Study on performance and methods to optimize thermal oil boiler efficiency in cement industry

Cement production is an energy-intensive process, so that the cement industry occupies a top position among other energy-consuming industries. Among the equipment used in cement industries, boilers are one of the energy-consuming equipment. Boilers are among the common heating equipment in industrial, commercial, and institutional facilities. In this paper, the performance of thermal oil boiler and useful methods in improving its efficiency and saving energy was investigated. Under normal condition, results showed that the boiler was only working with 55% of its capacity, and in this case, boiler efficiency was 77.48%, based on the heat loss method. Moreover, optimization of excess air level in combustion process as one of the improving performance methods increased the boiler efficiency by about 3%. The volume of fuel was also reduced to about 34.07 m3/HR, using economizer as another method.