CLIMATE WISE BOILER AND STEAM EFFICIENCY WISE RULES Pamela Herman Milmoe Director, Climate Wise Program USS. Environmental Protection Agency ABSTRACT Climate Wise is an industrial energy efficiency program sponsored by the U.S. EPA, and supported by the U.S. DOE, working in partnership with more than 400 industrial companies. Many Climate Wise Partners are evaluating or implementing boiler and steam system efficiency measures and have requested assistance in quickly estimating the impacts of these projects through the Wise Line. Climate Wise has developed the Wise Rules for Industrial Efficiency (Wise Rules Too! Kit) to provide companies with simple rules of thumb, or Wise Rules, for estimating potential energy, cost, and greenhouse gas emissions savings from key "industrial energy efficiency ‘measures for a broad range of end uses, including boilers and steam systems. This paper presents ‘excerpis from the Wise Rules Tool Kit on boiler and steam system efficiency measures. INTRODUCTION ‘The Wise Rules are a compilation of some of the best industrial energy efficiency information from a variety of industrial, academic and government sources. The Wise Rules were developed from information sources including the DOBMIAC database (8), the Rutgers University Office of Industrial Productivity and Energy Assessment, the Association ‘of Energy Engineers and the Bonneville Power ‘Administration, the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Clearinghouse/Network (ERECIEREN), the Centre for the Analysis and Dissemination of Demonstrated Energy Technologies (CADDET), and Climate Wise Partners’ own estimates. These data sources are quite comprehensive and may be new to ‘many Climate Wise Partners. We have extracted core information from these materials to provide Climate Wise Partners with ready-to-use Wise Rules. ‘Thorough references are included to direct Partners to the original sources for more detailed treatment of the issues. The Wise Rules can help companies develop fa first cut estimate of project impacts and provide guidance on how to analyze efficiency measures in ore detail 272 Steven R. Winkelman Senior Associate ICF Kaiser Consulting Group ‘This paper presents excerpts from the Wise Rules Toot Kit on boiler and steam system efficiency measures, This will include a discussion of boilers ‘and steam systems, and sample Wise Rules presented in text, tabular, and graphical formats. The Wise Rules provide a range of estimates of energy savings for broad categories of efficiency measures, (e2., boiler maintenance), and more specific measures (eg., adjusting air to fuel ratio). Savings estimates are expressed both as a percent of boiler fuel use and as.a percent of an average facility's fuel consumption. BOILERS. Boilers are one of the most important energy uses in manufacturing, typically comprising over 25 percent of total manufacturing energy demand. A boiler generates hot water or steam, typically from the combustion of coal, oil or natural gas. A network of pipes detivers steam (or hot water) to provide heat for fa variety of process and space heating applications. ‘Once the heat has been extracted from the water or steam, another network of pipes retums the condensed water back to the boiler where it is cyclically reheated. There are several different types of boilers including natural draft, forced draft, hot water or steam, and fire tube or water tube. The typical boiler used in small-to-medium sized industrial operations is a forced draft steam boiler at 120-150 psi and approximately 150 hp (equivalent to 5.0 MMBuw/nr) (4). Typical boiler efficiencies range from about 70 to 85 percent depending on fuel type, configuration, and heat recovery capability (3). Boiler Savings by Industry Group Figure | illustrates the potential energy savings from boiler efficiency measures based on IAC audit recommendations (8). Boiler efficiency measures ‘with an average savings of 3% of facility energy wse ‘and a simple payback of 9 months wee recommended at 20% of the 4,300 facilities audited ‘from 1990 to 1997.Teconmondaion ra Rate WE Recommendation Rate Ed Energy Savings Savings 50% 6 month 4 month me et oh vse | Pa 6% 19 month 40% aed te month 35% payback month. o% see woah pa 30% 4% mend 25% past mon 20% ‘payback 3% 159% 2% 10% 