John Zink
Feature Report
Engineering Practice
Fired-Heater Burner
Performance Use burner and heater operating
variables to predict burner response
Alan Cross
I
ndustrial furnaces, or direct-fired
heaters, are only as good as the
burners that supply them with
thermal energy for heat transfer
and endothermic chemical reactions.
This article presents equations that
permit calculation of such important
burner-operating characteristics as
flame length, flame diameter, ignitabil-
ity, and flameout conditions for both
very high and very low velocities.
The data and equations presented
are based on burner operations at
atmospheric pressure, when fir-
ing a single type of fuel, specifically
natural gas conditions well suited
for a premix burner (Figs. 3 and 4).
Variations of the equations can also
be used to calculate burner-operat-
ing characteristics when the burners
operating pressure is higher or lower
than atmospheric, as well as when
fuel mixtures containing two or more
different types of combustibles are in
use. These latter conditions are bet-
ter suited for a raw gas burner (Figs.
1 and 2).
Burner requirements
For proper performance of a direct-
fired heater, it is required that the
burners be capable of providing suffi-
cient heat liberation to satisfy heater
processing requirements based on
the lower heating value of the fuel
fired. When the heater operates at
the design process flowrate, the heat
necessary to maintain process fluid
temperature must be met, as must
vaporization requirements at the
heating coil outlet.
44 Chemical Engineering www.che.com April 2008
In the case of multi-coil heaters, the
number, size, and placement of burners
provided to satisfy the above require-
ments must be such that each coil oper-
ates at the same design outlet temper-
ature and vaporization, and that the
design tube-metal temperature is not
exceeded at any point in the coils.
Individual burners must be sized
such that burner outlet velocity does
not result in burner malfunction at
any point over the entire range of flow
conditions, from flameout at maxi-
mum flow conditions to flashback at
minimum flow conditions. Flame di-
mensions, burner-to-tube clearance or
both must also be such as to avoid tube
overheating from flame impingement.
For burners ignited at points close
to the burner outlets by pilots or other
means, it must be possible to eas-
ily achieve burner ignition. In some
cases, this might not be possible, due
to inflammability caused by very high
burner outlet velocity, excessive air-to-
fuel ratios or both.
Burner flame length should be less
than firebox height, as in the case of
vertical cylindrical heaters and up-
fired cabin heaters, or firebox length,
as in the case of end-wall fired heat-
ers. This ensures that complete com-
bustion occurs before the flame exits
the firebox. Excessive flame height or
diameter is also to be avoided in order
that flame impingement on sidewall
or roof tubes is prevented. This could
otherwise result in tube-metal tem-
peratures that exceed design limita-
tions, resulting in tube failure due to
excessive oxidation or creep.
Figure 1. Often referred to as an in-
line duct burner, a raw gas burner can
be used with many fuel compositions
Number and spacing of burners
Burner inside diameter and flame
diameter may be calculated from the
following:
Qlib heater
  (1)
Nb
0.785 Db2 VbC fuel 3, 600
 LHV
Cair  fuel SVfuel
where
Qlib heater = Heater liberation,
Btu/h
Nb = Number of burners
Db = Burner diameter, ft
Vb = Burner exit velocity, ft/s
Cfuel = fuel, ft3
LHV = Lower heating value of fuel,
Btu/lb
Cair + fuel = ft3 of air and fuel mixture
SVfuel = Specific volume of fuel, ft3/lb
The number of burners required,
in the case of bottom up-flow cabin
heaters with inline burners, is deter-
mined by dividing the firebox length
by the burner spacing. Burner spac-
ing is normally 2 to 5 ft or sufficient
to provide reasonable burner-to-
burner clearance, as based on maxi-
mum burner-flame diameter. Burner-
to-tube clearance must also be such
that minimum clearance is based
on a reasonable distance between
burner outside-flame diameter and
outside diameter of the tubular heat-
ing surfaces. (Burner-flame diameter
should be evaluated at maximum
burner-flame length.) In the case of
a vertical cylindrical heater, burners
are arranged circularly, the centerline
 Table 1.
Prespecified Manufacturers
data data
Burner Heat Lib- 3.0 3.0
eration, MM Btu/h
Burner diameter, ft 1.0 1.0
Number of burner 4.0 Not specified
velocity heads
Excess air, % 20 20
Fuel Natural gas Not specified
Fuel LHV, Btu/lb 20,000 N.S.
Calclated Manufacturers
data data
Burner pressure 0.2 0.3
drop, in. of water
Flame tempera- 3,500 N.S.
ture, F
Maximum flame 7.8 N.S.
length, ft
Figure 2. Raw gas burners are generally used over premix burn-
ers (shown in Figs. 3 and 4) when using fuel gases with highly Maximum flame 2.7 N.S.
variable compositions or when dealing with high, burner turn-down diameter, ft
requirements. They produce comparatively larger flames of varying
widths based on tip-drilling size

