Case Study · Hydrocarbon & Chemical
Ethylene Furnace High Emissivity Coating: 6% Fuel Savings and 9% More Production at Eastman
| Industry | Hydrocarbon & Chemical |
|---|---|
| Asset | Ethylene furnace |
| Customer or location | Eastman Chemical, Texas, USA |
| Products used | Emisshield ST-series |
| Headline metric | −6% fuel |
| Secondary metric | +9% production |
| Also measured | Payback ~10 months |
Eastman Chemical coated the insulating firebrick and Z-Blok modules of its Texas ethylene furnace with Emisshield ST-series products, with new process tubes installed at the same time. The furnace achieved 6% energy savings and a 9% increase in ethylene production simultaneously, with payback in about 10 months at typical fuel prices.
01
What was the challenge?
Eastman wanted to evaluate energy savings and production gains from a high emissivity coating on an ethylene furnace operating at about 1,150°C.
02
What was applied?
ST-series products on the IFB and Z-Blok modules, applied with a standard HVLP spray gun. New process tubes were installed concurrently.
03
What were the results?
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel consumption | Baseline | −6% |
| Ethylene production | Baseline | +9% |
| Payback | ~10 months (at US$6/MMBtu) | |
| Heating | Baseline | Improved uniformity, lower wall temperatures |
04
Why did it work?
Improved radiative heat transfer from coated IFB and fiber and lower wall temperatures let the furnace crack more feed on less fuel. See Production Increase.
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