Fuel Oil Emulsification

Saving Furnace Oil with

Homogenization &

Water-Fuel Emulsification

© R.A.D.E INITIATIVE 2013 | [email protected]

INHERENT PROBLEMS OF F.O. •  Incomplete Combustion due to Poor Atomization.

•  Burner, Strainer Blockages due to Asphaltenes & Sludge.

•  Heavy Black Smoke and Sulfur Smell.

•  Pollutants like NOx & SOx in Flue Gas.

•  Very Hydroscopic (Always Attracts Water).

•  No Guaranteed Fuel Quality.

•  Very Often Adulterated with Water & Impurities.

•  Vague Metering Practices.


INCOMPLETE COMBUSTION

•  F.Oil is difficult both to handle and Atomize.

•  Burners only Atomize it into 100 - 200 microns drops.

•  Combustion takes place only on the drop surface.

•  Larger droplets do not burn completely.

•  Leaving unburned Fuel & Carbon deposits.

•  This Causes poor Economy and Black Smoke.

•  Flame Hot-Spots Oxidize Metals, erode Refractory and make NOx.

•  A 3mm carbon layer in a Boiler increases Fuel usage by 2.5 %.


DRY HOMOGENIZATION

•  Homogenization coverts F.O. into an easily handling, uniform consistency Fluid which can be easily atomized.

•  A Homogenizer shreds the impurities into microscopic sizes

so that they can pass through burners and combust.

•  A Homogenizer can also emulsify some of the free water

present in the F.O. into an Emulsion.

•  Homogenizing can be achieved by In-line Homogenizer,

Tank Homogenizer or an Homogenizer / Emulsifier unit.


F.O. EMULSIFICATION

•  Emulsions are stable blends of immiscibles like Oil & Water.

•  Fuel Emulsions contain suspended micron sized water droplets.

•  Emulsified Fuel are created by various processes, utilizing either

the residual or add water.

•  Emulsified F.O. has excellent combustion characteristics which

results in Higher Economy, Less Smoke and lower NOx.

•  The Oil Emulsifying process can also be used to reduce the Sulfur

in F.O. with special additives.


PRINCIPLE BEHIND EMULSIFIED

FUEL COMBUSTION

•  Emulsified Fuel is embedded with 5-20 microns water droplets.

•  The flame temperature forces the water to bursts into steam,

thus increasing in volume by 1700 times.

•  This rapid expansion shatters the host Fuel droplet into a 10-20

micron sized mist, with 1000 times greater surface area.

•  This Process is called Secondary Atomization.

•  The Low pressures & High temperature, partially disassociates

steam releasing traces of Hydrogen which bonds with the

carbon and creates a highly combustible Water gas/ SynGas.


BENEFITS OF THE EMULSIFIED F.O.

•  Emulsification improves Fuel Economy by a minimum 5-20% in Direct Flame Heating Applications.

•  Shorter, Wider Flames and complete combustion, less carbon

deposits and soot formation.

•  Micro-explosions of Water cause continuous Flame turbulence

resulting in better heat dissipation.

•  Super-heated Steam of Emul. F.O. helps Equalize, Store and

Transmit heat from the flame to load.

•  In Metal Furnaces, it radically reduces Oxide formation,

Burning Losses and improves Refractory Lifespan.


NORMAL VS

EMULSIFIED F.O. FLAME

100 Microns Fuel droplet

10-20 micron Fuel droplets

5-‐‑10 Micron Water droplets

1-20 micron unburned Fuel & Soot particle


HOW IS AN F.O. EMULSION

GENERATED

Furnace Oil

Additive Water

Emulsified fuel

Emulsifying Device


SAVINGS WITH EMULSIFIED F.O.


COMPLEMENTS OTHER FUELS •  With Pulverized Coal, Emul. F.O. becomes a clean burning

liquid fuel known as COM (Coal Oil Mixture).

•  Emul. F.O. can be easily blended with Coal Tar .

•  Used with PCC, it helps regulate the thermal spread inside the furnace, reduces Hot-Spots and particulate matter emission.

•  Emul. F.O. can be blended with poorly combustible waste oils,

like used transformer oil, engine & gear oil etc.


BENEFITS OF EMUL. F.O. IN THE

STEEL SECTOR •  5 -10 % improvement in Fuel economy.

•  30 - 50 % reduction of Burning Loss & Mill Scale.

•  Improves Productivity due to better Thermal Spread.

•  Does not require any Burner or Pump changes.

•  Longer Refractory Lifespan due to non-acidic Flame.

•  Clean Burners and pipelines means more productivity .

•  Increased Stack and Reccuperator Life span.

•  Reduce waste heat generation.

•  Reduces Carbon footprint.

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Ü  10 – 15 % improvement over normal F.O. Fuel economy Ü  Between 30 - 50 % pricing economy over Diesel. Ü  Stack Emissions at par or even cleaner then Diesel. Ü  Light Ash deposit on tubes that can be cleaned by air lancing. Ü  Longer Intervals between Boiler Tube Cleaning. Ü  Less down-time . Ü  Reduces waste heat generation. Ü  Reduce Carbon footprint. Ü Does not require any Burner or Pump changes.

BENEFITS FOR BOILERS


Case Study 1 (30 Ton/Hr Steel Re-heating

Furnace)



Furnace)



Furnace)

Emulsified F.O. Normal F.O. Material Produced (mt) 108 103 Working Hours 17 18 F.O. per hour 210 256 F.O. per ton 33 42


Emission Study (6 Ton/Hr Steel Re-heating

Furnace)

Emissions with normal F. O. Date: 6/4/07 Stack Temp.: 135 º C Particulate Matter (mg/ Nm3) : 72.71 SO2 (mg/Nm3) : 1203.30 SO2 (Kg/Hr): 4.50 NOx (mg/Nm3): 916.64

Emission with Emulsified F.O. Date: 10/9/07 Stack Temp.: 52 º C Particulate Matter (mg/Nm3): 56.23 SO2 (mg/Nm3) : 309.68 SO2 (Kg/Hr): 1.31 NOx (mg/Nm3): 781.28


HYDROLYZERS AT WORK


SUMMARY

Homogenization Water -F.O. Emulsion

Shreds Impurities. Shreds Impurities.

Improves Atomization. Improves Atomization.

No Burner Changes Required.

No Burner Changes Required.

Reduces Maintenance Time. Reduces Maintenance Time.

5-‐‑10% Fuel Savings.

Reduces Flue Pollutants. Reduces Waste-‐‑Heat.


THE LAST WORD

“Emulsified fuels are found to give much better emission reduction towards reduced particulate and Oxides of Nitrogen emission

reduction along with fuel saving that it is now implemented in most of the developed countries.”

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam 11th President of India


Technology

Fuel Oil Emulsification