Maximizing Furnace Efficiency & Minimizing Furnace Emissions through Analytics

Heat Treating Company products are often processed through gas-fired industrial furnaces. These furnaces can be either direct heated or indirect heated with radiant tubes. In both cases, the company's business performance is dependent on the performance of the furnace's combustion system. This presentation explores the negative impact on a furnace's performance when not maintaining near stoichiometric combustion, as well as the benefits of properly maintaining the same system. Case studies will illustrate the variability of combustion systems and the detrimental effect of this variability. This paper will also introduce a new IIOT approach to (1) daily measuring and reporting the excess oxygen in every radiant tube of a furnace or the fire rate of open fire burners and (2) providing actionable data to the furnace operators and maintenance team in order to maintain proper combustion.