Combustion of purge gases from industrial furnaces

Small quantities of purge gases containing combustible and odor-intensive constituents occur in many thermal processes conducted in industrial furnaces. Due to the low amounts of purge gases (usually only a few m³/h), conventional after-burner systems are generally too large, thus consuming unnecessarily high amounts of natural gas. This article describes a new and compact combustion system which has been jointly developed by e-flox GmbH and a manufacturer of SiSiC ceramics. The new combustion system was installed at the site of the ceramic manufacturer, serving two new furnaces. The system is designed specifically for efficient and clean combustion of small volumetric flows with the lowest possible fuel consumption. Based on the good results it is intended to replace the central after-burner installation used up to now with the new FLOX post combustion system, allowing to save about 10,000 m3/a of natural gas.