Leading-edge software for rating and simulating fired heaters

Xfh Ultra, HTRI’s general-purpose fired heater modeling software, provides calculations for refinery operations. Users can easily explore operating scenarios to increase capacity and performance, helping to minimize energy loss and shutdown time.

Xfh Ultra is flexible enough to handle most fired heater configurations. In each firebox, heat transfer is simulated using a single-zone model. This reliable and practical approach is combined with an integrated convection section calculation with allowance for shock radiation from the firebox.

The graphical interface makes it easy for users to quickly set up and run fired heater cases. During testing, users rated it easiest to operate when compared to other fired heater software. It features an interactive fired heater diagram, which simplifies the setup of complex stream and coil connections.

Xfh Ultra tubeside calculations are based on HTRI’s methods for calculating heat transfer and pressure drop in process fluids, as used by Xchanger Suite^®. These methods are backed by HTRI’s extensive research on single-phase and two-phase boiling. In addition, the program uses well-established single-zone methods for simulating the firebox and a 3D incremental approach to modeling flue gas temperatures in the convection section.

What's new in Version 4.1 beta

• Plant data reconciliation: Compare the predictions of Xfh Ultra with the actual performance of a fired heater as measured by plant instrumentation to understand how the performance changes. Intended for use with HTRI SmartPM™ or as a standalone Xfh Ultra calculation.
• Pressure drop evaluation with specified tube roughness: Calculate based on smooth tube or a specified tube roughness using the Colebrook-White function.
• Flow regime maps: View flow regime maps for multiphase flow in horizontal or vertical tubes.
• Heat transfer multipliers: Specify multipliers to the tubeside and outside heat transfer for each coil to adjust the heat flux predicted by the standard Xfh Ultra methods.
• Fouling layer conductivity: Calculate tubeside fouling resistance from the fouling layer thickness and a specified fouling layer conductivity.
• Additional CAPE-OPEN variables: Including thermal efficiency, fuel efficiency, CO₂ emissions, coil duty, coil peak tube metal temperature, and peak fin temperature.
• Combustion O₂%: Specify the O₂% contained with the firebox flue gas immediately after combustion.
• Tubeside residence time: Report residence time for the tubeside fluid on both a cumulative and per-tube basis.
• Suppression of excessively low mixture correction factors in calculation of tubeside heat transfer coefficients: When dealing with fluids with wide boiling ranges, this change may lead to unexpectedly high tube temperatures in some situations. The new treatment of mixture correction factors in Version 4.1 replicates with recent versions of Xchanger Suite.

Contact us at [email protected] for more information about Xfh Ultra.