BURNERS & COMBUSTION SYSTEMS TECHNICAL CONTENT

The Cost of Furnace Insulation Failure

/ BURNERS & COMBUSTION SYSTEMS TECHNICAL CONTENT, Manufacturing Heat Treat Technical Content

You see a little orange light coming from your furnace while it’s operating. What if that was a clue that you were losing over $7,000 annually on one furnace? In today’s Combustion Corner installment Jim Roberts, president of US Ignition, shares more details about the long term costs of furnace insulation failure.

This informative piece was first released in Heat Treat Today’s May 2025 Sustainable Heat Treat Technologies print edition.

A furnace guy walks into a bar and smells burning hair! A sure indication of wasted resources…  

Normally, I would not concern myself, as a burner guy, with heat loss issues. But as a furnace guy, this is one of the biggest culprits when it comes to running an energy-efficient operation. Burner guys take it as an affront when the burners get blamed for being inefficient or hard to keep balanced. It’s the ultimate slap in the face when the burners (and sometimes the whole furnace) get labeled as a “gas hog.” The seasoned furnace guys who just read that are shrinking back in horror at the mention of a gas hog because they know there are many ways to waste fuel, and some of them are hard to rectify if equipment is not up to snuff.  

This installment will provide an example of what can be done to avoid wasting fuel and why you should prioritize this problem.  

Insulation and Energy Loss 

The aforementioned smell of burning hair, of course, was rather dramatic and hopefully unlikely, but we have all walked into a heat treat facility and been hit in the face with some sort of otherworldly blast of heat. I know, you’re thinking, “Well, duh, Captain Obvious, we are in the business of making things really hot in here.” I get it. However, we all know that if the furnace insulation has broken down, or worse yet, failed completely in spots, energy loss is imminent and will affect the bottom line. And it never seems to be one big issue, but it’s a compounded effect that will add up to serious energy dollar loss.  

A Tale of Two Furnaces 

Our example today is the retelling of my own experience. I got called to a shop in the Northwest geo-zone a while ago (okay, a long while ago). There were two furnaces sitting side by side with matching load profiles. The manager of the operation walked me out into the work area, and staring at a pair of furnaces said, “One is using almost twice as much fuel. Same everything from an equipment standpoint but almost double the fuel usage.” I looked and observed that the furnace in question had visible orange around the door seams, around the burner flanges, and around the flue. The other furnace had a completely dark exterior. The work associates in this plant were all suffering from radiation blindness — they could not see this very visible damage because the insulation on this furnace had deteriorated slowly enough they were accepting it as normal. Only, it’s not.  

Let’s Run the Numbers 

If you can see any type of color around doors, the energy loss is massive. At 2000°F Flue gas temperatures, the heat loss from radiation alone is already around 40,000 BTU/hr per square foot of visible radiation.  

If you consider that there are probably outside air ingresses through these gaps as well, you can estimate that will result in 10,000 BTU/hr per square foot of additional loss. Those numbers combine for a 50,000 BTU/hr per square foot of loss from the big orange leaks. That’s 50 cubic feet of natural gas every hour for every square foot. You might say, “Well, nobody would have a square foot of glowing furnace shell.” However, if you take it a 10-foot door opening, and the gap is 1 inch all the way around, the square foot of exposed area is leaking heat off at 4 times that square footage because it’s really just a ribbon of heat pouring out.  

So now, I was witnessing 200 cubic feet of fuel leaking out every hour that this furnace was heating all day, every day. That is 200 cubic feet × 24 hours/day × 6 days/week × 50 weeks/year = 1,440,000 cubic feet of gas wasted on a single door.  

If we estimate that gas is averaging around $5.25/1,000 cubic feet of industrial grid price, that leaky door costs $7,560.00 per year in fuel. If we consider that the gas that was being blown into the room was really intended to heat the load, we can argue there are production losses as well.  

Become an Energy Hero 

In the case of the client I was helping, I recommended refractory repairs to ensure there was no orange showing outside the furnace. The manager thought I had invented heat — I was his energy hero — and all of a sudden, the burners weren’t gas hogs, and the furnace was up to speed with its twin.  

You, too, can be a burner/furnace/energy hero for your facility by not allowing yourself to become radiation blind. Look around, feel the heat that is there, and don’t accept it as the norm. When you see it, fix it. The money you save will almost always pay for the repairs many times over.  

Be safe always, and we’ll chat more next month.

About The Author:

Jim Roberts
President
US Ignition

For More Information: Contact Jim Roberts at jim@usignition.com. 

