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Proceedings of the ASME 2010 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition

IMECE2010
November 12-18, 2010, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

IMECE2010-399

PROCESS HEATER AIR INFILTRATION


Charles E. Baukal, Jr.
John Zink Company, LLC
Tulsa, OK U.S.A.
charles.baukal@johnzink.com

Wesley R. Bussman
John Zink Company, LLC
Tulsa, OK U.S.A.
wes.bussman@johnzink.com

Keywords:

ABSTRACT
Process heaters are among the largest energy consumers in
industry. Many of them were built years ago and often are not
well sealed which leads to excessive air infiltration. Air leaks
may be caused by cracks in the wall, by sight ports that are not
properly sealed or may even be left open, failure to close air
registers for burners that are out of service, improper sealing of
penetrations through the heater walls, and by excessive draft
levels in the heater. These leaks reduce energy efficiency and
indirectly increase pollution emissions as more fuel must be
consumed for a given production rate. Leaks may also directly
cause NOx emissions to increase due to increased excess
oxygen. Excessive air leakage can indirectly cause process
burners to operate improperly. The excess oxygen level in a
heater is normally controlled to a certain target value, typically
about 2-3% by volume for gaseous fuels. Process burners are
designed assuming that all of the air for combustion goes
through the burner. However, if a significant amount of air is
leaking into a heater, the measured excess oxygen level may be
on target but not enough of the air is coming through the burner
which can adversely affect performance. The flame length may
be dramatically increased as the flame searches for air to
complete combustion which often causes flame impingement
on process tubes. The heat flux distribution may be shifted as
the flame length increases. The flames may even become
unstable if they are sufficiently starved for air. The draft level
in a heater varies with elevation which means that air
infiltration depends not only on the size of the leak opening, but
also on its location. This paper will include an analysis of how
excess air infiltration affects thermal efficiency and how the
location of the leak and the heater draft level affect the amount
of air infiltration. The impact of air infiltration on burner
performance will be discussed.
Techniques will be
recommended for detecting air leaks and how to correct them.

process heater; tramp air; air infiltration; afterburning

INTRODUCTION
Fig. 1 shows a schematic of a cabin-style process heater
used to heat hydrocarbon fluids in refineries and chemical
plants [1]. Approximately 65-90% of a processing plants total
energy demand goes into process heating in the form of fired
heaters [2]. Petroleum refining is the second most energyintensive manufacturing industry in the U.S. and accounted for
approximately 7% of the total U.S. consumption in 2002 [3].
The thermal efficiency of natural draft heaters used in refineries
typically ranges from 75 to 85% [4].

Fig. 1: Cabin-style process heater

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Fired heaters are used in nearly every process in the


petrochemical and hydrocarbon industries [5]. The radiant and
convection sections are so termed because the predominant
modes of heat transfer are radiation and convection,
respectively. The purpose of the convection section, which is a
type of cross flow recuperator [6], is to recuperate heat and
improve thermal efficiency.
Process heaters [7] and burners [8] come in a variety of
designs and configurations. The hydrocarbon fluid flowing
through the process tubes is heated using direct-fired burners
that often use fuels that are by-products from processes in the
plant. Typical fuels contain significant concentrations of
methane (CH4), propane (C3H8), and hydrogen (H2). These
fired heaters consume over 2 quadrillion Btu/year [9].
One of the most common heaters used in the process
industry is the natural draft type [10]. These heaters use the
suction created by the negative pressure (draft) inside the heater
to draw in combustion air through the burners and remove
combustion products from the heater via the stack. These
heaters typically have many burners, usually aligned in either a
circle for a vertical cylindrical heater or in rows for a cabinstyle heater. Each burner is normally designed to fire at the
same rate so the total fuel flow to the furnace is typically
controlled based on the outlet temperature of the process fluid
being heated.

