NO formation of opposed-jet syngas diffusion flames: Strain rate and dilution effects

The NO formation characteristics and reaction pathways of opposed-jet H₂/CO syngas diffusion flames were analyzed with a revised OPPDIF program which coupled a narrowband radiation model with detailed chemical kinetics in this work. The effects of strain rates ranging from 0.1 to 1000 s^?1 and diluents including CO₂, H₂O and N₂ on NO production rates were investigated for three typical syngas compositions. The numerical results demonstrated that NO is produced primary through NNH-intermediate route and thermal route at high strain rates, where the reaction of NH + O = NO + H (R51) also become more active. Near the strain rate of 10 s^?1, the flame temperature is the highest and thermal route is the dominant NO formation route, but NO would be consumed by reburn route where NO is converted to NH through HNO, especially for H₂-rich syngas. At low strain rates, radiative heat loss results in a lower flame temperature and further reduce NO formation, while the reaction of N + CO₂ = NO + CO (R140) become more important, especially for CO-rich syngas. With the diluents, NO production rates decreased with increasing dilution percentages. When the flame temperature is very high as the thermal route is dominant near strain rate of 10 s^?1, CO₂ dilution makes flame temperature and NO production rate the lowest. Toward both lower and higher strain rates, adding H₂O is more effective in reducing NO because R140 and NNH-intermediate route are suppressed the most by H₂O dilution respectively.     

A computational study of combustion and extinction of opposed-jet syngas diffusion flames

This paper reports a numerical study on the combustion and extinction characteristics of opposed-jet syngas diffusion flames. A model of one-dimensional counterflow syngas diffusion flames was constructed with constant strain rate formulations, which used detailed chemical kinetics and thermal and transport properties with flame radiation calculated by statistic narrowband radiation model. Detailed flame structures, species production rates and net reaction rates of key chemical reaction steps were analyzed. The effects of syngas compositions, dilution gases and pressures on the flame structures and extinction limits of H₂/CO synthetic mixture flames were discussed. Results indicate the flame structures and flame extinction are impacted by the compositions of syngas mixture significantly. From H₂-enriched syngas to CO-enriched syngas fuels, the dominant chain reactions are shifting from OH + H₂→H + H₂O for H₂O production to OH + CO→H + CO₂ for CO₂ production through the key chain-branching reaction of H + O₂→O + OH. Flame temperature increases with increasing hydrogen content and pressure, but the flame thickness is decreased with pressure. Besides, the study of the dilution effects from CO₂, N₂, and H₂O, showed the maximum flame temperature is decreased the most with CO₂ as the dilution gas, while CO-enriched syngas flames with H₂O dilution has highest maximum flame temperature when extinction occurs due to the competitions of chemical effect and radiation effect. Finally, extinction limits were obtained with minimum hydrogen percentage as the index at different pressures, which provides a fundamental understanding of syngas combustion and applications.     

A detailed numerical study of NOx kinetics in low calorific value H2/CO syngas flames

The present study provides an extensive and detailed numerical analysis of NO_x chemical kinetics in low calorific value H₂/CO syngas flames utilizing predictions by five chemical kinetic mechanisms available out of which four deal with H₂/CO while the fifth mechanism (GRI 3.0) additionally accounts for hydrocarbon chemistry. Comparison of predicted axial NO profiles in premixed flat flames with measurements at 1 bar, 3.05 bar and 9.15 bar shows considerably large quantitative differences among the various mechanisms. However, at each pressure, the quantitative reaction path diagrams show similar NO formation pathways for most of the mechanisms. Interestingly, in counterflow diffusion flames, the quantitative reaction path diagrams and sensitivity analyses using the various mechanisms reveal major differences in the NO formation pathways and reaction rates of important reactions. The NNH and N₂O intermediate pathways are found to be the major contributors for NO formation in all the reaction mechanisms except GRI 3.0 in syngas diffusion flames. The GRI 3.0 mechanism is observed to predict prompt NO pathway as the major contributing pathway to NO formation. This is attributed to prediction of a large concentration of CH radical by the GRI 3.0 as opposed to a relatively negligible value predicted by all other mechanisms. Also, the back-conversion of NNH into N₂O at lower pressures (2–4 bar) was uniquely observed for one of the five mechanisms. The net reaction rates and peak flame temperatures are used to correlate and explain the differences observed in the peak [NO] at different pressures. This study identifies key reactions needing assessment and also highlights the need for experimental data in syngas diffusion flames in order to assess and optimize H₂/CO and nitrogen chemistry.     