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Is It Stuffy in Here? Exhaust Systems

/ ATMOSPHERE AIR FURNACES TECHNICAL CONTENT, BURNERS & COMBUSTION SYSTEMS TECHNICAL CONTENT, GUEST COLUMN, Manufacturing Heat Treat Technical Content, OP-ED

In each installment of Combustion Corner, Jim Roberts, president of U.S. Ignition, reinforces the goal of the series: providing informative content to “furnace guys” about the world of combustion. The previous column examined the air supply inlet — the inhale, and this month, Jim is examining the exhaust system — the exhale, and how to inspect it, maintain it, and manage it.

This informative piece was first released in Heat Treat Today’s March 2025 Aerospace print edition.

A guy walks into a room full of furnace guys and says, “Is it just me, or is it a tad stuffy in here?”

We have all been able to imagine that it is hard to focus and do your job in an environment where it seems like it’s hard to breathe. Well, our hard workin’ buddy, the furnace, is continually stuck in a cycle of trying to breathe in, breathe out — and then somewhere in between, the magic of combustion and heat happens! We talked last month about the “breathe in” part of the combustion process. This month, we are going to remind you that if you take a really good, productive, inhaled, life giving breath, you are probably going to want to exhale at some point, too!

Tip 2: Ensure Exhaust Systems Are Properly Functioning and Clean

Inhale, exhale. It makes sense that if we were earlier having issues with the air supply inlet, the exhaust should also be checked. Today’s combustion equipment is sophisticated and sensitive to pressure fluctuations. If the exhaust is restricted, the burners will struggle to get the proper input to the process. I used to use the example of trying to spit into a soda bottle. Try it. It’s tough to do and invariably will not leave you happy. Clean exhaust also minimizes any chance of fire. Read on for three examples.

A. Check the Flues and Exhausts for Soot

If you are responsible for burners that are delivering indirect heat (in other words, radiant tubes), you have a relatively easy task ahead to check the flues/exhausts. Each burner usually has its own exhaust, and one can see if the burners are running with fuel-rich condition (soot/carbon). Soot is not a sign of properly running burners and will signal trouble ahead. Soot can degrade the alloys at a chemical level. Soot can catch fire and create a hot spot in the tubes. Soot obviously signals you are using more fuel than needed (or your combustion blower is blocked, see the first column in this series).

As a furnace operator or floor person, it should be normal operating procedure to look for leakage around door seals.

Here’s a sub tip: If you cannot see the exhaust outlets directly, look around the floor and on the roof of the furnace up by the exhaust outlets. Light chunks of black stuff is what is being ejected into the room when it breaks free from the burner guts (if it can). That will tell you it’s time to tune those burners. If you do not have a good oxygen/flue gas analyzer, get one. It can be pricey, but it will pay for itself in a matter of months in both maintenance and fuel savings.

B. Seriously … Check the Flues and Leakage Around Door Seals

If you are running direct-fired furnace equipment, or furnaces that have the flue gases mixed from multiple burners, it gets a little trickier. All the same rules apply for not wanting soot. Only now, it can actually get exposure to your product, it can saturate your refractory, and it can clog a flue to the point that furnace pressure is affected. An increase in furnace pressure can test the integrity of your door seals. It can back up into the burners and put undue and untimely wear and tear on burner nozzles, ignitors, flame safety equipment, etc. As a furnace operator or floor person, it should be normal operating procedure to look for leakage around door seals.

C. Utilize Combustion Service Companies

Ask the wizards. Combustion service companies can usually help you diagnose and verify flue issues if you suspect they exist. It’s always a great idea to set a baseline for your combustion settings. Service companies can help you establish the optimum running conditions. Again, money well spent to optimize the performance of your furnaces. I’m sure you already have a combustion service team; some are listed in this publication. Otherwise, consult the trade groups like MTI and IHEA for recommended suppliers of that valuable service.

Check flues monthly. It should be a regular walk around maintenance check.

Don’t let the next headline be your plant. See you next issue.

About The Author:

Jim Roberts
President
US Ignition

Jim Roberts, president at US Ignition, began his 45-year career in the burner and heat recovery industry directed for heat treating specifically in 1979. He worked for and helped start up WB Combustion in Hales Corners, Wisconsin. In 1985 he joined Eclipse Engineering in Rockford, IL, specializing in heat treating-related combustion equipment/burners. Inducted into the American Gas Association’s Hall of Flame for service in training gas company field managers, Jim is a former president of MTI and has contributed to countless seminars on fuel reduction and combustion-related practices.

Contact Jim Roberts at jim@usignition.com.

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‘Furnace Guys’ and Filtration Systems

/ ATMOSPHERE AIR FURNACES TECHNICAL CONTENT, BURNERS & COMBUSTION SYSTEMS TECHNICAL CONTENT, Manufacturing Heat Treat Technical Content

Jim Roberts, president of U.S. Ignition, joins us in the renewal of the Combustion Corner column. In this installment, Jim establishes that the goal of the series is to provide informative content to “furnace guys” about the world of combustion, furthering the spirit of the Heat Treat Today motto: “We believe people are happier and make better decisions when they are well informed.”

