Using KELEA (Kinetic Energy Limiting Electrostatic Attraction) to Improve the Efficiency of Fuel Combustion

There are many reports of devices and fuel additives being able to enhance the performance of automobiles and other forms of transportation that rely upon the combustion of gasoline or diesel fuels. The claims extend from increased mileage and power to significant reductions in toxic exhaust emissions of carbon monoxide and unburnt hydrocarbons. Progress towards more widespread applications of means of improving fuel efficiency has been impeded by the lack of a coherent explanation of the mechanism of action. Fuel combustion allows for the conversion of much of the available chemical energy in volatile hydrocarbons to mechanical energy, which moves the pistons within an engine. It is proposed that the amount of chemical energy in hydrocarbons can be increased by the absorption of an environmental force termed KELEA (kinetic energy limiting electrostatic attraction). In addition to providing greater mechanical energy with relatively less heat output, the combustion of KELEA activated fuels proceeds further with less toxic emissions of carbon monoxide and unburnt hydrocarbons from incomplete combustion. KELEA activation of fuels should become standard practice in the transportation industry, with potential additional benefits in slowing the rate of global warming.

Spontaneous combustion influenced by surface methane drainage and its prediction by rescaled range analysis

This study established numerical modeling using COMSOLTMto examine the influence of horizontal location and drainage ability of surface borehole on spontaneous combustion in longwall working face gob. Rescaled Range Analysis(R/S analysis) was employed to investigate the chaos characteristic of N_2/O_2 ratio from a surface borehole in 10416 working face gob, Yangliu Colliery, China. The simulation results show that there is always a circular ‘‘dissipation zone" around the drainage borehole and an elliptic ‘‘spontaneous combustion zone" in deep gob. Little influence was found on spontaneous combustion zone on the intake side of the gob but the width of spontaneous combustion zone in middle gob is enlarged, while the depth of spontaneous combustion zone near the return side is reduced. The R/S analysis indicates that the influence of surface borehole on spontaneous combustion can be divided into two stages by the chaos feature of N_2/O_2: safety drainage stage and spontaneous combustion initiating stage. It can be concluded that the methane drainage from gob through surface borehole can intervene in the distribution of spontaneous combustion zone in gob and the chaos feature of N_2/O_2 from surface borehole can effectively reflect coal spontaneous combustion condition in gob.

Response Surface Modeling of Fuel Rich and Fuel Lean Catalytic Combustion of the Stabilized Confined Turbulent Gaseous Diffusion Flames

The Response Surface Methodology (RSM) has been applied to explore the thermal structure of the experimentally studied catalytic combustion of stabilized confined turbulent gaseous diffusion flames. The Pt/γAl2O3 and Pd/γAl2O3 disc burners were situated in the combustion domain and the experiments were performed under both fuel-rich and fuel-lean conditions at a modified equivalence (fuel/air) ratio (ø) of 0.75 and 0.25 respectively. The thermal structure of these catalytic flames developed over the Pt and Pd disc burners were inspected via measuring the mean temperature profiles in the radial direction at different discrete axial locations along the flames. The RSM considers the effect of the two operating parameters explicitly (r), the radial distance from the center line of the flame, and (x), axial distance along the flame over the disc, on the measured temperature of the flames and finds the predicted maximum temperature and the corresponding process variables. Also the RSM has been employed to elucidate such effects in the three and two dimensions and displays the location of the predicted maximum temperature.

Evaluation of spontaneous combustion tendency of sulfide ore heap based on nonlinear parameters

To explore a new evaluation method for spontaneous combustion tendency of different areas in sulfide ore heap, ore samples from a pyrite mine in China were taken as experimental materials, and the temperature variations of the measuring points of simulated ore heap were measured. Combined with wavelet transform and nonlinear parameters extraction, a new method for spontaneous combustion tendency of different areas in sulfide ore heap based on nonlinear parameters was proposed and its reliability was verified by field test. The results indicate that temperature field evolution of the simulated ore heap presents significant spatial difference during self-heating process. Area with the maximum increasing extent of temperature in sulfide ore heap changes notably with the proceeding of self-heating reaction. Self-heating of sulfide ore heap is a chaotic evolution process, which means that it is feasible to evaluate spontaneous combustion tendency of different areas by nonlinear analysis method. There is a relatively strong correlation between the maximum Lyapunov exponent and spontaneous combustion tendency with the correlation coefficient of 0.9792. Furthermore, the sort of the maximum Lyapunov exponent is consistent with that of spontaneous combustion tendency. Therefore, spontaneous combustion tendency of different areas in sulfide ore heap can be evaluated by means of the maximum Lyapunov exponent method.

