Improvement of the efficiency of boiler houses operating on liquid fuel

Reducing toxic emissions and increasing the calorific value of liquid fuel are one of the main tasks of the heat and power complex. Their solution is achieved by installing boiler units with a fuel oil supply system under high pressure and improving fuel characteristics.

Replacing boiler units and power plants is a very expensive way. Equipment of this type has a high cost, in addition, it requires tuning for certain physico-chemical parameters of the fuel. It is unsuitable for burning flooded low-quality fuel oil having a heterogeneous viscosity and a large amount of undesirable impurities.  Also, such units are expensive to maintain.

The analysis of the research results revealed that the method of improving the fuel characteristics gives the greatest economic effect.  Cavitation  processing on devices such as UKG allows you to get stable emulsion mixtures that are resistant to temperature extremes and not subject to spontaneous destruction during storage.

Cavitation  shocks lead to a decrease in the number of high molecular phases, the release of unwanted dissolved gases, the uniform distribution of the smallest particles of water  in the thickness of fuel oil.

When emulsion fuel is injected into the furnace, water droplets boil and rupture, due to which hydrocarbons are sprayed in the combustion zone. This contributes to an increase in the amount of heat that is released during combustion. Studies have shown that when the volume of water is up to 24%, the calorific value does not decrease.

The advantages of water-based fuel

• Saving anhydrous fuel oil by 9–18  %.  Water emulsions have almost the same calorific value as pure fuel oil. If we calculate the economic effect only on this indicator, it turns out that the payback period of receipt installations will be less than one year.
• The ability to enter into the composition of the emulsions water from washing tanks with fuel oil, waste oil, waste lubricants. This eliminates the need to enter into contracts with specialized companies or to recycle these products by the enterprise.
• Reducing the toxicity of combustion products. Due to complete combustion, the content of nitrogen oxides, sulfur, carbon monoxide, and solid carbon particles noticeably decreases in emissions. This allows you to reduce the burden on the environment and the amount of fees for environmental damage.
• No need for reconstruction of boiler houses and other enterprises. Translation of thermal power enterprises to  mazutovodnoe  fuel eliminates the need for the purchase of new boilers. The transfer of equipment to emulsion is reduced to a simple adjustment of the boilers.
• Lower maintenance costs. Reducing the acidity, temperature of the exhaust gases causing corrosion leads to less intensive wear of boiler units, and also increases the service life of the  case  and nozzles. Thanks to the use of a  fuel oil-  water emulsion, the intervals between maintenance, repair and overhauls are significantly extended.

The exact effect of the introduction of fuel treatment plants depends on the type of power plants, their condition, and the quality of the source fuel oil.