36 Int. J. Environment and Sustainable Development, Vol. 8, No.

1, 2009

Energy integration of fired heaters into overall

processes

James Varghese and

Santanu Bandyopadhyay*
Department of Energy Science and Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay,
Powai, Mumbai 400076, India
Fax: +91 22 2572 6875
E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
*Corresponding author

Abstract: Energy analysis at the conceptual design stage helps in designing an

energy efficient process plant. Predictions of performances of different
equipments are necessary for optimal utilisation of energy. In this article,
simplified model of a fired heater is proposed and an analytical procedure is
developed for integration of a fired heater into the overall process. This
procedure helps in estimating the minimum fuel required and the minimum air
pre-heat temperature for energy efficient integration of a fired heater. It is
shown that the minimum fuel requirement, for an integrated process, is
independent of the air pre-heat temperature as long as it is more than a
minimum. The fired heater efficiency remains same within a minimum and a
maximum range of air pre-heat temperature and this property helps to fix the
air pre-heat temperature considering emissions from the fired heater. Process
heat below the process pinch can be utilised for further reduction in the fuel
requirement. In the later case, however, it is demonstrated that there exits a
maximum limit up to which process heat below the pinch can be utilised.
Energy integration of fired heater also leads to reduction in green house gas
emission.

Keywords: analytical methodology; energy conservation; fired heater; pinch;

process integration.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Varghese, J. and

Bandyopadhyay, S. (2009) ‘Energy integration of fired heaters into overall
processes’, Int. J. Environment and Sustainable Development, Vol. 8, No. 1,
pp.36–59.

Biographical notes: James Varghese obtained his PhD from the Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT). Currently, Varghese is a Faculty in the Division
of Mechanical Engineering, Cochin University of Science and Technology,
Kochi, India. His research interests include energy efficiency, energy system
integration, energy system modelling and analysis, emissions.

Bandyopadhyay is an Associate Professor in the Department of Energy Science

and Engineering, IIT – Bombay, India. Before joining IIT – Bombay, he served
the Heat and Mass Transfer Division of M/s Engineers India Ltd., New Delhi.
His research interests include industrial energy conservation, energy
integration, process optimisation, mathematical modelling and simulation of
various energy systems.

Copyright © 2009 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

 Energy integration of fired heaters into overall processes 37

Nomenclature

A area, m2
C heat capacity per unit of fuel flow, kJ K1kg1 (fuel)
c specific heat, kJ kg1 K1 at constant pressure
d degree of stirring
E excess air fraction
F lower calorific value, kJ kg1
g overall radiation transfer factor from gas to sink
GCC Grand Composite Curve
H enthalpy, kJ
h heat transfer coefficient, kW m2 K1
K overall radiation coefficient
l number of pinch points above and including pinch point
m mass flow rate, kg sec1
Mcp heat capacity, kW K1
Q heat duty, kJ
q average design radiation flux, kW m2
S stoichiometry air fuel ratio
T temperature, K
PTA Problem Table Algorithm
Greek letters
D setting loss fraction in the radiation chamber
' difference
V Stefan-Boltzmann constant, 5.67 × 1011 kW m2 K4
Subscript
0 ambient
1 heat sink
a air
adl additional
bw bridge wall
38 J. Varghese and S. Bandyopadhyay

c convection
eff effective
f fuel
fp fuel with air pre-heat using process heat
fr radiation fraction
FT adiabatic flame condition
g flue gas
g out condition of gas after the convection section
hu hot utility
i intermediate
ih intermediate based on enthalpy limitation
in inlet
it intermediate based on temperature limitation
j temperature interval above pinch
k temperature interval below pinch
max maximum
min minimum
n transformed
out outlet
p pinch
r radiation
s stack
sr stack condition revised

1 Introduction

Process to process heat recovery can be optimised using well-established principles of

pinch analysis. In general, performances of utility subsystems are not considered during
optimisation of the heat recovery systems. This leads to suboptimal performance of the
overall plant. Therefore, there is a need to develop tools to perform overall optimisation
of the different subsystems along with the entire process to design an energy efficient
process plant. This necessitates the proper integration of various subsystems into the
overall process. Utility subsystems may consist of steam generators, gasifiers, gas turbine
based heat recovery units, process furnaces, etc. Process furnaces, also known as fired
 Energy integration of fired heaters into overall processes 39