High temperature oxidation of inoculated high Si/SiMo ductile cast irons in air and combustion atmospheres

The present work aims to investigate the effect of heating temperature(400,600 and 800°C)and inoculating elements(Ca,Ca-Ba,Ca-RE)on oxidation behavior of ductile irons containing 5.25%Si and 4.8%Si-2.3%Mo in dry air and combustion gas containing water vapour(natural gas burning).The oxidation is influenced by the gas atmosphere type,the iron alloying system,and the inoculating elements depending on the heating temperature.The weight gain increases from 0.001%-0.1%(400°C)to 0.05%-0.70%(600°C)and up to 0.10%-2.15%(800°C).No particular effects of the considered influencing factors are found when heating at 400°C,while at 600°C,mainly the oxidation gas atmosphere type shows a visible influence.At the highest heating temperature of 800°C,a limited increase of the weight gain is found for dry air atmosphere(up to 0.25%),but it drastically increases for combustion atmospheres(0.65%-2.15%).The water vapour presence in the combustion atmosphere is an important oxidising factor at 600-800°C.The alloying system appears to influence the oxidation behavior mainly at a heating temperature of 800°C in the combustion atmosphere,as evidenced by the lower weight gain in 5.25%silicon cast iron.Positive effects of inoculating elements increase with the heating temperature,with Ca and Ba-FeSi inoculation generally showing better performance.Irons inoculated with CaRE-FeSi exhibit a higher degree of oxidation.These results are in good relationship with the previous reported data:Ca-Ba-inoculation system appears to be better than simple Ca for improving the graphite parameters,while RE-bearing inoculant negatively affects the compactness degree of graphite particles in high-Si ductile irons.As the lower compactness degree is typical for graphite nodules in high-Si ductile irons,which negatively affects the oxidation resistance,it is necessary to employ specific metallurgical treatments to improve nodule quality.Inoculation,in particular,is a potential method to achieve this improvement.

Numerical Study of the Threshold Intensity Dependence on Wavelength in Laser Spark Ignition of Molecular Hydrogen Combustion

A numerical investigation of laser wavelength dependence on the threshold intensity of spark ignition in molecular hydrogen over a wide pressure range is presented. A modified electron cascade model (Gamal et al., 1993) is applied under the experimental conditions that carried out by Phuoc (2000) to determine the threshold intensity dependence on gas pressure for spark ignition in hydrogen combustion using two laser wavelengths namely;1064 nm and 532 nm. The model involves the solution of the time dependent Boltzmann equation for the electron energy distribution function (EEDF) and a set of rate equations that describe the change of the formed excited molecules population. The model takes into account most of the physical processes that expected to occur in the interaction region. The results showed good agreement between the calculated thresholds for spark ignition and those measured ones for both wavelengths, where the threshold intensities corresponding to the short wavelength (532 nm) are found to be higher than those calculated for the longer one (1064 nm). This result indicates the depletion of the high density of low energy electrons generated through multi-photon ionization at the short wavelength via electron diffusion and vibrational excitation. The study of the EEDF and its parameters (viz, the temporal evolution of: the electron density, ionization rate electron mean energy, …) revealed the important role played by each physical process to the spark ignition as a function of both laser wavelength and gas pressure. More over the study of the time variation of the EEDF explains the characteristics of the ignited spark at the two wavelengths for the tested pressure values.

