Industrial boilers are welded from sturdy steel plates that are engineered to withstand intense heat and pressure - as a result of this thick steel, boilers can sometimes weigh as much as 165 tons! The construction of hot water boilers and steam boilers is very similar. They both feature a cylinder tube, otherwise known as the pressure vessel. The pressure vessel contains something called a flame tube, which is fired through a burner and a reversing chamber that feeds flue gases back through a second smoke tube. These flue gases are reversed again via an external reversing chamber. This reversing chamber sends the flue gases to the end of the boiler, in the third smoke tube pass. A major difference between hot water industrial boilers and the steam versions? Hot water boilers, as their name implies, are usually completely filled with hot water during their operation, while steam boilers are filled with water only until the ¾ mark, with the top fourth of the boiler reserved for steam.
All boilers, whether hot water or steam, depend on fuel to run. The heating process is initiated when the burner heats or evaporates the water inside it, which is ultimately transported via pipe systems. Hot water boilers rely on pumps to move the heat through the system, while steam boilers are transported with the pressure generated in the heating process. Eventually, cooled water or condensed steam is returned back through the pipes to the boiler system so that it can be heated once again. While the boiler is generating energy in the form of heat, flue gases, a byproduct of this process, are removed through a chimney system - which is why regulating the emissions of industrial boilers is taken very seriously.
There are a number of considerations to factor when determining the best boiler for your steam generation needs like operating pressure, steam pounds/hour output, demand fluctuation, general application requirments and total cost of ownership, etc.
Two primary boiler types, the firetube boiler and the watertube boiler, are essentially opposite in design. The firetube boiler passes combustion gas inside a series of tubes surrounded by water in a vessel to produce steam, while a watertube instead sends water through a series of tubes surrounded by combustion gas used to transfer heat energy and produce steam.
The service life of your industrial boiler is 15 years. Of course, there are a number of factors that may force you to replace your boiler before it reaches the 15-year mark. If there are obvious signs of wear and tear, you may not want to push the boiler much longer.
One of the most important accessories you can have for your steam boiler is a water softener, which serves several purposes and plays a crucial role in helping your boiler avoid malfunctions and run more efficiently. Let's go back to the basics and walk through how water softeners are used in steam boilers.
The choice between a steam system or a thermal fluid system is governed by the process requirements. The range or process temperature is a deciding factor. If the system’s required temperature is above the freezing point of water (0°C) and below approximately 160°C, the choice is usually steam. However, if the required temperature is above 160°C, thermal fluid may be a better solution. Thermal oil heater systems can be designed with maximum operating temperatures to 325°C.
The boiler gas consumption calculation need the following parameters: gas calorific value and boiler thermal efficiency.
Theoretically, the gas consumption of boiler = boiler thermal capacity ÷ (calorific value of gas x boiler thermal efficiency )
Take the 1 tph steam boiler as an example:
= 600,000 cal / (8500Kcal * 0.98) =72m3/h, the 1 tph boiler's gas consumption per hour is about 72 cubic meters.
The main sectors in which industrial steam boilers are used are:
Food, in industrial bakeries or baby food (as an example)
Textile, in rotary dryers
Chemical, for reactors or storage
Pharmaceutical, for the manufacture of medicines
Cosmetics, for the production of perfumes and creams
Stationery and printing, in drying tunnels
The cement industry, for the manufacture of cement parts
Oil, for the storage and distribution of heavy oils
Wood, involved in the process of melanin production
Hospitals and hotels, especially in the laundry and kitchen areas
Automotive and surface treatment, for the final metal finishing.
