Computer‐based boiler efficiency improvement

Abstract

This article was concerned with calculating efficiency of boilers which are the most important types of performance measurements in a steam system. A Java program was developed for this calculation, and a steam boiler available in the Egyptian Salts and Minerals Company (EMISAL) in Fayoum governorate—Egypt was selected as a case study; as it has different types of boilers with different capacities. The mathematical model developed here is based on direct and indirect methods for boiler efficiency calculation. The program can provide detailed flow and thermodynamic characteristics of the boiler components and steam tables for different types of steam. It is expected to be useful for predicting the characteristics and the performance of any steam boiler. It also can be used to calculate the input and used heat in the boiler. The findings model showed high accuracy in calculating boiler and combustion efficiencies (100%), the percentage of boiler combustion products (99%) and losses from the boiler (99%). The calculations take less than 1 min compared with other commercial softwares on the market, as Aspen Plus and ASCEND for the chemical process industry and more specialized software like GateCycle and GASCAN+ for gas turbines. This specialized software focuses on the steam boiler under any condition, so it is more accurate and can simplify the experimental procedure for any steam boiler, save time and costs in the experiment. © 2019 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 38:e13146, 2019