Method for prevention and control of spontaneous combustion of coal seam and its application in mining field

Spontaneous combustion of coal seam has been and continues to be a big problem in coal mines. It could pose great threat to the safety of the whole mine and all miners, especially when it occurs in or nearby coal mines. Besides, environment of area surrounded mines during combustion can be threatened where large amount of toxic gases including CO_2, CO, SO_2 and H_2S can be leased by fire in mine. Hence, it is important and significant for scholars to study the controlling and preventing of the coal seam fire. In this paper, the complicated reasons for the occurrence and development of spontaneous combustion in coal seam are analysed and different models under various air leakage situations are built as well. Based on the model and approximately calculation, the difficulty of fire extinguishment in coal seam is pointed out as the difficulty and poor effect to remove the large amount of heat released. Detailed measurements about backfilling and case analyses are also provided on the basis of the recent ten years' practice of controlling spontaneous combustion in coal seams in China. A technical fire prevention and control method has been concluded as five steps including detection, prevention, sealing, injection and pressure adjustment. However, various backfill materials require different application and environmental factors, so in this paper, analyses and discussion about the effect and engineering application of prevention of spontaneous combustion are provided according to different backfilling technologies and methods. Once the aforementioned fire prevention can be widely applied and regulated in mines, green mining will be achievable concerning mine fire prevention and control.

Study on NOx Formation in CH4/Air Jet Combustion

With the development of reaction kinetics and transfer science, the modeling of NOx formation plays more and more important roles in the protection of environment and the design of combustion reactors; in this case,turbulence-chemistry model and NOx formation model are the two most important aspects. For thermal NOx mechanism, this article studied the CH4/air system and applied a set of latest NO formation rate constants published at the Leed University which replaced the original model code in FLUENT to increase its precision on prediction of NO concentration. The realizable k-ε model, Reynold Stress model and standard k-ε model were also investigated to predict the turbulent combustion reaction, which indicated that the simulation results of velocities, temperatures and concentrations of combustion productions by the standard k-ε model were in good accordance with the experimental data. With the application of the simulation results to the experimental data to fit some important kinetic parameters in the equation of O atom model and revision of the equation later, this article obtained a new NO formation rate model. It has been proved that the prediction of the developed model coincides well with the measurements.

Study on CO_2 Absorption by Aqueous Benzylamine and Its Formulations with Monoethanolamine as a Component for Post-Combustion Capture Process

Benzylamine(BZA) has been identified as a promising candidate for CO_2 capture process; however the evaluation of BZA in the packed column was very few. Thus, in this work, the absorption and regeneration performance of unblended BZA solvent as well as a series of amine concentrations and ratios in the formulations were studied using a semibatch bubbling reactor. And due to the formation of ivory-white precipitates in solvents containing higher BZA ratios, a 4:1 molar ratio of MEA/BZA mixed solvent was used to study its performance in a pilot-scale test bed. The results showed that a higher BZA ratio in the MEA/BZA mixed solvent resulted in a faster absorption rate, a higher mass transfer and heat transfer rate and a better cyclic performance, but the mass transfer rate of BZA decreased more quickly than MEA with the increase of CO_2 loading of the solvents. In addition, at high CO_2 loading in the MEA/ BZA mixed solvent with a molar ratio of 4:1, the ivory-white precipitates were generated which could cause blockage of the packing in the absorber, the stripper and the liquid pipelines.

An Experimental Investigation on Low Load Combustion Stability and Cold-Firing Capacity of a Gasoline Compression Ignition Engine

Gasoline compression ignition (GCI) is one of the most promising combustion concepts to maintain low pollutant emissions and high efficiency. However, low load combustion stability and firing in cold-start operations are two major challenges for GCI combustion. Strategies including negative valve overlap (NVO), advanced injection strategies, fuel reforming, and intake preheating have been proposed in order to solve these difficulties;however, the cold start is still an obstacle. The objective of this work is to study effective methods to achieve GCI engine cold start-up. This work combines NVO, in-cylinder fuel reforming, and intake preheating to achieve quick firing under cold-start conditions and the subsequent warmup conditions. The results show that start of injection (SOI) during the intake stroke yields the best fuel economy, and injection during the compression stroke has the potential to extend the low load limit. Furthermore, SOI during the NVO period grants the ability to operate under engine conditions with cold intake air and coolant. With highly reactive products made by in-cylinder fuel reforming and fast heat accumulation in the combustion chamber, the NVO injection strategy is highly appropriate for GCI firing. An additional assisted technical method, such as intake preheating, is required to ignite the first firing cycle for a cold-start process. With the combination of NVO, in-cylinder fuel reforming, and intake preheating, the GCI engine successfully started within five combustion cycles in the experiment. After the firing process, the engine could stably operate without further intake preheating;thus, this method is appropriate for engine cold-start and warm-up.