This informative piece was first released in Heat Treat Today’s February 2025 Air/Atmosphere Furnace Systems print edition.

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So … A guy walks into a room full of furnace guys …

And the story (or joke) begins again. I used to be one of the furnace guys. It’s a really niche group of strange, unique, and sometimes knowing people, who, by the way, are not gender specific. To me, “a guy” is a moniker as specific as saying that person over there is a swimmer.

But as furnace guys, those same individuals have a peek at the stuff that normal planet walkers don’t. They — or rather WE — know how to almost tame the beast. We have learned what it means to control temperatures that can crack stone. We can bend metal and make it do what we want at temperatures that the human eye cannot gaze upon without safety filters between us and the beast.

And what is this beast? It’s called combustion. It’s a phenomenon that allows the very air around us and anciently sourced resources to burn like hellfire and yet still do our bidding. But there are fewer and fewer guys who manage the beast these days. And that is how a column like this takes launch.

This publication, and its talented editorial staff, have always been driven to provide information that, in their own words, will allow the greater masses this privilege: “We believe people are happier and make better decisions when they are well informed.”

It was not lost on the staff that with dwindling numbers of longtime combustion people some of the benefits of being “well informed” were needed. They felt information could be presented in such a fashion that old-timers like me could share some of the tried-and-true techniques that we have used over the years. The hope is to not only make the workplace safer, but also to increase efficiency and performance in the processes that utilize combustion.

When we walk into almost any facility and go over to the underperforming furnaces, we can bet part of the problem will be inlet air source or exhaust outlet issues.

To some, this will seem like remedial information. That is GREAT. Because that means that you already understand a fair portion of the pathway to combustion performance. You can be the lead in your facility on combustion safety and understanding. Yay!

We are going to start with a visit to an article I wrote some time ago that then later became a pamphlet called “10 Combustion Tips.” It was written with plant maintenance guys in mind as they traveled the factories and facilities that they had responsibility for. We’ll turn this into a series of tips that are really intended for those less experienced to start. We’ll continue in upcoming editions of Heat Treat Today, and hopefully, everyone will feel like this was beneficial when cruising the aisles of your factories.

Tip 1: Keep the Process Air Filters Clean

I know, this seems so obvious, doesn’t it? Utilities tell us over and over to keep your home furnace filters clean. But I would be willing to bet that almost 30% of all furnace issues that we see in the field start at the blower supplying our combustion air. It’s the lungs for your burners! Any filter blockage will result in serious problems. As the system impedes under a clogged filter, your process may not get the required input. Clogged filters put undue strain on the combustion air blowers over time, so your electrical and motor maintenance costs may escalate. Additionally, the burners may go fuel rich. This wastes fuel and can create carbon, which at its best is an insulator. At its worst, it is a fire hazard.

Tip Solutions

A. Check the filters monthly: It is pretty easy to see if a filter is dirty. Your production folks may have even told you the furnace is slowing down. Less air, less heat. Take a peek … you will know. If it’s a fiber-based filter, replace it. Better yet, make it a habit to check filters every month.

B. Clean the screen: If not a replaceable filter, clean the metallic/plastic screen type with some solvent that will cut the machine/quench oil that’s probably the clog culprit. DO NOT put the filter back on dripping wet with solvent. I apologize to furnace guys out there for having to explain that, but it’s the new world, right? If you didn’t understand why, please refer to the movie “Back Draft.”

C. Get outside: Consider ducting an outside air source to the combustion air blower. Fresh air delivered at a stable temp will always help with furnace and burner performance.

So there, was that so hard? Nope, almost simple. And yet when we walk into almost any facility and go over to the underperforming furnaces, we can bet part of the problem will be inlet air source or exhaust outlet issues.

Don’t let it be your plant. See you next issue.

About the Author

Jim Roberts
President
US Ignition

Jim Roberts, president at US Ignition, began his 45-year career in the burner and heat recovery industry directed for heat treating specifically in 1979. He worked for and helped start up WB Combustion in Hales Corners, Wisconsin. In 1985 he joined Eclipse Engineering in Rockford, IL, specializing in heat treating-related combustion equipment/burners. Inducted into the American Gas Association’s Hall of Flame for service in training gas company field managers, Jim is a former president of MTI and has contributed to countless seminars on fuel reduction and combustion-related practices.

For more information: Contact Jim at jim@usignition.com.

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Sustainability Insights: How Can We Work To Get The Carbon Out Of Heating? Part 2

/ BULK GASES & SYSTEMS TECHNICAL CONTENT, BURNERS & COMBUSTION SYSTEMS TECHNICAL CONTENT, FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT TECH, OP-ED

The search for sustainable solutions in the heat treat industry is at the forefront of research for industry experts. Michael Stowe, PE, senior energy engineer at Advanced Energy, one such expert, offers some fuel for thought on the subject of how heat treaters should prioritize the reduction of their carbon emissions by following the principles of reuse, refuel, and redesign.