Investigation of dilution effects on partially premixed swirling syngas flames using a LES-LEM approach

The dilution effects of CO₂ and H₂O on partially premixed swirling syngas flames are investigated with the large eddy simulation (LES) method. The linear-eddy model (LEM) is employed to directly resolve the unclosed molecular diffusion, scalar mixing and chemical reaction processes occurring at subgrid scale level using their specific length and time scales instead of modelling, which makes the LES-LEM approach quite attractive for hydrogen fuel combustion as the obviously different diffusion and reaction characteristics of H₂ and H compared to other species in the syngas mixture. Firstly, adding CO₂ into the fuel stream can significantly decrease the flame temperature during the partially premixed combustion. The concentration of H and OH radicals decreases upon CO₂ dilution and thus the chemical reaction processes are modified. Compared with CO₂, H₂O is less effective in changing the temperature field because of the chemical effects of H₂O. The simultaneous addition of H₂O and CO₂ as dilution gases with volume ratio 1:1 into the fuel stream is also conducted to identify the effects of H₂O and CO₂ on partially premixed combustion dynamics by comparing with single H₂O and CO₂ cases. The obtained results are expected to provide helpful information for the design and operation of gas turbine combustion systems with syngas fuels.     

Effects of hydrogen addition on structure and NO formation of highly CO-Rich syngas counterflow nonpremixed flames under MILD combustion regime

The present study has numerically investigated the Moderate or Intense Low oxygen Dilution (MILD) combustion regime, combustion processes and NO formation characteristics of the highly CO-rich syngas counterflow nonpremixed flames. To realistically predict the flame properties of the highly CO-rich syngas, the chemistry is represented by the modified GRI 3.0 mechanism. Computations are performed to precisely analyze the flame structure, NO formation rate, and EINO of each NO sub-mechanism. Numerical results reveal that the hydrogen enrichment and oxygen augmentation substantially influence the NO emission characteristics and the dominant NO production route in the CO-rich syngas nonpremixed flames under MILD and high temperature combustion regimes. It is found that the most dominant NO production routes are the NNH path for the lowest oxygen level (3%) and the thermal mechanism for the highest O₂ condition (21%). For the intermediate oxygen level (9%), the most dominant NO production routes are the NNH route for the hydrogen fraction up to 5%, the CO₂ path for the hydrogen fraction range from 5% to 10% and the thermal mechanism for the hydrogen fraction higher than 10%, respectively. To evaluate the contribution of the specific reaction on EINO the sensitivity coefficients are precisely analyzed for NO formation processes with the dominance of NNH/CO₂/Thermal mechanism under the highly CO-rich syngas flames.     

富氧空气/甲烷扩散燃烧的NO抑制机理的数值研究

为了开发适用于富氧燃烧的NO抑制技术,以对向流扩散火焰这一扩散燃烧的典型形态为对象,利用所建立的基元反应动力学模型研究了燃料稀释（CO2为稀释剂）以及速度梯度的改变对富氧空气/甲烷扩散火焰中NO生成的影响.用CO2稀释燃料甲烷得到的计算结果表明,随着燃料中CO2浓度的增大,火焰结构和NO生成的机理发生了显著变化,NO排放指数EINO（Emission index of NO）单调减少.改变速度梯度发现,随着速度梯度的增加,热力型NO质量生成速率以及EINO快速下降.这些研究表明,用CO2稀释燃料以及增加速度梯度可以减少富氧火焰中NO的生成.     

Effect of CO2/N2/CH4 dilution on NO formation in laminar coflow syngas diffusion flames

The effect of CO₂/N_2/CH₄ dilution on NO formation in laminar coflow H₂/CO syngas diffusion flames was experimentally and numerically investigated. The results reveal that the NO emission index increases with H₂/CO mole ratio. In all cases, CO₂/N₂/CH₄ dilution can reduce the peak temperature of syngas flame and have the ability to reduce peak flame temperature is decreased in the following order: CO₂>N₂>CH₄. CO₂/N₂ dilution reduces the NO formation in syngas flame while CH₄ dilution promotes the NO formation. Besides, the dilution of CO₂/N₂/CH₄ can reduce the peak mole fraction of OH and its variations with H₂/CO mole ratio and dilution ratio show the same trend as the peak flame temperature variations. The height of the flame with CO₂ and N₂ dilution increases with dilution ratio. The flame with CH₄ dilution becomes higher and wider with the increase of dilution ratio.     