Combustion characteristics of unburned pulverized coal and its reaction kinetics with CO2

The combustion characteristics of two kinds of unburned pulverized coal (UPC) made from bituminous coal and anthracite were investigated by thermogravimetric analysis under air. The reaction kinetics mechanisms between UPC and CO2 in an isothermal experiment in the temperature range 1000–1100°C were investigated. The combustion performance of unburned pulverized coal made from bituminous coal (BUPC) was better than that of unburned pulverized coal made from anthracite (AUPC). The combustion characteristic indexes (S) of BUPC and AUPC are 0.47 × 10^-6 and 0.34 × 10^-6 %2·min^-2·°C^-3, respectively, and the combustion reaction apparent activation energies are 91.94 and 102.63 kJ·mol^-1, respectively. The reaction mechanism of BUPC with CO2 is random nucleation and growth, and the apparent activation energy is 96.24 kJ·mol^-1. By contrast, the reaction mechanism of AUPC with CO2 follows the shrinkage spherical function model and the apparent activation energy is 133.55 kJ·mol^-1.

Fundamental Laws of Physics and Calculation of Heat Transfer in Combustion Chambers of Gas-Turbine Plants

The laws of heat radiation from black body, the laws of Stefan-Boltzmann, Planck, and Wien are fundamental laws of physics. All in all, a little more than 30 fundamental laws of physics, studied by pupils and students worldwide were disclosed. Scientific disclosure of fundamental laws influences mainly power technology, fuel and energy resources saving. In the late XIX century the laws of heat radiation from gas volumes and the laws of Makarov were disclosed. Since the radiation laws from blackbody are fundamental laws of physics, then the laws of heat radiation from gas volumes are fundamental laws of physics. Effect of using laws of heat radiation from gas volumes on fuel saving, reduction of development pressure on the environment in many countries of the world is shown. Calculation results from heat transfer in combustion chamber of gas-turbine plant are described. The torch in a combustion chamber is modeled by cylindrical gas volumes. Fluxes data from the torch and convective fluxes of cooling air are confirmed by measuring data from chamber-wall temperature.

Thermochemistry of Heteroatomic Compounds:Calculation of the heat of Combustion and the heat ofFormation of some Bioorganic Molecules with DifferentHydrophenanthrene Rows

On the basis of the known experimental heats of combustions of the seventeen alkanes in condensed state, the general equation has been deduced, in which i and f are correlation coefficients, N and g are a numbers of valence electrons and lone electron pairs of heteroatoms in molecule. The presented dependence has been used for the calculation of the heats of combustion of thirteen organic molecules with biochemical properties: holestan, cholesterol, methyl-cholesterol, ergosterol, vitamin-D2, estradiol, androstenone, testosterone, androstanedione, morphine, morphinanone, codeine and pentasozine. It is noted that good convergence was obtained within the limits of errors of thermochemical experiments known in the literature and calculations of the heats of combustion for some of them were conducted. With the application of Hess law and the heats of vaporization , which has been calculated with the use of a topological solvation index of the first order , the heats of formation for condensed and gaseous phases were calculated for the listed bioorganic molecules.

Simple Program for Step-by-Step Time Integration in Chemical Kinetics, Applied to Simple Model for Hydrogen Combustion