This Sustainability Insights article was first published in Heat Treat Today’s January/February 2024 Air & Atmosphere print edition.

Reduce

Michael Stowe
PE, Senior Energy Engineer
Advanced Energy

We explored why the question above has come to the forefront for industrial organizations in Part 1, released in Heat Treat Today’s December 2023 print edition. Now, let’s look at the four approaches to managing carbon in order of priority.

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The best way to manage your carbon footprint is to manage your energy consumption. Therefore, the first and best step for reducing your carbon footprint is to reduce the amount of energy you are consuming. Energy management tools like energy treasure hunts, energy assessments, implementation of energy improvement projects, the DOE 50001 Ready energy management tool, or gaining third party certification in ISO 50001 can all lead to significant reduction in energy consumption year over year. Lower energy use means a smaller carbon footprint.

Additionally, ensuring proper maintenance of combustion systems will also contribute to improved operational efficiency and energy savings. Tuning burners, changing filters, monitoring stack exhaust, controlling excess oxygen in combustion air, lubricating fans and motors, and other maintenance items can help to ensure that you are operating your combustion-based heat treating processes as efficiently as possible.

Reuse

Much of the heat of the combustion processes for heat treating goes right up the stack and heats up the surrounding neighborhood. Take just a minute and take the temperature of your exhaust stack gases. Chances are this will be around 1200–1500°F. Based on this, is there any effective way to reuse this wasted heat for other processes in your facility? One of the best things to do with waste heat is to preheat the combustion air feeding the heat treating process. Depending on your site processes, there are many possibilities for reusing waste heat, including:

  • Space heating
  • Part preheating
  • Hot water heating
  • Boiler feed water preheating
  • Combustion air preheating

Refuel

Once you have squeezed all you can from reducing your process energy consumption and reusing waste heat, you may now want to consider the possibility of switching the fuel source for the heat treating process. If you currently have a combustion process for a heat treat oven or furnace, is it practical or even possible to convert to electricity as the heating energy source? Electricity is NOT carbon free because the local utility must generate the electricity, but it typically does have lower carbon emissions than your existing direct combustion processes on site. Switching heating energy sources is a complex process, and you must ensure that you maintain your process parameters and product quality. Typically, some testing will be required to ensure the new electrical process will maintain the metallurgical properties and the quality standards that your customer’s specific cations demand. Also, you will need a capital investment in new equipment to make this switch. Still, this method does have significant potential for reducing carbon emissions, and you should consider this where applicable and appropriate.

Redesign

Finally, when the time is right, you can consider starting with a blank sheet of paper and completely redesigning your heat treating system to be carbon neutral. This, of course, will mean a significant process change and capital investment. This would be applicable if you are adding a brand-new process line or setting up a new manufacturing plant at a greenfield site.

In summary, heat treating requires significant energy, much of which is fueled with carbon-based fossil fuels and associated-support electrical consumption. Both combustion and electricity consumption contribute to an organization’s carbon footprint. One of the best ways to help manage your carbon footprint is to consider and manage your energy consumption.

For more information:
Connect with IHEA Sustainability & Decarbonization Initiatives www.ihea.org/page/Sustainability
Article provided by IHEA Sustainability

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Anatomy of a Roller Hearth Furnace

/ BURNERS & COMBUSTION SYSTEMS TECHNICAL CONTENT, FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT
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Consider the numerous systems in your heat treat operations. What makes up the anatomy of each furnace? In this “Anatomy of a . . .” series, industry experts indicate the main features of a specific heat treat system. In this feature, the full-page spread identifies main features in a roller hearth furnace.

The mark-ups for these reference images are provided by Premier Furnace Specialists.

Download the full graphics by clicking the image below.

This Technical Tuesday article is drawn from Heat Treat Today’s January/February 2024 Air/Atmosphere print edition, that had a special focus on roller hearths. Use this mark-up as you read two feature articles from the magazine: “5 Experts on Advantages and Applications of Roller Hearth Systems” and “Thermal Loop Solutions, Part 1: A Path to Improved Performance and Compliance in Heat Treatment.“

Search www.heattreatbuyersguide.com for a list of roller hearth furnace providers to the North American market. If you are a roller hearth furnace supplier and are not listed here, please let us know at editor@heattreattoday.com.

This series will continue in subsequent editions of Heat Treat Today’s print publications. Stay tuned!

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Hydrogen Combustion: An Approaching Reality?

/ BURNERS & COMBUSTION SYSTEMS TECHNICAL CONTENT, FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT

How long until heat treat operations use hydrogen for combustion? Considerations like cost and pipeline infrastructure are key in answering this question. For these industry experts, the consensus is clear: It is uncertain when, but hydrogen is coming. Doug Glenn, publisher of Heat Treat Today, moderated a panel of four industry experts in 2023 during which they addressed topics about advancements and challenges surrounding hydrogen combustion. Read an excerpt of their answers below. For the full interview go to www.heattreattoday.com/hydrogen2023.

