OCR Text |
Show on line within two months of completion of the concept and design phase, eliminating 6 months of additional delay in achieving the new capacity. A picture of the completed boiler is shown in Figure 6. The burner design for the unit was a .432 m (17 in) diameter by 4.88 m (16 ft) long cylindrical body made up of 5 segments for a total input rate of 2342 kW (8 million Btu/hr). Installation was Fig. 6 - Dowtherm vaporizer with Pyrocore burner performed at the Southern California site during January, 1986, and the system has performed well to date. As a result of the performance, the refinery decided to replace its former, older vaporizer unit with a second new boiler. Former problems with coking of second pass tubes have been alleviated. The new boilers also have important NOx emissions implications for the refinery's future, being located in a stringent air pollution control area. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE APPLICATIONS The uniform, highly efficient heat transfer from the Pyrocore burner in the radiant zone of a furnace and its ability to achieve very low NOx emissions in many types of equipment are responsible for its early industrial applications. As described above, significant benefits are achieved in process fluid heating where the fluids are subject to degradation at high temperatures. The low emissions aspects are becoming important in areas currently regulated. Development work on the Pyrocore burner is continuing on several aspects: 271 1. Extending the maximum size beyond 2928 kW (10 million Btu/hr) 2. Fabrication of non-cylindrical burners such as flat plates or other designs for industrial uses 3. Development of ceramic materials for higher temperature applications such as in the metals processing industries. possible future applications with these advanced burners include larger steam boilers, other oil and gas treating and processing applications, web drying as accomplished in the paper and textile industries, glass tempering and treating, and metals melting and heat treating. |