A simple algorithm is proposed for step-by-step time integration of stiff ODEs in Chemical Kinetics. No predictor-corrector technique is used within each step of the algorithm. It is assumed that species concentrations less than 10-6 mol·L-1 do not activate any chemical reaction. So, within each step, the time steplength Δt of the algorithm is determined from the fastest reaction rate maxR by the formula Δt = 10-6mol·L-1/max R. All the reversible elementary reactions occur simultaneously;however, by a simple book-keeping technique, the updating of species concentrations, within each step of the algorithm, is performed within each elementary reaction separately. The above proposed simple algorithm for Chemical Kinetics is applied to a simple model for hydrogen combustion with only five reversible elementary reactions (Initiation, Propagation, First and Second Branching, Termination by wall destruction) with six species (H2, O2, H, O, HO, H2O). These five reversible reactions are recommended in the literature as the most significant elementary reactions of hydrogen combustion [1] [2]. Based on the proposed here simple algorithm for Chemical Kinetics, applied to the global mechanism of proposed five reversible elementary reactions for hydrogen combustion, a simple and short computer program has been developed with only about 120 Fortran instructions. By this proposed program, the following are obtained: 1) The total species concentration of hydrogen combustion, starting from the sum of initial reactants concentrations [H2] + [O2], gradually diminishes, due to termination reaction by wall destruction, and tends to the final concentration of the product [H2O], that is to the 2/3 of its initial value, in accordance to the established overall stoichiometric reaction of hydrogen combustion 2H2 + O2 → 2H2O. 2) Time-histories for concentrations of main species H2, O2, H, H2O of hydrogen combustion, in explosion and equilibrium regions, obtained by the proposed program, are compared to corresponding ones obtained by accurate computational studies of [3]. 3) In the first step of the algorithm, the only nonzero species concentrations are those of reactants [H2], [O2]. So, the maximum reaction rate is that of the forward initiation reaction max R = Rif = kif[H2] [O2], where the rate constant kif is very slow. Thus, the first time steplength Δt1 = 10-6mol·L-1/max R results long in sec. After the first step, the sequences of all the following Δt’s are very short, in μsec. So, the first time steplength Δt1 can be considered as ignition delay time. 4) It is assumed that explosion corresponds to ignition delay time Δt1 t1 = 10 sec., can be considered as explosion limit curve. This curve is compared to the corresponding one obtained by the accurate computational studies of [2].

Synergetic NO reduction by biomass pyrolysis products simulating their reburning in circulating fluidized bed decoupling combustion

The present work investigated the synergetic effect of pyrolysis-derived char,tar and gas(py-gas)on NO reduction,which may occur in circulating fluidized-bed decoupling combustion(CFBDC)system treating N-rich fuel.Experiments were carried out in a lab-scale drop-tube reactor for NO reduction by some binary mixtures of reagents including char/py-gas,tar/py-gas and tar/char.At a specified total mass rate of0.15 g·min^-1 for NO-reduction reagent,the char/py-gas(binary reagent)enabled the best synergetic NO reduction in comparison with the others.There existed effective interactions between char and some species in py-gas(i.e.,H2,CxHy)during NO reduction by pyrolysis products,meanwhile the tar/py-gas or tar/char mixture only caused a positive effect when tar proportion was necessarily lowered to about 26%.On the other hand,the synergetic effects were not improved for all tested binary reagents by increasing the reaction temperature and residence time.

Improved combustion stability of biogas at different CO_(2) concentrations using inhomogeneous partially premixed stratified flames

Biogas is a renewable and clean energy source that plays an important role in the current environment of lowcarbon transition.If high-content CO_(2) in biogas can be separated,transformed,and utilized,it not only realizes high-value utilization of biogas but also promotes carbon reduction in the biogas field.To improve the combustion stability of biogas,an inhomogeneous,partially premixed stratified(IPPS)combustion model was adopted in this study.The thermal flame structure and stability were investigated for a wide range of mixture inhomogeneities,turbulence levels,CO_(2) concentrations,air-to-fuel velocity ratios,and combustion energies in a concentric flow slot burner(CFSB).A fine-wire thermocouple is used to resolve the thermal flame structure.The flame size was reduced by increasing the CO_(2) concentration and the flames became lighter blue.The flame temperature also decreased with increase in CO_(2) concentration.Flame stability was reduced by increasing the CO_(2) concentration.However,at a certain level of mixture inhomogeneity,the concentration of CO_(2) in the IPPS mode did not affect the stability.Accordingly,the IPPS mode of combustion should be suitable for the combustion and stabilization of biogas.This should support the design of highly stabilized biogas turbulent flames independent of CO_(2) concentration.The data show that the lower stability conditions are partially due to the change in fuel combustion energy,which is characterized by the Wobbe index(WI).In addition,at a certain level of mixture inhomogeneity,the effect of the WI on flame stability becomes dominant.

