I have a question for the experts: is there any difference between a conversion furnace and a heating furnace?
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I often see various terms used for conversion furnaces and heating furnaces in industrial boilers. I know that conversion furnaces are typically used for hydrogen production or for manufacturing methanol from coke oven gas, but what are heating furnaces? Do they operate on the same principle as conversion furnaces? By the way, I also saw cracking furnaces used for producing ethylene. Can heating furnaces, conversion furnaces and cracking furnaces be considered the same thing? I’ve searched for a long time without finding any relevant explanations, so I thought of coming to Haichuan for help. However, the boiler version isn’t very popular. Let’s give it a try; I hope someone can help answer my questions.
Heating furnaces and conversion furnaces operate on the same principle, both using gas combustion for heating； The difference is that there is only a medium inside the heating furnace tubes, while the conversion furnace tubes contain a converter, requiring higher operational standards.
One method involves the fuel or power source obtaining thermal energy and converting it, while the other involves a medium facilitating a reaction that generates thermal energy and leads to conversion
Both conversion furnaces and cracking furnaces belong to tubular heating furnaces. Definition of a tubular heating furnace: 1. Gas or liquid is heated inside the tube ； 2 Heating is by direct fire exposure ； 3 Burning gaseous or liquid fuel ； 4 long-cycle operation. From the above definitions, it can be seen that both conversion furnaces and cracking furnaces belong to tubular heating furnaces. It’s just that conversion furnaces and cracking furnaces are more complex than ordinary tubular heating furnaces; in both types, endothermic chemical reactions take place within the furnace tubes. Conversion furnaces contain catalysts inside their tubes, whereas cracking furnaces do not have catalysts in their tubes.
One is a steam reformer, and the other is a heating furnace; one involves a reaction, while the other does not