Effects of air excess control in a heat storage solid fuel-fired household furnace

Due to a significant increase in electricity prices during the last decade and insufficient production capacity of the electric power industry in Serbia, many households that are currently using electric heat storage furnaces for heating have been forced to find an alternative solution for heating. A possible solution is replacing electric heating appliances with similar solid fuel-fired ones. Existing solid fuel-fired furnaces are often unsatisfactory with respect to their efficiencies and flue gas emissions. A prototype of a new concept of heat storage, solid fuel-fired furnace has been developed to meet these growing needs, providing electricity saving together with considerable environmental benefits. In order to examine furnace performance, efficiency and environmental aspects, and to assess the influence of air excess control in the furnace on the efficiency and flue gas emissions, numerous experimental tests were conducted. The amount of combustion air, the flue gas flow rate and the fuel feeding regime have been adjusted in order to keep the flue gas oxygen content in a relatively narrow range, thus obtaining controlled combustion conditions and, correspondingly, lower carbon monoxide emission and higher furnace efficiency. In this way, the furnace was made able to respond to the changes in heating needs, fuel quality and other parameters, which is considered to be advantageous in comparison with similar solid-fuel fired furnaces.     

炼油加热炉烟气的污染及其防治

炼油加热炉通过烟气排放的主要污染物是氮氧化物(NOx)和硫氧化物(SOx)。介绍了氮氧化物和硫氧化物对环境的危害和国内主要限制排放标准。分析了氮氧化物和硫氧化物的生成原理,提出了氮氧化物和硫氧化物排放量、排放速率以及排放高度的测算方法。减少氮氧化物和硫氧化物排放的主要途径为:燃烧前对燃料进行预处理、燃烧过程中减少污染物的生成、燃烧后对烟气进行后处理。介绍了燃料预处理阶段的胺法脱硫技术,燃烧阶段的以烟气内回流低NOx燃烧器为代表的低NOx燃烧技术,以及烟气处理阶段的选择性非催化还原脱氮技术(SNCR)、选择性催化还原脱氮技术(SCR)和脱硫、脱氮、除尘三位一体化技术。此外,本文还强调炼油加热炉大型化后不仅要重视氮氧化物和硫氧化物排放的浓度,更要重视氮氧化物和硫氧化物的排放速率。     

延迟焦化加热炉存在问题分析与整改

惠州炼油420×104t/a延迟焦化装置加热炉采用美国FW公司双面辐射斜面阶梯炉,每台加热炉由6个辐射室、1个对流室组成。每个辐射管程设置单独的一个炉膛。共用的对流室安装在辐射室上,用于原料预热和蒸汽过热。该加热炉运行16月后,出现对流炉管结焦、排烟温度上升、部分炉管堵塞等问题。造成对流段结焦的主要影响因素,是回炼催化油浆以及注水温度相对偏低,导致渣油中沥青质析出;排烟温度高的主要影响因素是炉管结焦与对流段取热不足。对此,增加两排对流管、一排注水管、一排低低压蒸汽过热管。操作方面,主要优化措施有:停止催化油浆进焦化回炼,提高注水温度,注水方式从单点注水改为两点注水;同时平稳操作,减少焦粉携带。通过技术改造与操作优化,加热炉运行平稳,排烟温度显著降低,基本消除了加热炉对流段的结焦因素,加热炉在线清焦周期明显延长。     

天然气锅炉NOx及CO排放控制试验研究

为了响应政府业及民用天然气锅炉达到超低氮排放,要求绝大多数天然气锅炉采用低氮燃烧器+烟气再循环系统的技术路线,实施后普遍出现NO_x、CO含量偏高、炉膛振动较大等问题。借助116 MW天然气锅炉进行试验研究,研究了燃烧器燃料配比、燃烧火焰长度、助燃空气氧含量三个因素对NO_x及CO的影响,并对投入烟气再循环前后炉膛振动情况进行了检测。试验表明:燃烧器燃料内外配比对NO_x、CO生成影响较大,两者呈现相反趋势变化;燃烧火焰长度对NO_x生成影响较大,对CO含量影响较小;助燃空气氧含量对NO_x、CO生成以及锅炉振动影响较大。三种影响因素相比,助燃空气氧含量影响更为突出。     

