For over 50 years UnitBirwelco has been a market leader in the design and supply of fired heaters, with over 750 heaters being delivered worldwide. In recent years, the world has observed drastic changes in the societal norms and industrial regulations regarding emissions and energy consumption. Just as domestic vehicles and household appliances have become more environmentally friendly, so has combustion equipment at the plant scale. Every element of a fired heater project can be optimised to reduce impact on the environment - from the amount of fuel combusted, to composition of flue gases and process fluids handled.
An Eco-Friendly Fired Heater Case Study
In a recent project, Birwelco designed, manufactured and delivered an eco-friendly fired heater package for a Biorefinery. The package consisted of three interlinked fired heaters, equipped with a number of design features that drastically reduced fuel consumption and emissions generation. Air supply to the heaters was preheated using the exiting flue gas stream, increasing the overall thermal efficiency of the package and hence reducing consumption of natural gas fuel. This results in reduced emissions and significantly reduced fuel costs for the client over the lifetime of the unit.
A Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) unit was positioned in the shared flue gas stream downstream of the heaters to reduce harmful NOx emissions to below 30 mg/Nm3, in-keeping with stringent European emissions legislation. The SCR unit was also designed to include space for additional catalyst, which allows for even greater levels of NOx reduction in future if required.
Heater design was meticulously optimised by Birwelco’s team of expert engineers, to generate a cost-effective coil configuration that produces a thermal efficiency of over 90% for all normal operating scenarios. This high efficiency corresponds with minimised fuel consumption and gaseous emissions levels.
In addition to the engineering design, even the process fluids handled by the furnaces were environmentally friendly. Instead of handling conventional fossil fuels, the furnaces heat up green diesel and jet fuel - which provide an eco-friendly alternative to conventional feedstocks derived from crude oil.
Summary/ Conclusion
In addition to their exemplary thermal performance and robust design, Birwelco heaters can be designed to meet strict emissions requirements in line with modern global regulations.
Environmental and economic benefits of improved thermal efficiency and reduced greenhouse emissions are felt by both the client and the local community.
Birwelco is taking a pro-active approach to the rapidly changing energy industry, and is providing clients with innovative solutions to new restrictions No matter what the emissions requirements, Birwelco is confident it can deliver a high quality heater package to meet the process and emissions requirements of the client, in any area of the globe.
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