What’s New for Hydrogen?

Dr.-Ing. Joachim G. Wuenning
President/Owner
WS Wärmeprozesstechnik GmbH

Joe Wuenning: In Europe, several steel companies are getting large funds to really go in on the hydrogen road to make green steel. If you have green steel, you will also convert the downstream processes. These places are large locations where the steel plants are running.

Automotive companies will ask for green steel. How long will it take until the heat treat shop will get to the point of using hydrogen for combustion is uncertain, but I’m sure it will be, in the end, coming also there.

Brian Kelly
Applications Engineering Manager
Honeywell Thermal Solutions

Brian Kelly: We have seen projects secured that have come to fruition firing on hydrogen. They’ve fired on hydrogen to prove it works and then moved back to natural gas since the H2 supply is not readily available.

What we’ve seen in the U.S. is a slowdown in some of the inquiries and questions about hydrogen. There may be a slowdown in the fervor of the talk about hydrogen, but it is certainly in the background and maybe a little bit more towards how do we be more green until hydrogen gets here?

Robert Sanderson
Director of Business Development
Rockford Combustion

Bob Sanderson: We’ve seen more inquiries, specifically from a lot of laboratory users who are trying to develop new engines, processes, and combustion products and looking for all the support and the technology to safely handle transport and bring that hydrogen into the lab under various test conditions.

A few users, too, want to understand: If they make the change to hydrogen, what’s going to happen with the rest of their systems?

Mark Hannum
Manager of Innovation and Combustion Laboratory
Fives North American Combustion

We have seen some early hydrogen requests going on which have tapered off a bit. I think it goes hand in hand with users becoming more familiar with the systems and having more of their questions answered. But I think some of it also depends a bit on the market pressures and the demands. The cost of natural gas has gone down dramatically. It’s going down faster than the cost of hydrogen is coming down. Hydrogen is going to keep coming down and keep becoming more and more affordable. Then it will reenter into the marketplace.

Mark Hannum: Probably the biggest thing is some of the regulatory and law changes that have happened. The Inflation Reduction Act certainly puts in place a lot of supports for hydrogen production and hydrogen-based systems for decarbonization.

Burgeoning Users of Hydrogen

Kelly: New inquiries have come from a lot of different places for us. We’ve had food and beverage, some heat treating, and plastics. Some of the inquiries have been waste to energy, sequestering CO2, and capturing the hydrogen. That’s how we’re going to produce it.

Wuenning: Our business is in the steel and heat treating industry. I’m not so much in touch with the other industries, but I think it would come from everywhere — everywhere the people are willing to pay for it. Of course, we have never beat natural gas on price, so far. Hydrogen is never going to come free out of the ground. But we all know the reasons why we want to get rid of the fossils.

In heat treat, we see another tendency, and that is the use of ammonia. We try to check out whether we can use ammonia because with hydrogen you need pipeline connections, and it will take quite some time until the pipelines will carry hydrogen to the last little heat treater somewhere in the countryside.

Hannum: One of the nice things about hydrogen is if you have a clean source of water and electricity, you might be able to make hydrogen in a remote location. You might not need to pipeline it; you could make the gas and use it on site.

The need for pipeline infrastructure is a key issue in the use of hydrogen.

In the steel industry in Europe, these major investments are being played out and committed to, but we’re years away from being adopted, for day-in and day-out use.

There are a lot of segments that are performing really meaningful tests at the industrial scale because they’re all trying to de-risk the switch from natural gas to hydrogen. Are there any process-side impacts that they need to understand that would impact product quality or product suitability or any of those things? All that stuff is going on now, and I think it’s going to take a couple of years for everyone to sort of work through and have a good understanding of whether there’s anything they need to be worried about beyond just the fuel switch itself, if there’s any process.

Sanderson: A lot of the push I’ve seen has come out of the aerospace and the automotive industries, not so much on the products that they make but more on the manufacturing side of it.

Advancements and Challenges with Hydrogen

Sanderson: We’re doing a lot more work now with stainless materials. There is quite a bit of involvement using stainless and other materials that have higher nickel contents and other materials to help work into the grain boundaries.

Working with hydrogen has some unique challenges compared to other fuels. It’s the smallest atomic molecule out there and it just wants to permeate into everything. With a lot of the higher, high-end pressures, there is a lot of chance of steel embrittlement, but if you can get away from those higher ends and try and get down to more usable, friendly working pressures, you don’t stand as much risk on the hydrogen embrittlement and dealing with leaks and permeability. So, just helping people understand that those are some of the changes that need to come into play for a safe, long-term solution in their applications.

