How to improve boiler efficiency and extend boiler life
With energy prices increasing, you might be contemplating replacement
as your best means to improve boiler efficiency. Still, even if
replacement is not a consideration—and for most boilers it should not
be—you can’t afford to stand by as energy costs burn up more and more of
your plant’s budget.
Fortunately, owners of functioning industrial boilers have many
avenues for getting more out of their units from the same or reduced
fuel consumption. These are listed and described below.
At RoviSys, our job is
to help our clients improve their industrial energy efficiency
along with their overall production efficiency and capabilities.
In fact, we don’t sell boilers or deaerators or automated blowdown
systems. You’ll have to buy these elsewhere. Specifically, we:
See steam as a system
Updating old or inflexible controls
is generally considered the
single most effective way to get more steam from less fuel. However,
savings depend on how many hours you make steam, demand variations,
energy costs and other factors. We recommend an audit of your boiler and
steam system controls if you have uncertainty over your best options.
Beyond better controls, what's the key to uncovering and implementing
savings in your steam and related operations? Understanding steam as a
system—one that is part of a bigger manufacturing system. Integration
across your plant or site is how you get the most steam from the fewest
BTUs.
RoviSys steam generation systems engineers have been designing,
implementing and supporting boiler controls and steam distribution
systems for years. Applications include steel manufacturing, chemical
plants, food processing facilities and refineries, to name a few. As
part of a full-service and independent manufacturing automation
solutions provider, we have developed the expertise and know-how to
effectively maximize energy efficiency by bringing together the
boilerhouse with clients' total manufacturing process.
What is real—and what is a “pipe dream”—when it comes to
cost-effective improvements in your plant? We can help you answer those
questions.
Get more steam from your boilers using the same or less
energy
For more on these topics, go the
energy efficient boiler systems
page.
- Maintain and tune your boiler
- Fix leaks and insulate piping
- Measure combustion efficiency
- Automate flue gas analysis to continuously
- Recover flue heat with an economizer
- Automate surface blowdown
- Replace mechanical or linked burner controls with modern
independent motor-driven fuel air-mixture controls
- Polish your feedwater by removing contaminants and oxygen with
filters and deaerators
- Return steam condensate to your boiler feedwater
- Replace fixed speed fans and motors with variable speed units
- Reduce burner size on a boiler that consistently runs below
optimum load
- Buy efficient boilers properly sized for your needs
- Sequence multiple boilers using a boiler management system that
can communicate through your over plant control platform
- Make only what you need: implement a
load matching or leveling
system to anticipate demand and increase or reduce supply
accordingly