Platinum in-situ catalytic oleylamine combustion removal process for carbon supported platinum nanoparticles

Colloidal synthesis method such as oleylamine(OAm)-stabilized process is of great interest for obtaining uniform and highly dispersed platinum nanoparticle catalysts, yet the ligand may unavoidably inhibit their electro-catalytic performance. Thus, fully removing these ligands is critical to activate catalyst surface. Previous research of OAm removal process pointed that thermal annealing was the most effective way in comparison with other methods such as chemical washing, UV–Ozone irradiation and cyclic voltammetry sweeping, but generally resulting in undesired growth of platinum nanoparticle. Few studies concerning a more efficient ligand removal process have been published yet. In this work we proposed a platinum in-situ catalytic OAm combustion strategy to elucidate the removal mechanism of OAm ligands in thermal process and the key experimental parameters were also optimized. In addition, heat flow signal based on differential scanning calorimetry(DSC) measurement as a sensitive indicator, is suggested to reveal the ligand removal efficiency, which is much more reliable than the traditional spectroscopy.In comparison with commercial Pt/C sample, such a surface clean Pt/C electrocatalyst has shown an enhanced specific activity for oxygen reduction reaction. Our removal strategy and the evaluation method are highly instructive to efficient removal of different organic ligands.

CO_(2)capture costs of chemical looping combustion of biomass:A comparison of natural and synthetic oxygen carrier

Chemical looping combustion has the potential to be an efficient and low-cost technology capable of contributing to the reduction of the atmospheric concentration of CO_(2) in order to reach the 1.5/2°C goal and mitigate climate change.In this process,a metal oxide is used as oxygen carrier in a dual fluidized bed to generate clean CO_(2) via combustion of biomass.Most commonly,natural ores or synthetic materials are used as oxygen carrier whereas both must meet special requirements for the conversion of solid fuels.Synthetic oxygen carriers are characterized by higher reactivity at the expense of higher costs versus the lower-cost natural ores.To determine the viability of both possibilities,a techno-economic comparison of a synthetic material based on manganese,iron,and copper to the natural ore ilmenite was conducted.The synthetic oxygen carrier was characterized and tested in a pilot plant,where high combustion efficiencies up to 98.4%and carbon capture rates up to 98.5%were reached.The techno-economic assessment resulted in CO_(2) capture costs of 75 and 40€/tCO_(2) for the synthetic and natural ore route respectively,whereas a sensitivity analysis showed the high impact of production costs and attrition rates of the synthetic material.The synthetic oxygen carrier could break even with the natural ore in case of lower production costs and attrition rates,which could be reached by adapting the production process and recycling material.By comparison to state-of-the-art technologies,it is demonstrated that both routes are viable and the capture cost of CO_(2) could be reduced by implementing the chemical looping combustion technology.

Effect of Swirl Preset Vorticity on Combustion Performance of Lobe Nozzle Combustor Chamber

To improve the combustor performance of multi-point injection combustion,lobe nozzle design was applied to the aero-engine model combustor,by presetting the swirl through a certain twisted angle of the edge of the lobe outlet.Numerical simulation in combination with modelling test is used in this paper.The effects of swirl vorticity presetting onto the vortex structure,the characteristics of combustion temperature field,the combustor exit temperature field quality,the combustion efficiency,and the NOx emissions of multi-point injection combustion chamber are investigated.Compared with the conventional vortex flow at the lobe outlet edge,the results of numerical simulation and water modelling test of the swirl vorticity presetting show that the swirl presetting can efficiently enhance the range and intensity of the lobe-induced vorticities.Besides,it can improve the uniformity of the combustion temperature in the combustor chamber,together with the reduced emissions of the pollutant NOx.Moreover,compared with the conventional lobe nozzle chamber,the swirl vortex presetting can effectively improve its combustion performance.The flow simulation test results demonstrate the fluid vortex structure in the combustion chamber and validate the simulation results.

Risk assessment of gas control and spontaneous combustion of coal under gas drainage of an upper tunnel

The adjustment of the gas drainage rate has an immediate impact on air leakage in gob,thus resulting in the change of self-heating of coal.While regulating the gas drainage parameters,the risk of spontaneous combustion of coal should be considered.The risk assessment of gas control and spontaneous combustion of coal under gas drainage in a tunnel was investigated at different gas drainage rates.The distributions of the air volume along the working face,the gas management effects and the width of the oxidation zone were subjected to risk analysis.As the simulation results showed,with increasing gas drainage rate,although the safety of gas dilution by ventilation was assured,the intensifying air leakage caused the oxidation zone to move into the deeper gob and led to an increase in the width of the oxidation zone.A risk assessment method was proposed to determine a suitable gas drainage rate for the upper tunnel.The correctness of the risk assessment and the validity of the numerical modelling were confirmed by the field measurements.