natural gas vs. fuel oil? 1

[pabasolo]

I am at the moment trying to decide whether we should use natural gas or fuel oil for our furnaces.
The thing is, that here in Uruguay, the price of natural gas doubles that of fuel oil, for the same amount of calories (theoretical). nevertheless, many copmanies have switched to natural gas, and many people think it is much better. So I think there are some costs, benefits, etc that I am not considering.
Can anyone please tell me which costs or inefficiencies, or advantages/disadvantages should I consider?
Thanks
Pablo

 

[25362]

See thread633-56974.

 

[chicopee]

I can relate of one specific instance where NG was better than fuel oil. It concerned a water tube boiler capable of firing both fuels. However 99% of the time the #6 fuel oil was being used until such time when the boiler had to be opened for annual internal inspections. Two weeks prior to opening the boiler, there was a switch to NG for the purpose of cleaning fuel residue from the furnace, gas passes and economizer.

 

[Ozone]

Hi Pabasolo,
i presume you are only looking @ purchase cost. if that be the case, then the cost of using fuel only will increase bcos of cost of storage. for natural gas you need no storage facility as the gas will flow to You direct from your supplier.
secondly, environmental impact assessment for both, shows that natural gas is more environmentally friendly. therefore,in situations where environmental laws are seriuos,the choice of natural gas is a plus.As you might need to treat fuel oil effluent before release to environment.
Also, there is brighter future for NG bcos of the abundance and the tendency for lower purchase cost is obvious.

i hope i made some points.

Cheers

 

[capone]

hello .in my opinion it`s better for you to use fuel oil because it`s cheaper than NG .you have got to reduce the costs in oil refinery units so the profit will grow(and if you analized the gas and the fuel oil -u said that they got the same amount of calories-if i were you i`ll be using the fuel oil

 

[sciencesailor]

May I add that fuel oil needs running costs like heating steam with its own problems (leaking steam traps, corrosion,deposits), FO own deposits/fouling in its storage tanks, FO burners maintenance costs could be higher than NG (deposits/corrosion), Effects of FO impurities/ash on furnace refractory lining (bricks). NG is a clean fuel compared to the bottom of the barrel FO! A fact.

 

[phex]

not to forget NG's C-to-H-ratio is better, resulting in cleaner energy (less carbon dioxide emissions, just to name one)

 

[aleximor]

What sort of furnace is it? If it's something highly stressed like a steam reforming furnace, you also need to consider the metallurgical impact of heavy metal impurities in the fuel oil on the catalyst tubes.

Clean, trouble-free operation is worth a fair premium on the fuel price. You have to decide for yourself what is a fair premium, though!

 

[Murugavel76]

We used to have frequent burner choking problems with fuel oil. as it is mentioned earlier, take into account the maintenance expense on burners also.

 

[azertyuiop]

I worked at a Soya milk producing plant , which required lots of steam for the sterilisation sequence. When the management decided to increase the lines capacity again , we where forced to build a complete new utilities and boiler room for the demanded extra capacity.

At that moment , oil was much cheaper that NG. However , the engineering manager obtained from the management that both fuels could and should be used , given that the new boiler room would be operating over a very long period (30 years or more) and rices for both fuels would probably fluctuate in the longer term.

We bought two boiler furnaces with each a dual Oil/Gas burner. For the oil burner part , we had to install an outside tank of 20 000 liter , enclosed against rainfall and contained against leak/spills during filling. The containment was linked to the water treatment plant system by a coal filter for absorption of organic leaks. The tank had HL/LL warning systems + pumps for oil feeding to the oil burners. For the gas feeding , we only had to instal a new pipe of dia. 160mm on the incoming city feeding line , connected with the 2 new boiler installations.

We runned most of the summer time on oil , because it was much cheaper , and switched to gas during winter time , when oil prices where higher due to increased demand. I heard that they now run continuously on NG , because it is cheaper and require less maintenance of the furnace.

 

[pabasolo]

Thanks to all
You have been extremely helpful!
bye

 

[davefitz]

fuel oil will have a higher spot heat absorption rate in the furnace and may lead to tube failures if inadequate water circulation is occurring

fuel oil has much higher sulphur content. The environmental permit will usually limit the amount of SO2 emmitted per year. Also, the suphur will cause corrosion of the exhaust surfaces and casing due to condensation of sulphuric acid.