Hannum: We have installed some hydrogen-firing capability in our lab; it was about a $400,000 investment. So, at this point, we can fire a substantial amount of input for longer durations than we could before. So, that’s really helpful when we’re looking at what the impacts are across our entire burner product range, when we look at a conversion from natural gas to hydrogen.

It also lets us perform some process-based studies where we can really simulate industrial processes and have a longer duration hydrogen firing. So, we’ve been able to support some customers by simulating some of their processes here and actually firing the materials that they
would normally fire at their plant to look at hydrogen impact on those materials.

We’ve also gone to a couple of our customer sites and participated in studies with them. One of those earlier this year, right after THERMPROCESS, was Hydro Aluminum in Spain; we melted aluminum with hydrogen without any natural gas. That was, I think, the first industrial scale melting of aluminum with hydrogen.

Wuenning: We have now put into place an electrolyzer for making our own hydrogen, and not relying on the bottles coming in or on ammonia supply. We installed a big ammonia tank so that we can run the ammonia tests on site, develop the crackers and account for them. And, of course, we are involved in several research projects together with universities and some sites that do all these things to try it out.

Kelly: The latest this year is an investment for one of our factories to have an electrolyzer-type system, so a full-blown, cradle-to-grave type of system to be able to produce the hydrogen. Muncie is investing in that whole substructure with the capability of increasing to tube tankers before the electrolyzer comes so there is significant investment on that end. And from the product end, we’ve just kept testing and looking at the whole product line, not just burners, but all the controls and things to be associated with hydrogen firing.

In addition to the controls behind the system, we must also think about the development of simpler and/or more complicated systems. These updated systems are necessary because of changes in air/fuel rations and all the concerns that pop up when using different fuels.

These systems need to take into account what the process is requiring, namely holding tighter air/fuel ratios and also being less dependent on low temperature air-heating applications, but also being able to use higher temperatures and higher oxygen rates with some excess air. We’ve been working on those types of systems and looking at that when the clients are in a situation where they can fire on either fuel. How critical it is to hold capacity and air/fuel ratio and things of that nature, and how can we make that as easy as possible for the client?

But, yes, a lot of activity on that basis. And even in product development looking at the future — lower NOx and lower emissions burners that go in conjunction with hydrogen. In the lower and high temperature range, we’ve got to look at a burner that can fi re via flex-fuel type burner. Maybe not just hydrogen and natural gas but something in biofuels or renewable-type fuels.

About the Experts

Joachim (Joe) Wuenning is the owner and CEO of WS Thermal Process Technology.

Brian Kelly is the applications engineering manager at Honeywell Thermal Solutions.

Robert Sanderson is the director of business development at Rockford Combustion.

Mark Hannum is the manager of the innovation and combustion laboratory at Fives North American Combustion.

For more information: Visit www.heattreattoday.com/hydrogen2023

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Sustainability Insights: How Can We Work to Get the Carbon Out of Heating? Part 1

/ BULK GASES & SYSTEMS TECHNICAL CONTENT, BURNERS & COMBUSTION SYSTEMS TECHNICAL CONTENT, FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT TECH, OP-ED
op-ed

The search for sustainable solutions in the heat treat industry is at the forefront of research for industry experts. Michael Stowe, PR, senior energy engineer at Advanced Energy, one such expert, offers some fuel for thought on the subject of how heat treaters can reduce their carbon emissions.

This Sustainability Insights article was first published in Heat Treat Today’s December 2023 Heat Treat Medical and Energy print magazine.

Michael Stowe
PE, Senior Energy Engineer
Advanced Energy

The question in the article title is becoming increasingly popular with industrial organizations. Understanding the carbon content of products is becoming more of a “have to” item, especially for organizations that are in the supply chain for industrial assembly plants such as in the automotive industry. Many heat treaters are key steps in the supply chain process, and their carbon footprints will be of more interest to upstream users of heat treated parts in the future. I know I am overstating the obvious here, but I am going to do it anyway for emphasis:

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  1. Heat treating requires HEAT.
  2. HEAT requires ENERGY consumption.
  3. ENERGY consumption creates a carbon footprint:
    a. Fossil fuels heating — direct carbon emissions (Scope 1)
    b. Electric heating — indirect carbon emissions (Scope 2)

Therefore, by definition and by process, if you are heat treating, then you are producing carbon emissions. Again, the question is, “How can we work to get the carbon out of heating?” Let us explore this.

Figure 1. Methane combustion (Source: Advanced Energy)

Once more, heat treating requires energy input. The energy sources for heat treating most frequently include the combustion of carbon-based fossil fuels such as natural gas (methane), propane, fuel oil, diesel, or coal. Also, most combustion processes have a component of electricity to operate combustion air supply blowers, exhaust blowers, circulation fans, conveyors, and other items.