1% 5% | 0% ow | eo SS se sy 8s > | «é swe Her ey’ os? e ~ ~ & Figure 1 Boiler Savings by Industry Groap (8) ‘The Wise Rules Tool Kit provides a brief overview of the efficiency measures considered Following is a discussion of boiler tune-up and air/fuel ratio optimization measures and associate Wise Rules Boiler Tune-Up and Air/Fuel Ratio Optimization Using the following instruments allows plant engineers to properly monitor and adjust boiler operating conditions: stack thermometers, fuel ‘meters, make-up feed water meters, oxygen analyzers, run-time recorders, energy output metering (steam flow, Btu outpud), and return condensate thermometers (6). Periodic measurement of flue gas oxygen, carbon monoxide, opacity, and temperature provides the fundamental data for a boiler tune-up. A typical tune-up might include a reduction of excess air (and excess oxygen, Op), boiler tube cleaning, and re-calibration of boiler controls. + A good tune-up with precision testing equipment can detect and correct excess air losses, smoking, unburned fuel losses, sooting, and high stack temperatures, and result in boiler fuel savings of 2% to 20% ©. 273 Each fuel type and firing method has an optimal sivfuel ratio. For example, optimum excess ait for a pulverized coal boiler is 15 - 20% (3 - 3.5% excess (03), and optimum excess sir for a forced draft gas boiler is = 108 (1 = 2% excess 02) (1). The airfuel ratio. should be adjusted to the manufacturers recommendations. Because it is difficult to reach and maintain optimal values in most boilers, actual excess air levels may need to be set higher than optimal (4). Manual or automatic oxygen trim can insure thatthe proper air/fuel mixture ratio is maintained (2). © A 3% decrease in flue gas O2 typically produces a 2% increase in boiler efficiency «, © Using over fire draft control systems 10 control excess air can result in boiler fuel savings ranging from 2% 10 10% (with ‘ppical equipment costs around $1,500) (6). ‘When boilers are operating at low loads excess- air requirements may be greater than the optimal levels and efficiency may be lower (7)© Using a charactericable fuel vaive to match ‘the airffuel ratios across the load range can lead to fuel savings ranging from 2% to 12% at low cost (6). ‘The Wise Rules also include DOEMIAC data on specific efficiency measures. For example, air/fuel ratio optimization was recommended at 16 percent of facilities audited. ‘The average energy savings across all industry sectors was 2,100 MMBtw or 2.4 percent of annual facility energy use. The average ‘implementation cost for these measures was $5,600 ‘with a simple payback period of three months. Summary of Boiler Wise Rules ‘The Wise Rules in Table 1 can be used to identify and estimate potential energy saving from boiler efficiency measures. In selecting alternative efficiency options and climinating less attractive measures, consider the potential costs, savings, payback times and any secondary effects. When using. the Wise Rules, remember that several of the ‘measures may overlap, or complement each other (e.g. tune-up and flue gas 02 reduction) and energy savings rates of overlapping measures may not be 274 additive, In addition, multiple Wise Rules may address the same measure from multiple perspectives. For example Boiler Wise Rule 1 expresses savings from boiler load management as a percent of the boilers energy use, while Boiler Wise Rule 2 expresses savings as a percent of the facility’ total ‘energy use. Wise Rules may not be comparable because they rely on different sources with different assumptions. Adjust the Rules to match your circumstances. For example, you may want to stale the gross fuel cost savings to match your boiler size. To calculate savings for a 10 MMBtwhr natural gas boiler, multiply gross fuel cost savings by a factor of ten. This scaling is applicable only to gross fuel cost savings expressed per MMBtwhhr, ¢g., Rule 2, but not Rule 1 in Table 1. Implementation costs may not scale in a linear manner. Similarly, you can adjust the savings numbers on the basis of your fuel prices and ‘operating hours. For example, if your boiler uses coal at a price of $1.50/MMBuu, divide the cost savings values in Table 1 by the per MMBtu price of natural gas, e-g., $2.30, and multiply by $1.50.