of the burner circle corresponding to
the centerline of the heater. Sufficient
burner-to-burner outside-diameter
clearance is to be provided to allow
for placement of structural members
for support between burners. Mini-
mum burner-to-burner clearance is to
correspond to reasonable clearances
between maximum burner-flame
outside diameters. Radial clearance
between maximum burner-flame out-
side diameter and the outside diam-
eter of the tubular heating surfaces is
to be such as to avoid burner-to-tube
flame impingement.
The objective of these provisions is
to prevent tube damage due to tube
overheating, and to fully utilize the
heating surfaces, so as to provide
what amounts, ideally, to a continu-
ous and equal fluid-temperature
transition from tube to tube in each
tube of a multi-coil heater and fur-
ther that there be no locations any-
where in the coil where tube-metal
temperatures exceed design tem-
peratures. Additionally, adherence
to the above provisions will result in
burner-to-burner spacing that will
avoid interference between the flame
bodies and unburned fuel cores gen-
erated by adjacent burners, which re-
sults in the absence of unburned fuel
within the burner flames when maxi-
mum burner length is reached. This
is equivalent to saying that burner
center-to-center spacing should
be at least equal to one fully com-
busted flame diameter.
Burner size and flame diameter  27.8 N vh Vb2 (6)
Maximum flame diameter may be cal- $Pburner 
2 gSVair  fuel 144
culated from Equations (2) and (3),
and maximum burner length from
Equation (4).  0.785 Db2 Vb 3, 600 (7)
Wair +fuel 
SVair  fuel
0.785 Df2 Vb
0.785 Db2 Vb (2)

SVfuel  air SVflame  Qlib burner SVfuel Cair  fuel (8)
q
3, 600  LHV C fuel
0.5
 SV (3)
Df max = flame
Db
where
SVfuel+air
q = volumetric flow rate of fuel and air
 mixture, ft3/s
DLV
0.785 D 2 V = 3.14 b f f (4) Pburner = Burner pressure drop, in.
b b
2 of water
Nvh = Number of burner velocity
where heads
Df max = Maximum flame diameter, ft g = 32.2 ft/s2
Lf = Flame length, ft Wair + fuel = air and fuel mixture, lb/h
SVflame = Specific volume of flame,
ft3/lb Flameout and flashback
SVfuel + air = Specific volume of fuel Flameout usually occurs at relatively
and air mixture, ft3/lb high burner velocities much higher
Vf = Flame propagation velocity, ft/s than those used in normal heater op-
eration and usually because at-
Support calculations based on Equa- tempts are made to increase firing
tions (5) through (8) were used to com- rate so as to achieve higher heater
pare calculated performance data for capacity. It is characterized by flame
a typical gas-fired burner with compa- loss while the heater is in operation,
rable data available from the burner by difficulty in obtaining a stable
manufacturer. The results are sum- flame during startup, or by a com-
marized in Table 1. plete inability to obtain burner igni-
tion. The cause is a condition wherein
q heat gain due to burner ignition is
V =
(
 b 0.785 D 2
b ) (5) somewhat less than heat loss from
the burner flame. The following equa-
tions can be used to predict under
Chemical Engineering www.che.com April 2008 45
 Engineering Practice
what circumstances this condition
might occur:
 As Vf C fuel  LHV 3, 600
Qgain  with relatively small diameter ports)
Cair  fuel SVfuel
loss ( )c s flame Tsurr
Q = HTC A T
( )
( )c
 HTC = 0.3 T
( )
Tsurr
flame
 