heaters, supply heat to process streams at elevated temperature directly by burning fuel.
Fired heaters are both energy and capital intensive equipment. Predictions of
performances and appropriate integration of fired heaters are necessary for the overall
optimisation of the entire plant. Issues related to optimal integration of fired heaters are
discussed in this article.
Linnhoff and de Leur (1988) had proposed the use of a linear flue gas profile
(in temperature–heat duty diagram) for integration of a fired heater. The flue gas
temperature changes from the adiabatic flame temperature to the stack temperature along
a linear path (in temperature–enthalpy diagram). It exchanges heat with process streams
and combustion air. Air is pre-heated using the flue gas and fuel fired is minimised by
matching the flue gas profile against the process Grand Composite Curve (GCC). Fuel
consumption can be estimated, using this methodology, following an iterative procedure.
Hall and Linnhoff (1994) had proposed a graphical procedure to estimate the fuel
requirement and air pre-heat temperature by matching the utility GCC against the process
GCC. This procedure starts with a high value of fuel fired and air pre-heat temperature.
In the first step, fuel fired is reduced to the minimum and subsequently, air pre-heat
temperature is reduced to the minimum. This procedure is able to fix the minimum fuel
requirement and the air pre-heat temperature through a non-iterative way. However, if the
initial air pre-heat temperature is not chosen properly, this procedure may become
iterative, since this requires a pinch relaxation by changing air pre-heat temperature (Hall
and Linnhoff, 1994). Simultaneous optimisation of the potential between the process
streams and combustion air with the fired heater flue gases involves capital and operating
cost considerations. The graphical procedure is not suitable for such optimisation. In
addition, the linear flue gas profile does not provide information on important design
parameters like bridge wall temperature.
Stehlik, Zagermann and Gangler (1995) compared the fuel targets based on the linear
flue gas profile with the detailed simulation results of a fired heater and concluded that
the variation is negligible. Algorithms were proposed to optimise the capital–energy
tradeoffs varying air pre-heat and stack temperatures (Stehlik, Zagermann and Gangler,
1995; Jegla, Stehlik and Kohoutek, 1998).
Based on the concept that the fired heater reaction chamber behaves like a stirred
vessel, a simplified model for the fired heater is proposed in this article. The model helps
in targeting the duty split between the radiation and convection sections of a fired heater.
This is useful for integrating multiple streams (process streams, steam generation, etc.) in
the convection section. An analytical procedure that avoids the iterations involved in
earlier methodologies, for the fired heater integration is presented in this article. This
procedure is able to fix the fuel requirement for cases with air pre-heating using flue gas
heat and a combination of the flue gas and process heat. It is observed that the extent of
air pre-heating using process heat is limited both by the thermodynamic and design
parameters of the fired heaters. Proposed methodology helps in identifying the maximum
possible scope for integrating fired heater utilising process heat for pre-heating air.
Modification of different process parameters during network evolution could affects the
fired heater parameters and this can be easily incorporated using the proposed procedure.
Analytical procedure is useful for the overall optimisation of the network due to the
interdependency of the fired heater and background process parameters. Effect of such
modifications on emission is also discussed.
40 J. Varghese and S. Bandyopadhyay

Figure 1 Schematic of a fired heater

2 Mathematical model

Schematic of a box type fired heater is shown in Figure 1. A simple mathematical model
of a fired heater is proposed in this section based on the assumption that the radiation
chamber of the furnace behaves like a well-stirred reactor. The stirred reactor model are
reported to predict, with a significant degree of accuracy, the overall heat transfer
performance for a wide range of furnaces using different fuels and with various
configurations of the radiation chamber (Truelove, 2002). The radiation chamber is
modelled using three elements: a radiating gas medium at a uniform temperature Teff, tube
surface acting as a heat sink at a mean metal temperature T1 and the radiatively adiabatic
refractory surface. Neglecting radiation losses through openings, the net rate of combined
radiation and convective heat transfer from the combustion gases to the process fluid can
be expressed as:
4
Q1 gV (Teff  T14 )  hAc (Teff  T1 ) (1)

where V is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant, h is the overall convective heat transfer

coefficient between the gas and heat sink (tube bank), Ac is the surface area of the tube
 Energy integration of fired heaters into overall processes 41

bank and g represents the total transfer factor for radiation from the gas to the heat sink.
If a cold fluid enter the radiation chamber at Tr, in and leaves at Tr, out, mean tube metal
temperature, also known as skin temperature, may be estimated as 42 K higher than the
mean fluid temperature (Berman, 1978).
Tr, in  Tr, out
T1  42. (2)
2
Defining average radiation chamber heat flux based on the convective heat transfer area
of the heat sink, Equation (1) may be rearranged as,

Q1 4
gV Teff  T14   h T
q
Ac Ac
eff  T1  4
KV Teff 
 T14  h Teff  T1  (3)

where K accounts for the geometric complexities of the radiation chamber, multiple
reflections from different surfaces and re-radiation from the refractory. Depending on the
application, the average radiation section heat flux is generally specified during the
design of a fired heater. High value of average radiation chamber heat flux calls for lesser
amount of tube surface area and hence, produces a smaller and compact heater with lower
investment cost. However, the refractory, the tubes and its supports are exposed to higher
temperature due to high average radiation chamber heat flux. It generally reduces the
service life of the fired heater and increases the maintenance cost of the fired heater.
Furthermore, it increases the potential for coke deposition and product degradation
(Berman, 1978).
Fuel (with lower calorific value of F) is burnt with the pre-heated combustion air at
temperature Ta in the combustion chamber. In the combustion chamber, there are several
energy losses, such as setting loss, dissociation loss, etc. These losses may be combined
as a single loss factor of D times (typically, D is taken as 1–3%, with the effective
calorific value as Feff = (1  D)F) the heat input in the fired heater through the
combustion of the fuel. The adiabatic flame temperature TFT can be determined using the
overall energy balance of the combustion chamber.
ma ca (Ta  T0 )  mf Feff
TFT . (4)
c g mg

