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.
A process load is usually a high-pressure steam load. A process load pertains to manufacturing operations, where heat from steam or hot water is used in the process. A process load is further defined as either continuous or batch. In a continuous load, the demand is fairly constant - such as in a heating load. The batch load is characterized by short-term demands. The batch load is a key issue when selecting equipment, because a batch-type process load can have a very large instantaneous demand that can be several times larger than the rating of the boiler. For example, based on its size, a heating coil can consume a large amount of steam simply to fill and pressurize the coil. When designing a boiler room for a process load with instantaneous demand, a more careful boiler selection process should take place.
System load is measured in either BTUs or tons of steam (at a specific pressure and temperature). It would be nearly impossible to size and select a boiler(s) without knowing the system load requirements. Knowing the requirements leads to the following information:
The boiler(s) capacity, taken from the maximum system load requirement.
The boiler(s) turndown, taken from the minimum system load requirement.
Conditions for maximum efficiency, taken from the average system load requirement.
Determining the total system load requires an understanding of the type(s) of load in the system. There are three types of loads: heating, process, and combination.
Excess air provides safe operation above stoichiometric conditions. A burner is typically set up with 15% to 20% excess air in higher firing ranges. Higher excess air levels result in fuel being used to heat the air instead of transferring it to usable energy, increasing stack losses and significantly decreasing efficiency. Boilers with lower excess air throughout the operating range have higher efficiencies.
Stack temperature is the temperature of the combustion gases (dry and water vapor) leaving the boiler. A well-designed boiler removes as much heat as possible from the combustion gases. Thus, lower stack temperature represents more effective heat transfer and lower heat loss up the stack. The stack temperature reflects the energy that did not transfer from the fuel to steam or hot water. Stack temperature is a visible indicator of boiler efficiency. Any time efficiency is guaranteed, predicted stack temperatures should be verified.
Stack loss is a measure of the amount of heat carried away by dry flue gases (unused heat) and the moisture loss (product of combustion), based on the fuel analysis of the specific fuel being used, moisture in the combustion air, etc.
Condensing boilers can achieve up to 98% thermal efficiency, compared to 70%-80% with conventional designs (based on the higher heating value of fuels). Typical models offer efficiencies over 90% when the return water temperature is at 110 ºF or less; the lower the return water temperature, the higher the efficiency gain.
In order to improve the combustion efficiency of the boiler, in a large boiler, the combustion air is not supplied all at once, but is supplied in two times, one is supplied with the fuel that controls the rate of combustion as well as the amount of fuel that can be burned,and the other is directly supplied to the combustion process that that improves combustion efficiency. The primary air rate of the boiler refers to the proportion of the primary air. If the total air volume is 100% and the primary air rate is 70%, the secondary air rate is 30%.
The combustion air preheater is definitely one of heat exchanger applications. Based on Figure 1 below, flue gas simply leaves steam boiler and passes via air preheater. The combustion air is passed through this equipment too to increase its temperature before being combined with boiler fuel.
Because the temperature of combustion air is lower than the temperature of flue gas, combustion air receive heat transfer from flue gas through combustion air preheater in the process of convection heat transfer. The heat transfer make temperature of flue gas lower and consequently minimizes its heat loss and also decreases the air temperature to stack.