Fig. 2: Sankey diagram for the energy flows into and out of a
furnace
Increasing the amount of excess air in a combustion
process decreases heater efficiency because some of the energy
released during combustion is wasted heating the excess air
from ambient to the stack gas exit temperature [11,12]. Fig. 3
shows the calculated available heat lost as the amount of excess
air (determined by measuring the excess O2 in the flue gas)
increases [13]. The graph also shows that more available heat
is lost as the flue gas temperature increases. In general, most
plants try to keep the flue gas temperature at about 400F if
possible to maximize thermal efficiency. They do not want to
go below the dew point of the exhaust gases for fear of causing
condensation that could corrode the equipment. Fig. 4 is a
similar plot but for a fixed flue gas temperature (400F) and
multiple fuels. Again it can be seen that increasing excess air
reduces thermal efficiency. Therefore, excessive air infiltration
can significantly reduce thermal efficiency.

PROBLEMS WITH LEAKS


Process heaters are notoriously leaky for a variety of
reasons which are discussed in the next section. There are
many potential problems caused by these leaks. Some of the
major problems are discussed next.
Reduced Thermal Efficiency
Ideally, a process heater should be supplied with just the
right amount of air to completely burn all of the fuel, which is
referred to as the stoichiometric or theoretical amount of air.
However, in actual practice process heaters operate with an
excess amount of combustion air due to imperfect mixing and
to accommodate swings in variables like fuel composition and
ambient conditions. It is common for process heaters to
operate with about 10% to 15% excess air, which corresponds
to about 2 to 3% excess O2 for a typical refinery fuel gas.
Fig. 2 shows a Sankey diagram for a generic furnace. The
major energy flow into the furnace is the chemical energy
stored in the fuel. There are numerous energy flows out of the
furnace. The available heat is defined as the gross heating
value of the fuel minus the energy carried out by the flue gas
(Moist + Dry Flue Gas Losses).

Fig. 3: Calculated available heat lost due to increased excess


O2 as a function of the flue gas exit temperature for
methane as the fuel [13]

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Poor Burner Performance


The best place to measure the excess O2 in a process heater
is at the top (roof) of the radiant section (sometimes referred to
as the arch or bridgewall) for two important reasons. The first
is that this is generally far enough downstream of the burners
that the combustion process has gone to completion so the
excess O2 should be not be changing at that point. The second
reason is that there is usually very high air leakage in the
downstream convection section due to the multiplicity of tube
penetrations which are often not well sealed. Measuring
downstream of the convection section might falsely indicate
there is plenty of O2 for combustion, when that might not be the
case.
One of the problems with large amounts of air infiltration
into the radiant section is that the excess O2 measured at the
arch might be within acceptable limits, even though a large
portion of the air may not be going through the burners.
Therefore, it is possible to measure plenty of O2 at the arch and
yet have very poor flame quality at the burners because not
enough of the air is going through the burners to complete
combustion [16]. Process burners are designed assuming that
the air needed for combustion will enter through the burner air
inlet. Fig. 6 shows an example in an actual process heater of
what happens when there is not enough air for combustion.
The figure on the left shows long flames with yellow tails,
signifying incandescing carbon. This can be due to the fuel.
Fuels with H/C molar ratios below three are prone to this kind
of behavior. However, in this case, the condition results from a
lack of O2 in the vicinity of the flame. After the burner air
registers were opened slightly to increase the combustion air
flow rate, the flames shortened to their design length, with no
traces of yellow. Excessive air infiltration into the radiant
section can indirectly cause poor burner performance because
not enough of the air is going through the burner as designed.
The flames get longer which could cause flame impingement
on the convection section tubes. Longer flames could also
adversely affect the heat flux profile in the heater.

Fig. 4: Available heat lost due to increased excess O2 as a


function of the fuel for a fixed flue gas exit
temperature (400F) [13]
Increased NOx Emissions
Failure to properly operate a heater can adversely affect
pollution emissions for two reasons. The first is that poor
thermal efficiency means more fuel needs to be combusted for
a given production rate. Burning more fuel produces more
emissions. The second reason is that running with too much
excess O2 can increase NOx emissions [14]. Besides affecting
efficiency [13], ambient conditions can indirectly impact
pollution emissions by increasing excess O2 if proper
adjustments are not made [15]. Fig. 5 shows some example
experimental data that demonstrate how NOx increases with
excess O2. When there is not enough O2 available to fully
combust the fuel, NOx formation is not as significant.
However, when there is excess O2 available after the fuel has
been combusted, the combination of high flame temperature
and excess O2 causes NOx emissions to increase.

