Burners and combustion controls from Honeywell's Maxon are designed for industrial process applications.

While nozzle-mix burners eliminated flashback, another concern was on the rise: NOX. Staged combustion and controlled airflow and gas flow allow efficient combustion for industrial process heating equipment.

Industrial burner users realized they needed a burner free from the limitations of flashback, liftoff and flammability limits. This goal could only be accomplished by bringing the air and gas to the process as separate streams, and the nozzle-mix burner was resurrected.

This five-part series continues with more on the evolution of industrial premix burners. With early premix burners, the flashback limitation often forced the burner to be operated at a higher firing rate than the process needed. Dilution or secondary air solved that problem for many processors.

This second part in a five-part series on the evolution of industrial process burners looks at fan mixers and the dawn of premix burners.

This five-part series on how modern industrial burners developed provides insights into why industrial process burners are made the way they are and what it takes to keep them running properly.