OP-ED

DUAL PERSPECTIVES: Europe vs. North America

/ FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES, OP-ED

op-ed

Changes are inevitable, but the world today is changing so rapidly that it’s constantly keeping us on our toes. Do two men from different parts of the world and lots of experience within the heat treating community have vastly different perspectives on the happenings in the heat treat industry?

We want to find out, so we asked a question that focuses on the world of heat treating to Thomas Schneidewind, the editor-in-chief of heat processing magazine, and Doug Glenn, the publisher and founder of Heat Treat Today. The question: Will the war in Ukraine impact the heat treat industry?

Thomas’s expertise lies in the European market while Doug’s resides in the North American market. We will feature their responses in each print magazine. Will their views align? Time will tell. Enjoy this first installment of an ongoing column. This column was first published in Heat Treat Today’s May 2022 Induction Heating print edition.

Will the War in Ukraine Impact the Heat Treat Industry?

Will, or how will, the war between Russia and Ukraine directly or indirectly impact the industry? What immediately comes to mind?

Thomas Schneidewind, Editor-in-Chief, heat processing magazine

Thomas Schneidewind
Editor-in-Chief
heat processing Magazine

First of all, the war in Ukraine is a humanitarian catastrophe. And the first war in Europe since 1945 marks a turning point in history. It has a strong impact on the global economy and hits the thermprocess industry in particular. The exploding energy prices lead to shutdowns of sites in the steel industry. That means that some investments will be frozen.

Europe’s Turning Point

Due to the economic downturn more and more companies are facing another difficult year. Machine and plant builders are affected by the imposed sanctions. Most of the companies are engaged in Russia and in Ukraine as well. One example: Against the background of the war in Ukraine and the human suffering associated with it, SMS group has ceased its main business activities in Russia and Belarus, with the exception of safety-critical maintenance work. New orders will not be accepted. All companies who have strong relationships with clients in Russia and Ukraine are taking care of refugees. SMS will be taking in one hundred families from Ukraine at its German locations in Hilchenbach and Mönchengladbach.

In Europe we see a completely new set up of the political agenda. Specifically, the German so called Energiewende (the country’s planned transition to a low-carbon, nuclear-free economy) will be pushed by the decision makers. The German economy has a long way to go to be independent from Russian gas and oil. The war will affect people and businesses all over the world – we see a historical turning point. For Europe and for the whole world.

Doug Glenn, Publisher, Heat Treat Today

Doug Glenn
Publisher and Founder
Heat Treat Today

The first thing that needs to be clearly communicated is that our thoughts and prayers are with all of those being adversely affected by this war. The loss of human life, personal freedom, and property are the most important impacts of this crisis. Everything else – including what follows in this short column – is somewhat insignificant.

Energy Shortages

Higher energy prices caused by supply shortages are and will continue to happen. More so today than any time in history, markets are global and what happens halfway around the world will have an impact everywhere. The U.S. has imported nearly 20% of its energy from Russia, and with that supply being cut off, we are and will continue to see rising gas, natural gas, and oil prices.

The U.S. could do more to help ourselves and the world through this crisis, however. Mark Mills from the Manhattan Institute asserts that today, with oil prices at $120 per barrel, the U.S. is producing 1.5 million FEWER barrels of oil than we were last year when oil prices were only $60 per barrel. The energy problem in the U.S. is not fundamentally a lack of energy and it is not a market problem. It is a political problem caused by those who have pushed for “green” at all costs.

Supply Chain

Supply chains are and will continue to be disrupted. Being the largest economy in the world and geographically removed from the crisis, I anticipate that U.S. supply chains may not be as badly hurt as those in Europe, but the disruptions will continue. As we all know, if a manufacturer is missing just ONE PART, the entire end-product is on hold. It is completely unpredictable how and when this will impact the North American heat treat industry, but it is safe to say that it is and will continue taking a toll.

Increased National Debt

Probably the most significant long-term impact of the crisis is the continued irresponsible growth in national debt. Now exceeding $30 trillion, our country does not need a war to incur more debt. But as we all know, there is nothing like war to drive national debt through the roof.

Find heat treating products and services when you search on Heat Treat Buyers Guide.com

DUAL PERSPECTIVES: Europe vs. North America Read More »

Natural Gas Revisited

/ BULK GASES & SYSTEMS TECHNICAL CONTENT, FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, OP-ED

OCNatural gas is the dominant energy source used by heat treaters and its price and availability is critical to all U.S. industry, so let’s look at the data and nail down some simple quantitative facts and maybe answer this pressing question: How will the war in Ukraine impact natural gas production and consumption?

This column is a Combustion Corner feature written by John Clarke, technical director at Helios Electric Corporation, and appeared in Heat Treat Today’s May 2022 Induction Heating print edition.

If you have suggestions for savings opportunities you’d like John to explore for future columns, please email Karen@heattreattoday.com.

John B. Clarke
Technical Director
Helios Electric Corporation
Source: Helios Electrical Corporation

As political pundits seek to explain the cause and impact of the war in Ukraine, I am struck by the lack of quantitative information they use to support their opinions and analyses. Given the complexity of the U.S. energy market, with a myriad of imports and exports between countries (especially Canada and Mexico), it is no wonder that people can support any preconception they have by simply omitting this import or that export. As always, we will focus exclusively on natural gas.

Let’s start with some basic facts. FACT: 40% of our electricity in the U.S. in 2021 was generated using natural gas1 and 20% of electricity generated in Europe is from natural gas2 — so even a vacuum furnace runs on a substantial quantity of this fuel.