G 0.8 C p surr

HTC  0.0144
D
f 0.2
b propagation velocity, but observa-
 HTC  (12)
r
4

0.01Tflame
0.01Tsurr
4
0.173 Eg

Tflame
540 R
where
As = Flame front area, ft2
Qgain = Burner heat gain, Btu/hr
Q loss = Burner heat loss, Btu/hr
(HTC)c, (HTC)f, (HTC)r, = Natural
convective, forced convective, and
radiative heat transfer coefficients
respectively, Btu/h-ft2-F
Tflame = Flame temperature, R
Tsurr = Surrounding temperature, R
Eg = flame emissivity
Cp = gas specific heat, Btu/lb-F
Calculations using the above equa-
tions indicate that flameout veloc-
ity, or more correctly the velocity at
which ignition will not occur, is equal
to almost 1,000 ft/s at atmospheric
pressure for a 1-ft-dia. burner firing
natural gas, assuming flame heat loss
is equal to losses due to convection
only. The assumption of a flame heat
loss due to both radiation and convec-
tion results in a flame out velocity of
800 ft/s. It must be noted, however,
that heat loss as given by Equation
(10) is valid only at start-up condi-
tions, wherein surroundings are at
comb fuel  air , post -comb (14) fuel-air mixture. The curves, however,
an assumed ambient temperature of
80F. To do otherwise, for an operat-
ing heater, would require calculation
of heat losses from elevated-tem-
perature burner flames to somewhat
lower-temperature surrounding heat-
transfer surfaces. Such calculations
are more complex and beyond the
scope of this article.
46 Chemical Engineering www.che.com April 2008
Flashback is a condition wherein
the burner flame, instead of remain-
ing above the outlet nozzle of a single
(9) outlet burner (or a multi-port burner
enters the burner nozzle or ports and
burns therein. Flashback usually
(10) occurs at relatively low burner ve-
locities that are much lower than the
velocities used in normal operation.
(11a) Such velocities are usually a result
0.25
of attempts to decrease firing rate so
as to achieve reduced heater capacity.
It is usually thought to occur when
(11b) burner velocity is less than the flame
tions indicate that this never occurs,
at least not in multi-ported burners
firing natural gas with conventionally
used air-to-gas ratios.
Instead, flameout occurs at very low
velocity lower than flame propaga-
tion velocity and before flashback oc-
curs. The reason for this is that flam-
ing inside the ports is not possible
because the pressure drop across the
ports, while sufficient to support the
flame velocity outside of the ports,
is insufficient to support the flame
velocity inside the ports. Thus, pres-
sure drop across the ports is directly
proportional to the square of the port
velocity and inversely proportional to
the burner-jet specific volume imme-
diately above the port. The burner jet
at this location is at a temperature
equal to that of the fuel-air mixture
before combustion. If burning were to
take place inside the ports, the jet spe-
cific volume would be based on a much
higher temperature a temperature
comparable to the flame temperature.
The net result would be as defined by
the following equations:

2
 Cd Vpre-comb
$Po t
Tfuel  air , pre-comb
2
T responding to 0% excess air in the
 Cd Vpre
Tfuel  air , pre-comb
$Pi t
Tfuel  air , post -comb
 $Pi T
 fuel  air , post -comb
$Po Tfuel  air , pre-comb
where
Po and Pi = burner pressure drops
John Zink
Figure 3. For a premix burner, the
fuel needed for combustion is mixed
with air prior to exiting the nozzles
outside and inside burner ports, re-
spectively
Tfuel + air, pre-comb and
Tfuel + air, post-comb = gas mixture
temperatures, before and after com-
bustion, respectively, R
Cd = pressure-drop discharge coefficient
The above equations indicate that
in the case of a normal, natural gas-
air mixture, the pressure drop for a
condition wherein burning occurs in-
side the ports is 7.6 times as great as
for a condition wherein burning occurs
outside the ports. Flashback cannot
occur under these circumstances.
Other factors
Burner ignition occurs in ambient air
surroundings when heat generated
by combustion equals heat loss by
convection, in accordance with Equa-
tions (9) through (12). It will be noted,
however, that calculation of the heat
generated by combustion is dependent
on the flame propagation velocity, as
shown in Figure 5. The graphical data
provided consist of flame propagation
velocities for a variety of fuels as a
function of the fuel-to-air ratio. Flame
propagation velocity is easily evalu-
(13) ated from the curves provided that
show values of the (fuel)-to-(fuel+air)
ratio by volume are about 0.1, cor-
particularly those for the natural gas-
air mixtures, drop precipitously at
fuel concentrations above and below
(15) that corresponding to 0% excess air,
making evaluation of flame propaga-
tion velocity at these concentrations
almost impossible. Equations (16) and
(17) can therefore be used to predict
flame propagation velocity at higher
 