Figure 1 shows the chemical process for the combustion of methane (i.e., natural gas). Figure 1 demonstrates that during combustion, methane (CH4) combines with oxygen (O₂) to form carbon dioxide (CO₂) and water (H₂O). This same process is true for any carbon-based fuel. If you try to imagine all the combustion in progress across the globe at any given time, and knowing that all this combustion is releasing CO₂, then it is easy to see the problem and the need for CO₂ emission reductions.

In the most basic terms, if you have a combustion-based heat treating process on your site, then you are emitting CO₂. The electricity consumed to support the combustion processes also has a carbon component, and the consumption of this electricity contributes to a site’s carbon footprint.

Figure 2. The 4 Rs of carbon footprint (Source: Advanced Energy)

So, combustion and electricity consumption on your site contributes to your carbon footprint. Knowing this, organizations may want to consider the level of their carbon footprint and explore ways to reduce it. There are many methods and resources available to help organizations understand and work to improve their carbon footprint. For this article, we will focus on the 4 Rs of carbon footprint
reduction (see Figure 2).

We will discuss each of these approaches individually in priority order in the next installment of the Sustainability Insights.

For more information:
Connect with IHEA Sustainability & Decarbonization Initiatives www.ihea.org/page/Sustainability
Article provided by IHEA Sustainability

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Sustainability Insights: Process Heating and the Energy-Carbon Connection

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“Plan, do, check, act.” When it comes to caring about carbon footprint, a path forward to may seem too out-of-reach. But breaking down process heating and how to efficiently consider carbon use can be possible with industry resources.

This Sustainability Insight article was composed by Michael Stowe, PE, the senior Energy Engineer at Advanced Energy for Heat Treat Today's September 2023 People of Heat Treating print edition.

Michael Stowe, PE
Senior Energy Engineer
Advanced Energy
Source: IHEA

Over the past several years, process heating energy markets have shifted in response to significant global pressures. The need to understand the impact of greenhouse gases (GHGs), especially carbon based emissions, on climate change is gaining more interest from organizations that have industrial process heating. Organizations that manufacture or use process heating equipment need to understand the impact their equipment can have on carbon emissions. The terms “carbon emissions” or “carbon footprints” use the word “carbon,” but these terms can include other GHGs, and the carbon refers to carbon dioxide gas (CO2).

Process heating requires energy input. The energy sources for process heating most frequently include the combustion of carbon-based fossil fuels such as natural gas, propane, fuel oil, diesel, or coal. Also, most combustion processes have a component of electricity to operate combustion air supply blowers, exhaust blowers, circulation fans, conveyors, and other items. Figure 1 shows the chemical process for the combustion of methane (i.e., natural gas).

Figure 1 demonstrates that during combustion, methane (CH4) combines with oxygen (O2) to form carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O). This same process is true for any carbon-based fuel. If you try to imagine all the combustion in progress across the globe at any given time, and knowing that all this combustion is releasing CO2, then it is easy to see the problem and the need for CO2 emission reduction.

Figure 1. Chemical process for methane combustion
(Source: Advanced Energy)

In basic terms, if you have a combustion process on your site, then you are emitting CO2. The electricity consumed to support the combustion processes also has a carbon component and the consumption of this electricity contributes to a site’s carbon footprint. Climate change impacts due to these carbon emissions have prompted government and corporate actions that are creating unique new opportunities for more sustainable and lower carbon process heating methods.

So, combustion and electricity consumption on your site contribute to your carbon footprint. Knowing this, organizations may now want to understand the actual level of their carbon footprint and ways to reduce it. There are many methods and resources available to help organizations understand and work to improve their carbon footprint.

The Industrial Heating Equipment Association (IHEA) has recognized this need to understand carbon footprints and is in the middle of a four-part webinar series on this topic. Session three (held on July 20, 2023) covered methods and resources to help organizations determine and improve their carbon footprint.

Session 3: DOE Tools and Programs for GHG Reduction

There are many options available to help determine carbon emissions for equipment, processes, sites, and organizations. This presentation will review some of these available tools and how to apply them to different situations. Carbon emissions are directly tied to energy consumption, so it is very important to understand how all your energy is consumed on site by energy type. This presentation will provide tools and programs to help you understand your energy consumption and thereby understand your carbon emissions. Additionally, energy improvement projects are also carbon emission reduction projects. This session will help you understand how to determine the impact of energy projects on your carbon footprint.

Session 4: Ongoing Sustainability — Industry Best Practices for Continual Improvement

Carbon reduction is not a project, it is a process, and must be ongoing. Earlier sessions will help you determine your carbon footprint and understand ways to track and improve your carbon footprint. In this presentation, we will review methods and programs to ensure the continual improvement of your carbon reduction efforts. Following the “plan, do, check, act” method used in many continual improvement programs, we will review steps to take for keeping your momentum moving in the right direction. We will also plan to have industry case studies for success in ongoing and improving carbon reduction programs.

