Potential Problem of Direct Fired Heater for Crude Oil
Potential Problem of Direct Fired Heater for Crude Oil
(OP)
Hi everyone,
My client insists to use direct fired heater to raise the temperature of crude oil but we insist to use indirect fired heater.
First Question: Is it acceptable to use direct fired heater for crude oil?
Second Question: If it is acceptable, what measures are necessary to allow them to operate safely and reliably?
Third Question: What is the potential problem to use direct fired heater for crude oil?
Thanks.
My client insists to use direct fired heater to raise the temperature of crude oil but we insist to use indirect fired heater.
First Question: Is it acceptable to use direct fired heater for crude oil?
Second Question: If it is acceptable, what measures are necessary to allow them to operate safely and reliably?
Third Question: What is the potential problem to use direct fired heater for crude oil?
Thanks.





RE: Potential Problem of Direct Fired Heater for Crude Oil
I used to work for a vendor that supplied both indirect and direct fired heaters
We would turn down bids for direct firing versus combustible fluids because if you get a pinhole leak you end up with an unknown inventory of flamable liquids direct on your burner, these ignite and you will get a pool fire in the fired heater. this may I suppose not escalate to outside of the vertical fired heater if you have some way of detecting it and then isolating fuel source and putting it out.
These jobs were still bid by competitors and they would win the job
I can see no real way of mitigating versus the risk as fire in the vertical fired heater is normal, you can detect tube leaks in a closed system where the inventory loss leads to loss of level in the header tank but unless the leak is large enough to cause a drop in pressure it would be difficult to detect in an unclosed system such as crude production.
RE: Potential Problem of Direct Fired Heater for Crude Oil
BTW I am a control systesm engineer not a heater designer; and have not done a direct fired heater in a while.