COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMIC 3D SIMULATION USING BLENDED GASES BY IGNITING FURNACES WITH PARAMETERS CONFIGURATION

Gas Engineering

Furnaces are important pieces of equipment in the petroleum refining sector because they supply the necessary heat for many operations. These furnaces are designed to run on natural gas, but in most cases, they run on a mixture of waste gases known as refinery gases (RG), whose molar composition varies depending on the process in which they are produced, but in most cases contains high levels of propane, hydrogen, and propylene, among other things. Most of the time, this is done to save energy and reduce storage costs. This shift in molar composition, however, results in a change in calorific power of up to 1,200 Btu/ft3, causing changes in the combustion process, lowering efficiency and raising pollutant emissions. The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technique is utilized in this study to simulate the combustion process in a representative portion of a typical refinery furnace utilizing RG as the fuel and three different molar compositions. The influence of molar composition fluctuation on the temperature and chemical species profiles inside the furnace is investigated using comparative CFD 3 D simulation instances. The results reveal that adding more gases to the furnace, such as propane, propylene, or hydrogen, increases the calorific power and peak temperature, but the temperature profile distribution is less uniform. When employing combination gases with low CH 4 content, the chemical species profiles inside the furnace show an increase in CO, indicating that a more extensive analysis of air excess and flow is required. The findings are significant because they can be used as a tool for determining whether it is more convenient to use refinery waste gases as a fuel in furnaces or not, as well as a starting point for a more detailed investigation into furnace operation and process safety.

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