Many processes of the chemical technology are achieved in the tube furnaces of different designation and design formulation. The rational and trouble-free operation of entire enterprise depends from the correct selection of the type of furnace, its calculation and practice of operation.

Enterprises of oil-refining and petrochemical industry are equipped with different tube furnaces, intended for the fire­ heating, evaporation and overheating liquid and gaseous media, and also for conducting the high-temperature thermo-technological and the chemical processes: the thermal cracking, the visbreaking,  pyrolysis, in which the furnace fulfills the technological functions of reactor. In the tube furnaces the heat of burning fuel is transferred to the pumped through the tube coil liquid or the vapor-liquid mixture.

Tube furnaces are used if necessary heating medium (usually hydrocarbons) to temperatures the higher  than those, which can be reached with the aid of the vapor  i.e., it is approximately more than 230 °C. In spite of comparatively high first costs, cost of the heat, returned to medium with the correctly designed furnace, are cheaper than with all other methods of heating to the high temperatures. As the fuel can be used the products of the withdrawals of different processes, as a result of which not only used by heat, that is getting from their combustion, but frequently are removed the difficulties, connected to render innocuous of these withdrawals.

In the tube furnaces of technological installations they realize thermo-technological,  thermo-technical and hydrodynamic processes.

Thermo-technological processes are determined necessary thermal and temperature conditions in the furnace.

Thermo-technical processes ensure the high-speed flow thermo-technological processes are included obtaining heat, heat transfer, thermal work of laying (brick lining).

Hydrodynamic processes significantly influence the motion of technological process, fuel combustion, the heat transfer and  etc.

Tube furnaces are differed from each other in the design and technological properties.