Modeling Study of Hydrogen/Oxygen and n-alkane/Oxygen Counterflow Diffusion Flames

A comprehensive analysis of hydrogen/oxygen and hydrocarbon/oxygen counterflow diffusion flames has been conducted using corresponding detailed reaction mechanisms. The hydrocarbon fuels contain n-alkanes from CH4 to C16H34. The basic diffusion flame structures are demonstrated, analyzed, and compared. The effects of pressure, and strain rate on the flame behavior and energy-release rate for each fuel are examined systematically. The detailed chemical kinetic reaction mechanisms from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory （LLNL） are employed, and the largest one of them contains 2115 species and 8157 reversible reactions. The results indicate for all of the fuels the flame thickness and heat release rate correlate well with the square root of the pressure multiplied by the strain rate. Under the condition of any strain rate and pressure, H2 has thicker flame than hydrocarbons, while the hydrocarbons have the similar temperature and main products distributions and almost have the same flame thickness and heat release rate. The result indicates that the fuels composed with these hydrocarbons will still have the same flame properties as any pure n-alkane fuel.

Emission characteristics and combustion instabilities in an oxy-fuel swirl-stabilized combustor

This paper presents an experimental study on the emission characteristics and combustion instabilities of oxy-fuel combustions in a swirl-stabilized combustor. Different oxygen concentrations (Xoxy=25%～45%, where Xoxy is oxygen concentra- tion by volume), equivalence ratios (φ=0.75～1.15) and combustion powers (CP=1.08～2.02 kW) were investigated in the oxy-fuel (CH4/CO2/O2) combustions, and reference cases (Xoxy=25%～35%, CH4/N2/O2 flames) were covered. The results show that the oxygen concentration in the oxidant stream significantly affects the combustion delay in the oxy-fuel flames, and the equivalence ratio has a slight effect, whereas the combustion power shows no impact. The temperature levels of the oxy-fuel flames inside the combustion chamber are much higher (up to 38.7%) than those of the reference cases. Carbon monoxide was vastly produced when Xoxy>35% or φ>0.95 in the oxy-fuel flames, while no nitric oxide was found in the exhaust gases because no N2 participates in the combustion process. The combustion instability of the oxy-fuel combustion is very different from those of the reference cases with similar oxygen content. Oxy-fuel combustions excite strong oscillations in all cases studied Xoxy=25%～45%. However, no pressure fluctuations were detected in the reference cases when Xoxy>28.6% accomplished by heavily sooting flames which were not found in the oxy-fuel combustions. Spectrum analysis shows that the frequency of dynamic pressure oscillations exhibits randomness in the range of 50～250 Hz, therefore resulting in a very small resultant amplitude. Temporal oscillations are very strong with amplitudes larger than 200 Pa, even short time fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis (0.08 s) shows that the pressure amplitude can be larger than 40 Pa.

Thermo economic evaluation of oxy fuel combustion cycle in Kazeroon power plant considering enhanced oil recovery revenues

Oxy fuel combustion and conventional cycle(currently working cycle) in Kazeroon plant are modeled using commercial thermodynamic modeling software. Economic evaluation of the two models regarding the resources of transport and injection of carbon dioxide into oil fields at Gachsaran for enhanced oil recovery in the various oil price indices is conducted and indices net present value(NPV) and internal rate of return on investment(IRR) are calculated. The results of the two models reveal that gross efficiency of the oxy fuel cycle is more than reference cycle(62% compared to 49.03%), but the net efficiency is less(41.85% compared to 47.92%) because of the high-energy consumption of the components, particularly air separation unit(ASU) in the oxy fuel cycle. In this model, pure carbon dioxide with pressure of 20×105 Pa and purity of 96.84% was captured. NOX emissions also decrease by 4289.7 tons per year due to separation of nitrogen in ASU. In this model, none of the components of oxy fuel cycle is a major engineering challenge. With increasing oil price, economic justification of oxy fuel combustion model increases. With the price of oil at $ 80 per barrel in mind and $ 31 per ton fines for emissions of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, IRR is the same for both models.

Fundamental and Technical Challenges for a Compatible Design Scheme of Oxyfuel Combustion Technology

Oxyfuel combustion with carbon capture and sequestration （CCS） is a carbon-reduction technology for use in large-scale coal-fired power plants. Significant progress has been achieved in the research and development of this technology during its scaling up from 0.4 MWth to 3 MWth and 35 aWth by the combined efforts of universities and industries in China. A prefeasibility study on a 200 MWe large-scale demonstration has progressed well, and is ready for implementation. The overall research development and demonstration （RD＆D） roadmap for oxyfuel combustion in China has become a critical component of the global RD＆D roadmap for oxyfuel combustion. An air combustion/oxyfuel combustion compatible design philosophy was developed during the RD＆D process. In this paper, we briefly address fundamental research and technology innovation efforts regarding several technical challenges, including combustion stability, heat transfer, system operation, mineral impurities, and corrosion. To further reduce the cost of carbon capture, in addition to the large-scale deployment of oxyfuel technology, increasing interest is anticipated in the novel and next- generation oxyfuel combustion technologies that are briefly introduced here, including a new oxygen-production concept and flameless oxyfuel combustion.

Effect of CO Combustion Promoters on Combustion Air Partition in FCC under Nearly Complete Combustion

With CO combustion promoters, the role of combustion air flow rate for concerns of economics and control is important. The combustion air is conceptually divided to three parts: the air consumed by coke burning,the air consumed by CO combustion and the air unreacted. A mathematical model of a fluid catalytic cracking(FCC)unit, which includes a quantitative correlation of CO heterogeneous combustion and the amount of CO combustion promoters, is introduced to investigate the effects of promoters on the three parts of combustion air. The results show that the air consumed by coke burning is almost linear to combustion air flow rate, while the air consumed by CO combustion promoters tends to saturate as combustion air flow rate increases, indicating that higher air flow rate can only be used as a manipulated variable to control the oxygen content for an economic concern.

Carbon Dioxide Emission Control Measures in Coal-Fired Power Plant

CO2 （carbon dioxide） emission reduction, especially removal from coal-fired power plants has become the highest priority in measures to combat global warming. In China, coal-fired power is the main generating electricity style; more than 2,000 millions tons coal has been consumed in coal-fired power plants in China. In order to control CO2 emission, three technologies has been introduced, CCS （carbon capture and storage）, oxy-combusion, and IGCC （integrated gasification combined cycle）. CCS and IGCC technologies are expensive and need too many facilities; besides, there are some concrete problems need to resolve on the oxy-combustion technology. The energy saving work is the other pattern of CO2 emission control.

The global oxygen budget and its future projection

Atmospheric oxygen （02） is the most crucial element on earth for the aerobic organisms that depend on it to release energy from carbon-based macromolecules. This is the first study to systematically analyze the global O2 budget and its changes over the past 100 years. It is found that anthropogenic fossil fuel combustion is the largest contributor to the current O2 deficit, which consumed 2.0 Gt/a in 1900 and has increased to 38.2 Gt/a by 2015. