Characterization of the U.S. Industrial Commercial Boiler Population

2 CHARACTERIZATION OF INDUSTRIAL
BOILERS
2.1 Overview
EEA estimates that there are approximately 43,000 industrial boilers in the United States
with an aggregate capacity of 1.5 million MMBtu/hr input. Slightly more than half of
these boilers are less than 10 MMBtu/hr capacity but these small boilers account for less
than seven percent of the total capacity. The majority of the boilers and the largest
boilers are located at facilities in the food, paper, chemicals, refining and primary metals
industries. Almost 78 percent of boiler units and 56 percent of industrial boiler capacity
are identified as natural gas-fired, although certain industries (refining, paper, primary
metals) have large shares of boiler capacity that are fired with by-product fuels. Industrial
boilers are found in every census region but are more concentrated in the East North
Central (ENC), South Atlantic (SA) and West South Central (WSC) regions, 2 which
contain more than 60 percent of the capacity.
2.2 Breakdown by Industry
Table 2-1 (units) and Table 2-2 (capacity) present the summary statistics by industry for
industrial boilers.
Table 2-1 Industrial Boiler Inventory – Number of Units
Boiler Units
Food Paper Chemicals Refining Metals
< 10 MMBtu/hr 6,570 820 6,720 260 1,850
10-50 MMBtu/hr 3,070 1,080 3,370 260 920
50-100 MMBtu/hr 570 530 950 260 330
100-250 MMBtu/hr 330 540 590 200 110
>250 MMBtu/hr 70 490 350 220 120
Total 10,610 3,460 11,980 1,200 3,330
2 A map of the census regions is included in Appendix D.
Other
Manufacturing Total
7,275 23,495
3,680 12,380
930 3,570
440 2,210
110 1,360
12,435 43,015
Energy and Environmental Analysis, Inc. 2-1