One of the challenges when discussing energy markets is the many different units of measure people use to describe production, consumption, and costs. Our preferred unit of measure for natural gas production and consumption will be trillion cubic feet or 1 quadrillion British Thermal Units (BTU)* per year (one cubic foot of natural gas contains 1000 BTU (HHV)). To put this in perspective, if we pay $4.70 per mmBTU** — one trillion cubic feet is valued at 4.7 billion dollars. In 2021, the United States produced 34.1 trillion cubic feet or roughly 161 billion dollars of dry natural gas.

 

FACT: U.S. production of natural gas was at an all-time high in 2021 and is rising.3, 4 The U.S. is the largest producer of natural gas in the world by a significant margin. U.S. consumption has fallen over the last two years because of our COVID recession — but it is projected to rise in 2022.

 

Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) Exports

Natural gas can be exported via ship in its liquified state. The following graph shows the U.S. exports of LNG in recent years.5 Our ability to export LNG is limited by facilities that compress and cool the gas to its liquid state and the availability of tankers to move the gas across the ocean. Both ports and ships require significant capital investments and take time to construct — so there is a limit to the rate we can expand exports. Even as we export LNG, we continue to import some natural gas from Canada — but we are obviously a net exporter of natural gas by a considerable margin.

FACT: In 2021, the U.S. exported roughly 10% of the natural gas it produced as LNG. The U.S. is currently the largest exporter of LNG6 while Russia is the largest exporter of gaseous natural gas. Australia and Qatar are also major players in the LNG export market, and we may see these three countries vying for the top spot in the coming decade. The big advantage enjoyed by LNG is once liquified, it is a fungible source of energy — it can be exported to anywhere with a suitable port. Gaseous natural gas must travel through a pipe.

In 2021, the European countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) together imported about 80% of the natural gas they use. Of this number, roughly 6.6 trillion cubic feet per year is imported from Russia, the largest importers of Russian gas include Germany — 1.70, Turkey — 0.95, Italy — 0.92, and France — 0.62 trillion cubic feet per year.

The U.S. has significantly expanded its LNG supplies to Europe in 2019—20217 to an annual rate of 1.86 trillion cubic feet in January of 2022,8 but LNG import capacity is still limited — with additional import facilities coming online in the next few years. Prior to 2019, Europe had little volume of LNG imports, so all the movement of natural gas was by pipeline.

While our price for natural gas in the U.S. has gone up considerably in the last year (approaching a mean of about $5.00 per mmBTU on the spot market), the price in Europe is running about six times as much — $30.00, with recent spikes as high as $60.00 per mmBTU. So, we load a typical LNG tanker with $15 million in natural gas in the U.S., and in 20 days, we lose 4% of the load to vapor, which we burn to power the ship, and offload $86 million at a port in Germany. Of course — this is an oversimplification, but the point is obvious. This price differential will continue to drive the market to invest in new production, LNG ports and ships — and apply upward pressure to our domestic price.

With or without the instability caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we can expect a reliable supply of natural gas to fuel our furnaces and generate our electricity in the United States, but we can also expect higher prices to remain with us for the foreseeable future. Can the U.S. supplant Russia’s natural gas imports? The data indicates the answer is yes — but it will take time and investment. No matter what the outcome of the current war, the West will question the reliability of Russia as an energy supplier and explore all options to lessen their dependency on Russia’s oil and natural gas exports.

 

*1 BTU is the energy required to heat 1 pound of water, 1 degree Fahrenheit.

**Rough Henry Hub Price per mmBTU of natural gas at time of publication

References

[1] “Electricity explained: Electricity in the United States,” EIA.gov, March 18, 2021, https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/electricity-in-the-us.php#:~:text=Natural%20gas%20was%20the%20largest,power%20plants%20use%20steam%20turbines.

[2] Statistical Review of World Energy — 2021. PDF File, 2021, https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/business-sites/en/global/corporate/pdfs/energy-economics/statistical-review/bp-stats-review-2021-eu-insights.pdf.

[3] Kirby Lawrence and Troy Cook, “EIA forecasts U.S. natural gas production will establish a new monthly record high in 2022,” EIA.gov, December 16, 2021, https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=50678.

[4] “Natural Gas Summary,” EIA.gov, February 28, 2022, https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/ng_sum_lsum_a_EPG0_FPD_mmcf_a.htm.

[5] “Liquefied U.S. Natural Gas Exports,” EIA.gov, February 28, 2022, https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/hist/n9133us2A.htm.

[6] Mundahl, Erin. “We’re #1! U.S. Ends 2021 as World’s Largest LNG Exporter,” energyindepth.org, January 5, 2022, https://www.energyindepth.org/were-1-u-s-ends-2021-as-worlds-largest-lng-exporter/.

[7] Victoria Zaretskaya and Warren Wilczewski, “Europe relies primarily on imports to meet its natural gas needs,” EIA.gov, February 11, 2022. https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=51258.

[8] EU-US LNG Trade: US liquefied natural gas (LNG) has the potential to help match EU gas needs, PDF File, March 2022, https://energy.ec.europa.eu/system/fi les/2022-02/EU-US_LNG_2022_2.pdf.

About the Author:

John Clarke, with over 30 years in the heat processing area, is currently the technical director of Helios Corporation. John’s work includes system efficiency analysis, burner design as well as burner management systems. John was a former president of the Industrial Heating Equipment Association and vice president at Maxon Corporation.

