Estimation Methods for Industrial Boiler Furnace Exit Gas Temperature: A Comparative Review

Furnace Exit Gas Temperature (FEGT) is an important parameter in boiler furnace design. FEGT also affects the design of furnace downstream boiler elements significantly. In this paper, several engineering methods for FEGT estimation are elaborated in two equation-based and chart-based categories. The accuracy of the reviewed FEGT estimation methods were assessed by comparing the results for three real-world industrial boiler case studies. For each case, the acquired FEGT values from the elaborated methods were compared by the values reported by the corresponding manufacturers. The acquired results revealed that chart-based methods lead to better results as compared to equation-based methodologies. For gaseous fuels, Ganapathy’s chart andOrrok and Hudson method presented the best results with ۳.۳% and ۱۰.۰% of accuracy, respectively. For oil fuels, Annaratone’s chart and heat balance methodology yielded the best results having accuracy of ۲.۹% and ۲.۸%, respectively. Overall, it was deduced that the heat balance method could be utilized as a reliable method for fuels that do not have empirically documented FEGT values. The discussions presented in this research could help the scientists and engineers to gain a comprehensive insight on FEGT estimation methods for industrial boiler applications.

Keywords:

Furnace exit gas temperature , Industrial boiler , combustion , radiation heat transfer , furnace design