3．0Mt／a重催装置余热锅炉现状及节能技术改造

兰州石化公司炼油厂3．0Mt／a重油催化裂化装置的两台余热锅炉在运行中存在烟气侧运行阻力大、排烟温度高、省煤器给水入口温度低、存在尾燃等问题。采用翅片管结构省煤器、提高助燃空气温度、改造燃烧器、布置正压防爆固定旋转式蒸汽吹灰器对余热锅炉进行节能技术改造。改造后,两台锅炉炉膛压力分别由改造前的2.8kPa和2.7kPa降到1.9kPa和1.8kPa,余热锅炉烟气侧阻力降低;锅炉排烟温度由300℃降到205℃,烟气热量利用率和锅炉热效率得到提高;增设给水预热器后,省煤器给水温度及出水温度分别提高到150℃和240℃,外取热器及油浆蒸汽发生器多产蒸汽10t/h,两台锅炉总产汽量增加了60t/h,产生效益1908.42万元。     

Thermophotovoltaic power generation systems using natural gas-fired radiant burners

Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) power generation in gas-fired furnaces is attracting technical attention. Considerable work has been done in the area of low bandgap GaSb cell-based TPV systems as well as silicon solar cell-based TPV systems. Previous investigations have shown that a radiant burner with a high conversion level of fuel to radiation energy must be developed to realize an efficient TPV system. In our work, we investigated different natural gas-fired radiant burners in order to raise the conversion of fuel energy to thermal radiation. These burners were used as radiation sources to establish and test two TPV prototype systems. It was found that for a non-surface combustion radiant burner, the radiation output can be enhanced using a thermal radiator with a porous structure. Also, we developed a cascaded radiant burner that generates two streams of radiation output. One stream illuminates silicon concentrator solar cells while the other drives low bandgap GaSb cells. In this way, useful radiation output and thus TPV system efficiency are significantly increased due to the cascaded utilization of combustion heat and optimized thermal management.     

Influence of nozzle design parameters on exhaust gas characteristics in practical-scale flameless hydrogen combustion

Considering the trend toward decarbonization, hydrogen is expected to be used as a fuel in industrial furnace burners. One of the challenges in using hydrogen as a fuel is the increase in thermal-NOx emission compared to hydrocarbon fuel owing to its high flame temperature. This study experimentally evaluated the combustion characteristics of flameless combustion, which is a low-NO_x combustion technology, with hydrogen as a fuel in a practical-scale experimental furnace as well as the effect of nozzle design parameters on the combustion characteristics. Through comparative tests with city gas by considering parameters, such as the fuel gas velocity, combustion air velocity, and air nozzle pitch, the low-NO_x effect of flameless combustion was confirmed in hydrogen combustion with appropriate nozzle design parameters. The optimal nozzle design parameters to achieve this effect differ from those for city gas, and the design guidelines are summarized.     

二次风对层燃炉燃烧特性影响的实验研究

在单元体层燃炉模型炉上，对采用空气分级燃烧技术前后的燃料层温度、烟气中的CO、O2、NOx浓度进行了试验研究。采用分级燃烧技术后，点火时间缩短，燃烧剧烈区出现较晚，CO和O2浓度降低，有利于可燃气体的燃尽，减少了主燃烧区NOx的排放。     

Reactive structures and NOx emissions of methane/hydrogen mixtures in flameless combustion

Methane/hydrogen combustion represents a concrete solution for the energy scenario to come. Indeed, the addition of hydrogen into the natural gas pipeline is one of the solutions foreseen to reduce CO₂ emissions. Nevertheless, the replacement of methane by hydrogen will enhance the reactivity of the system, increasing NOx emissions. To overcome this issue, non-conventional combustion technologies, such as flameless combustion represent an attractive solution. This study aims to improve our understanding of the behaviour of methane/hydrogen blends under flameless conditions by means of experiments and simulations. Several experimental campaigns were conducted to test fuel flexibility for different methane/hydrogen blends, varying the injector geometries, equivalence ratio and dilution degree. It was found that a progressive addition of hydrogen in methane enhanced the combustion features, reducing the ignition delay time and loosing progressively the flameless behaviour of the furnace. Reducing the air injector diameter or increasing the fuel lance length were found to be efficient techniques to reduce the maximum temperature of the system and NOx emissions in the exhausts, reaching values below 30 ppm for pure hydrogen. MILD conditions were achieved up to 75%H₂ in molar fraction, with no visible flame structures. Additionally, RANS-based simulations were also conducted to shed further light on the effect of adding hydrogen into the fuel blend. A sensitivity study was conducted for three different fuel blends: pure methane, an equimolar blend and pure hydrogen. The effect of chemistry detail, mixing models, radiation modeling and turbulence models on in-flame temperatures and NOx emissions was also studied. In particular, it was found that the usage of detailed chemistry for NOx, coupled with an adjustment of the PaSR model, filled the gap between experiments and predictions. Finally, a brute-force sensitivity revealed that NNH is the most important route for NOx production.     

