LSV™ Burner Technology for Improved Efficiency, Reliability and Low-NOx: A Case Study

摘要

Air Products installed new low-NOx LSV™ (Large Scale Vortex) burners in a new Steam Methane Reformer in Westlake Louisiana in 2004. This 110MM scfd (123,000 Nm~3/hr) hydrogen reformer was built by Technip USA and it was equipped for the first time with Air Products proprietary LSV™ burners. The total firing rate at full capacity is around 900 MM Btu/Hr (264 MW) and it is distributed using 126 down-fired burners in 9 burner rows. The LSV™ burner is based on a highly stable fluidic flame stabilizer and a highly efficient and unique fuel injection system. The nozzle-mix flame stabilizer enables the primary flame to operate at ultra-lean conditions for low NOx operation over an extended operating range without the aid of a mechanical flame retention device. It is suitable for operation with purge gas and natural gas or refinery fuel gas. Shortly after start-up of the Westlake reformer a performance test was conducted. The design capacity was achieved and the NOx emissions met the expected and required levels, however, due to burner-furnace interactions, tube wall temperature uniformity and flame patterns needed improvement. In response, a team was commissioned to optimize the burner to improve the reformer operation using experimental and engineering design tools. Recently, the modifications recommended by the team were implemented leading to significant improvement of furnace operation and tube temperature uniformity. This uniformity allowed further optimization of the reformer operating parameters, ultimately resulting in much higher overall efficiency of West-lake operation. This paper discusses the before and after cases.