Publication), August 2013.

rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 3
 Process Heater (Furnace)

➢ A process heater is a direct-fired heat exchanger

that uses the hot gases of combustion to raise the
temperature of a feed flowing through coils of tubes
aligned throughout the heater. Depending on the
use, these are also called furnaces or fired heaters.

➢ Some heaters simply deliver the feed at a

predetermined temperature to the next stage of the
reaction process; others perform reactions on the
feed while it travels through the tubes.

rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 4
 Types of Fired Heaters

➢ A fired heater has an insulated enclosure that uses

the heat created by the combustion of fuels to heat
fluids contained inside coils. The type of heater is
normally described by the:
• structural configuration,
• radiant tube coil configuration and
• burner arrangement.

➢ Some examples of structural configurations are

cylindrical, box, cabin, and multi-cell box.
rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 5
 Types of Fired Heaters
(Configurational Aspects)

➢ Examples of common radiant-tube coil configurations

include:
• Vertical
• Horizontal
• Helical
➢ Examples of burner arrangements include:
• Up-fired (bottom fired)
• Down-fired (top fired)
• Wall-fired (side fired)
➢ The wall-fired arrangement can be further classified as
sidewall, end-wall, and multilevel.
rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 6
 Process Heaters in Industry

➢ Process heaters are used throughout the

hydrocarbon and chemical processing industries in
places such as refineries, gas plants,
petrochemicals, chemicals and synthetics, olefins,
ammonia and fertilizer plants. Some plants may
have only two or three heaters while larger plants
can have more than fifty.

➢ Most of the unit operations in these plants require

fired heaters and furnaces. These operations
include: …............................continued on next slide
rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 7
 Unit Operations Requiring Fired
Heaters/Furnaces
…..continued
➢ Distillation
➢ Fluidized Catalytic Cracking (FCC)
➢ Alkylation
➢ Catalytic Reforming
➢ Continuous Catalyst Regeneration (CCR)
➢ Thermal Cracking
➢ Coking
➢ Hydrocracking
rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 8
 Typical Process Heaters

➢ Start-Up Heater — Starts-up a process unit where it is

required to heat up a fluidized bed of catalyst before
adding the charge.

➢ Fired Reboiler — Provides heat input to a distillation

column by heating the column bottoms and vaporizing
a portion of it. Used where heat requirement is greater
than that can be obtained from steam.

➢ Cracking Furnace — Converts larger molecules into

smaller molecules, usually with a catalyst (pyrolysis
furnace).
rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 9
 Typical Process Heaters

➢ Process Heater — Brings feed to the required

temperature for the next reaction stage.

➢ Process Heater Vaporizer — Used to heat and partially

vaporize a charge prior to distillation.

➢ Crude Oil Heater — Heats crude oil prior to distillation.

➢ Reformer Furnace — Chemical conversion by adding

steam and feed with catalyst

rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 10
Furnace in an Atmospheric Distillation System

Atmospheric
Crude Unit

Crude Oil Furnace

11
rkmalik@iitb.ac.in
 Fired Heaters
(Know the meaning of
various Terms)

Fired heaters transfer

heat generated from
combustion to a
process fluid. The main
sections of a fired
heater include the
burner, the firebox (i.e.,
radiant section), the
convection section,
and the stack.

rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 12
Steam Reformers in Ammonia Plants
(An Example of Furnace Reactors)

Top Fired Furnace Reactor

rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 13
Process Fired Heaters

A distant view of
a Fired Heater

rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 14
 Process Fired Heaters

TYPICAL
STEAM
METHANE
REFORMING
FURNACE

rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 15
 Process Fired Heaters

TYPICAL GAS
CRACKING
(PYROLYSIS)
FURNACE TO
PRODUCE
OLEFINS
(ETHYLENE)

rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 16
Process Fired
Heaters

Box-type Heater
with Horizontal
Tube Coil

rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 17
Process Fired
Heaters

A Simple
Schematic of
Radiant, Shield,
and Convection
Sections of a
Box-type Heater.

