Hybrid furnace modelling and analytics.

In the oil and gas industry, fired heater fuel consumption represents the largest percent of energy costs as it consumes large amount of fuel to produce the necessary heat duty. Fired heaters are also one of the sources of greenhouse gases which recently have been focused on. In recent years, initiatives related to greenhouse gases reduction have evolved which require close monitoring of utility consumption and subsequently optimization. This requirement changes the ways of working, which includes the need to monitor thermal efficiency of fired heaters. Thermal efficiency of fired heaters is usually monitored manually by plant engineers to optimize fuel gas consumption at the fired heaters, including boilers and furnaces. This calculation is usually done using legacy spreadsheets for month-end reporting and it provides limited actionable insights for furnace operation fine tuning and maintenance. A furnace analytics program was developed to allow automatic calculations, reporting and immediate actionable insights. This program uses real time data supported by rigorous simulation model to provide instant and accurate furnace performance calculations to allow for optimum furnace operation. Real-time equipment efficiency will eventually result in fuel gas consumption savings. The hybrid furnace modelling and analytics has the capability to provide precise prescriptive solution for effective troubleshooting and avoid further equipment deterioration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]