Any operators of heat treatment processes, whether they be steel billet rolling, steel section production, annealing, tempering, hazardous waste incineration, thermal destruction, or other “high temperature process”, will be very concerned about energy consumption and measurements leading to actions that reduce fuel usage whilst maintaining energy transfer into the product material.
In many processes, the generation of process heat originates from the combustion of gaseous, liquid and sometimes solid fuel. As well as temperature, the measurement of gaseous compounds like CO (carbon monoxide) and O2 (oxygen) provide key performance indicators of the efficiency of the process, and therefore the overall cost of running the plant. Small gains in efficiency can result in savings of significant amounts of money.
By their very nature, the gas within these processes may exist at very high temperatures, contain large amounts of attenuated dust. This presents a challenge in terms of selection of any components that need to come into contact with this process gas. For long-term operation they need to be designed to withstand the conditions.
Another consideration is what to do with the analysis information? The speed of an analyser response will dictate how fast the operator will be able to react – either manually or through automation. In addition to the chosen measured parameters, consideration should be give over to the real required response time for the measurement. These process and operational factors will determine the best solution for the individual process.
Focal-Point have access to and experience of a number of techniques which may be deployed for furnace or “high temperature” applications.