Figure Taken from

Stanley Walas rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 18
 Process
Fired Heaters

Heater with a
split convection
section for
preheating before
and soaking after
the radiant
section

Figure Taken from

rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 19
Stanley Walas
 Process Fired
Heaters

Vertical Radiant
Tubes in a
Cylindrical Shell

Figure Taken from

Stanley Walas
rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 20
 Process Fired
Heaters

Two radiant
chambers
with a
common
convection
section

Figure Taken from

Stanley Walas rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 21
 Description of Heat Transfer Process

➢ In fired heaters and furnaces, heat is

released by combustion of fuels into an
open space and transferred to fluids
inside tubes which are ranged along the
walls and roof of the combustion
chamber. The heat is transferred by
direct radiation and convection and also
by reflection from refractory walls lining
the chamber.
rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 22
 Description of Heat Transfer Process
Three Zones of Heat Transfer

➢ In the Radiant Zone, the heat transfer to load is

predominantly (about 90%) by radiation.

➢ The Convection Zone is “out of sight” of the

burners; - although some transfer occurs by
radiation because the temperature still is high
enough, most of the transfer here is by
convection. The application of extended surfaces
permits attainment of heat fluxes per unit of bare
surface comparable to those in the radiant zone
rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 23
 Description of Heat Transfer Process
Three Zones of Heat Transfer

➢ Shield section is the name given to the first two

rows or so leading into the convection section. On
balance these tubes receive approximately the
same heat flux as the radiant tubes because the
higher convection transfer counteracts the lesser
radiation due to lack of refractory wall backing.
Accordingly, shield tubes are never finned.
➢ The usual temperature of flue gas entering the
shield section is 1300-1650°F and should be 200-
300°F above the process temperature at this
point.
rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 24
 Description of Heat Transfer Process

➢ Performance of a heater is characterized by the

average heat flux in the radiant zone and the
overall thermal efficiency.
➢ Higher fluxes make for a less expensive heater
but can generate high skin temperatures inside
and out.
➢ Thermal sensitivity of the process fluid, the
strength of the metal, and its resistance to
corrosion at elevated temperatures, are factors
to be taken into account in limiting the peak flux.
rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 25
Description of Heat Transfer Process

Typical Radiant Fluxes and Process Temperatures

rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 26
 Description of Heat Transfer Process
Excess Air and Efficiency

➢ A certain amount of excess air is needed to

ensure complete combustion. Typical minimum
excess requirements are 10% for gaseous fuels
and 15-20% for liquids.
➢ Efficiency is the ratio of total heat absorbed in
radiant, convection, and heat recovery sections
of the heater to the heat released by
combustion. The released heat is based on the
lower heating value of the fuel and ambient
temperature. With standard burners, efficiencies
may be in the range 60-80%.
rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 27
Performance Objectives of Process Heaters

The performance objectives of process heaters are

similar to those of other process units:
➢ Maximize heat delivery of the process-side feed
while minimizing fuel consumption.
➢ Maximize heat delivery with varying fuel quality.
➢ Minimize heater structural wear caused by
operation.
➢ Minimize stack emissions (heat, CO, NOx ).
➢ Maximize safety integrity levels.

rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 28
 Burners and Burner Operation

➢ The burners on a process heater premix the

fuel with the primary air which is aspirated into
the burner by the fuel gas flow. The primary air
flow should be maximized without lifting the
flame off the burner.
➢ The pressure of the fuel gas supply is important
since low gas pressure degrades performance.
➢ Most of the air (as primary air) is delivered to
the burner along with the fuel. Secondary air is
introduced and adjusted with the registers.
rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 29
 Burners and Burner Operation

➢ Too much or too little secondary air gives poor

combustion.
➢ Incomplete combustion occurs when not
enough combustion air is supplied to burn all
the fuel completely. The large amount of CO
and H2O formed as a result of the incomplete
combustion makes the burner extremely
inefficient. This reduces the flame temperature
and might encourage the operator to increase
fuel flow thus making matters worse.
rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 30
 Burner with Correct Combustion Air
(Taken from THERMOX Brochure)

► Good flame length ► Maximum flame temperature

rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 31
Burner with Insufficient Combustion Air
(Taken from THERMOX Brochure)

► Long flame ► Very little NOx

► Very inefficient ► Cooler temperature
rkmalik@iitb.ac.in 32
 Burner with too much Combustion Air
(Taken from THERMOX Brochure)

► Short flame ► Cooler temperature

rkmalik@iitb.ac.in
► Wasted heat ► Increased NOx 33