(a)

Fig. 5: Ratio of NOx formed at a given excess O2 level


compared to the amount of NOx formed at 1% excess
O2

(b)

Fig. 6: Process burners in a cabin heater: (a) < 0.5% excess


O2 and (b) 1.5% excess O2

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After-Burning in Convection Section


When there is significant air infiltration in the radiant
section, this may mean not enough combustion air is coming
through the burners as designed. In addition to poor burner
performance, this can lead to incomplete combustion in the
radiant section due to inadequate mixing and residence time,
even if the measured excess O2 at the arch is within the target
limits. Products of incomplete combustion (e.g., CO and
unburned hydrocarbons) may then leave the radiant section and
enter the convection section. Since air leakage in the
convection section is often very high, those hot products of
incomplete combustion rapidly burn in the presence of the
additional O2, which is typically referred to as after-burning.
This additional heat in the convection section often damages
the finned tubes, which are not designed for continuous
exposure to flames caused by after-burning.

likely due to the effects of weather. Fig. 8 shows an example


of an open sight port found in the bottom of an operating
process heater. It is convenient for the operators to keep it
open, but it allows a large amount of tramp air to enter the
heater.

LEAK SOURCES
There are many potential sources of leaks in process
heaters. They have been grouped into several categories which
are described next.

Fig. 7: Air leak around a tube penetration in the convection


section

Leaky Heaters
Many process heaters have been in service for decades.
They are located outside and are therefore subject to the
weather. They are also very large with many welds and bolted
connections. The heater temperature in the radiant section can
be as high as 2300F or more, depending on the process
requirements. These heaters are subject to thermal cycling due
to repeated shutdowns and start-ups, for example after routine
maintenance, and also from the changes in ambient
temperatures due to normal weather fluctuations.
The
expansion and contraction of the heaters leads to cracks in the
refractory lining and in the metal shell. These cracks are
normally small enough that they are not easily seen and
therefore go unnoticed and unrepaired.
Cumulatively,
numerous small leaks can lead to a large amount of air
infiltration. Those cracks provide a path for tramp ambient air
to leak into the heaters.

Fig. 8: Open sight port at the floor of a process heater


Fig. 9 shows a poorly sealed sight port on the side of a
process heater. The sight port door consists only of a piece of
uninsulated metal without any gasket material to minimize air
infiltration. Improperly sealed openings can lead to a large
ingress of tramp air.

Improperly Sealed Openings


Process heaters have a number of openings used for a
variety of purposes. Access doors are used for entering the
heater for inspection and maintenance. Nozzles for injecting
snuffing steam are used to put out fires in the heater and to
purge the heater prior to start-up. Tube penetrations allow the
tubes carrying the process fluid to go in and out of the heater.
Sight ports permit visual inspection of the heater during
operation. Explosion doors relieve over-pressures in the heater.
Smaller penetrations are used to insert instruments into the
heater to measure, for example, tube skin temperatures, excess
O2, and heater draft.
These heater penetrations are often improperly sealed. Fig.
7 shows a photo of a tube penetration in the convection section
of a process heater. An attempt was made to seal the opening
with blanket refractory, much of which is now gone, most

Fig. 9: Poorly sealed sight port on the side of a process heater

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Burners-Out-of-Service
There may be certain conditions that require some of the
burners to be taken out of service. One example is when some
burner components need to be serviced, such as when the fuel
injectors are plugged and need to be cleaned. Another example
is when very little heat is needed, such as when a heater is
being warmed up slowly after a refractory repair. It may not be
possible to turn all of the burners down to a low enough firing
rate, which means that some of the burners may need to be
turned off to reduce the firing duty to a low enough level.
Simply turning off the fuel to a burner, without also closing off
the combustion air inlets, means there will be large openings in
the heater for air infiltration.

In addition to the leak size, the leak location is also


important in determining the amount of air infiltration. As
shown in Fig. 10, the leak rate increases with the draft level.
Fig. 11 shows the draft profile in a typical natural draft process
heater. The highest draft is at the floor, which is used to pull in
the air for combustion through the burners, since no fans or
blowers are used. The lowest draft in the radiant section is at
the arch. This means that leaks in the floor of the heater (e.g.,
see Fig. 8) will allow more tramp air infiltration than leaks
through the wall near the arch, for a given size leak opening.