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Figure 5. The flame propagation velocities of various gas-

air mixtures, was compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Mines using
data from the Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Stan-
dards (1936) and the American Gas Association publication
Figure 4. Premix burners create short and compact flames com- Combustion (1932). Reprinted with permission from Perry, R.
pared to raw gas burners. They are designed to function with fuel gas H., others, eds., Chemical Engineers Handbook. 6th ed.,
mixtures that have consistent specific gravity and composition McGraw-Hill, New York, Sec. 9-52 , Fig. 9-59, 1984. The graph
is not in the 8th and most current edition.

and lower (fuel)-to-(fuel+air) ratio by
volume air concentrations than 0.1.
 H (16)
K = Ae RT
dCm
60oF about 130% of theoretical, and for
 = K (Cm ) (17)
dt
where
A = Frequency factor in the Arrhenius
equation
H = Heat of activation, Btu/lb-mol
R = Gas constant, 1.987 Btu/lb-mol R
T = gas temperature, R
dCm/dt = Fuel concentration change,
mol per ft3/s
K = Reaction velocity constant, s-1
Using a logarithmic transforma-
tion of Equation (16) and making
allowances for the use of flame prop-
agation velocity instead of fuel con-
centrations and concentration rates,
results in the relationship provided
in Equation (18):
V H 1 1
ln V = 1.987 T T
i
(18)
f i f
where
Vi and Vf = Initial and final flame
propagation velocities, respectively
Ti and Tf = Initial and final flame
propagation temperatures or igni-
tion temperatures, respectively, R
For a natural gas concentration of
0.1, the curves in Figure 5 indicate a
flame propagation velocity of 1 ft/s.
The adiabatic flame temperature,
also the temperature corresponding to
the propagation velocity, is calculated
from Equation (19) and is found equal
to 3,436F.

Wf  LHV  Wair fuel C p average Tflame
 (19)
where
Wf = fuel, lb/h
Cp = average combustion gas specific
heat, Btu/lb-F
Wair + fuel = air and fuel mixture, lb/h
Tflame = Flame temperature, F
Additionally, the ignition tempera-
ture for a natural gas-air mixture
having a (fuel)-to-(fuel+air) ratio of
0.096, as obtained from Table 35 in
Reference [1], is about 1,400F. Be-
cause the mixture is at its ignition
point, heat gain and heat loss, as ob-
tained from Equations (9) and (10)
are equal. This permits calculation of
a flame propagation velocity equal to
0.00905 ft/s, which corresponds to the
ignition point temperature of 1,400F.
These data, in combination with the
flame propagation velocity of 1 ft/s
at the flame temperature of 3,436F,
permit calculation of a heat of activa-
tion equal to 33,000 Btu/lb-mol from
Equation (18).
Reference conditions consisting
of the calculated heat of activation,
equal to 33,300 Btu/lb-mol, the ig-
nition temperature of 1,400F, for a
fuel-air mixture having 0% excess air,
and a flame propagation velocity cor-
responding to the ignition tempera-
ture, can be used in Equations (9),
(10), (18) and (19), to determine the
excess air level corresponding to the
flameout of a natural gas-air mixture.
Thus, for an excess air level equal to
flame heat loss by convection only,
flameout of the fuel-air mixture, or an
inability to ignite the mixture, would
occur since the calculated flame tem-
perature of the mixture would be
somewhat lower than the ignition
temperature. The same would occur
at an excess air level of about 100%,
for a case wherein flame heat loss
was considered due to both radiation
and convection. n
Edited by Matthew Phelan
References
1. Perry, J., and others, eds., Chemical Engineers
Handbook, 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill, New York,
pp. 23982405, 1941.
2. McAdams, W. H., Heat Transmission, 3rd ed.,
McGraw-Hill, New York, p. 226, 1954.
3. Kern, D. Q., Process Heat Transfer, 1st ed., Mc-
Graw-Hill, New York, p. 215, 1950.
Author
Alan Cross (73-34 244th
St., Little Neck, NY, 11362;
E-Mail: Across8588@aol.com)
is a BChE graduate from
The City College of N.Y. and
an MSChE graduate from
the Polytechnic University
of N.Y., and has had more
than 30 years fired heater
design experience with ABB
Lummus Heat Transfer (now
HB&I Lummus Technology).
Accomplishments include authorship of direct-
fired heater patents and patents pending, relat-
ing to the design of coal fired heaters, and com-
pact, low-cost fired heaters capable of processing
low- and high-boiling-point petroleum-based flu-
ids, using design strategies that reduce fouling
of internal tube surfaces due to coke deposition.

Chemical Engineering www.che.com April 2008 47