PAPERS OX CHEMISTRY AXD PHYSICS 143 



THE RELATION OF FLUE GAS ANALYSIS TO 

 THE EFFICIENCY OF THE OIL BURNER 



George T. Pabkeb and H. A. Gteauque, Lombard College, 



Galesburg 



introduction 



The extensive use of fuel oil in all types of furnaces 

 gives economic importance to standards of furnace con- 

 trol. The small installation is seldom controlled from 

 the measurements of a testing engineer as the variations 

 in the efficiency of the installation seldom amount to 

 enough to warrant the employment of an engineer. The 

 Targe installations, however, are being controlled by the 

 modern methods which have been developed for coal tired 

 furnaces. These methods are tests of the intensity and 

 quantity of combustion and, when applied to the combus- 

 tion of fuel oil, indicate the efficiency of the furnace, pro- 

 vided, of course, they are interpreted in the right way. 



Because of the rapid development of the oil burner in- 

 dustry, the discussion of the efficiency of the oil combus- 

 tion has been left largely to the salesmen or promotors, 

 while the factory engineers have been busy developing 

 the production efficiency of the plants. Efficiency stand- 

 ards have been set by argumentation rather than being 

 based upon information gained in the industrial labora- 

 tory. As a result many exaggerated claims have been 

 made regarding the efficiency of the furnace, including 

 claims of more than 17 per cent carbon dioxide in the flue 

 gas. Of the many claims of advantage of the oil burned 

 over the coal fired furnace the flue gas analysis should 

 show the relation in efficiency of starting, change in load, 

 and complete combustion. 



COMBUSTION EFFICIENCY 



The type of fuel used varies considerably, but with the 

 lighter fuel oils, the average hydrocarbon indicated by 

 the properties of the oil is probably represented by the 

 formula C- H . The quantity of this oil, or the percent- 

 cracked during vaporization, probably varies 

 erably. but the ease with which it is distilled would indi- 