Find heat treating products and services when you search on Heat Treat Buyers Guide.com

 

Natural Gas Revisited Read More »

The “Known – Unknown”: Preparing Your Facility for Unpredictable World Events

/ BULK GASES & SYSTEMS TECHNICAL CONTENT, FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, OP-ED

op-edThe “Known – Unknown,” the “Undiscovered Country,” the “Movement from cocksure ignorance to thoughtful uncertainty.” It doesn’t matter if you get your catch phrase from Donald Rumsfeld, Star-Trek, or that plaque your mother kept above the kitchen sink, the implication is the same: we really don’t know what the future holds. But, the Unknown of which I speak in this article is natural gas prices.

This column is a Combustion Corner feature written by John Clarke, technical director at Helios Electric Corporation, and appeared in Heat Treat Today’s March 2022 Aerospace print edition.

If you have suggestions for savings opportunities you’d like John to explore for future columns, please email Karen@heattreattoday.com.

John B. Clarke
Technical Director
Helios Electric Corporation
Source: Helios Electrical Corporation

Does “What happens in Eastern Europe stays in Eastern Europe” hold true? Unfortunately — no.

We have learned from recent and ongoing supply chain issues just how interconnected our economy and manufacturing sector is with the rest of the world. The standoff in Ukraine has the potential to impact the world energy markets for years to come, and I suspect this impact will be felt no matter what transpires. I am certainly no expert, but I have a sinking suspicion that our country offered some American methane molecules to Germany to stiffen their resolve to cancel the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. If the EU works to reduce their dependency on Russian natural gas, a significant portion of worldwide exports are removed from the supply side of the equation. From a practical standpoint, these shifts in supply will take some years to achieve, but we have seen a new realization on the part of business and governmental leaders about the importance of robust and reliable supplies of commodities, and manufactured goods and manufacturing capacity. So, less natural gas supply with rising demand equates to higher prices. And as we have discussed previously, liquefied natural gas transportation from the U.S. to the rest of the world is connecting our natural gas market with the world market — and our natural gas price will be affected by consumption and production factors worldwide, just as the price we pay for petroleum oil today is determined in New York, London, and Riyadh — following the consumption patterns in Beijing, Sydney, and Tokyo.

Ok — let’s get back to what we can do in our own facilities to insulate ourselves, to some degree, from unpredictable world events.

Recuperation, or preheating combustion air using the waste heat exiting the furnace or oven is a time proven method to reduce fuel gas consumption. Before we quantify the effect of preheating air, we need to briefly discuss what affects this heated air has on the combustion process. Higher combustion air temperatures are associated with the following:

  1. Peak flame temperatures are increased. As less energy is used to heat the incoming air, the energy in the natural gas can raise the products of combustion (CO2, H2O and N2) to a higher temperature than would be achieved without combustion air preheating. This can be either beneficial or problematic for a specific application. If the work being heated can accept increased radiation from these higher temperatures — heating rates are improved and throughput increased, but these higher temperatures may reduce the life of furnace components, or, in extreme cases, lead to a catastrophic failure.
  2. Flame speeds are increased, so the combustion process concludes in less space. Again, this is a double-edged sword, benefiting some and leading to a loss on temperature uniformity in others.
  3. Total products of combustion required for any quantity of heat input is reduced. Mass flow is especially important in systems where the operating temperature is below approximately 1200°F. If the energy saved leads to a loss in temperature uniformity, it may be a Pyrrhic victory.
  4. NOx formation is increased. Burner technology has come a long way in recent years to allow for systems to use these higher temperatures without greatly increasing NOx emissions, but the rule of thumb is that by increasing the combustion air temperature from 70°F to 800°F, we basically double NOx formation.

Each of these drawbacks, other than NOx formation, may be a plus rather than a minus for any application. Float glass furnaces (plate glass used in windows) and ingot reheat furnaces are examples of applications where recuperation was applied a century or so ago, at a time where fuel costs where not much of a factor. In both cases, the increased flame temperatures accelerated the heat transfer to either the glass or the steel, increasing production. These applications required furnace temperatures where combustion without preheating would have been impractical — as most of the energy would have been lost in the flues, and very little heat would be available to do any useful work.

What questions should I ask? How much can I save? What is my project’s estimated payback? All are critical questions. To start with, can your existing furnace accept these higher flame temperatures, and can you capture the heat and apply a cost-effective heat exchanger? An example would be a radiant tube furnace. Applying recuperation may require an upgrade in the alloy used in the burner and radiant tube. In direct fired applications, will my uniformity suffer? In general, this is a greater concern at temperatures below 1600°F. As the operating temperatures increase, we can generally expect better uniformity. (I can hear the furnace and burner experts reading this cry “foul,” and they are right, it is not wise to rely on my generalizations — always consult an expert about your specific application.)

How much will it cost? With recuperation, it is best to take advantage of an experienced person’s mistakes, rather than making them on your own. Consult a qualified contractor, OEM, or consultant to help with the application and costs.

How much can be saved? To answer that question, I provide the above graph. It is not the end all be all but will provide a rough estimate of potential savings. It is for an application with an exhaust temperature of 1600°F operating with 15% excess air.

As we can see, in this application, if we apply recuperation to preheat the air to 800°F, we will save 28% of the natural gas we would otherwise consume.

Before investing your money, an individual analysis of each application is required. This article’s purpose is simply to motivate the reader to invest the time necessary to properly determine, as I mentioned last month, if they have “uncashed checks” lying around their shop.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

About the Author:

John Clarke, with over 30 years in the heat processing area, is currently the technical director of Helios Corporation. John’s work includes system efficiency analysis, burner design as well as burner management systems. John was a former president of the Industrial Heating Equipment Association and vice president at Maxon Corporation.

Find heat treating products and services when you search on Heat Treat Buyers Guide.com

 

The “Known – Unknown”: Preparing Your Facility for Unpredictable World Events Read More »

Are You Holding on to Uncashed Checks?

