From refining to chemical production processes, heaters play an essential role in hydrocarbon processing applications.They produce very high temperatures through the reaction of fuel with oxygen(O2)from air, then transfer this energy to process fluids via heat exchangers.This process has a high level of fuel consumption;it produces significant amounts of emissions and creates a potential safety hazard for personnel and equipment.Controlling the combustion process delivers considerable benefits, including lower fuel costs, reduced emissions and decreased risk of explosion.This control is based on an optimized air-to-fuel ratio, which, in turn, leads to efficient fuel consumption.Before the development of analyzer technologies that are able to measure excess air in the products of combustion, heaters were operated in conditions using high excess air.This meant that, while low-O2, fuel-rich conditions that could lead to an explosion could be avoided, the result was inefficient and expensive fuel consumption.The reason is that excess air leads to cooler burning, which significantly reduces combustion efficiency, due to increased heat loss to the atmosphere.In addition, excess O2 combines with nitrogen and sulfur to produce harmful emissions.To optimize the air-to-fuel ratio, it is vital to achieve the accurate gas analysis of O2 and carbon monoxide(CO).Traditionally, zirconium oxide cell technologies have been used for the O2 measurement;these are typically combined with a combustibles(COe)sensor, such as a thick film calorimeter.However, the emergence of tunable diode laser(TDL)technologies has challenged the traditional ways of controlling combustion.
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