Mass flow rates of the air, flue gas and that of the fuel are related through the
stoichiometric air–fuel ratio S and the fraction of excess air E provided for complete
combustion of the fuel. Typical excess air requirements are 10% for gaseous fuels,
15–20% for liquid fuels and 20% or more for pulverised solid fuels. Now denoting
(1 + E)Sca as Ca and [(1 + E)S + 1]cg as Cg, the adiabatic flame temperature
(Equation (4)) can be expressed as
Ca (Ta  T0 )  Feff
TFT T0  . (5)
Cg
42 J. Varghese and S. Bandyopadhyay

Table 1 Values of radiation factor, convective heat transfer factor and degree of stirring for
different type of fired heater

Description Horizontal Vertical

Radiation factor (K) 0.237 0.233
Convective heat transfer factor (h) 0.0165 0.0263
Degree of stirring (d) 1.03 1.03
Source: Varghese and Bandyopadhyay (2004).
Imperfect stirring within the radiation chamber results in reducing the temperature of the
flue gas leaving the radiation chamber (Truelove, 2002). The bridge wall temperature Tbw
can be estimated based on the mean effective temperature of the radiating gas Teff ,
adiabatic flame temperature TFT and the degree of stirring d.
Tbw dTeff  (d  1)TFT . (6)
The degree of stirring is greater than unity for imperfect stirring. The case of perfect
stirring is represented by d = 1. Numerical values of K, h and d depend on numerous
design variables, such as type of fired heater, size and layout of radiant tubes,
composition and type of fuel, interception factor of radiation heat transfer to the tubes,
emissivity of different surfaces, etc. During energy targeting and conceptual design stage,
detailed design parameters of a fired heater are not defined. Therefore, exact values of K,
h and d are not known a priori. However, approximate values of these parameters have
been estimated under different operating scenarios (Varghese and Bandyopadhyay,
2004). These approximate values (See Table 1) are utilised in this article during energy
targeting.
Heat duty in the radiation and convection section of the fired heater may be estimated
as
Qr Cg mf (TFT  Tbw ) (7)

Qc C g mf (Tbw  Tgout ). (8)

Therefore, radiation duty fraction of the total heat duty required can be found as
TFT  Tbw
Qfr . (9)
TFT  Tgout
Thus, using the above model the fired heater heat transfer performance could be
estimated and utilised during network synthesis and evolution.

3 Integration of fired heater

An analytical methodology for energy integration of the fired heater into overall process
is presented in this section.
 Energy integration of fired heaters into overall processes 43

3.1. Pre-heating air using flue gas only

The heat demand for a process can be obtained applying the Problem Table Algorithm
(PTA), proposed by Linnhoff and Flower (1978). Fired heater supplies this heat to the
process at an elevated temperature. The combustion of fuel in the combustion chamber,
with the required excess air E that is pre-heated to temperature Ta, raises the flue gas
temperature to the adiabatic flame temperature. Flue gas leaves the fired heater
convection section after supplying the required heat at Tg out. Flue gas pre-heats the
combustion air in the air pre-heater and leaves through the stack at Ts (see Figure 1). The
heat balance between the hot utility load requirement and the flue gas heat gives
Qhu Qr  Qc (TFT  Tg out )C g mf . (10)

Furthermore, energy balance for the air pre-heater results in

Cg (Tg out  Ts ) Ca (Ta  T0 ). (11)

Mass flow rate of the fuel can be solved from Equations (10) and (11) along with the
expression for adiabatic flame temperature (Equation (5)).
Qhu
mf . (12)
Feff  Cg (Ts  T0 )

Thus, knowledge about fuel characteristics and the limiting stack temperature Ts result
directly in obtaining the fuel required to meet the process heat duty Qhu. Note that the fuel
fired depends on the excess air and the limiting stack temperature and it is independent of
air pre-heat temperature. This is because the heat unutilised in the fired heater is re-
circulated back through the air pre-heating. This inherently assumes that the energy
balance (Equation (11)) in the air pre-heater is perfect.
The limiting stack temperature is governed by the acid dew point of the flue gas.
Based on the sulphur content of the fuel, the limiting stack temperature is usually fixed at
the design stage. Similarly the amount of required excess air for complete combustion is
also fixed at the design stage (depending on the combustion characteristic of the fuel).
However, a lowest possible excess air and stack temperature are recommended to reduce
the fuel requirement, and hence, to increase the efficiency of the fired heater.