/ BURNERS & COMBUSTION SYSTEMS TECHNICAL CONTENT, FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, OP-ED

op-ed

To not invest money in worthwhile projects makes as much sense as not depositing your paycheck. In this column, we will briefly look at energy and gas “checks” you might have received in the mail but have yet to cash.

This column is a Combustion Corner feature written by John Clarke, technical director at Helios Electric Company, and appeared in Heat Treat Today’s February 2022 Air & Atmosphere Furnace Systems print edition.

If you have suggestions for savings opportunities you’d like John to explore for future columns, please email Karen@heattreattoday.com.

John B. Clarke
Technical Director
Helios Electric Corporation
Source: Helios Electrical Corporation

The late Fred Schoeneborn, a long-time energy consultant and friend, described energy savings opportunities that have been identified but not exploited as uncashed checks. To expand on Fred’s metaphor, not to look for opportunities to save natural gas is the equivalent of not collecting and opening your mail.

A furnace or oven is a box that contains the work being processed and the heat used in the process. It is an imperfect box because we are always losing heat. While it is imperfect, there are often opportunities to improve your oven’s performance, saving energy and generally improving quality. (You may notice if you have read a few of my columns, energy savings and quality improvements nearly always coexist.)

At the start of this series, we asked several questions. This time we will consider the following:

  1. Is my furnace or oven at the correct internal pressure?
  2. Is it time to rebuild door jams?
  3. How much fuel is wasted because I am not containing heat within the furnace or letting excessive air reduce my combustion efficiency?

Furnace pressure (in a non-vacuum application) is the simple function of the volume of the material introduced vs. the area of all the openings in our box. The obvious inputs are the products of combustion for direct fired systems, or the atmosphere for indirect systems.

What is the optimum pressure for my system? In general, the best pressure is the lowest pressure at which no tramp or unwanted air can enter the system and contaminate the atmosphere or upset the temperature uniformity. The lower the pressure, the less chance we will have excessive losses around door seals or other furnace penetrations. Most commonly, these pressures are measured in the hundredths or tenths of inches of water column.

In many applications, door sealing surfaces or jams take quite a beating. Their maintenance is expensive in terms of money, labor, and lost production. Expensive, yes, but the cost of NOT maintaining these surfaces may be much more. Losses are a result of radiant and convective losses, but most significantly, product quality because of atmosphere contamination or areas of the furnace not reaching setpoint temperature. When should we maintain these surfaces? In general, the best results I have observed are people who schedule surface maintenance periodically based on wear and available furnace downtime.

Calculating the savings from these fuel savings is more difficult, but in general, maintaining a consistently uniform interior work area saves more than the energy conserved.

About the Author:

John Clarke, with over 30 years in the heat processing area, is currently the technical director of Helios Corporation. John’s work includes system efficiency analysis, burner design as well as burner management systems. John was a former president of the Industrial Heating Equipment Association and vice president at Maxon Corporation.

Are You Holding on to Uncashed Checks? Read More »

Merry Christmas from Heat Treat Today

/ FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES, OP-ED

We will be celebrating the holidays with family, so look for your next Heat Treat Daily on January 3rd.

2021 has been a transformative year! Because we love people and 2021 saw the return of in-person, face-to-face events, seeing you in and around the trade show halls has been our #1 memory from 2021! What a joy to see and talk with so many of you.

In 2022, we’re looking forward to keeping you well informed by sharing relevant and compelling technical content, industry news, and innovative trends in the North American heat treat industry.

We are thankful for you and here’s our year-end prayer for you and yours, “May you experience the peace and hope that only Christ can give. Wishing you the joy of the Lord as we celebrate the birth of the Savior.”

- The Heat Treat Today Team

Merry Christmas from Heat Treat Today Read More »

How to Lower the Cost of Operating Your Burner System

/ BURNERS & COMBUSTION SYSTEMS TECHNICAL CONTENT, FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, OP-ED

We continue to consider the topic of natural gas pricing and reduction and its impact on heat treaters. Much of the discussion in this month’s article initially appears to deal with process quality or consistency. But understand, process consistency and energy savings are inextricably linked.

This Technical Tuesday column appeared in Heat Treat Today’s December 2021 Medical and Energy print edition. John Clarke is the technical director at  Helios Electric Corporation and has written about combustion related topics throughout 2021 for Heat Treat Today.

In February 2022, we will continue this series. Please forward any questions or suggestions to our editor Karen@heattreattoday.com.

John B. Clarke
Technical Director
Helios Electric Corporation
Source: Helios Electrical Corporation

No matter what method we pursue to save natural gas, it is safe to assume it will require some investment — time and/or materials. Furthermore, we want a payback from this investment. To calculate the payback, we need to estimate the cost of the project as well as the value of the natural gas saved. We can generally nail down the cost of a project by obtaining quotes for materials and labor, but it is more difficult to know what the future cost of natural gas will be; and without knowing the savings, the payback is at best an educated guess.

As we have discussed in previous articles, demand for North American natural gas is increasing for electrical power generation as well as liquified natural gas (LNG) export to areas in the world with limited supplies. These are steady, predictable demands and less susceptible to seasonal variations in temperature. Less heating demand during warmer winters is generally offset by greater electrical power generating demands during warmer summers.

Let us revisit recent trends in the cost of natural gas. The graph below depicts the spot price for 22 consecutive trading days ending November 2, 2021.

Figure 1. Henry Hub price for natural gas

Beware of the displaced origin on the graph below — it makes the fluctuations in the spot price appear greater than they are, but it is done to indicate a range of prices — generally around $5.50/mmBTU. (Once again, neither the author nor Heat Treat Today presents the opinion of future prices for any purpose other than to further our discussions of energy saving project paybacks.)

