Process heating systems are essential to the industrial sector in the manufacturing of most consumer and industrial products. These systems include a wide range of applications in which energy is generated, transferred, and utilized to raise or maintain the temperature of materials such as metals, plastics, rubber, glass, ceramics, and concrete—each vital to U.S. manufacturing and infrastructure.
Process heating accounts for about 68% of all process energy used in the U.S. manufacturing sector [1]. Within the United States, fuel-based process heating (excluding electricity and steam generation) consumes 4.8 QBtu of energy annually, which equals roughly 51% of total industrial primary energy consumption [2]. The outsized role that process heating plays in industrial energy use makes it a major driver of manufacturers’ costs, energy productivity, and competitiveness.
As industries modernize, transforming process heating systems provide an opportunity to reduce operational costs and increase reliability in industrial thermal processes. Whether powered by fuel, electricity, or steam, process heating systems can achieve greater performance through integration of innovative technologies, diversified energy sources, and advanced controls.
Improvements are most effective when using a systems approach with consideration of improvement opportunities common to systems with similar operations and equipment. Using process flow diagrams to map material and energy movement and thermal integration analysis can help facilities identify how improvements in one component impact energy use and productivity across the entire process.
Top Energy Performance Measures for Process Heating Systems
- Check burner air-to-fuel ratios
- Check heat transfer surfaces
- Install furnace pressure controllers
- Install waste heat recovery systems for fuel-fired furnaces
- Pre-heat loads using flue gases from a fuel-fired heating system
- Use oxygen-enriched air for combustion
- Pre-heat combustion air
- Reduce air infiltration in furnaces
- Reduce radiation losses from heating equipment
- Use lower flammable limit monitoring equipment to improve process oven energy performance
- Use waste heat for external processes
Read related DOE Industrial Technologies Office TIP SHEETS AND PUBLICATIONS.
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Subject Matter Experts
Dr. Sachin Nimbalkar
Technical Account Manager
Senthil Sundarmoorthy
Technical Account Manager