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Energy Procedia 105 (2017) 3377 – 3383

The 8th International Conference on Applied Energy – ICAE2016

Billets Heat Treatment Using Flue gas for Energy Efficiency

and Batching Cycle Time Reduction
Mouhamadou A. Diop, Chen Xiaomeng, Mohamed I. Hassan *
Mechanical and Materials Engineering Dept., Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Abstract

Exhaust gas temperature in natural gas reverberatory furnaces can reach 700 – 900 ◦C at the furnace’s chimney exit,
carrying 40% to 65% of the total input energy. This study meant to investigate the utilization of the exhaust flue gas
waste energy to preheat aluminum billets before homogenization process in batch homogenizers. Currently, the heat
from flue gas can be retrieved by installing an extra heat exchanger, at the exit. This paper proposes a novel strategy
replace the natural gas fired burners with flue gas waste heat extracted from exit from the recuperator. Also, the flue
gas heat can replace the natural gas-fired power, resulting in better energy savings and the reduction of heat treatment
cycle times. Thermodynamically case studies based on heat flue gas recycling and re-using through the heat
exchanger and preheater into furnaces are performed on billets. The exhaust flue gas temperature on billets preheating
process and efficiency is studied, as well as the effects of aluminum billets preheating process on homogenizing cycle
time. The results indicate an excellent performance of the novel strategy, with a decrease in energy loss and
improvement in heat transfer characteristics. The use of the heat flue gas equivalent of the novel approach can save
nearly 32% of time compared to the system using conventional process. Our achievements provide a promising heat
recovery method of the utility flue gas.

© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
© 2016 Mouhamadou A. Diop, Chen Xiaomeng, Mohamed I. Hassan. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Selection and/or
Peer-review peer-reviewofunder
under responsibility responsibility
the scientific of of
committee ICAE
the 8th International Conference on Applied Energy.

Keywords: Flue gas; Furnace Pre-heating process; billets; Energy Efficiency; Cast House.

1. Introduction

Aluminum billet preheating treatment as shown in Figure 1, a product from an aluminum extrusion

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +971 2 810 9332.

E-mail address: miali@masdar.ac.ae.

1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 8th International Conference on Applied Energy.
doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2017.03.763
3378 Mouhamadou A. Diop et al. / Energy Procedia 105 (2017) 3377 – 3383

Fig. 1. Process map of aluminum billets

process, which will be sent to the homogenizer batch furnace to produce a final product. Before the
homogenizing process, billets must be preheated to a proper temperature of about 300°C in a preheating
furnace. The heat is generated by direct combustion of fuel resulting in the flue gas as a product of
combustion. The flue gas can reach a temperature up to 1100°C, which still contains a large amount of
thermal energy. A favorite method of utilizing this waste heat from the flue gas, it can raise the
combustion air temperature up to 500°C [1, 2].
From the studies of Jiang et al. [3] and Chen et al. [4], it is found that the flue gas temperature after
leaving a recuperator is still at approximately 350-450°C. Therefore, the idea is to utilize the remaining
energy in the flue gas to preheat the aluminum billets before getting into a reheating homogenizing batch
furnace to save energy and/or heat treatment cycle time. A study of Minxing et al. [5] shows that from the
numerical prediction, Biot number of a billet is 0.03 which is less than 0.01. Therefore, the lumped
capacitance method is valid to calculate a temperature profile of the billet. From his calculation by 1.48
hours, the temperature of the billet rises from 35°C to 315°C with flue gas temperature of 815°C, and this
preheat method can save energy by 278.12 kJ/kg. This can be converted to the cost saving of $215,086 per
year with a capital cost of $1,250,000 and three years of the payback period. Studies carried out by
Shamanian and Najafizadeh [6] on hot loading process has revealed that an increase of 100°C in
preheating temperature of steel before loading the metal into a furnace could save 80- 120 kJ/kg of
energy. It is reported from a study of Ross [6] that 20 percent of hot charge at 600°C leads to the energy
reduction by 7 percent. A batch-type preheating device is also found useful for a glass furnace [7]. The
charged material can be heated up to 350°C depending on the condition of the flue gas.
This present study focuses on the energy and heating time saving from the preheated aluminum billets
by the heat flue gas. The objective is to investigate the aluminum billets preheating process by using flue
gas before soaking in a homogenizing batch furnace for reheat to reduce energy consumption, emissions
of GHG and heat treatment process time during operation. Heat treatment model for flue gas preheating
furnace is developed. The energy efficiency after the implementation is investigated for an industrially
viable model based on the sizes of the furnace.

