Waste Fuel Burners
W. N. Best specializes in rugged and reliable register burners, capable of atomizing and burning nearly any fuel or waste.
The W. N. Best family of burners brings a rugged solution to the register burner market. Preferred brings to each problem not only technical proficiency but also the benefits of over 90 years of experience devoted to the design, fabrication, installation, and servicing of literally tens of thousands of industrial combustion systems.
These systems burn almost any variety of gaseous or liquid fuels and wastes. Additionally, we can provide everything from the combustion air and fuel handling systems to the flame safegaurd and combustion control systems.
Many industrial users are faced with environmental regulations regarding their factory's discharge levels. Preferred Utilities has been able to use its years of experience and perfected burner designs to provide cost-effective solutions.
Click on the tabs below for different Waste Fuel Application:
The Problem
Skimmings* with rags, plastics and rubber present a vexing problem in the operation of sewage treatment plants. They upset biological processes. Open pit burning creates serious air pollution problems while lagooning and landfill contribute to ground water contamination.
* floatable wastes composed principally of oils, fats and greases containing a high percentage of water
The W. N. Best Solution
Utilizing experience acquired during the past fifty years, Preferred/W. N. Best developed a special clog-free combustor capable of handling solids as large as 3/8" in diameter. Incorporating a unique continuous purge cleaning system, this combustor uses centrifugal force to achieve micron-size particulate distribution. Counterflowing air, furnished by built-in fans, produces high turbulence and mixing so that combustion proceeds smoothly and completely.
This skimmings combustor may be mounted directly on either a new or existing multiple hearth incinerator to provide clean combustion and a controlled input of supplemental heat. The versatile design makes it adaptable to its own incinerator, with or without waste heat recovery capability. Normally there is no need for supplementary fuel.
Once the incinerator has reached operating temperature, the heat in the waste sustains combustion.
A packaged preparation set is furnished as a part of the overall system. This set automatically functions to pump, preheat, and meter the flow of the waste to the atomizer and to deliver supplementary fuel. A factory fabricated control center automatically programs the operation and provides constant safety monitoring.
The Problem
A by-product of petroleum refinery operations is acid sludge, a black mixture of asphaltic hydrocarbons, sulphuric acid, and water. This material is highly corrosive and would cause disastrous contamination in any disposal area.
The W. N. Best Solution
Long before ecology became a national concern, Preferred/W. N. Best developed equipment for a process designed to recycle this waste. Not only does this process eliminate a critical disposal problem, but it also pays important dividends in the form of fresh, white, 99% sulphuric acid byproduct.
The heart of this regeneration process is the Preferred/W. N. Best acid sludge atomizer which was designed specifically for this application. Built of acid-resisting materials and alloys, it has a capacity range of 100 to 7,000 gallons of sludge per hour. This unique atomizer utilizes centrifugal force combined with a blast of compressed air to break the sludge into a mist of minute droplets which is blown into a refractory-lined furnace.
This atomized waste is burned in suspension. In most instances, supplementary fuel is used to augment the hydrocarbons in the sludge to maintain the required 2,200°F furnace temperature. When the waste has an adequate hydrocarbon content, the firing of the supplementary fuel is discontinued and the combustion of the sludge becomes self-supporting.
The hot gas is drawn from the funace through a series of stills, scrubbers, heat exchangers, and other apparatus which reclaims the sulphur and otherwise cleans and cools the gas before it is released into the atmosphere.
The Problem
The burning of sulfur in air to make sulfuric acid from the resulting sulfur dioxide is an old process. Controlling the combustion at a uniform burning rate and a constant gas strength is highly desirable. The key to uniform, high-quality product, and lower production costs is the burning equipment.
The W. N. Best Solution
Sulphur is preheated and delivered to the burner as a liquid at a carefully maintained temperature of 270°F. The Preferred/W. N. Best atomizer breaks this liquid into microscopic droplets which burn in suspension in a refractory-lined furnace. Aside from a controlled supply of clean, dry air, combustion is entirely self-supporting (i.e., no supplementary fuel is required).
The process generates an appreciable amount of heat which in turn is recovered by passing the hot gas through a waste heat boiler to supply plant steam.
The Preferred/W. N. Best sulphur atomizer has several advantages for this application. Unlike other atomizers it has no small orifices in the nozzle and is thus less susceptible to clogging. Because no steam is required, moisture is kept out of the furnace and the possibility of sulfuric acid formation on the heat transfer surfaces of the waste heat boiler is minimized. Most importantly, the atomizer combines high capacity with a compact flame which permits reductions in furnace size with resultant savings in both initial cost and in furnace maintenance expense.