Last month, we posed three questions:

  1. How do I know when the material I am heating is at the desired temperature?
  2. Do I have excessive factors of safety built into my process to compensate for not knowing the temperature at the core of the part being heated?
  3. How much fuel can I save with a shorter cycle?

Much of the discussion in this month’s article initially appears to deal with process quality or consistency. But understand, process consistency and energy savings are inextricably linked.

What temperature is my furnace or oven?

You walk up to the controls and read 1650°F. Is that the temperature of your oven? The answer is a definite “maybe” because the temperature displayed on a single loop temperature controller is simply the reflection of the small voltage generated by one thermocouple. This is obvious, or else we wouldn’t need to run temperature surveys. But the question is — do we have to live with this shortcoming? The answer to this question is a definite “no”! Modern control instrumentation makes it easy to use many thermocouples to sense the temperature of the furnace throughout the chamber. Then take the mean of these values to calculate the temperature and use this average value for the input to our temperature control loop. By comparing the readings of temperatures at various points in the furnace chamber, we can sense if all the work being heated is near to the desired setpoint.

No furnace load is perfect — there is always some non-uniformity of mass or surface area. With multiple sensing points, the more massive and slower to heat portion of the load will influence the nearest thermocouple. The furnace control can be designed to hold until the coolest thermocouple in the chamber reaches some minimum temperature. Perhaps this is now the trigger for a soak timer.

In addition to measuring multiple chamber temperatures and inferring the actual temperature of the work, the proportional integral derivative, or PID, temperature control algorithm provides a good deal of insight as to how close the work is to the desired furnace temperature. All PID controllers or programmed functions provide an output value. For our discussions, we will assume the output is between 0-100%. This output is used to control the heating element(s) of burners’ input levels. The advantage of the PID loop is that it calculates the required value more rapidly than a conventional on/off control — providing us the near steady values for our furnace temperatures.

Let’s imagine we adjust the temperature setpoint of our empty furnace to 1650°F. We will allow it to come to temperature and wait an hour until it is soaked out, so that the refractory and internal components are at some steady state temperature. The PID loop will settle to some average value; we will assume this value is 35%, which represents the holding consumption of the furnace. The heat entering the furnace is in equilibrium with the heat being lost through the refractory, up the flue, around the door, etc.

Now we load the furnace with 4000 pounds of thick steel parts, where the mass/surface area ratio is very high. The furnace thermocouple(s) will reach 1650°F in one hour; but, if we look at the PID loop output, it will take time for it to fall to 35%. The time between the indicated 1650°F and the output falling to 35% is a period when the work continues to absorb heat and conduct it to its core. When the output stabilizes at 35%, we know the work is soaked out at temperature — in other words, the surface and core of the parts are at the furnace setpoint temperature.

Do I have excessive factors of safety built into my process to compensate for not knowing the temperature at the core of the part being heated?

With added insight into the actual temperature of the work being heated, excessive soak times can be reduced without risk. It also allows for the running of light and heavy loads with the same program.

How much fuel can I save with a shorter cycle?

Building on the same hypothetical; assume the input to this furnace is 4,000,000 BTU/Hr and 1,000 hours are saved per year — the savings will be roughly 4,000,000 BTU/Hr x 0.35 (holding consumption) x $5.50/mmBTU x 1,000 Hours per year, or $7,700/year. Now, perform this modification on four furnaces. Add to this savings the increased confidence that the work is at temperature before the soak period is initiated, better consistency for varying part loading, and I think we can agree — we have a project. The only question is, will we cash the check?

About the Author:

John Clarke, with over 30 years in the heat processing area, is currently the technical director of Helios Corporation. John’s work includes system efficiency analysis, burner design as well as burner management systems. John was a former president of the Industrial Heating Equipment Association and vice president at Maxon Corporation.

How to Lower the Cost of Operating Your Burner System Read More »

Message from the Editor: Firsts

/ EDITOR, FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES, OP-ED

OCLet's talk about "firsts" and the importance of starting new adventures in the heat treat industry. From her editorial perspective, Karen Gantzer, editor of Heat Treat Today, shares her experience meeting the patient, informative experts in the heat treat industry in today's original content article. Where will your next "first" take you?

This article first appeared in Heat Treat Today's November 2021 Vacuum Furnaces print edition. Feel free to contact Karen Gantzer at karen@heattreattoday.com if you have a question, comment, or any editorial contribution you’d like to submit.

Karen Gantzer
Managing Editor
Heat Treat Today

In January of 2019, our publisher and close family friend, Doug Glenn (Doug, his wife Mary, and I go all the way back to our days at Grove City College), called me, a middle school English teacher, and asked me if I’d consider working for them as an editor. While I was honored that they would think of me, my initial response was something like, “Doug, I don’t know anything about heat treating and besides, I’m a humanities girl, not STEM!” He assured me that I could learn the industry and it would be a fun ride. A first for me to dip my toes into STEM waters!

Well, fast forward to present day, having just passed my second year with the Heat Treat Today team, I can truly attest that it has been an exciting, yet growth-filled adventure in many ways. I don’t teach and grade papers of 7th and 8th graders, but I do have the privilege to work with the most talented and inspiring group of dedicated and committed men and women. What a joy to look forward each day to working not only with the Heat Treat Today team, but also with you, the experts in the industry.

I attended my first trade show in October 2019 — The ASM Heat Treat Show in Detroit. I was such a newbie and it was pretty overwhelming, but an enjoyable experience. Doug, Mary, and the managing editor, Laura Miller, were incredibly kind in not only introducing me to many of you, but I was also thankful for the patient tutorials many of you gave as I began learning the industry. I’ve mentioned this Socrates quote many times, but I truly believe it, “The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms.” You helped me understand the terms!