Effect of radiation emission and reabsorption on flame temperature and NO formation in H2/CO/air counterflow diffusion flames

The radiation effect on flame temperature and NO emission of H₂-lean (0.2H₂ + 0.8CO) and H₂-rich (0.8H₂ + 0.2CO) syngas/air counterflow diffusion flames was numerically investigated using OPPDIF code incorporated with the optical thin model, statistical narrow band model and adiabatic condition. Firstly, the coupled effect of strain rate and radiation was studied. Disparate tendencies of NO emission with an increasing strain rate between H₂-lean and H₂-rich syngas flames were found at very small strain rate, and the effect of radiation reabsorption on NO formation can be neglected when the strain rate was greater than 100 s^?1 for both H₂-lean and H₂-rich syngas flames. Because the radiation effect is vital to flames with small strain rate, its impact on flame temperature and NO emission was investigated in detail at a strain rate of 10 s^?1. The results indicated that NO formation is more sensitive to radiation reabsorption than flame temperature, especially for the H₂-rich syngas flame. The underlying mechanism was discovered by using reaction pathway analysis. Furthermore, the radiation effect under CO₂ dilution of the syngas fuel was examined. It was demonstrated that the radiation effect on flame temperature became more prominent with the increase of CO₂ concentration for both H₂-lean and H₂-rich syngas. The radiation effect on NO emission increased first and then decreased with an increasing CO₂ content for H₂-lean syngas, whereas for H₂-rich syngas the radiation effect is monotonic.     

CO2稀释对甲烷-高温空气扩散燃烧及NO生成特性影响的化学动力学分析

基于GRI-Mech 3.0详细化学反应机理,利用OPPDIF Code研究了CO2稀释比、预热温度及拉伸率对甲烷-高温空气层流对冲扩散火焰温度、热释放率、组分摩尔分数及NO生成特性的影响.研究结果表明,CO2稀释助燃空气能有效降低火焰中H、O及OH等基团摩尔分数,抑制燃烧过程链传播及链引发反应,从而减缓CH4氧化速率.随着助燃空气中CO2稀释比的增加,火焰最高温度逐渐降低,主氧化区及第二氧化区放热峰值变小,燃烧反应高温区变窄,NO生成指数E显著降低.当稀释比大于20%时,热力型NO随助燃空气温度升高规律并不明显.随着CO2稀释比的增加,快速型NO对NO生成量影响逐渐增强,成为高CO2稀释比下甲烷-高温空气扩散燃烧NO生成的主要路径.     

H2/CO合成气层流扩散燃烧产物NOx生成机理的数值分析

采用Chemkin软件中的OPPDIF(对冲扩散火焰)模型对H_2/CO合成气燃烧产生的NO_x排放特性进行了数值研究,分析了合成气扩散火焰中H_2体积分数对NO_x形成的影响。使用OPT(光学薄辐射)模型考察了辐射散热对模拟火焰的影响,采用GRI-Mech 3.0详细化学反应机理研究了NO_x的生成机制。数值模拟结果表明:非绝热条件下,随着合成气中H_2体积分数的增加,层流对冲扩散火焰的峰值温度单调增加;在绝热条件下,合成气火焰的峰值温度会随H_2体积分数的增加而略微下降;同时,随着H_2体积分数的增加,合成气燃烧产生的NO含量明显增加,其中热力型NO的生成量随H_2体积分数的增加变化明显,主导着NO生成量的变化趋势。     

Influences of different diluents on NO emission characteristics of syngas opposed-flow flame

This paper used the opposed-flow flame model and GRI 3.0 mechanism to investigate NO emission characteristics of H₂-rich and H₂-lean syngas under diffusion and premixed conditions, respectively, and analyzed influences of adding H₂O, CO₂ and N₂ on NO formation from the standpoint of thermodynamics and reaction kinetics. For diffusion flames, thermal route is the dominant pathway to produce NO, and adding N₂, H₂O and CO₂ shows a decreasing manner in lowering NO emission. The phenomenon above is more obvious for H₂-rich syngas because it has higher flame temperature. For premixed flames, adding CO₂ causes higher NO concentration than adding H₂O, because adding CO₂ produces more O radical, which promotes formation of NO through NNH + O = NH + NO, NH + O = NO + H and reversed N + NO = N₂ + O. And in burnout gas, thermal route is the dominant way for NO formation. Under this paper's conditions, adding N₂ increases the formation source of NO as well as decreases the flame temperature, and it reduces the NO formation as a whole. In addition, for H₂-lean syngas and H₂-rich syngas with CO₂ as the diluent, N + CO₂ = NO + CO plays as an important role in thermal route of NO formation.     

