MaximaLabs
All unit operations

Fired heater / furnace simulation

2 inlets (process, fuel gas) -> process outlet + flue gas

Governing equations

The exact equations the solver works for a fired heater / furnace — the same math shown in the app's "Theory" panel, not a black box.

Qreleased=iFfuel,iLHViQ_{released} = \sum_i F_{fuel,i}\,\mathrm{LHV}_i
Qprocess=ηQreleased,Qstack=(1η)QreleasedQ_{process} = \eta\,Q_{released},\qquad Q_{stack} = (1-\eta)\,Q_{released}
Fflue[hflue(Tstack)hflue(Tamb)]=QstackF_{flue}\,\left[h_{flue}(T_{stack}) - h_{flue}(T_{amb})\right] = Q_{stack}
Draft=3466H(1Tamb1Tstack)\mathrm{Draft} = 3466\,H\left(\frac{1}{T_{amb}} - \frac{1}{T_{stack}}\right)
Q_{released}
total heat of combustion [W]
F_{fuel,i}
fuel component i flow [mol/s]
\mathrm{LHV}_i
lower heating value of component i [J/mol]
\eta
thermal efficiency (design assumption)
Q_{process}
duty delivered to the process stream [W]
Q_{stack}
unrecovered heat leaving as flue-gas sensible heat [W]
F_{flue}
flue-gas molar flow [mol/s]
T_{stack}
flue-gas stack temperature [K]
T_{amb}
ambient temperature [K]
H
stack height [m]

Parameters

inlets: [process feed, fuel gas]; exactly one of duty [W] OR outlet_temperature [K]; optional efficiency [0-1, default 0.85], excess_air_fraction [default 0.15], ambient_temperature [K, default 298.15], stack_height [m, default 30], pressure_drop [Pa]. Fuel gas composition drives combustion stoichiometry (methane, ethane, propane, n_butane, h2, co recognized; other components pass through as inerts). Reports q_released, stack_loss, flue_gas_flow, stack_temperature, draft [Pa, natural chimney draft]

Example flowsheets that use it

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