辐射管对加热炉内部燃烧影响的数值模拟与试验研究

以大庆油田火筒式加热炉为研究对象,利用试验测试和数值模拟方法,分析加热炉内增加辐射管对火筒壁面温度场的影响。试验中采用的是大气式燃烧器,燃烧功率为400 k W。研究结果表明:数值模拟结果与试验测试基本一致;安装辐射管后,火筒壁面整体温度有所降低,但分布更加均匀;火筒上部、中部和下部非均匀温度系数ε分别降低36%、26%和32%;热烟气向上流动导致火筒壁面下部的非均匀温度系数比中、上部大。     

An experimental study of mild flameless combustion of methane/hydrogen mixtures

This paper presents an experimental study of mild flameless combustion regime applied to methane/hydrogen mixtures in a laboratory-scale pilot furnace with or without air preheating. Results show that mild flameless combustion regime is achieved from pure methane to pure hydrogen whatever the CH₄/H₂ proportion. The main reaction zone remains lifted from the burner exit, in the mixing layer of fuel and air jets ensuring a large dilution correlated to low NOx emissions whereas CO₂ concentrations obviously decrease with hydrogen proportion. A decrease of NOx emissions is measured for larger quantity of hydrogen due mainly to the decrease of prompt NO formation. Without air preheating, a slight increase of the excess air ratio is required to control CO emissions. For pure hydrogen fuel without air preheating, mild flameless combustion regime leads to operating conditions close to a "zero emission furnace", with ultra-low NOx emissions and without any carbonated species emissions.     

Heat transfer efficiency evaluation for outward and inward multi-flame-hole gas burner

The purpose of this study is to understand the factor that influence the heating efficiency of the outward and inward multi-hole gas burner. The flame-hole angle and the distance from flame hole to heating object are chosen as the experimental parameters. The measurement of the flame temperature distribution is carried out on each experimental condition. The observation of combustion flame, by the Schlieren method, is done from the purpose to understand the combustion phenomenon on the heating efficiency. LPG (Liquefied petroleum gas) is used for the test fuel gas. The compositions of LPG are propane 97.5vol%, butane 0.2vol% and methane + ethylene 2.3vol%. The optimum ranges of the flame-hole angle and the distance from flame hole to heating object are clarified. The experimental correlation equations for the outward and inward multi-flame-hole gas burner are proposed.     

水热媒技术在连续重整装置加热炉烟气余热回收系统中的应用

为回收加热炉的余热,扬子石化公司在1．39Mt／a连续重整装置应用了水热媒余热回收技术,以中压锅炉给水为热载体,利用从烟气中回收的热量来加热锅炉给水和预热助燃空气,达到降低排烟温度,减少燃料消耗,提高加热炉热效率和高压蒸汽产量的目的。介绍了水热媒技术的原理、特点、工艺流程以及装置实际应用中的运行步骤、注意事项和改进措施。运行结果表明,水热媒余热回收系统能够适应加热炉负荷和燃料性质的变化,排烟温度调节灵活;混合排烟温度和助燃空气温度达到了设计要求,能有效防止低温露点腐蚀,延长了设备使用寿命;加热炉群平均热效率达91．15％．节约能量为5．543MW,全年可节约燃料3812t,每年可产生经济效益1334万元。     

Toluene addition to turbulent H2/natural gas flames in bluff-body burners

A key challenge in the transition towards using hydrogen as an alternative carbon-free fuel is the reduced thermal radiation due to the absence of soot. A novel solution to this may be doping with highly sooting bio-oils. This study investigates the efficacy of toluene as a prevapourised dopant in turbulent pure hydrogen and blended hydrogen/natural gas flames as a means of improving soot loading and radiant heat transfer. All flames are stabilised on bluff-body burners to emulate the recirculation component of many industrial combustors. Total heat flux and illuminance increase non-linearly with toluene concentration for fuel blends and bluff-body diameters. By reducing the bluff-body diameter from 64 mm to 50 mm, a 20/80 (vol%) H₂/natural gas mixture produces a more radiative flame than a 10/90H₂/natural gas mixture in the smaller bluff-body. Opposed-flow flame simulations of soot precursors indicate that as strain rate increases, although overall soot precursor concentration decreases, a 20 vol% hydrogen mixture will produce more soot than a 10 vol% mixture. This suggests the addition of hydrogen up to 20 vol% may be beneficial for soot production in high strain environments.     

