Burner tiles is probably the most critical component of the burner performance. It acts as a orifice for metering combustion air, fuel-air mixing and its form helps to shape the flame according to the design requirements of the heater. Improper installation or the use of non OEM burner tile would significantly impact efficient, emissions and the burner performance itself.
In addition, incorrect materials without sufficient thermal shock resistance will rapidly fail and result in the need for unplanned shutdowns to repair, or compromised burner performance whilst waiting for a shutdown to replace. Simply specifying a high alumina content to achieve a higher temperature classification is at the detriment of refractory service life. A high alumina content (>80%) will result in a tri-agonal corundum crystal structure with high toughness, but also higher thermal expansion / lower thermal shock resistance.
Experience tells us that a good quality mullite based material with 60% alumina content is ideally suited to burner tiles. Mullite has a needle-like crystal structure resulting in very high thermal shock resistance as well as excellent abrasion and erosion characteristics.
Our ThermShock® is a 60% alumina, mullite based refractory entirely made up of unrecycled materials and manufactured to maximise the needle-like grain structure, and firing induced secondary mullite formation.
ThermShock®’s 1650ºC temp. rating is more than suitable for furnace/reformer operation.
A very detailed science should be applied when determining refractory suitability. Greens have developed a bespoke ‘Burner Refractory Specification and Inspection Criteria’ which includes a rigorous thermal cycling regime unique to the Greens Combustion ThermShock® material selection process. Test samples are produced from every refractory mix and tested for desired criteria i.e. chemical composition & physical properties.