2. preheating furnace

The performance of the gas heat recovery from exhaust gas is affected by the flue gas heat capacity and
the work capacity of the retrieved heat. Therefore, to evaluate and analyse the performance of the system,
we should simultaneously consider the energy of the exhaust gas and the work capacity of the retrieved
heat.

2.1. Thermodynamic analysis of the heat flue gas

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The heat released from exhaust flue gas, which is the heat utilized by the preheating furnace, is equal
to the enthalpy difference between the inlet and outlet of the heat (flue gas). The enthalpy H of the flue
gas from every kilogram of fuel used in fuel fired furnace can be calculated as follows,

0
H =H gas  ( A  1) H air
0
(1)
And,

H0 V0 C T
. air p (2)
Where A is the excess air ratio; H is enthalpy (kJ/m3); V is the theoretical volume of air (m3/kh-fuel).

The flue gas is mainly a mixture of CO2, N2, and H2O, and the enthalpy of the flue gas is the sum of the
individual enthalpy components such as,

0
H gas VCO 2 C pT  VN2 C pT  VH 2O C pT (3)
CO 2 N2 H 2O

Where Vx is the volume of the x-component in the flue gas and (CpT) represents the specific enthalpy
(kJ/m3) of the x-composition in flue gas at temperature T.

From Eqs.(1)-(3), the heat retrieved from the exhaust flue gas Qs is expressed by,

Qs B j Hin  H out
(4)
Where Bj is the Natural gas combustion rate (kg/s), and Hin and Hout represent the flue gas enthalpies at
the inlet and outlet for each kg of fuel (kJ/kg), respectively.

3. Characterization of aluminum billet preheating process using recycled furnace flue gas

Several test cases were performed on billets preheating/reheating batch furnaces with the objectives to
use data from industry as shown in Table 1 to evaluate the performance of the batch furnaces. The billet
preheating/reheating batch furnace used is rectangular in shape measuring approximately 5.4 m of high,
2.4 m of wide, and 17.4 m of length. The furnace is direct with natural gas and combustion air through
roof burners that are arranged in eleven rows with four burners per row (see Figure 2).
Control of each cycle is facilitated by thermocouples inserted through the west wall of the batch
furnace. These thermocouples measure an average temperature of the combustion gasses, refractory, and
nearby billets. Insertion through the side wall, as opposed to the roof, positions the thermocouples closer
to the billets thus providing greater sensitivity to billet temperatures.

Table 1. Cast alloys used in this study (D1>D3>D2)

Cast N◦ Alloys Diameter (mm) Number of logs

1 65047 D1 128
2 65047 D2 160
3 65047 D3 96
3380 Mouhamadou A. Diop et al. / Energy Procedia 105 (2017) 3377 – 3383

Fig. 2. A Plan view of Cathouse's billet preheating furnace using heat flue gas

Inside the furnace, the billets are placed about D2 above a refractory hearth and supported by water-
cooled hearth blocks or stationary beams. The D1 billets are loaded on every second stroke, with each
stroke also being D1. These results in a charge consisting of ninety-six billets and, assuming a billet
weight of about one ton, a total load weight of about ninety-six tons. The D3 billets, or smaller, are loaded
on every stroke of 274 mm thus producing a gap of at least 121 mm. In this case, the load consists of one-
hundred-sixteen billets and, approximately 0.7 ton per billet, a total load weight of about eighty-one tons.
The pacing rate for the D3 billets is quicker since the total load weight is smaller. Moreover, the surface
area to volume ratio is larger, which allows for faster billet heating. Strategies for each alloy were
developed through experimental data and analysis.

