Industrial Gas Burner and Their Applications

A Gas Burner is a device for initiating a flame to heat products using a gaseous fuel such as acetylene, natural gas or propane. Some burners have an air inlet to mix the fuel gas with the air for concluded combustion. Acetylene is usually used in combination with oxygen.

Classification of Gas Burner

After the invention of the Gas Burner back in 1855, the consumption of fuel gases increased rapidly. Fuel gases were initially used to light city streets; later other applications came to the fore. The different applications in which gas burners were applied led to a variety of construction patterns and design principles. A variance is made between diffusion, injector, double-line, combined and gas-turbine burners. They are classified as (1) low pressure—5 kilonewtons per square meter (kN/m2), or 0.05 kilonewton-force per square centimeter (kgf/cm2), according to the pressure of the gas supplied to the burner; (2) Medium-pressure—5-300 kN/m2, or 0.05-3.0 kgf/cm2; and (3) high pressure — more than 300 kN/m2, or 3.0 kgf/cm2. Gas burners are also classified by the method of burning: torch burners, in which there is a partial and incomplete mixing of gas and air; and torchless burners, in which the initial mixing is completed.

The main components of a Gas Burner are the mixer and the burner nozzle, which houses the stabilization device. The components are designed according to the function and operating condition of the gas burner. In diffusion gas burners, gas and air are pumped into a combustion chamber, where they are mixed. Most diffusion gas burners are exhibited on the walls of a firebox or furnace. The so-called hearth gas burners, which are placed inside the combustion chamber at the bottom, are widely used in boilers. Hearth gas burners consist of one or more gas-dispensing tubes in which holes are drilled. A tube with several holes is placed in a slotted duct lined with fire brick on the furnace or hearth of the furnace. The requisite amount of air is fed through the refractory slotted duct.

In such a Gas Burner device the combustion of the gas jet coming out of the tube holes starts in the refractory duct and ends inside the furnace. Hearth gas burners present less resistance to the passage of gas; so they can work without exploding by force. Diffusion Gas Burners in India usually have a uniform temperature along the length of the front of the combustion. However, these burners require an increased coefficient of additional air compared to injection gas burners; they create less heat stress in the firebox and worse conditions for complete combustion in the tail of the combustion front, which can result in incomplete combustion of the gas.

Diffusion gas burners are used in industrial furnaces and boilers where uniform temperatures are required along the length of the combustion front. Diffusion Gas Burners are indispensable in some processes—for example, in glass-making furnaces, open-hearth furnaces, and other furnaces where the air used for combustion is heated to a temperature above the ignition temperature of the fuel gas and air is. Diffusion gas burners are successfully used in some types of hot water boilers.