LEAK SIZE AND LOCATION


It is obvious that the size of an opening is important for
how much tramp air leaks into a heater. Fig. 10 shows the
amount of air leakage (standard cubic feet per hour or SCFH)
per unit opening area (square inches) as a function of the heater
draft (inches of water column). These data have been
calculated using a heater simulator described elsewhere [17].
800
700
600
500
400
300
200

Fig. 11: Typical draft profile in a process heater (P = pressure


drop)

100
0
0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

0.30

An example calculation using a process heater simulator


[17] will demonstrate the impact of leak location. A total leak
area of 6" x 10" (15 cm x 25 cm) (similar to an open sight port),
a fuel cost of $5/106 Btu ($17/MW), and a total firing rate of
106 x 106 Btu (31 MW) are assumed. If this leak is located 5'
(1.5 m) above the floor, where the burners are located, this leak
will increase the fuel cost by about $18K/yr. If the same leak
was located 25' (7.6 m) above the floor, the increased fuel cost
would be about $11K. The difference in draft at the two
elevations shows how much leakage is affected by location.
Hall et al. (2010) categorize air leakage into two general
locations: pre-combustion and post-combustion [18]. Precombustion air leakage can impact the combustion process
itself. Post-combustion air leakage at some distance
downstream of the main combustion chamber does not directly
impact the main combustion process but can impact other
aspects of the process as previously discussed.
Another aspect of location concerns the gas flow patterns
inside the heater. For example, the general flow in a verticallyfired heater, near the floor-mounted burners, is upward due to
both the outlet gas velocities from the burners which are
pointing upward, and from the buoyancy of the hot combustion
products. Tramp air leaking into a heater near the floor would

Heat er Draf t (inchesof WC)

Fig. 10: Air infiltration as a function of heater draft


For example, assume that the burner damper for a single
out-of-service burner has been left open. A common burner
throat is 16" in diameter which equates to a 201 in2 opening.
Assume the heater draft at the floor is 0.30 in. WC. From the
graph in Fig. 10 for a draft of 0.30 in. WC, the leak rate would
be about 740 SCFH/in2. Therefore, the leak rate would be (740
SCFH/in2)(201 in2) = 149,000 SCFH. For a heater firing 100 x
106 Btu/hr, the combustion air flow with 15% excess air (3%
excess O2) would be approximately 1.20 x 106 ft3/hr assuming
the fuel is methane (CH4). The calculated leak rate equates to
approximately 14% of the stoichiometric air flow. This means
that if the target excess O2 was 3%, which is a typical level,
then nearly all of the excess air would be coming from the out
of service burner. It would also mean that the operating
burners would have only about 0.8% excess combustion air.
That would likely produce long flames with high levels of CO
emissions due to incomplete combustion and possibly unstable
flames due to lack of O2 to combust the fuel flowing through
the burners.

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then be carried upward. The coldest part of the radiant section


is typically near the process tubes which carry the hydrocarbon
fluids being heated by the heater. The gas flow near the tubes
is typically downward because those gases are cooler than, for
example, the combustion products coming from the burners. If
there is a leak near the process tubes, the tramp air entering the
heater may flow downward because it too is much cooler than
the combustion products flowing upward near the center of the
heater. The actual gas flow patterns in a process can be
complicated, so ambient air leaking into a heater may flow in a
variety of directions, depending on the location.

the walls of an operating heater, particularly near joints and


penetrations. If a significant amount of smoke is drawn into the
heater, there is a large leak in that location. If possible, the leak
is repaired at that time (e.g., with a high temperature silicone
sealant), or it may be marked for future repair (e.g., welding
cracks in the metal shell).
Another method for smoke testing is to use a smoke bomb,
or some other technique for generating large quantities of
smoke, in the inlet of a fan or blower attached to the heater (see
Fig. 13). This must be done when the heater is not being fired.
The stack damper and burner dampers (air registers) are closed.
All other openings such as sight ports and access doors are also
closed. An external air blower is connected to the heater to
pressurize the heater (instead of the normal negative pressure in
an operating heater). When smoke is introduced into the fan
inlet, it goes into and then exits the heater wherever there are
openings. These leak locations can then be marked and fixed
after the test has been completed.

