Combustion Equipment Design & Optimization

BMA has the expertise and technology to help you get the most from your combustion equipment or advance the development of a new product.

If you are a product end user, BMA can help you implement retrofit solutions:

Making the right modifications can allow you to get much more out of your existing equipment and eliminate the need to purchase new equipment. For example, by optimizing your existing combustion equipment, you can:

• Increase equipment efficiency and reduce operating costs
• Increase equipment capacity to increase yield
• Make your equipment greener by lowering pollutant emissions
• Adapt to changes in process needs
• Adapt to changes in fuel composition or type of fuel

If you are a product manufacturer, whether you lack in-house resources or the expertise in combustion to know how to improve your product, there are many ways BMA can assist you in order to:

• Improve your existing thermal or combustion equipment product design by increasing its capacity, efficiency or reliability
• Move from a prototype to a commercial unit
• Develop an entirely new product

In either case, through the usage of 3D CAD design software, our design engineers specialize in using creative ways to modify existing equipment or design new equipment that are customized to your needs.

A few examples of how clients have benefited from our designs and modifications:

Optimization to maximize fuel savings and product quality

BMA determined the potential areas for fuel savings on six indurating furnaces, each with a heat input of approximately 650 MMBTU/hr, of an iron ore production plant. The report issued included recommendations corresponding to 1.5-2% fuel savings per machine with ROI periods of 12-18 months. In addition to fuel savings, detailed analysis using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) showed that the recommended burner relocation would also have the added advantage of increasing temperature uniformity in the furnace, thus improving product quality.

Improvement of an existing design

BMA assisted a manufacturer of heavy oil burners for indurating furnaces in determining potential ways to improve the existing design of their burners. The report issued included recommendations for simplification of the design that would reduce pressure drop and improve atomization performance. In addition, recommendations for improvement in the cooling of the burners would increase their lifespan.

Designing new prototypes

BMA designed a customized prototype reformer unit capable of producing hydrogen from either propane or natural gas for a fuel cell manufacturer. A complete mathematical model was constructed in order to size the unit for a range of outputs (5:1 turndown). Detailed fabrication drawings and assembly procedures were provided for the new commercial prototype unit which was significantly reduced in size, weight and warm up time compared to the lab prototype unit while maintaining the same yield of hydrogen as the previous unit.