Abstract
Air infiltration into the combustion chambers of industrial furnaces is an unwanted phenomenon causing loss of thermal efficiency, fuel consumption increase, and the subsequent increase in operating costs. In this study, a novel design for a rotary tilting furnace door with improved construction features is proposed and tested experimentally in a laboratory-scale furnace, aimed at air infiltration rate reduction by decreasing the gap width between the static furnace door and the rotating body. Temperatures in the combustion chamber and oxygen content in the dry flue gas were measured to document changes in the combustion process with the varying gap width. Volumetric flow values of infiltrating air calculated based on measured data agree well with results of numerical simulations performed in ANSYS and with the reference calculation procedure used in relevant literature. An achievable air infiltration reduction of up to 50% translates into fuel savings of around 1.79 to 12% of total natural gas consumption of the laboratory-scale furnace. The average natural gas consumption increase of around 1.6% due to air infiltration into industrial-scale furnaces can thus likewise be halved, representing fuel savings of almost 0.3 m3 per ton of charge.
Highlights
Reduction of the carbon footprint of industry is a primary objective of the European Union [1,2].Energy efficiency, one of the pillars of the EU Energy Union strategy, has been proposed as a solution, namely as a highly effective pathway to improve the economic competitiveness and sustainability of the European economy
= 1 (m3 ·m−3 ); Lmin,yo2 is the theoretical volume of the oxidizing agent if m = 1 (m3 ·m−3 ); O2 is the oxygen content in dry flue gases determined by means of flue gas analysis (% vol.); YO2 is the required oxygen concentration in oxygen-enriched combustion air for experimental measurement (%); VAI is the volumetric flow of air infiltration (m3 ·h−1 ); B is the consumption of fuel (m3 ·h−1 ); V1 is the volumetric flow of oxidizing agent determined on the basis of Table 3 (m3 ·h−1 )
Air infiltration increases combustion air excess and leads to increased thermal losses in flue exiting the furnace. It leads to a decrease in the overall oxygen concentration in the gases exiting the furnace. It leads to a decrease in the overall oxygen concentraoxidizing agent
Summary
Reduction of the carbon footprint of industry is a primary objective of the European Union [1,2]. A solution to this issue lies in the modification of the furnace door design, which can reduce air infiltration through better sealing of the door opening, decreasing the gap through which air infiltrates into the furnace In this way, a contribution can be made to achieving greater efficiency of oxygen use in furnaces, leading to an increased technological process efficiency and Processes 2020, 8, x FOR PEER REVIEW cal process efficiency and reduced greenhouse-gas emissions due to fuel savings. The authors of this article designed and created an experimental laboratory-scale model of a rotary tilting furnace with a novel design of emissions the furnace door to investigate the impactofof airarticle infiltration on and the combusreduced greenhouse-gas due to fuel savings The authors this designed created tion process and the resulting fuel consumption.
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