Application Of Fuel Additives To Enhance Boiler Performance

Abstract

All chemical industries require steam to meet their process requirement. Boiler is commonly used for producing steam. Furnace oil is commonly used fuel in the boiler system. Due to the characteristics of furnace oil, boilers are operating at lower thermal efficiency and pollutants are emitted as well, especially sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, which can be detrimental to human health and to the ecological environment. Problems of incomplete combustion, soot deposition and sludge formation are common to a greater or lesser degree with all hydrocarbon fuel oils, used in boilers. In this work, a cost- benefit analysis concerning the use of fuel additive in furnace oil fired boiler is performed. For evaluating the effect of application of fuel additives, boiler efficiency and fuel saving is calculated. The market survey has been carried out for different available fuel additives. Experiment is conducted in SHELLMAX 3- pass 6 TPH capacity fire tube boiler using furnace oil as a fuel and Speciality chemical X is used as an additive. Based on the experimental result obtained, it can be concluded that furnace oil additives can prove beneficial, both technically and economically.