3.1.1 Limits of air pre-heat temperatures

In the air pre-heater, combustion air is heated from T0 to Ta using flue gas heat that is
cooled from Tg out to Ts. As the utility GCC, consisting flue gas and combustion air,
is matched against the process GCC, a utility pinch is going to be formed above the
process pinch. Figure 2 shows a general case of the flue gas profile matched against the
process GCC. Without loss of generality it may be assumed that the utility pinch is
formed at (Hj , Tj) on the temperature–heat duty diagram (see Figure 2). Since the GCC is
plotted with shifted temperature, the actual temperature corresponds to Tj of the flue gas
can be expressed as
T jn T j  0.5'Tp  'Tadl (13)
44 J. Varghese and S. Bandyopadhyay

Figure 2 General case of flue gas matched against process Grand Composite Curve

where 'Tp is the minimum temperature difference at the process pinch andҏ 'Tadl allows to
provide any additional temperature potential between the flue gas and process stream.
The energy balance at the utility pinch (Hj,Tj) gives
Hj mf C g (T jn  Tg out ). (14)

Air pre-heat temperature (Ta) can be determined by combining Equations (11), (12)
and (14).
(T jn  Ts )C g Qhu  H j [ Feff  C g (Ts  T0 )]
Ta T0  . (15)
Ca Qhu

The required air pre-heat temperature can be calculated using Equation (15) whenever the
utility GCC forms a utility pinch against the process GCC at (Hj, Tj). However, the utility
pinch is not known a priori. Since the utility pinch is going to form above the process
pinch, air pre-heat temperature can be calculated, following Equation (15), for every
temperature intervals above the process pinch point (j = 1, … l). The maximum of these
air pre-heat temperatures indicates the minimum air pre-heat temperature Ta,min required
to satisfy the minimum fuel target Equation (12). However, if all the Ta calculated is less
than the ambient temperature T0, Ta,min is to be chosen as T0. This is explained through
example 1.
The practical maximum for the air pre-heat temperature corresponds to the air
pre-heat temperature approaching the flue gas exit temperature of the convection section.
As the temperature difference between Tg out and Ta approaches 'Tga, the air pre-heater
 Energy integration of fired heaters into overall processes 45

energy balance Equations (11) with 'C = Cg  Ca can be rearranged to express the
maximum air pre-heat temperature as
Cg (Ts  'Tga )  Ca T0
Ta,max . (16)
'C
It should be noted that this is not the absolute maximum limit. The above equation
expresses the practical maximum limit. Beyond this, air and process fluid both have to be
heated simultaneously in the convection section. Typically, this is not the practice for
designing convection section of a fired heater. In a fired heater, process fluid and air are
heated sequentially in convection section and air pre-heater, respectively.
The minimum fuel requirement Equation (12) is independent of the air pre-heat
temperature provided the air pre-heat temperature is above a certain minimum value
Ta,min. The fuel consumption would remain the same for any air pre-heat temperature
between Ta,min and Ta,max.
Emissions from the fired heater depend on the adiabatic flame temperature, and the
flame temperature depends on the air pre-heat temperature directly. NO equilibrium
concentration increases by 1.66 ppmvw K1 for air pre-heat temperature increase
(Baukal and Colannino, 2001). Thus, to reduce emissions from the fired heater it is
recommended to fix the air pre-heat temperature to the minimum possible.
If the air pre-heat temperature is fixed below Ta,min or is required above the maximum
limit Ta,max due to a high process pinch condition, the total available heat from the flue gas
would not be recovered fully leading to energy loss. In these cases, the flue gas should
leave the stack at a higher temperature than the dew point. For the case with air pre-heat
temperature is below the minimum temperature the stack temperature can be estimated
using the heat balance for air pre-heater
Cg (Tg out  Tsr ) Ca (Ta  T0 ) (17)

and the utility pinch energy balance leads to

Hp C g mf (Tp,n  Tg out ). (18)

Solving the above equations, the revised stack temperature may be expressed as
ª Tp,n Qhu C g  H p ( Feff  CgT0 )  Qhu Ca (Ta  T0 ) º
Tsr « ». (19)
«¬ Cg (Qhu  H p ) »¼

On the other hand, for air pre-heated more than the maximum limit due to high process
temperature requirement, the stack temperature can be revised using the utility pinch
energy balance Equation (18) and the air pre-heater energy balance
Ca (Ta  T0 ) Cg (Ta  Tsr  'Tga ). (20)

The revised stack temperature can be solved as

ª Qhu Cg Ca (T0  'Tga )  'CTpn Qhu C g  H p ( Feff  C g T0 ) º
Tsr « ». (21)
«¬ Qhu C g2  'CH p C g »¼
46 J. Varghese and S. Bandyopadhyay