新型常温空气无焰燃烧实现技术及特性分析

在介绍了无焰燃烧思想及其常规蓄热式高温空气实现技术的基础上,重点介绍了本课题组发展的常温空气无焰燃烧技术,并对其进行了效率、环保、经济性、安全性和应用范围等特性分析,该技术不但完全保留了高温空气无焰燃烧技术相对于传统燃烧的优点,并且不需要复杂的预热系统和换向机构,避免了燃烧过程的脉动,适用于低排烟温度或含灰量较大排烟的燃料的直接燃烧,具有一定的技术优势和更广泛的应用范围。     

Increasing the efficiency of radiant burners by using polymer membranes

Gas-fired radiant burners are used to convert fuel chemical energy into radiation energy for various applications. The radiation output of a radiant burner largely depends on the temperature of the combustion flame. In fact, the radiation output and, thus, the radiant efficiency increase to a great extent with flame temperature. Oxygen-enriched combustion can increase the flame temperature without increasing fuel cost. However, it has not been widely applied because of the high cost of oxygen production. In the present work, oxygen-enriched combustion of natural gas in porous radiant burners was studied. The oxygen-enriched air was produced passively, using polymer membranes. The membranes were shown to be an effective means of obtaining an oxygen-enriched environment for gas combustion in the radiant burners. Two different porous radiant burners were used in this study. One is a reticulated ceramic burner and the other is a ceramic fibre burner. The experimental results showed that the radiation output and the radiant efficiency of these burners increased markedly with rising oxygen concentrations in the combustion air. Also investigated were the effects of oxygen enrichment on combustion mode, and flame stability on the porous media.     

脉冲燃烧器的工作原理与应用

本文介绍了脉冲燃烧器的工作原理．阐述了这种燃烧器具有热效率高、烟气中有害成分少和结构简单等优点，有广泛的应用范围。影响脉冲燃烧器运行的主要因素有：燃烧器各部分的形状和尺寸、气阀的膜片、热负荷及燃气的燃烧特性。     

Simulation of producer gas flameless combustion with fresh reactant diluted by hot flue gas

Flameless combustion is considered as a flexible and efficient combustion process for low heating value gas fuel. This paper presents numerical simulations of premixed flameless combustion using producer gas as a fuel. Different initial conditions of the premixed fresh reactant (air/fuel mixture) and dilution levels are taken into account for the investigation. The numerical simulations were investigated using a network of chemical reactor models with the detailed reaction mechanism of GRI‐Mech 3.0. A threshold dilution level for flameless combustion fuelled by producer gas was determined. The numerical results show that dilution of the fresh reactant with hot combustion products and initial fresh reactant temperature play important roles in flameless combustion formation and its auto‐ignition behaviour, rather than equivalence ratio of the fresh reactant. In the flameless combustion regime, temperature and chemical concentrations were reduced while chemical kinetics process was decelerated, resulting in delay of the auto‐ignition process.     

单元熔窑燃烧过程数值模拟

对单元熔窑燃烧空间内的流动,燃烧及辐射传热等过程进行数值模拟研究,比较燃烧布置方式对火焰形状及传热过程中的影响,结果表明,对于所研究的宽度为3．2m的窑炉,燃烧器的布置应采用错排方式。     

A combustion concept for oxyfuel processes with low recirculation rate – Experimental validation

Oxyfuel combustion is a technology for Carbon Capture & Storage from coal fired power plants. One drawback is the large necessary amount of recirculation of cold flue gases into the combustion chamber to avoid inadmissible high flame temperatures. The new concept of Controlled Staging with Non-stoichiometric Burners (CSNB) makes a reduction of the recirculation rate possible without inadmissible high flame temperatures. This reduction promises more compact boiler designs. We present in this paper experiments with the new combustion concept in a 3 × 70 kW natural gas combustion test rig with dry flue gas recirculation of 50% of the cold flue gases. The new concept was compared to a reference air combustion case and a reference oxyfuel combustion case with recirculation of 70% of the cold flue gases. FTIR emission spectroscopy measurements allowed the estimation of spectral radiative heat fluxes in the 2–5.5 μm range. The mixing of the gases in the furnace was good as the burnout and the emissions were comparable to the reference cases. The flame temperatures of the CSNB case could be controlled by the burner operation stoichiometry and were also similar to the reference cases. The heat flux in the furnace through radiation to the wall was higher compared to the oxyfuel reference case. This is an effect of the lowered recirculation rate as the mass flow out of the furnace and therefore the sensible heat leaving the furnace decreases. The higher oxygen consumption with lower recirculation rate could be compensated by a lower furnace stoichiometry. This was possible due to better burnout with increased oxygen concentrations in the burner. The results prove that a reduction of the flue gas recirculation rate in oxyfuel natural gas combustion from 70% down to 50% is possible while avoiding inadmissible high flame temperatures with the concept of Controlled Staging with Non-stoichiometric Burners.