Monitoring flames in an industrial boiler using multivariate image analysis

Abstract An on‐line digital imaging system is developed for monitoring flames in an industrial boiler system. The information extracted from the RGB flame images is used to predict the performance of the boiler system. A practical method based on multivariate image analysis techniques and partial least squares is developed to efficiently extract information from the rapidly time varying flame images, and to predict boiler performance, NO x and SO 2 concentration in the off‐gas, and the energy content of an incoming waste fuel stream. The approach is very general and can be applied to a wide range of combustion processes. © 2004 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 50: 1474–1483, 2004