The fuel required is calculated using Equation (12), by replacing Ts by Tsr, the new stack
temperature estimated using Equations (19) or (21). The air pre-heat temperature needs to
be targeted using the fuel quantity calculated in the later case. Typical variation of the
fuel required for different air pre-heat temperature is shown in Figure 3. It emphasises
that the air pre-heat should be fixed between the maximum and the minimum limits. The
incremental change in fuel requirement is more in the case with air pre-heat temperature
below the minimum required. This is attributed to the direct stack energy loss rather than
the temperature potential limitation between the flue gas outlet and air pre-heat
temperature as in the case of air pre-heat temperature more than the maximum allowed.
Using the above relations, the fuel requirement and air pre-heat temperature of the
fired heater may be estimated in a non-iterative and analytical way. Furnace duty may be
determined from the overshoot of the cold composite curve of the hot composite curve of
the entire heat recovery process (Kleinshordt and Hammer, 1983). Considering only the
overshoot portion of the cold composite curve fired heater can be integrated with
appropriate air pre-heat. In this approach, the process fluid enters the fired heater only
once and the heating duty is appropriately distributed in convection as well as radiation
sections of the heater. These once-through designs are simple and are usually favoured in
the industry. On the other hand, fuel requirement and the appropriate air pre-heat
temperature can also be determined for the GCC of the heat recovery process (Hall and
Linnhoff, 1994). In this approach, process fluid may enter the fired heater multiple times
and in between it may exchange heat with some other hot process stream. This may lead
to a complex design of heat recovery network and convection section of the fired heater.
As discussed earlier, as long as the air pre-heat temperature lies in between these two
limits, both these approaches would lead to the same fuel requirement and hence, the
same thermal efficiency. However, there may be significant difference on the air pre-heat
temperatures leading to different designs of the overall systems. Therefore, appropriate
economic evaluations should be preformed to select the best design.

Figure 3 Fuel requirement with variation in air pre-heat temperature

 Energy integration of fired heaters into overall processes 47

Table 2 Stream data for example 1

Stream Mcp (kW K1) Tin (K) Tout (K)

H1 10 773 623
H2 12 723 623
H3 8 673 593
C4 9 573 753
C5 10 613 693
C6 8 613 673

Table 3 Grand Composite Curve data from Problem Table Algorithm for example 1
corresponding to 'Tp = 50 K

Temperature (K) 778 748 718 698 648 638 598 568
Q (kW) 670 400 430 250 0 30 870 1110

Example 1
Applicability of the proposed methodology is illustrated through example 1. The stream
data (Ciric and Floudas, 1989) is given in Table 2. It is assumed that the fuel is having a
net heating value of 41,000 kJ kg1. The stoichiometric air–fuel ratio is further assumed
to be 15 and minimum excess air recommended is 10%. The ambient is at 303 K.
Average specific heat of air and flue gas are assumed be 1.005 and 1.148 kJ/kg K1,
respectively. The limiting dew point temperature of the flue gas is 433 K. The setting loss
is assumed to be 2% (D = 0.02) and the design average radiant tube flux for the horizontal
tubular fired heater is taken as 29 kW m2.
The GCC of the process is determined through PTA (see Table 3) with a minimum
approach temperature of 50 K ('Tp = 50). Corresponding composite and the grand
composite diagrams are shown in Figure 4. The hot utility and the cold utility
requirements are determined as 670 and 1,110 kW, respectively. The pinch corresponds
to 673 K on the hot side and 623 K on the cold side. Inlet temperature of the hot process
stream H3 holds the pinch. Single fired heater is assumed to satisfy the overall hot utility
demand of the process.
Using the proposed methodology the minimum fuel required (Equation (12)) is found
to be 0.01783 kg sec1 (64.2 kg hour1) and the corresponding fired heater efficiency is
calculated as 91.63%. In this problem, no additional approach temperature difference
between the flue gas and the process streams is assumed. Calculations for determining the
minimum air pre-heat temperature are tabulated in Table 4. The minimum air pre-heat
temperature, thus, estimated to be 593.8 K. On the other hand, the practical maximum
limit for air pre-heat temperature may be estimated to be 761.2 K.
The detailed heat exchanger network synthesised is shown in Figure 5. In this figure,
the flue gas is represented by the adiabatic flame temperature and not by the mean
radiating temperature for convenience. Corresponds to this design with minimum air pre-
heat temperature of 593.8 K, the adiabatic flame temperature is calculated to be 2,543 K
and the flue gas leaving the convection section is calculated to be 673 K. A part of cold
process stream (C4) enters the fired heater at 623 K with a Mcp of 4.5 kW K1 and leaves
at 667.4 K. Again, the complete cold stream (C4) re-enters the fired heater at 700.8 K and
48 J. Varghese and S. Bandyopadhyay

