Thermodynamic analysis of a heat treatmant furnace

With the increase of energy need on our globe, non-renewable energy resources are being rapidly consumed. On account of the reduction of energy sources and the increase of energy demand, energy costs increase. Moreover, carbon emmisions increase by the utilization of fosil fuels and as a result, effects of global warming increase. Energy demand that can not be fulfilled by local resources has great negative effects for Turkish economy. One of the important index of foreign source dependency of our country is the local production rate of natural gas which is only 1.7% of the consumption according to 2014 data. Investigation for alternative energy resources for both globally and locally has become very important. On the other hand, economical and environmental effects refer to how utilization of energy efficiently is important especially at energy intensive industries. Therefore, a sealed quench furnace which is operated by natural gas at a heat treatment company is thermodynamically analyzed in this thesis. Mass, energy and exergy equations of the sealed quench furnace are defined and efficiencies of energy and exergy are performed. Energy and exergy efficiencies are found %25,52 and %19,99 respectively. With respect to the findings; it is determined to evaluate energy of flue gas by heat recovery techniques and select apparatus material which has lower heat capacity.