Numerical study on high-temperature diluted air combustion for the turbulent jet flame in crossflow using an unsteady flamelet model

The turbulent jet flame in a crossflow with highly preheated diluted air has been numerically investigated. The Favre-averaged Navier–Stokes equations are solved by a finite volume method of SIMPLE type that incorporates the flamelet concept coupled with the standard k–ε turbulence model. The NO formation is estimated by using the Eulerian particle transport equations in a postprocessing mode. For methane and propane with various conditions of inlet air temperature and oxygen concentration, the three-dimensional characteristics of the flame are successfully captured. The jet-flame trajectory is in remarkably good agreement with the existing cold-flow correlations. When the oxygen concentration is high, the maximum flame temperature becomes high and the two fuels show quite different characteristics in the downstream region. On the other hand, for low oxygen concentrations, the temperature difference between the two fuels is relatively small and remains fairly constant throughout the combustion chamber. The propane gives a higher NO formation compared to the methane especially when the oxygen concentration is high. A higher temperature, longer residence time of the combustion gases may be responsible for the higher thermal NO formation.     

W型火焰锅炉结渣分析及对策

针对W型火焰锅炉的特点,并根据其煤种变化造成结渣严重的情况,结合有关燃烧理论和燃烧优化试验,突破某些传统锅炉燃烧调整思想,对燃烧控制参数进行了调整,取得良好效果。     

热辐射对富氧扩散燃烧火焰结构和氮氧化物生成的影响

揭示了富氧燃烧过程中的火焰结构和氮氧化物生成机理,针对富氧火焰特性探讨NOx的抑制机理。本文以对向流扩散火焰为对象,利用基于详细的基元反应动力学模型的燃烧数值解析方法研究了热辐射对富氧空气(氧浓度为60％)／甲烷扩散火焰中火焰结构和氮氧化物生成的影响。结果表明,在速度梯度较大时,辐射对燃烧特性的影响可以忽视,当速度梯度K减小到约20s^-1以下,辐射的影响逐渐明显,需要考虑辐射项;同时发现随着速度梯度的减少,总的NO质量生成速率随着速度梯度的下降逐渐增大,在K≈33．3s^-1时达到峰值后又开始下降,直至熄火。     

Assessment of the method for calculating the Lewis number of H2/CO/CH4 mixtures and comparison with experimental results

This paper investigates the various techniques used in the literature to calculate the effective Lewis number of two-component (H₂/CO and H₂/CH₄) and three-component fuels (H₂/CO/CH₄ and H₂/CO/CO₂) over a wide range of equivalence ratios (0.6 ≤ φ ≤ 1.4) under laminar flame conditions. The most appropriate effective Lewis number formulation is identified through comparison with experimentally extracted Lewis numbers (Le). The paper first identifies the proper methodology to extract the experimental Le from the burned Markstein length of an outwardly propagating flame. Second, the different methodologies for the calculation of the effective Le are presented and compared to experimental results for H₂/CH₄ and H₂/CO mixtures. Based on the experimental results, it is shown that the calculation of the effective Le of mixtures can be divided into a three-step procedure depending on the equivalence ratio: (1) calculation of the Le for each fuel and the oxidizer; (2) use of the Le mixing rule; and (3) assessment of the necessity or not of combining the fuel's and oxidizer's Lewis numbers. The paper shows that, in rich mixtures, the oxidizer Le needs to be taken into account. Lastly, the methodology is validated for H₂/CO/CH₄ and H₂/CO/CO₂ fuels.     

A numerical study of laminar flame speed of stratified syngas/air flames

Numerical simulations are performed to study the flame propagation of laminar stratified syngas/air flames with the San Diego mechanism. Effects of fuel stratification, CO/H₂ mole ratio and temperature stratification on flame propagation are investigated through comparing the distribution of flame temperature, heat release rate and radical concentration of stratified flame with corresponding homogeneous flame. For stratified flames with fuel rich-to-lean and temperature high-to-low, the flame speeds are faster than homogeneous flames due to more light H radical in stratified flames burned gas. The flame speed is higher for case with larger stratification gradient. Contrary to positive gradient cases, the flame speeds of stratified flames with fuel lean-to-rich as well as with temperature low-to-high are slower than homogeneous flames. The flame propagation accelerates with increasing hydrogen mole ratio due to higher H radical concentration, which indicates that chemical effect is more significant than thermal effect. Additionally, flame displacement speed does not match laminar flame speed due to the fluid continuity. Laminar flame speed is the superposition of flame displacement speed and flow velocity.