Boiler Combustion Efficiency

Results of incorrect combustion include fuel waste, an increased level of toxic emissions and potentially damaging the combustion system. Environmental and financial impacts can be significant.

The overheads of fuel consumption and system value are high in large scale industrial and commercial boilers/furnaces. In order to see return of investment and minimal running costs the operation must be kept at peak efficiency.
Complete combustion requires the correct ratio of fuel and oxygen. This is optimised and maintained by measuring the output of oxygen level of the exhaust/flue gas by using an oxygen sensor in a closed loop feedback system to a controller for regulating the input mix. This is especially useful when the quality of fuel supplied may vary (i.e. gas from different sources).

SST’s  zirconium dioxide oxygen sensors help customers to optimise their boiler combustion efficiency within the oil, coal, gas and biomass boiler market. The oxygen sensors have been used to provide a clean burn and reduce harmful emissions in combustion processes for over 25 years. The oxygen sensor is inserted into the boiler flue to monitor the oxygen level, enabling complete control over the boilers oxygen to fuel ratio.

Here is an example of a combustion process using SST’s zirconium dioxide oxygen analyser, the OXY-Flex as a feedback signal into the controller system. The diagram illustrates boiler combustion efficiency and emissions against the air to fuel ratio.

SST’s sensors allow the excess oxygen to be reduced  while still maintaining safe operation.  This saves both money and the environment.

SST’s zirconium dioxide oxygen sensors come stand-alone or with integrated electronics, like our OXY-Flex oxygen analyser, offering digital or analogue industry standard outputs.

Their long life comes from their non-depleting sensor cell technology. No reference gas is required and easy single point calibration can be performed in fresh air or any other known oxygen concentration. The sensors offer an accurate and selectable measuring range (0.1 to 25% O₂ or 0.1 to 100% O₂), a fast response time from as little as four seconds and are RoHS compliant.  Their stainless steel construction gives them the ability to function in combustion processes with extreme operating temperatures (up to 400⁰C), resulting in a rugged, robust, reliable and ready to use solution.