While last year was a blur for us all with the cancellation of in-person trade shows, this year was an oasis for those of us extroverts who are energized by the face-to-face time that real, live shows provide. During this year’s Ceramics Expo in Cleveland and the ASM Heat Treat Show in St. Louis, I was able to meet so many of you — for the first time in person — who before this summer, I’d never met but had communicated with often.

Heat Treat Today team at the ASM Heat Treat Show 2021 in St. Louis. Left-Right: Michelle Ritenour, Doug Glenn, Karen Gantzer, Alyssa Bootsma, Ellen Porter, and Bethany Leone.

I truly believe we were created to be in community with one another, and these trade shows offered the opportunity to connect at a deeper level than emails afford. I loved talking with people about what they were working on and how Heat Treat Today could help in sharing their successes.

One of the people I had the pleasure of meeting was Carlos Carrasco of Carrasco Industrial Furnaces, a veteran expert in the industry. As we were chatting about article ideas, he asked if we’d be open to publishing the content in both English and Spanish. We loved the idea and so, with this issue, we are proud to feature our first ever Spanish-translated article entitled, “Guía para la Selección de Equipos para Tratamiento Térmico!” (p.33) which is “A Guide to Selecting Heat Treating Equipment” (p.28). We were honored to work with Carlos.

Taking those first steps can be wobbly, but oh so exhilarating when you experience the satisfaction of deciding to take on the unknown — whether it’s a career change, meeting new people, or accepting a new opportunity. It’s worth the effort. Go for it!

Message from the Editor: Firsts Read More »

Stop the Burn: 3 Tips to Cut Natural Gas Costs

/ BULK GASES & SYSTEMS TECHNICAL CONTENT, FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, OP-ED

op-edFor the next series of articles on heat treaters and combustion, the focus will be on the cost of natural gas and how we can reduce its consumption. Given significant movements in natural gas prices, it is essential we shift our focus to this important pocketbook issue.

This Technical Tuesday column appeared in Heat Treat Today’s November 2021 Vacuum Furnace print edition. John Clarke is the technical director at  Helios Electric Corporation and is writing about combustion related topics throughout 2021 for Heat Treat Today.

John B. Clarke
Technical Director
Helios Electrical Corporation
Source: Helios Electrical Corporation

What Is the Cost To Operate My Burner System?

We will begin this and future articles by looking at natural gas prices and price forecast(s) that are published by the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Agency (EIA). Unlike the price for gasoline, we don’t drive past large, illuminated billboards displaying the current price of natural gas on our way to work, even though it is a significant operating cost for all heat treaters. Even if you operate primarily electrically heated equipment, natural gas is likely used to generate your electrical power. Obviously, neither Heat Treat Today or this author make any claims as to the accuracy of these projections. In other words, please don’t shoot the messenger. The American taxpayer funds this agency and it is only reasonable that we see what they have to say.

Let’s start with a quick definition. Henry Hub is a gas pipeline located in Erath, Louisiana that serves as the official delivery location for futures contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange. This hub connects to four intrastate and nine interstate pipelines. It is unlikely any industrial consumer pays the Henry Hub price alone for the natural gas they consume. There are a great many other factors that determine the price that appears on your monthly bill; but the Henry Hub price is indicative of pricing trends and represents a consistent way to discuss the cost.

A good website to bookmark in your browser is www.eia.gov/naturalgas/weekly/. It is a quick read and will be the primary reference for my monthly sidebar. Let’s first look at the spot price trend. The spot price is the current price at which a natural gas can be bought or sold for immediate delivery at the Henry Hub. There is volatility in the price of natural gas because of supply, demand, and trading activities (speculation), but when we expand the time horizon, it provides a representative look at the pricing trend. This trend will be reflected in the price we will pay in the future. The prices quoted are in terms of U.S. Dollars per 1,000,000 BTU — roughly 1,000 SCF of natural gas.

The EIA also provides forward-looking projections — but we will leave it to the reader to explore this information on the EIA website. The intent of this series of articles is not to provide the basis of trading futures, but rather to provide some ideas on how to save money.

We can see a definite upward trend. When we combine this data with our understanding that natural gas is increasingly being used to displace coal to generate electricity and North America’s increasing capacity to export liquified natural gas (LNG), there is reason to believe this is a durable trend. We can expect to pay more next year than the recent past to heat our equipment. And in time, this higher fuel cost will lead to higher electrical rates.

How Can I Save Natural Gas?

To save natural gas, we can optimize our processes, reduce unnecessary air, and contain heat within the furnace and/or capture the energy that leaves our system to preheat work or combustion air. Ideally, we should take advantage of all these opportunities — provided the effort pays for itself. In general, operators of heat processing equipment are aware of these opportunities but are not always confident when determining the payback for their investments in time and capital. We will endeavor to bring clarity to these decisions by not only discussing opportunities, but also discussing how to quantify the value of the opportunities. The following are the questions that will be answered in future articles:

Optimizing the Process:

  1. How do I know when the material I am heating is at the desired temperature?
  2. Do I have excessive factors of safety built into my process to compensate for not knowing the temperature at the core of the part being heated?
  3. How much fuel can I save with a shorter cycle?

Reducing Air or Containing Heat:

  1. Is my furnace or oven at the correct internal pressure?
  2. Is it time to rebuild door jams?
  3. How much fuel is wasted because I am not containing heat within the furnace or letting excessive air reduce my combustion efficiency?

