Furnace including electrically powered heating elements arranged for uniform heating and related methods

An electrically powered furnace to heat a feed, the electrically powered furnace comprising:

• a furnace housing comprising one or more housing walls at least partially defining an interior volume and a longitudinal housing axis;
• a plurality of heating elements extending in the interior volume and between a first heating element end and a second heating element end, each of the plurality of heating elements being electrically powered to radiate heat;
• and
• a plurality of heating tubes extending in the interior volume and between a tube inlet end and a tube outlet end, each of the plurality of heating tubes defining an interior passage positioned to receive the feed and heat the feed as the feed passes through the interior passage between the tube inlet end and the tube outlet end, and the plurality of heating tubes being positioned in the furnace housing to receive heat radiated from the plurality of heating elements,
• the plurality of heating tubes being arranged in one or more of at least two rows or at least two columns and such that each of the plurality of heating tubes is substantially equidistant from three or more of the plurality of heating elements.