leaves at its target temperature of 753 K. Overall C4 exchanges 670 kW of heat inside
fired heater. Now Equations (2), (3), (5) and (6) can be solved simultaneously to
determine the mean radiating temperature, bridge wall temperature, skin temperature and
radiation duty fraction as 1180.5, 1139.6, 748.6 K and 0.75, respectively. Note that the
duty of the air pre-heater is 86 kW.
In the above networks, cold process stream (C4) enters twice in the fired heater and
there is mixing of streams in the radiation chamber. Usually, this is not the preferred
design practice in the industry. Hence, a simplified network is synthesised as shown in
Figure 6. In this case, the cold process stream (C4) enters the fired heater only once. In
this network, the fuel fired remains the same and hence the fired heater efficiency
remains unchanged. The stream enters at 678.6 K corresponding to this the air pre-heat
temperature can be found by using Equation (15) as Ta, min = 661.1 K. It may be noted that
this is still lower than the practical maximum air pre-heat temperature. Corresponds to
this design, the adiabatic flame temperature, mean radiating temperature, bridge wall
temperature, skin temperature and the radiation fraction are estimated to be 2598.6,
1,187, 1,144, 766 K and 0.777, respectively. In this design, the duty of the air pre-heater
is increased to 105.9 kW. Note that the temperature of the flue gas leaving the fired
heater is also increased to 728.6 K.

Figure 4 (a) Composite curves and (b) Grand Composite Curve for example
 Energy integration of fired heaters into overall processes 49

Table 4 Fired heater integration result for example 1

Parameter Result Remarks

Pinch temperature 648 K PTA
Hot utility required 670 kW PTA
Cold utility required 1110 kW PTA
Minimum fuel 0.01783 kg sec1 Equation (12)
Minimum air pre-heat temperature Hj , T j Ta (K) Equation (15) The maximum
670, 778 1514.3 value is chosen as the
minimum air Pre-heat required
400, 748 637.6 Ta,min = 593.8 K
430, 718 775.4
250, 698 191
0, 648 593.8
Flame temperature 2543 K Equation (5)
Mean radiating temperature 1180.5 K Equation (3)
Bridge wall temperature 1139.6 K Equation (6)
Radiation fraction 0.75 Equation (9)

In the simplified network (Figure 6), air pre-heater duty has increased significantly by
19.9 kW (23% increment), this will lead to a larger air ducting because of lower density
and higher volumetric flow rates at higher temperature. Since, air pre-heater is gas-to-gas
exchanger; it has a very low heat transfer coefficient. Consequently, cost associated with
the air pre-heater will increase significantly. Furthermore, as the air pre-heat temperature
increases, the adiabatic flame temperature increases in the second case. This may lead to
higher NOx formation. However, the design of the convection section is simpler in the
later case.

3.2 Air pre-heating using process heat

Fuel requirement in the fired heater can further be minimised by utilising the heat
available from process streams below the pinch. This leads to a double benefit on the
overall process: reduced fuel requirement in the fired heater and simultaneously reduction
in the cold utility requirement. In this section, an analytical methodology related to the
integration of the fired heater with process, using the combination of flue gas and process
heat for air pre-heating is developed. The ambient air is initially heated to an intermediate
temperature Ti using process heat and then it is further heated to the final temperature Ta,
using the flue gas from the fired heater. During this, the flue gas is cooled from Tg out to
Ts. Energy balance in the air pre-heater can be written as
Ca (Ta  Ti ) C g (Tg out  Ts ). (22)

Similar to Equation (12), mass flow rate of the fuel can be expressed as
Qhu
mfp . (23)
Feff  Cg (Ts  T0 )  Ca (Ti  T0 )

As long as process heat is available to pre-heat the combustion air (i.e. Ti > T0), there is a
reduction in fuel requirement (mfp < mf).
50 J. Varghese and S. Bandyopadhyay

Figure 5 (a) Network synthesised for the example 1 and (b) Schematic of the fired
heater system
 Energy integration of fired heaters into overall processes 51

Figure 6 (a) Network synthesised for the example 1 modified for once through case and
(b) Schematic of the fired heater system
52 J. Varghese and S. Bandyopadhyay

The maximum intermediate temperature possible may be solved from the utility pinch
energy balance
Hj C g mfp (Tjn  Tgout ) (24)

solving the above equations we get the air intermediate temperature as

Qhu C g [C g Ts  Ca ǻTga ]  ǻCC g (Qhu T jn  H j Ts )  ǻCH j ( Feff +T0 ǻC )
Ti = (25)
Qhu Ca C g  H j Ca ǻC

The minimum corresponding to all (Hj, Tj) where j = 1, … l is the maximum possible air
intermediate temperature Ti.
To fix the air pre-heat temperature with process heat with (Hp; Tp) holding the
utility pinch.
C g (Tp,n  Ts ) Hp
Ta Ti   . (26)
Ca mfp Ca

In the case with air pre-heat using process heating, the air pre-heat temperature do not
have a range and it become a fixed value. This will show a range if there is process heat
limitation as discussed next.

