Originally appeared in: CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRESS

January 1994 issue, pgs 46-49 Reprinted with publishers permission.

AIR POLLUTION CONTROL

Specify Better Low NOx Burners For Furnaces

Air staging, fuel staging, and internal flue gas recirculation are among the design features that help reduce NOx emissions
temperature. Whether for a new furnace or a retrofit application, these burners must meet five major requirements. Operation with lower NOx formation: A flame pattern compatible with furnace geometry; Easy maintenance and accessibility; A stable flame at turndown conditions; and the ability to handle a wide range of fuels. Burner Types Staged-air burners lend themselves very well to external flue gas recirculation (FGR). In such designs, flue gas is generally introduced into the primary combustion zone. Staged Fuel Burners. The fuel gas is injected into the combustion zone in two stages, thus creating a fuel-lean zone and delaying completion of the combustion process. The fuel supply is divided into primary fuel and secondary fuel in a ratio that depends on the NOx level required. The flame length of this type of burner is about 50% longer than that of a standard gas burner. Staged-fuel burners are ideal for fuel gas fired natural draft applications. Low Excess Air Burners. These burners reduce NOx emissions by completing combustion with the lowest amount of excess air possible, usually no more than 5-8%. Increases in excess air result in increases in NOx formation (Figure 2a).

Table 1 lists the types of burners currently in use in chemical process industries (CPI) plants and petroleum refineries. Figure 1 compares stagedcombustion burners with standard gas Specifying the right requirements for low and oil burners. NOx burners can significantly reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from a Staged-Air Burners. Combustion air is furnace. Ultra Low NOx burners that can split and directed into primary and meet even the most stringent emission secondary zones, thus creating fuel-rich control limits imposed by some states, and fuel-lean zones. are now available and offer a very These burners are most suitable attractive route to NOx reduction. for forced-draft However, burner selection and liquid-fuel-fired specification should be done very applications. carefully, because burner operation has a Combustion air direct effect on furnace performance. pressure energy This article describes the various types of lends itself to low NOx burners and outlines the main better control of design parameters that must be the staging air considered when selecting a burner flows. It ensures system. a high enough air Low NOx burners generally modify velocity to the means of introducing air and fuel to produce good airdelay the mixing, reduce the availability fuel mixing and a of oxygen, and reduce the peak flame good flame.
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Ashutosh Garg, Kinetics Technology International Corp.

Most forced-draft burners have the ability to operate at very low levels of excess air. In a multiple-burner installation, it is essential that all burners receive equal amounts of air. This can be achieved by simulating the flow profiles in the ducts and burners. Flow deficiencies and other irregularities can then be detected and corrected using splitters and vanes, ensuring equal air distribution within +1%. Flue Gas Recirculation Burners. In these burners, 15-25% of the hot (300500oF) flue gas is circulated along with combustion air. The flue gas acts as a diluents, reducing flame temperature and suppressing the partial pressure of oxygen, thus reducing NOx formation. Flue gas can be injected into burners through a separate scroll into the primary zone or mixed with incoming air. External FGR can be used with natural draft burners, although it is mostly used with forced-draft preheated air burners. In some new burner designs, flue gas is internally re-circulated using the pressure energy of fuel gas, combustion air, or steam. This makes the operation of burners simple and eliminates the FGR fan and its controls, although burner size becomes large. Ultra Low NOx Burners. Several designs are available today that combine two NOx reduction steps into one burner without any external equipment. These burners typically inappropriate staged air with internal FGR or staged fuel with internal FGR. In the former design, fuel is mixed with part of the combustion air, creating a fuel-rich zone. High pressure atomization of liquid fuel or fuel gas creates FGR. The secondary air is routed by means of pipes or ports in the burner block to complete combustion and optimize the flame profile. In staged-fuel gas burners with internal FGR, fuel gas pressure induces recirculation of flue gas, creating a fuel lean zone and a reduction in oxygen partial pressure. The former design can be used with the liquid fuels, whereas the latter design is used mostly for fuel gas applications. Design Parameters The following parameters attention during system design.

Figure 1: Off-stoichiometric combustion can be achieved by air staging or fuel staging. Courtesy of John Zink Co

viscosity, and heating value. Atomization Medium. For low NOx burners, steam is preferred as the atomization medium over compressed air, because higher quantities of steam decrease the amount of NOx in the flue gas. Increases in steam temperature increase NOx emissions. Fuel Filters. Staged fuel gas burners have more gas tips and rises than standard burners, and the fuel gas flow per tip is reduced to as low as one-fourth. It is important that these burners be used with clean fuel gases. To accomplish this, installation of fuel gas filters and knockout pots to remove particulates and condensate is recommended.

Fuel Specification. Correct and accurate fuel specifications are essential for predicting NOx emissions. For gaseous fuels, the complete analysis listing all the constituents is required, as well as any possible variations in gas composition. Major components affecting NOx emissions are hydrogen and hydrocarbons in the C3-C4 range. Other physical properties, such as pressure, temperature, and heating value are required for burner design. For liquid fuels, the most important parameter is the fuels nitrogen content about 40-90% of the fuel nitrogen shows require up as NOx in the flue gas. Other liquid fuel parameters required by burner vendors are pressure, temperature,