FINDING LEAKS
There are a variety of ways to find locations where tramp
air enters into a process heater. Some of the more common
methods are discussed next.
A relatively simple method of finding air leaks is to look
inside an operating heater and find any dark regions, other than
the process tubes, which normally indicate cooler regions
where air may be leaking in. Fig. 12 shows a photo of an end
wall in an operating process heater. The process tubes are on
the left side of the photo. Three burners are firing on the end
wall. Several dark spots, not including the process tubes or
centers of the burners, include the outline of an access door at
the center near the floor, a sight port to the left of the bottom
burner, and two snuffing steam inlets to the right of the access
door. The dark regions around these openings indicate that
some air is leaking through them, where the cold ambient air is
cooling the opening.

smoke
bomb
Fig. 13: Smoke bomb test to find leaks in a heater
Another method that can be used to find air leaks in a
heater is using an infrared (IR) camera. Fig. 14 shows a
thermal image of the side of a process heater. The colors
indicate temperature where blue is colder and red is hotter. The
side of the heater is essentially blue, except in the vicinity of an
explosion door, which is designed to relieve significant overpressures in the heater. In this case, the door is not well sealed
and appears to be partially open which is allowing a significant
amount of heat to escape from the heater. Since the pressure
inside the heater at that location in the radiant section should be
negative, tramp air is likely entering the heater around that
explosion door. An IR camera can be used to photograph the
outside of a heater to look for hot spots where significant
amounts of heat are leaking out, and where significant amounts
of tramp air may be entering in.

Fig. 12: End wall photo of an operating process heater


Another method that is used to find tramp air leaks is with
smoke. Two techniques are most commonly used. The first is
with a handheld smoke generator. Smoke is introduced close to

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Another obvious way to mitigate tramp air infiltration is to


fix the leaks in the heater. This can be a time-consuming and
tedious process because of the sheer size of most process
heaters. It also needs to be an ongoing process as new cracks
will often develop after old cracks have been sealed. At a
minimum, cracks should be sealed at each maintenance
turnaround.
As previously discussed, it is particularly
important to seal the leaks near the bottom of the radiant
section where the draft level is highest.
Related to sealing the leaks is properly sealing the heater
openings such as sight ports (see Fig. 9) and explosion doors
(see Fig. 14). Fig. 16 shows an example of a specially designed
refractory plug seal used to minimize heat escaping through the
sight port and minimizing air infiltration through the sight port.
A refractory gasket around the opening, between the sight port
door and the heater, further improves the seal. Fig. 17 shows a
specially designed sight port that uses a quartz window so the
inside of the heater can be seen without opening a door. An
interior shutter is spring loaded so it shields the quartz from the
heat, but can be easily retracted by pushing a lever, without
ever opening the sight port. The sight port is also designed to
minimize air leaks by providing a tight seal around the quartz
window.

Fig. 14: Thermal image showing a partially open explosion


door
Another visual method that can sometimes be used to
indirectly find tramp air leaks is to look at the paint on the skin
of the heater. If it is discolored or burned off in certain areas, it
could indicate there are significant openings in the heater in
those locations which are allowing heat to escape and which
could also be allowing tramp air to enter the heater.
MITIGATING LEAKS
One important and easy method for minimizing air
infiltration into a process heater is to properly control the draft
levels inside the heater. If the draft is excessively high (much
more negative than designed), then more air will be pulled into
the heater than if it is at the target level (typically about -0.1"
WC at the arch). One reason why a heater might be operated
with a high draft is to get more combustion air flow through the
burners if they are being operated beyond their design firing
rate capacity to increase the throughput in the heater. Another
reason might be that the convection section is plugged (see Fig.
15), necessitating more draft to get enough flow through the
convection section due to the increased pressure drop. While
the draft at the exit of the plugged convection section may be
close to the design condition, the draft before the convection
section (e.g., in the radiant section) may be much higher than
design, causing higher tramp air infiltration.

Fig. 16: Sight door refractory plug seal (Courtesy of Thorpe


Corp., Houston, TX)

Fig. 17: Sight port designed to reduce air leaks and protect
operators against hot furnace flue gases, high radiant
heat, and positive pressure surges in the heater.