3.2.1 Process heat limitation

The maximum possible intermediate temperature may not be realisable if there is an
additional utility pinch formed below the process pinch. There are two possible ways this
may happen as shown in Figure 7. Firstly, there may be temperature violation. This may
happen as the process GCC and the utility GCC intersects. Secondly, there may not be
enough process heat available to pre-heat the combustion air to its maximum possible
intermediate temperature.
In case the air pre-heating using the process heat below the pinch is limited by a
utility pinch at the point (Hk, Tk), the intermediate temperature is revised from Ti to Tit.
The revised heat balance of air pre-heater gives
Hk mf Ca (Tit  Tkn ) (27)
where Tkn is the actual temperature of the air.
Tkn Tk  0.5'Tp  'Tadl (28)

Calculating fuel fired from Equation (23), the intermediate temperature can be
expressed as
H k [ Feff  C g (Ts  T0 )  Ca T0 ] + Qhu Ca Tkn
Tit = . (29)
Ca (Qhu  H k )

The minimum among all the calculated intermediate temperatures Tit and Ti is chosen as
the revised intermediated temperature Tit. In the special case of not formation of any
utility pinch, Tit will be equal to Ti.
 Energy integration of fired heaters into overall processes 53

Figure 7 Process heat limitation

Temperature
Temperature

Process GCC
Process GCC

Limited by utility pinch

Tk
T
k

Limited process heat

availability

H Heat duty Hk
k

Similarly, if there is a restriction on the availability of process heat for heating

combustion air, the intermediate temperature has to be further revised. To find process
heat availability below the pinch the intermediate temperature is found using the
following relation
Qhu Ca T0  H k ( Feff  C g (Ts  T0 )  Ca T0 )
Tih . (30)
Ca (Qhu  H k )

The maximum among all the calculated intermediated temperatures is denoted as Tih. The
minimum among Tit and Tih determines the final revised intermediate temperature Ti up to
which air may be pre-heated using process heat below the pinch. If the minimum is below
the ambient temperature, the ambient is taken as the intermediate temperature (no process
heating possible).
The fuel requirement can be revised using Equation (23). If the maximum
intermediate temperature is limited by a utility pinch below the pinch point, the air
pre-heat temperature can be varied to a maximum limit as given below without affecting
the fuel requirement.
(Cg (Ts  'Tga )  Ti Ca
Ta, max . (31)
'C
This is equivalent to Equation (16) with T0 is replaced by Ti. For air pre-heating using
process heat below the pinch the maximum intermediate temperature possible
Equation (25) lead to an important conclusion. The intermediate temperature will be
maximum if the process pinch point is holding the pinch between the flue gas and the
process GCC. This lead to a simplification as Hj = 0,
54 J. Varghese and S. Bandyopadhyay

Figure 8 (a) Network synthesised for example 2 with process heating and (b) Schematic of
the fired heater system
 Energy integration of fired heaters into overall processes 55

[Cg Ts  Ca 'T ]  'CTpn

Ti . (32)
Ca

For a simple case with equal temperature differences, and with no additional temperature
potential between flue gas and process streams,
C g (Ts  0.5'T  Tp )
Ti  (Tp  0.5'T ) (33)
Ca

with Tp > (Ts  0.5'T) the value of Ti tends to decrease as Tp increases, since the ratio
Cg/Ca> 1. But for values of Tp < (Ts  0.5'T) the lower pinch will be controlling as per
Equation (29) and the maximum is limited to
Ti Tp  0.5'T (34)

and Ti will decrease with decrease in Tp. From the above discussion, it is clear that Ti, max
is obtained when,
Tp  Ts  0.5'T . (35)

This criterion can be effectively utilised for the integration of fired heaters to obtain the
maximum overall efficiency.

Example 2
Example 2 illustrates the methodology of integration of fired heater into the process. The
stream data is as given in Table 5. General assumptions regarding fuel properties are
same as those listed in example 1. In this case, the ambient is considered at 300 K.
The GCC data obtained from the PTA is in Table 6. The hot utility requirement of
580 kW corresponding to a 'Tp of 30 K is obtained from the PTA. The pinch corresponds
to 450 K on the hot side and 420 K on the cold side. Inlet temperature of the hot process
stream H2 holds the pinch. An additional temperature potential 'Tadl of 20 K between the
flue gas and process streams is assumed. The temperature potential between air pre-heat
and flue gas outlet is assumed to be 70 K. The maximum intermediate temperature up to
which the process heating possible is calculated as 355.2 K, corresponding to this the fuel
required is 0.0151 kg sec1 (i.e. 54.34 kg hour1). The fired heater efficiency is calculated
as 93.7%. Corresponding mean radiating temperature, bridge wall temperature, skin
temperature and radiation duty fraction are 1161, 1124.4, 694.3 K and 0.658,
respectively. The fired heater integration results are given in Table 7. The detailed heat
exchanger network synthesised is shown in Figure 8. The network synthesised shows the
stream (C3) enters twice into the fired heater. Modified once through case is shown in
Figure 9. Now the process streams enter the fired heater at 555 K, and hence, the pinch
point becomes 570 K. The fuel required is increased to 0.01528 kg sec1
(55.02 kg hour1). The fired heater efficiency is calculated as 92.5% and the
corresponding minimum air pre-heat temperature required is 535 K. The reduction in
efficiency is due to the reduction in process heating for air pre-heating and thus, resulting
an increased fuel flow. Corresponding adiabatic flame temperature, the mean radiating
temperature, bridge wall temperature, skin temperature and the radiation fraction are
2,494, 1159.3, 1119.3, 689.2 K and 0.727, respectively. If the fired heater is to
56 J. Varghese and S. Bandyopadhyay

