Tube Furnace - Core Equipment in the Field of Industrial Heating

    In industrial production, as a direct heating equipment, the tube furnace has become the core equipment for heating liquid or gas raw materials in chemical, energy and other fields by virtue of its efficient heat exchange capacity and stable performance. Its unique structural design and waste heat recovery technology not only meet the high-load heating demand, but also promote the upgrading of industrial production with the advantages of energy saving and efficiency improvement.

    The excellent performance of the tube furnace originates from its scientific structural design, which is mainly composed of four core parts:

Radiation Chamber

    As the "main battlefield" of heat exchange, the radiation chamber carries out radiation heat transfer through flame or high-temperature flue gas. The internal temperature can reach 600-1600°C, undertaking 70%-80% of the total furnace heat load. The furnace tube is in direct contact with the flame, made of high-temperature resistant alloy materials, and the surface is sprayed with anti-coking coating to ensure stable operation under extreme working conditions. It is suitable for high-temperature demand scenarios such as crude oil distillation and chemical cracking.

Convection Chamber

    Adjacent to the radiation chamber, it uses the flue gas discharged from the radiation chamber (temperature about 300-600°C) for convective heat transfer to further recover waste heat. The furnace tubes of the convection chamber are designed with finned tubes, which improve the heat exchange efficiency by increasing the heat transfer area. It is often used for preheating raw materials or heating process water to reduce overall energy consumption.

Burner

    As a key device for energy conversion, the burner is divided into three categories according to the fuel type:

· Fuel Oil Burner: Adopts atomizing nozzle technology to atomize heavy oil, residue oil, etc. into micron-level particles, which are fully mixed with air before combustion. It is suitable for scenarios where fuel oil supply is stable.

· Fuel Gas Burner: Realizes precise proportioning of gas and air through a porous 分流 (split-flow) structure. The flame is short and strong, and the thermal efficiency can reach more than 95%. It is commonly used in chemical parks with rich natural gas.

· Oil-Gas Combined Burner: Supports flexible switching between fuel oil and gas, adapts to multi-fuel supply environments, and has emergency backup functions.

Ventilation System

    It is divided into two categories: natural ventilation and forced ventilation.

· Natural ventilation relies on the chimney effect, with a simple structure but greatly affected by the external environment.

· Forced ventilation uses a combination of a blower and an induced draft fan to accurately control the air volume and air pressure, ensuring sufficient combustion. It is suitable for large tube furnaces or plateau areas.

    The advancement of the tube furnace is not only reflected in its heating capacity, but also in its efficient waste heat recovery system:

Air Preheater

    It consists of two stages: non-condensing and condensing.

· The non-condensing preheater uses the waste heat of flue gas to heat the air required for combustion, raising the air temperature and reducing fuel consumption.

· The condensing preheater further recovers the latent heat of water vapor in the flue gas, reducing the smoke exhaust temperature. At the same time, the acidic condensed water is treated through a condensed water collection tank to avoid equipment corrosion.

Intelligent Control System

    It integrates temperature sensors and variable frequency fans, real-time monitors the flue gas and temperature, and dynamically adjusts combustion parameters to ensure the maximization of waste heat recovery efficiency. According to measured data, the thermal efficiency of a tube furnace equipped with a complete waste heat recovery system can be improved compared with traditional models, saving fuel costs.

    Tube furnaces are widely used in the following fields:

· Petrochemical industry: Crude oil heating furnaces, reforming furnaces, etc., used in processes such as crude oil distillation and catalytic cracking.

· Coal chemical industry: Raw material heating for coal gasification devices, supporting high-temperature and high-pressure working conditions.

· Energy and environmental protection: Biomass gas heating, hazardous waste incineration pretreatment, adapting to various fuel types and meeting environmental protection emission requirements.

    Key considerations for model selection:

· Fuel adaptability: Select the burner type according to the fuel supply of the plant (such as heavy oil, natural gas, biomass gas) to avoid later transformation costs.

· Heat load demand: Determine the size of the radiation chamber and the arrangement of furnace tubes according to the heating capacity (kW) and temperature range required by the process to ensure uniform heating.

· Installation environment: For plateau areas, forced ventilation type should be selected; for high humidity areas, the design of condensed water discharge should be strengthened; for corrosive environments, stainless steel furnace tubes should be used.

    As an innovative enterprise in the field of industrial heating equipment, Shanghai Guanding Industrial Equipment provides full-process tube furnace solutions:

· Customized design: Optimize the structure of the radiation chamber and convection chamber according to the customer's process parameters (such as medium flow, temperature, pressure) to ensure the maximization of thermal efficiency. The oil-gas combined tube furnace designed for chemical enterprises, through dual-fuel burners and a three-stage waste heat recovery system, has effectively improved the thermal efficiency, far exceeding the industry average level.

· Intelligent upgrading: Equipped with a PLC control system, supporting remote monitoring of data such as furnace temperature, fuel consumption, and flue gas emissions, and can be docked with the factory DCS system to realize the automation of the entire production process.

· After-sales service: Provide full-cycle services such as burner debugging, furnace tube cleaning, and thermal efficiency testing to ensure the long-term stable operation of the equipment.