Reducing the Heat Exiting the System:

  1. Can I justify installing recuperators to preheat combustion air?
  2. Can the heat from my system be used to preheat work? If so, will I shorten my cycle time and save fuel?

No one likes rising energy prices, but if the trend is up, it is better to recognize reality and invest accordingly. It is our wish that future columns will provide ideas and tools to help you get the most from the energy you consume. If you have specific requests or questions that might guide our discussions, please let us know.

About the Author:

John Clarke, with over 30 years in the heat processing area, is currently the technical director of Helios Corporation. John’s work includes system efficiency analysis, burner design as well as burner management systems. John was a former president of the Industrial Heating Equipment Association and vice president at Maxon Corporation.

Stop the Burn: 3 Tips to Cut Natural Gas Costs Read More »

The Chief Human Resource Officer Will Be The New Chief Financial Officer: A 40 Under 40 Mandate

/ HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES, OP-ED

op-ed"What came first: money, in its various forms, or people? People. The idea and concept of money precipitated from people. Therefore, demographics cause economics and economics is a symptom of demographics. If you are an economist or an accountant, I realize this can be a painful, demeaning truth. But it is a truth none-the-less. Demography is destiny, and money is a byproduct of demographics." Kenneth W. Gronbach, author, expert, and futurist in the field of Demography and Generational Marketing, doesn't hold back as he writes his hot-take of what the new business model will look like!

This guest column appears in the Heat Treat Today September 2021 Trade Show print edition. Ken typically writes for the magazine in this edition where many young heat treaters -- 40, to be exact -- are featured annually. Give it a read, and email editor@heattreattoday.com if you have an op-ed or guest column that you would like to submit to Heat Treat Today!

Kenneth Gronbach
President/CEO
KGC Direct LLC

Hello, 40 Under 40 Class of 2021. There are big changes ahead in corporate structures large and small. And you Millennial-types are going to lead the charge. Human Resources will finally gain the dominance and importance it deserves. Remember when Human Resources was called “Personnel” and it was manned by B players who handed out insurance forms? Those days are gone. If a corporation is not led by A-players in Human Resources, it will not survive. The Chief Human Resource Officer will be the new Chief Financial Officer. You heard it here.

Ask anyone on a corporate board of directors who their key corporate C-level players are, and they will tell you: Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, and may even include Chief Operations Officer. The brains, the money, and the day to day. But what about the Chief Marketing Officer and the Chief Human Resource Officer? Communicating with the customer and developing the talent to serve them. What a concept!

The most important question any business must ask is one of demographics: How big is my end user market and is my end user market getting bigger or smaller? How many people are in my end user market? If my end user market is expanding, then we have opportunity to grow. If my end user market is shrinking, we have a problem that must be addressed posthaste. Why? Because the volume of my business is directly linked to the size of my end user market.

This is the essence of demographics. But wait, there’s more. So, we have determined that our end user market demographics are significantly expanding, and we have an opportunity to grow our business. But this is not going to happen by itself. We will need talent, people. Who are they? Where are they? How much training will they need? How much will they cost? How long before they ramp-up? Wait, we need an expert Chief Human Resource Officer. In fact, governed by the new normal in modern protocols, if a corporation doesn’t have a Chief Marketing Officer and a Chief Human Resource Officer, they don’t even need a CEO, COO or CFO!

Let’s examine the new normal people/talent challenges the Chief Human Resource Officer will face.

  1. Diversity and Inclusion: Black Lives Matter. Hiring and training African Americans, Asians and Latinos. Dealing fairly with LGBT issues. Recognizing Minority majority as it becomes the norm. Managing disability issues. It’s a new ball game
  2. Women in Leadership: Women outnumber men in college and law school. They will lead, but they will face challenges in the male dominated C-level management culture.
  3. Three Generations in the Workplace: En masse post-Covid exiting by the huge Baby Boomer Generation. The diminutive middle-age Generation X management shortage. The influx of the giant Generation Y/Millennials.

Big challenges to be sure, but they are not insurmountable, and, if handled correctly, these challenges will be a springboard into the realm of incredible opportunity. Take Human Resources seriously. Very seriously. And challenge your Chief Marketing Offi cer to understand his/her future market for your business, not just the market you presently enjoy.

Bob Dylan sang that, “The times, they are a changin’. . .”. It’s truer now than ever before. Yes, change may be painful, but if you don’t change, time will pass you by. Be well, Kenneth W. Gronbach.

About the Author: Kenneth W. Gronbach is a gifted keynote speaker and nationally recognized author, expert, and futurist in the field of Demography and Generational Marketing. He makes the science of shifting demography come alive with real life examples which make it relevant to today’s culture, business climate, and economy. With nearly three decades experience in retail advertising and marketing, Ken saw the direct results of shifting demographics in his clients’ profits. Eventually, his passion for the subject changed the direction of his career, to the benefit of readers of his books and attendees of his keynotes and other presentations. Contact Ken at ken@kcgdirect.com.

The Chief Human Resource Officer Will Be The New Chief Financial Officer: A 40 Under 40 Mandate Read More »

Nuts and Bolts of Combustion Systems – Safety Shutoff Valve

/ BURNERS & COMBUSTION SYSTEMS TECHNICAL CONTENT, FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, OP-ED

op-edSafety shutoff valves are the last line of defense against a potentially catastrophic incident. When conditions require, they interrupt the flow of fuel to the burner(s) and oven. There are many options when selecting fuel safety shutoff valves for your application. The construction and application of these devices is highly regulated by interlocking standards created by many different organizations. The goal of this article is to clarify how to comply with the most common standard affecting the reader: NFPA 86.