be integrated only with the flue gas heat for air pre-heating the fuel consumption would
be 0.01546 kg sec1 (i.e., 55.66 kg hour1) with an efficiency of 91.5%. This clearly mark
the improvement on the efficiency (2.2%) achieved with process heating and integrated
against process GCC.
Table 5 Stream data for example 2

Stream Mcp (kWK1 ) Tin (K) Tout (K)

H1 4 600 350
H2 4 450 300
C3 4 300 700
C4 2 350 450

Table 6 Grand Composite Curve data from Problem Table Algorithm for example 2
corresponding to 'Tp = 30 K

Temperature (K) 715 585 465 435 365 335 315 285
Q (kW) 580 60 60 0 140 260 260 380

Table 7 Fired heater integration result for example 2

Parameter Result Remarks

Pinch temperature 435 K PTA
Hot utility required 580 kW PTA
Cold utility required 380 kW PTA
Air pre-heat intermediate Hj, Tj Ti (K)
temperature using process 580, 715 995.4
heat below pinch Equation (26) The minimum
60, 585 384.8
temperature is Ti=355.2 K
60, 465 410.6
0, 435 355.2
Process heat limitation Hk, Tk Tit Tih
0, 435 400 300
140, 365 1,059 1,020
Equations (30) and (31), no
260, 335 2,138 2,138
limitation Ti = 355.2 K
260, 315 2,102 2,138
380, 285 4,452 4,598
Temperature selected 400 4,598
Fuel fired 0.0151 kg sec1 Equation (23)
Air pre-heat temperature 400 K Equation (27)
Flame temperature 2382.5 K Equation (5)
Modified integration results with pinch (0,570)

Air intermediate temperature 326.6 K Equation (26)

Fuel fired 0.01528 kg sec1 Equation (23)
Air pre-heat temperature 535 K Equation (27)
 Energy integration of fired heaters into overall processes 57

Figure 9 (a) Network synthesised for example 2 involving once through case with process
heating and (b) Schematic of the fired heater system
58 J. Varghese and S. Bandyopadhyay

There is a significant difference in the integration using process heat for air
pre-heating based on the GCC and overhang of the composite curves. The integration
based on the GCC approach results more process heat and better overall efficiency. For
the simplification of the network, with once through fired heater the process heat for air
pre-heating would come down and corresponds to a reduction in the overall efficiency.
This is due to the fact that the GCC based integration results a low pinch temperature and
it leads to the possibility of high air intermediate temperature (Equation (25)), and thus,
more process heat for air pre-heating.

4 Conclusions

Integration of fired heater with the process considering the effects of the fired heater
variables on its performance improves the energy efficiency of the overall process. The
simple fired heater model proposed in this article can be used to target the duty split at
the targeting stage. This may be useful to target multiple streams in the convection
section during the network development. Analytical solution for the fuel fired directly
shows the need for low excess air and limiting the stack temperature to the minimum for
better efficiency. In fired heaters with air pre-heat using flue gas only the fuel
requirement remains same for any air pre-heat between the minimum and practical
maximum limits. It is recommended to fix the air pre-heat temperature to the minimum
possible. There may exists different possible design. Based on the overall economic
considerations and environmental regulation, process designer have the flexibility to
design the appropriate fired heater integrated process. Air pre-heat using process heat
available below the pinch can improve the overall efficiency by 1–2.5%. Also, this
improvement on the efficiency of the fired heater reduces green house gases from the
fired heater by an equal amount. The intermediate air temperature up to which the
process heat can be utilised is limited by the process and thermodynamic limits.
Limitation by the utility pinch may reduce the available process heating. The analytical
procedure proposed in this article may be used to find simultaneously the minimum fuel
required and the minimum air pre-heat temperature avoiding any iteration. The general
analytical methodology developed can easily be generalised to consider a combined fired
heater and other process 'Tp optimisation. The fired heater load varies with 'Tp and the
fired heater parameters can be optimised in a combined way leading to a possible global
optimum.

Acknowledgments

First, author acknowledges the fellowship provided by the Ministry of Non-Conventional

Energy Sources, Government of India for this work.

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