BOILERS, PUMPS & VALVES
hard to abate industries, but the cost to transition from natural gas to hydrogen is considerable, and it has an increased tendency to form harmful NOx gases. Biofuels, on the other hand, are largely compatible with existing infrastructure but there is limited scope for increasing the scale of biomass production.
2. Energy performance
Where low carbon solutions are not a practical option, focus on maximising the energy performance of existing boilers. There are several ways this can be achieved. Firstly, ensure you have a modern energy efficient burner that is seamlessly matched with the heated vessel. Babcock Wanson’s Modulo+ gas burners, for example, are designed with digital micro-modulation control and specially developed combustion head
for a high turndown of 12:1 for improved efficiency and lower overall losses due to a reduction in the number of purge cycles. The key to a good burner is its ability to provide very accurate control of excess air over the entire operating range, resulting in an excellent combustion efficiency no matter what the process load, and the lowest practicable operating costs. Secondly, adapt water treatment to the quality of the water available by ensuring the correct water treatment chemicals are used for the process at hand. Consider the use of ion exchange softening, thermal degassing (deaeration), and demineralisation by reverse osmosis or by resin exchange.
Thirdly, consider remote monitoring of heating systems. Babcock Wanson’s Navinergy digital platform provides 24/7 boiler room performance monitoring alerting users to deviations in equipment operation and water quality enabling them to take action where required.
Combined, these actions reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, reducing NOx and CO2 emissions in the process.
3. Reduction of polluting emissions In addition to the actions listed above, polluting emissions can be reduced further through the adoption of equipment specifically designed to capture and eliminate air pollutants generated by industrial installations. Thermal oxidation solutions, including regenerative, recuperative and deodorising options, are highly effective at treating VOCs and odours. Pollutant gases are heated to a high temperature in a combustion chamber and are fully oxidised before being discharged as a harmless gas. Modern oxidisers incorporating adsorption technology concentration techniques can bring even the largest air volumes with low solvent loadings within reach of economic operation.
4. Recovery and re-use
Look at best practice in managing natural resources. When it comes to water management, consider implementing solutions to recover and reintegrate part of the water discharged, thereby reducing water consumption.
Waste heat recovery through the use of flue gas and condensing economisers is also ideal and can allow for considerable savings to be made. Economisers are essentially heat exchange devices that extract the residual heat from the exhaust gas generated by the combustion process. That recovered heat is usually fed back into the process, typically to the boiler feed water thereby optimising the overall efficiency of the plant in the most compact and cost-effective manner. Different types of economisers are available to meet a wide variety of processes and site needs. Babcock Wanson’s R-Eco solution, for example, is a combustion air preheater that recovers heat from the combustion fumes and uses a Flue Gas Recirculation system, which increases the overall efficiency of the boiler up to 98 per cent. Solvent recovery systems should also be considered to both help reduce your carbon foot print and meet increasingly stringent emission limits for solvents and VOCs. A major player in the field, DCT solvent recovery systems’ distillation technology allows for a very high level of purity – frequently exceeding international standards - for the recovered solvents to then be reused in production, making for a rapid return on investment.
THE ROAD TO DECARBONISATION People often refer to the road to decarbonisation, but the reality is there are multiple forks in the road and decisions to be made on which route to take. Each industry and each application face their own set of challenges, but options are available to help improve sustainability and get you one step closer to the net zero destination.
Babcock Wanson
www.babcock-wanson.com
UKManufacturing Summer 2025 17
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