Thermodynamic and Equilibrium Composition Analysis of Using Iron Oxide as an Oxygen Carrier in Nonflame Combustion Technology

Nonflame combustion technology （NFCT） is a harmonious energy utilization technology. There are not environmental-unfriendly gases such as NOx, CO2 discharged in the whole combustion process. Combustion processes realizes zero emission through this technology. Fe2O3 is involved as oxygen carrier, is examined thermodynamically, and the thermodynamic data of the redox reactions are calculated. Using the criteria of minimizing the Gibbs free energy, the equilibrium composition was investigated. The equilibrium analysis shows that producing complete oxidized resultants must have high molar ratio of Fe2O3/CH4. If quantity of Fe2O3 is not sufficient, more partial oxidized products such as CO, H2, even C will be produced.

Thermodynamic Analysis and Experimental Investigation into Nonflame Combustion Technology(NFCT) with Thermal Cyclic Carrier

The utilization of fossil fuels causes serious negative impacts on the environment and human life. To mitigate greenhouse gases and other pollutants, a novel combustion process-the nonflame combustion technology with a thermal cyclic carrier of molten salt is introduced. In this technology, a whole combustion is divided into two steps, i.e., the section of producing oxide and the section of combustion. In the first step, oxygen is separated from air, and pure N_2 is simultaneously formed which is easily recovered. In the other step, the fuels react with lattice oxygen in the oxides formed in the first step, and at the same time, thermal energy, CO_2 and H_2O vapor are produced. It is noted that the CO_2 is easily separated from water vapor and ultimately captured. Theoretically, there are no environmental-unfriendly gases such as CO_2, NO_x and SO_2 discharged in the whole combustion process. Some metal oxides scattered into molten salts play the roles of oxygen carriers in the combustion system, and they can constantly charge and discharge oxygen element from air to fuels during the combustion process. A nonflame combustion system with Li_2CO_3+K_2CO_3+Na_2SO_4 as the molten salt system, CH_4 as the fuel and CuO as the catalyst was experimentally investigated. The experimental results show that the combustion process proceeded as it was theoretically analyzed, and CO_2 with a high volume fraction of 77.0%_95.0% and N_2 with a high volume fraction of 91.9%_99.3% were obtained. The high concentration of CO_2 is favorable for capturing and storing subsequently. Therefore, the potential of reducing CO_2 emissions of this nonflame combustion technology is huge.

The application of the regenerative combustion technology to a radiant-tube furnace and its practice

This study compares the regenerative radiant-tube heater with the traditional radiant-tube heater, showing the regenerative radiant-tube heaters have many advantages in fuel consumption. Based on the experience of changing a heating system with traditional radiant-tube burners to a heating system with regenerative combustion, propositions are given for the combustion control system, pilot burner, flame detection and for trouble prevention in rebuilding the continuous annealing production line（CAPL） and the continuous galvanizing line（CGL）.

Application of the porous medium combustion technology in the chamber reheating furnaces at Baosteel

The design of the porous medium combustion （PMC） system which has been applied to chamber reheating furnaces is presented in this study and its main application effects are described in detail. Porous medium materials are mainly ceramic ball sucked granular bed porous media and foam ceramic porous media. This study investigates the foam ceramic porous medium and a schematic diagram of the combustion inside this porous medium. The PMC takes a solid medium as its main heat exchange way, thus greatly improving the heat transfer efficiency. Judging from the application effects,the following conclusions have been made： the PMC technology can save more than 25% of energy with remarkable effects; the furnace temperature uniformity can be significantly enhanced; the porous media combustion technology can make the heating furnace design in a more compact way, reduce the time for heating up the furnace, improve the heating rate and reduce energy consumption.

Development of catalytic combustion and CO_(2)capture and conversion technology

Changes are needed to improve the efficiency and lower the CO_(2)emissions of traditional coal-fired power generation,which is the main source of global CO_(2)emissions.The integrated gasification fuel cell(IGFC)process,which combines coal gasification and high-temperature fuel cells,was proposed in 2017 to improve the efficiency of coal-based power generation and reduce CO_(2)emissions.Supported by the National Key R&D Program of China,the IGFC for nearzero CO_(2)emissions program was enacted with the goal of achieving near-zero CO_(2)emissions based on(1)catalytic combustion of the flue gas from solid oxide fuel cell(SOFC)stacks and(2)CO_(2)conversion using solid oxide electrolysis cells(SOECs).In this work,we investigated a kW-level catalytic combustion burner and SOEC stack,evaluated the electrochemical performance of the SOEC stack in H2O electrolysis and H2O/CO_(2)co-electrolysis,and established a multiscale and multi-physical coupling simulation model of SOFCs and SOECs.The process developed in this work paves the way for the demonstration and deployment of IGFC technology in the future.