Institute of Chemical Engineering page 1Achema 2012

Thermal Process Engineering

EDAB Efficient Dry and Burn

Michael Harasek, Andras HorvathJozsef Nagy, Christian Jordan, Amal El-Gohary

michael.harasek@tuwien.ac.at

EDAB – Efficient Dry and Burn

Institute of Chemical Engineering page 2Achema 2012

Thermal Process Engineering

Goals of the project

Energy balancing of individual and combined processes• Run times and cycle times of drying and firing are not equal

• Reuse of waste energy – high temperature heat exchangers, energy storage

Optimize drying process• Reduce losses due to drying cracks

Optimize firing process (tunnel kiln and batch furnace)• Reduce cycle time to increase production capacity without investment

• Reduce specific energy consumption and CO2 emissions

• Increase quality by ensuring homogeneous heat distribution Practical implementation of the suggested improvements on site

(Rath GmbH, Krummnußbaum) Investigation of pore forming agents (TGA/DSC)

EDAB – Efficient Dry and Burn

Institute of Chemical Engineering page 3Achema 2012

Thermal Process Engineering

EDAB – Efficient Dry and Burn

CFD modeling

3D geometry implementation of a small batch high temperature furnace• Full resolution of bricks

(yellow) and support material (grey/green)

• Separate simulation of the burners in OpenFOAM and Fluent

• Simplified methane combustion including radiative heat transfer

Modifications of the geometry of the support material

Institute of Chemical Engineering page 4Achema 2012

Thermal Process Engineering

CFD Simulation of the Furnace Burners using open source CFD tools (OpenFOAM)

EDAB – Efficient Dry and Burn

CFD model of the burner – contour plot of velocity magnitude in symmetry plane

Measurement of the gas flame temperature at different oxygen levels in the primary air

Oxygen enrichment – homogeneous atmosphere

Institute of Chemical Engineering page 5Achema 2012

Thermal Process Engineering

EDAB – Efficient Dry and Burn

b)

Numerical Modeling of Firing process (CFD)

High Temperature in Process Measurements

CoolingHeating

Holding Tmax

Variation of cooling rate

Variation of

heating rate

CFD model of the furnace contours of gas velocity

Optimization Process CFD modeling – brick and

support material positioning, homogeneous flow

Measurements of gas and brick core temperatures

Adaptiation of the burning curve – save time and energy

Institute of Chemical Engineering page 6Achema 2012

Thermal Process Engineering

Targets reached so far• Cycle time decreased by 10 % (further

potential)

• Specific energy consumption reduced by 4 % - about 10 % is possible with further optimization

• Improved quality of the high density bricks due to CFD optimized positioning of the support material

EDAB – Efficient Dry and Burn

a)

b)

decreased cycle time(higher capacity)

decreased specific energy consumption

improved quality(smaller deviation of dimensions)

Institute of Chemical Engineering page 7Achema 2012

Thermal Process Engineering

EDAB – Efficient Dry and Burn

This project was supported by the Climate and Energy Fund and was performed

under the program "NEUE ENERGIEN 2020".

Dieses Projekt wurde aus Mitteln des Klima- und Energiefond gefördert und

im Rahmen des Programms “NEUE ENERGIEN 2020” durchgeführt.

http://www.klimafonds.gv.at