ABSTRACT
Combustion has been the foundation of worldwide industrial development for the past 200 years.1 Industry relies heavily on the combustion process as shown in Table 12.1. The major uses for combustion in industry are shown in Table 12.2. Hewitt et al.2 have listed some of the common heating applications used in industry, as shown in Table 12.3. As can be seen in Figure 12.1, the worldwide demand for energy continues to increase. Most of the energy
(84%) is produced by the combustion of fossil fuels like petroleum, natural gas, and coal (see Figure 12.2). According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the demand in the industrial sector is projected to increase by 0.8% per year to the year 2020.3 Figure 12.3 shows that the industrial sector is one of the largest U.S. energy consumers. Figure 12.4 shows the projected energy source and end use for the United States in 2010. This again highlights the importance of industrial combustion.