Fig. 15: Plugged convection section tubes

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Another example of sealing leaks is given in Fig. 18 which


shows high temperature seals designed to minimize air
infiltration around process tube penetrations through the heater
walls. Because of thermal expansion, these seals need to be
flexible so they can move as the tubes expand and contract.
Properly sealing heater openings helps mitigate air infiltration.

air possibly leaking in, and checking the paint on the heater
skin to see if there are places where the paint has been
discolored or burned off.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Because of their significant impact on heater performance,
air leaks need to be mitigated, particularly those that are large
and in locations where the draft is higher. One important
recommendation is to operate the heater at the design draft
level, because high drafts increase tramp air infiltration. Heater
cracks need to be fixed on a regular basis. Penetrations need to
be sealed. Tube seals and specially designed sight ports are
examples of devices specifically made to minimize air leaks.
REFERENCES
[1] Baukal, C., 2001, The John Zink Combustion Handbook,
CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
[2] Faagau G., 2008, Resolve to trim that excess air,
Chemical Processing, 71(1), p. 16.
[3] Energy Information Administration. 2002 Manufacturing
Energy Consumption Survey (MECS). Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Energy, 2002.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/mecs/mecs2006/2006tables.html.
[Accessed 22.07.09].

Fig. 18: Engineered tube seals (Courtesy of Thorpe Corp.,


Houston, TX)

[4] Vinayagam K., 2007, Understanding the secrets of fired


heaters tuning, Hydrocarbon Processing, 86(10), pp. 95-104.

An indirect method of minimizing air infiltration is to


operate as many burners as possible, i.e., dont take burners out
of service unless it is necessary. As an earlier example
demonstrated, air leakage through an out-of-service burner can
be large if the burner damper has not been closed. An example
calculation will demonstrate the potential leakage. Using a
process heater simulator [17], with a total of eight burners in a
heater and one out of service with the damper wide open, there
is a calculated loss in efficiency of 1.2%. Even when the
burner damper is closed, there is still some air leakage through
the burner because the damper is not designed to be air tight.
Since burners are typically located where the draft levels are
high, any openings in out-of-service burners can lead to high
air infiltration.

[5] Energetics, Inc., 2007, Energy and environmental profile


of the U.S. petroleum refining industry, U.S. Department of
Energy Industrial Technologies Program, November,
Washington, DC.
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/industry/petroleum_refining/pdfs/
profile.pdf. [Accessed 22.07.09].
[6] Trinks W, and Mawhinney MH., 1961, Industrial furnaces,
Vol. I, Fifth Edition, John Wiley, New York.
[7] American Petroleum Institute Standard 560, 1995, Fired
heaters for general refinery services. Washington, DC,
September 1995.
[8] American Petroleum Institute Recommended Practice 535,
2006, Burners for fired heaters in general refinery services.
Washington, DC, January 2006.

CONCLUSIONS
Air infiltration into process heaters can reduce thermal
efficiency, increase pollution emissions such as NOx, degrade
burner performance, and cause after-burning in the convection
section. There are many possible sources for air leaks
including leaky heaters, improperly sealed openings, and
burners-out-of-service. Both the size and the location of the
leaks are important because both directly impact how much
tramp air is drawn into the heater. There are many ways to find
the leaks including visual inspection inside the heater looking
for dark regions, using smoke outside an operating heater to see
where it is drawn in, using smoke inside a heater which is not
operating to see where it comes out, thermal images of the
outside of the heater to see where heat may be leaking out and

[9] U.S. Department of Energy Energy and Renewable


Energy, Industrial Technologies Program, NAICS 334110
Petroleum refining energy footprint. Washington, DC, 2008.
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/industry/energy_systems/pdfs/pet
roleum_footprint.pdf. [Accessed 22.07.09].
[10] Reed, R.D., 1981, Furnace Operations, Third Edition, Gulf
Publishing, Houston.
[11] Chen Q.L., Yin Q.H., Wang S.P., and Hua B., 2004,
Energy-use analysis and improvement for delayed coking
units, Energy, 29, pp. 2225-2237.

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[12] Reed, R.J., 1986, The North American Combustion


Handbook, Vol. I: Combustion, Fuels, Stoichiometry, Heat
Transfer, Fluid Flow, Third Edition, North American Mfg. Co.,
Cleveland.
[13] Bussman, W., and Baukal, C., 2009, Ambient condition
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