4. Results and discussion

The mathematical analysis model of a billet reheating furnace was used to validate the model using
industrial data, to determine process parameters including billet preheating/reheating profiles and
efficiency of preheating strategy, and to examine current delay strategy and investigate alternatives.
The verification of the model and subsequent simulations has been limited to D2 billets owing to the
availability of gas flow data.

4.1. Model Verification

Verification is an important stage in the development of our model. In this study, the verification
procedure was directed to ensure the model is capable of simulating steady-state furnace operation with
logs, by extending the simulation to the transient operation, and to assess the validity of assumptions
employed in the model, i.e. the plug flow approximation used for the furnace gasses.
In this study, one focuses on a model furnace of gas temperatures and oxygen contents at different
positions. The temperatures south of furnace, which close to the door, were about 673 ◦C and 688◦C, or
about 50ᶱC higher than the logged flue gas temperatures. However, on the north side facing the furnace
chamber, the gas temperatures were substantially higher at 692◦C and 695◦C. The gas temperatures in
furnace ranged 642◦C and 653◦C. The oxygen readings in furnace chamber vary from 1.5% to 4.3%
indicating that air/fuel ratios at the burners were high, and this would also account for diluted carbon
dioxide readings of 8-10%.
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Fig. 3. Evolution of flue gas temperature, waste gas, combustion air and the number of preheated billets

Fig. 4. Temperature profiles of billet preheating in a furnace at several positions

The flue gas temperature was obtained at 646◦C as shown in Figure 3. The oxygen content of the flue
gasses was taken 4.5% further suggesting that leakage air was entering in the furnace through the door.
The combustion air temperature of 482◦C and waste gas temperature of 390◦C are also in agreement with
the logged furnace data. In Figure 3, one observes a quasi-stable evolution of the flue gas temperature as
well as the waste gas and the temperature. The latter’s temperatures are similar (~400◦C) whereas the
flue gas temperature reaches 646◦C). Figure 3 also demonstrates the efficiency of flue gas to preheat a
large number of billets in one day of operation. Figure 4 shows that the preheated billet using flue gas is
well heated homogeneously. Despite the long residence time of 70 mins, the unloading temperature is
close to the temperature profiles of aluminum billet heat treatment.
The predicted steady-state gas temperatures are shown in Figure 5. For each position along the length
of the furnace, two gas temperatures are reported by the model representing the gas zone near the center
of the furnace, which is hotter, and the gas zone next to the wall. There is a reasonable result for
prediction of gas temperatures during heating process and zones, particularly if allowance is made for the
fact that the sampling ports correspond to the gas cycles near the wall. In this figure, the predicted
temperature near the wall and 12.6 m into the furnace drop to 391°C.
3382 Mouhamadou A. Diop et al. / Energy Procedia 105 (2017) 3377 – 3383

Fig. 5. Numerical simulation of temperature evolutions for steady-state furnace operation

5. Conclusion

In this paper, a multi-dimensional heat flue gas preheating process has been performed using Finite
Elements Methods (FEM) with spatially distributed emission factors is presented to obtain a real
aluminum billet temperature increase in the aluminum preheating furnace. The energy efficiency of the
heat flue gas on aluminum billet preheating process is sufficient for an initial billets temperature of 300◦C
was used since this was estimated to be the preheating load temperature. The thermal efficiency with
preheated load slightly increased from 30% to 32.3%. The average temperature of the unloading billets at
the end of the simulation when the system reaches steady-state was 500°C, and this is close to the
unloading temperature of 400°C. At a stroke interval of 45.0 s, the furnace throughput is 69.3 tons per
hour and represents an increase of 15%. However, the thermal efficiency decreased slightly to 29.4% from
30.8% because the hotter billets in the loading cycle absorbed less thermal energy from heat flue gasses.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to appreciate the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology support for the
biodiesel fuel flame characterizations.

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Biography
Dr. Mouhamadou Aziz Diop is a researcher at Masdar Institute of Science and Technology.
He is working on several topics and among them, one can cite: Advanced Modelling and
simulation in a Hall-Heroult cell and in optimization of energy efficiency in Al-cast house
for engineering applications.