Registration for these sessions can be found on the events page of www.ihea.org. If you or your organization want to learn more about your carbon footprint and how to measure and reduce it, you will not want to miss this opportunity.

In summary, heat treating, and other process heating methods, require significant energy, much of which is fueled with carbon-based fossil fuels, and associated with support electricity consumption. Both combustion and electricity consumption contribute to an organization’s carbon footprint. One of the best ways to help manage your carbon footprint is to understand and manage your energy consumption. For more information on this topic, please check out the IHEA Sustainability & Decarbonization Initiatives.

About the author:

Michael Stowe (PE) is the senior energy engineer at Advanced Energy. Michael focuses on process heating and energy efficiency in manufacturing plants. He has significant experience in the manufacturing industry serving in various roles as design engineer, production manager, plant engineer, and facilities engineer over the past 27 years.

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Settling in for the Season with Sustainability Suggestions

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As we get further into the heart of fall, it’s time to turn up the heat (treat)! – but how can this be done in an optimized and sustainable way?

Today’s Technical Tuesday original content round-up features tips and tricks from our summer print editions on how to optimize and sustain your heat treat operations, even during the chilly months. So, bundle up, grab a hot drink, and review these insightful pieces!

Sustainability Insights Corner 

In May, Heat Treat Today began publishing "Sustainability Insights" from the IHEA editorial team. Here's a brief overview of the recent insights all in one place:

May: New Sustainability & Decarbonization Initiatives for Heat Treat. Learn from industry-leader Brian Kelly about the stages of getting started with suitability and planning for the future of the industry.

June: NEW Sustainability and Carbonization Webinar Series. Although this year's IHEA Webinar series may have come and gone, it's not too late to establish a foundational understanding of carbon and sustainability here!

August: Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Your Heat Treating Operations. Brian Kelly of Rockford Combustion is back with yet another suitability insight, here exploring ways to assess your heat treating operation's carbon footprint, tune your combustion systems, explore renewable fuels, and much more.

September: Process Heating and the Energy-Carbon Connection. Explore the issue of greenhouse gases and how recent conversations are affecting the heat treating industry with Michael Stowe of Advanced Energy.

In Case You Missed the May Issue: Induction and Sustainability Tips  

Looking for sustainability tips for your heat treating operation, but lacking in time? Heat Treat Today's May Issue has you covered with a quick read: "13 Induction and Sustainability Tips." We'll highlight a few below which made it into a recent Technical Tuesday feature:

Induction and Sustainability Tips Part 1: Cleaning and Maintenance

Induction and Sustainability Tips Part 2: Efficient Power

Induction and Sustainability Tips Part 3: Combustion

Induction and Sustainability Tips Part 4: Vacuum Furnace and Heat Treat Energy Savings

Sustainable Energy for Furnaces? What does the Future Hold? 

What will the future run on? With growing discontent around current energy sources like natural gas and other fossil fuels, power sources for furnace equipment are due for a makeover.

Explore the question of sustainable energy for furnaces in the future with industry experts John Clarke of Helios Electric, Philippe Kerbois of Glass, various authors from Watlow, and Stuart Hakes of F.I.C. (UK) Limited.

Read the article by Heat Treat Today's Editorial Team: Energizing the Future of Furnaces - 4 Perspectives.

Saving Power and Dollars in Vacuum Processing 

How much electrical power is being used in the typical heat treatment plant? And how can power (and money) be saved in these operations? If these questions peak your interest, explore further with Roger A. Jones and William Jones of Solar Atmospheres.

Learn about savings in electricity and money in areas of electric motors, high vacuum diffusion pumps, gas blowers, building lighting, AC/heating, and more in this article.

Read the article, "Conserve Electric Power and Save Dollars in Vacuum Processing" here!

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Anatomy of a Combustion System

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Consider the numerous systems in your heat treat operations. What makes up the anatomy of each furnace? In this “Anatomy of a...” series, industry experts indicate the main features of a specific heat treat system. In this feature, Rockford Combustion compares two types of low-temperature combustion systems: standard nozzle mix and pre-mix combustion. As Bob describes, “low temperature” is defined as being “below the auto-ignition threshold,” which varies around 1200°F.

Contact us with your Reader Feedback!

The mark-ups for these reference images are provided by Robert (Bob) Sanderson, director of Business Development at Rockford Combustion.

Download the full graphics by clicking the images below.

 

This Technical Tuesday article is drawn from Heat Treat Today's August Automotive print edition.

Search www.heattreatbuyersguide.com for a list of combustion system providers to the North American market. If you are a combustion system supplier and not listed here, please let us know at editor@heattreattoday.com

This series will continue in subsequent editions of Heat Treat Today's print publications. Stay tuned!

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