Methods and systems for minimizing NOx and CO emissions in natural draft heaters

A natural draft heater system comprising:

• a heater shell having a base and configured to circulate a flue gas internally therein via negative pressure, the flue gas generated by combustion of a fuel within the heater shell;
• one or more heating coils positioned within the heater shell and arranged to transfer heat to a process fluid therein from the circulated flue gas;
• a draft sensor positioned within the heater shell to measure a negative pressure of the flue gas within the heater shell during operation of the natural draft heater;
• a stack attached to the heater shell, thereby to vent at least a portion of the circulated flue gas to atmosphere, the stack including an outer shell and a split-range stack damper positioned within the outer shell to maintain a negative pressure of the flue gas when vented from the natural draft heater, the split-range stack damper including a set of inner blades, a set of outer blades, and one or more actuators arranged to effectuate movement thereof, the one or more actuators including one or more inner actuators arranged to actuate the set of inner blades and one or more outer actuators arranged to actuate the set of outer blades;
• at least one burner assembly connected proximate the base of and within the heater shell to combust the fuel when supplied thereto, thereby to generate the flue gas, the at least one burner assembly having:
• a burner positioned within the at least one burner assembly to ignite the fuel when supplied to the burner,
• a burner air sensor positioned directly adjacent the burner to measure a level of excess air,
• an air plenum adjacent to the burner to distribute air into the burner, the air plenum including an air input to receive atmospheric air,
• a burner air register in fluid communication with the air input, thereby to direct the atmospheric air into the air plenum, the burner air register including a housing and one or more plates attached to the housing and positioned in fluid communication with the air plenum, thereby to direct air flow selectively into the air plenum, and
• a fuel supply assembly including at least a fuel input conduit to deliver fuel to the burner;
• and
• a controller in electrical communication with the burner air register, the burner air sensor, the draft sensor, and the one or more actuators to control the negative pressure of the flue gas within the heater shell, thereby to deliver an amount of excess air to the burner to a value in a selected range of between about 15% to about 25% by weight based on the combined weight of air and fuel needed for complete combustion and maintain at least one of NOx emissions so as not to exceed 0.025 lb/MMBtu (HHV) and CO emissions not to exceed 0.01 lb/MMBtu (HHV) in the natural draft heater, the controller configured to (a) alert an operator to adjust configuration of the one or more plates, thereby to control the excess air in the burner to a value in the selected range, (b) receive an input signal representative of negative pressure of the flue gas from the draft sensor, (c) provide an output signal to the one or more actuators in the split-range stack damper, thereby to adjust the position of the set of inner blades and the set of outer blades of the split-range stack damper and maintain the negative pressure of the flue gas to within a selected range, and (d) provide the output signal to each of the one or more inner actuators and the one or more outer actuators, the one or more inner actuators configured to adjust the position of the set of inner blades in response to the output signal being within a first threshold range, and the one or more outer actuators configured to adjust the position of the set of outer blades in response to the output signal being within a second threshold range, the second threshold range being different than the first threshold range.