The term “boiler efficiency” is often substituted for thermal efficiency or fuel-to-steam efficiency. When the term “boiler efficiency” is used, it is important to know which type of efficiency is being represented. Why? Because thermal efficiency, which does not account for radiation and convection losses, is not an indication of the true boiler efficiency. Fuelto-steam efficiency, which does account for radiation and convection losses, is a true indication of overall boiler efficiency. The term “boiler efficiency” should be defined by the boiler manufacturer before it is used in any economic evaluation.
Retrofitting a piece of equipment or an existing industrial heating system can be very challenging, but it can be especially frustrating if you haven't planned well ahead of time. You'll want to be sure that you've done your homework to ensure that retrofitting the piece of equipment you have in the way you have in mind is actually possible.
If it is possible, you'll want to work with the appropriate engineers to figure out exactly what it will entail, how much it will cost, what impact it will have on operations, etc.
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 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.
Industrial boilers are machines or engineering devices whose primary objective is the generation of steam. The heat that is generated, which can come from any energy source, causes it to be transformed into energy for use, either through a liquid phase medium or steam.