This column appeared in Heat Treat Today’s 2021 Trade Show September print edition. John Clarke is the technical director at  Helios Electric Corporation and is writing about combustion related topics throughout 2021 for Heat Treat Today.

John B. Clarke
Technical Director
Helios Electric Corporation
Source: Helios Electric Corporation

To start, we must define our terms. The 2019 edition of NFPA 86* defines a safety shutoff valve as a “normally closed valve installed in the piping that closes automatically to shut off the fuel, atmosphere gas, or oxygen in the event of abnormal conditions or during shutdown.”1 A valve is “normally closed” (NC) if it closes automatically when power is removed. A furnace or oven typically has as few as two or more safety shutoff valves. [Author’s note: If the system uses radiant tubes for heating, and all the criteria are met, it may be acceptable to use only one valve in series, but this exception is not recommended by the author and will not be covered in this article.] There are two common arrangements for safety shutoff valve arrays—the Simple Double Block (Illustration 1) and the Double Block and Vent (Illustration 2). While both arrangements are compliant with the current version of NFPA 86, the vent is NOT required. In other words, Illustration 1 and Illustration 2 below are both acceptable.

The simple double block arrangement consists of two automatic, normally closed (NC) valves piped in series. It provides redundancy—both valves must leak for fuel gas to pass to the burner system. A double block and vent has two automatic, NC valves piped in series with a third automatic normally open (NO) valve installed between the NC valves. The purpose of the NO valve is to provide a path for any fuel gas leaking past the first NC valve to move to a safe location. Whether one should deploy a double block and vent approach depends on several considerations: Is the NO valve supervised? Is the selected vent location safe? And how will the system be inspected?

Illustration 1

Illustration 2

To start with, if the NO vent valve’s coil or wiring fails, it will remain open even when the system is operating—venting fuel gas. This is not only expensive, but high concentrations of vented fuel gas are an environmental and safety hazard. The solution to this concern is installing a monitored vent valve that only opens the NC valves after the vent valve is proven to be closed. This is typically accomplished with a proof-of-closure position switch that only closes after the vent valve is fully closed.

The next concern is the location and maintenance of the vent. The vent must terminate at a safe location that can accept the entire flow of fuel gas in the event of a failure. Therefore, hazards such as fresh air intakes and sources of ignition must be avoided at all costs. It is also important to periodically inspect the vent piping to ensure it remains unobstructed—insects and rodents may find the vent line a comfortable place to nest and bring up their young.

The last challenge is the periodic inspection of the vent valve and the vent piping—it is generally a challenge to test whether a vent line meets the design criteria, and leaking fuel gas can be vented without excessive backpressure.

A simple double block provides redundancy without the complexity of the vent. Good design practice, with proper valve selection, combined with proper fuel filtration greatly improves the reliability and longevity of both systems.

Valves used for safety shutoff valve applications must be listed by an approval agency for the service intended.2 Furthermore, depending on the flow rate, the valves must be equipped with either a local indicator showing the valve position and a means to prove the valve is closed.

For fuel gas flows below or equal to 150,000 BTU/hour, two safety shutoff valves in series will suffice. See Illustration 3 below. This is very typical for pilot lines.

Illustration 3

For fuel gas flows greater than 150,000 BTU/hour and less than or equal to 400,000 BTU/hour, two safety shutoff valves in series with local position indication are required. Local indication is generally a window where an operator can see the actual position of the valve—open or closed—without relying on any electrical circuit or pilot light. See Illustration 4 below.

Illustration 4

For fuel gas flows greater than 400,000 BTU/hour, NFPA 86 requires two safety shutoff valves in series with local position indication. One valve must be equipped with a valve closed switch (VCS) that closes after the valve is fully closed, or a valve proving system (VPS) that runs a tightness check which must be utilized. The signal from either this VCS or VPS must be included in the burner management system’s (BMS) purge permissive string to ensure no fuel gas is flowing during the system preignition purge. The VCS must not actuate before the valve is fully closed. This is typically accomplished by using valve overtravel, where the valve closes first, then the mechanism continues to move until the VCS is actuated. This arrangement is depicted in Illustration 5 below.

Illustration 5

For the arrangement depicted in Illustration 5, NFPA only requires one valve be supervised with a VCS—the additional costs of supervising both valves are very low and will enhance safety.

Whatever the method used to shut off the fuel to burners or pilots, the array of valves must be inspected and tested annually or per the manufacturer’s recommendations, whichever period is the shortest. All systems must be designed to be tested—with provision provided to cycle valves in test mode and the ability to measure any potential leakage. We will explore how a fuel train should be “designed to be tested” in an upcoming article.

The one thing to always remember—safety shutoff valves are always deployed to provide redundancy, so that any one component failure will not prevent a safe interruption of fuel gas; but, as with all systems, there may be unforeseen events that can lead to complete failure. Only qualified people should design, operate, and maintain combustion systems.

 

References

[1] National Fire Protection Association – NFPA 86 Standard for Ovens and Furnaces 2019 Edition (NFPA, Quincy, Massachusetts, May 24, 2018) 3.3.82.2 pp 86-14.

[2] National Fire Protection Association – NFPA 86 Standard for Ovens and Furnaces 2019 Edition (NFPA, Quincy, Massachusetts, May 24, 2018) 13.5.11.1 pp 86-49.

About the Author:

John Clarke, with over 30 years in the heat processing area, is currently the technical director of Helios Electric Corporation. John’s work includes system efficiency analysis, burner design as well as burner management systems. John was a former president of the Industrial Heating Equipment Association and vice president at Maxon Corporation.

Nuts and Bolts of Combustion Systems – Safety Shutoff Valve Read More »