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Some plants have opted for low fuel gas pressures or double orifice designs for the gas tips to keep the tip size large enough to avoid plugging when firing dirty gases. These options generally do not give good results, and they also produce longer flames (flame length is discussed later). Heat Release And Turndown. Plant engineers have typically specified a margin on the heat release rate as high as 30-50% over the design heat release. Furthermore, on most standard burners, the turndown for gas fuel is generally 5:1 and for oil it is 3:1. These two parameters offered virtually unlimited flexibility to overfire and underfire the furnaces. However, to ensure optimum performance of low NOx burners, it is important to limit the overdesign margin to only 10%. In most cases, the turndown should be limited to 3:1 for gas and 2:1 for oil. This will require more attention from the operators and minimization of burner outages. The result, though, will be better performance from the low NO x burners. Heater Draft. The available heater draft is a very important design parameter, especially for natural-draft burners, because it directly indicates the air pressure energy available for air/fuel mixing. It is, therefore, important that available draft be specified correctly. In some cases, it may be advantageous to increase the available draft by increasing the stack height or diameter. Increased draft availability can reduce the size of the burners. However, increased draft at the hearth also increases the likelihood of air leakage into the furnace, so the furnace should be made leak-tight to prevent such air infiltration. Firebox Temperature- In the past, standard burners specified independent of the furnace design parameters. However, the performance of low NOx burners is closely linked with furnace design and firing arrangements. NOx formation is dependent on firing density and firebox temperature. The burner vendor needs the firebox temperature and geometry to predict NOx emissions correctly. Higher firebox temperature leads to higher NOx formation, as depicted in Figure 2b.

Figure 2. NOx emissions are a function of various furnace parameters.

Combustion Air Temperature. Combustion air temperature has a direct bearing on flame temperature, and the higher the flame temperature, the more thermal NOx is formed, as shown in Figure 2c. If the heater is already equipped with an air preheater, then burners utilizing flue gas recirculation offer a good degree of NOx reduction. In new heaters, alternative methods of waste heat recovery should be investigated. Flame Length- This parameter has the most important effect on the operation of the furnace. Traditionally, furnace operators are accustomed to short, crisp flames, which

prevent flame impingement damage to the furnace tubes. The key to getting a short flame has been to increase excess air until the flames are blue sand short. This practice has been curbed to some extent by the installation of oxygen analyzers. The basic design principle of low NOx burners calls for staged combustion and cooler flames. This is in direct conflict with the good mixing of air and fuel required for efficient combustion. Thus, a balance needs to be struck between the two requirements so as to achieve acceptable NOx levels and flame dimensions. A typical low NOx burner has a

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Acknowledgement
The author is thankful to KTI management for permission to publish this article. Thanks are also due to Rose Williams for repeatedly typing the manuscript.

Further Reading
Bell, C.T., and S. Warren, Experience with Burner NOx Reduction, Hydrocarbon Processing, 62(9), pp.145-147 (Sept. 1983). Garg A., Trimming NOx from Furnaces, Chem. Eng. 99 (11), pp.122130 (Nov. 1992) Johnson, W.M., and R.R. Martin, Staged Fuel Burners for NOx Control in Fired Heaters, presented at the 1984 Winter National Meeting of AIChE, Atlanta, GA (Mar. 1984) Kunz, R.G., et al., Control NOx from Gas Fired Hydrogen Reformer Furnaces presented at the National Petroleum Refiners Association. Waibel, R., et al., Fuel Staging Burners for NOx Control, presented at the 1986 Symposium on Industrial Combustion Technology, sponsored by Gas Research Institute, U.S. Dept. of Energy, American Flame Research Committee, and American Society for Metals (now ASM International), Chicago, IL (Apr. 1986)

flame that is about 50-100% longer than the flame in a standard burner (when operated design conditions). Any variation in operating condition tends to increase the flame length in low NOx burners, thereby increasing the chance of flame impingement. The expected flame length must be kept in mind when specifying the heat release rate and the total number of burners. It is also recommended that the maximum heat release rate per burner be limited to 10 MMBtu/h. Furthermore, the burner flame length should be kept to a third of the firebox height for low-roof cabin heaters. Typical clearances for low NOx burners are recommended in Table 2.
Burner Size. Todays low NOx burners are much larger than standard burners for several reasons:

burner throats.

Internal flue gas recirculation calls for larger burner tiles and re-circulation flue gas ports.

Thus, it is becoming very difficult to fit the new low NOx burner in an existing heater floor without sacrificing some degree of operational and maintenance flexibility. It is essential that the engineering contractor be given drawings of the general arrangement of the heater and the steelwork to work out the installation details. Burner Testing Burner design is mostly empirical and predicted design and operating conditions can only be verified through performance tests. Thus, burner testing is strongly recommended for all new low NOx burners. Testing of these burners should be handled with care. The flue gas flow and the expected temperature profile in the furnace usually cannot be reproduced exactly in the test furnace. For this reason, emission test results should be considered estimates, and actual emission calculations should incorporate a margin to account for this. Low NOx burners have been installed in a variety of applications in both new facilities and in revamped plants. Table 3 summarizes several installations.

A. Garg is manager of thermal

engineering at Kinetics Technology International Corp. (KTI), Houston, TX (713/974 5581; 713/974 6691). He has more than 19 years of experience in process design, sales, and commissioning of fired heaters and combustion systems. Previously, he worked for Engineers India Ltd., and for KTI in India. He received a B.Tech in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology. He is a registered professional engineer in California and a member of AIChE.

Air staging has led to the use of secondary and tertiary air controls. Fuel staging had led to the segregation of gas tips and, thus, larger diameter burners. It also requires more gas piping and separate gas controls. Recirculation of flue gases requires separate gas tubes, and the increased volumes of gas and air require larger
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*Reproduced with the permission of Chemical Engineering Progress.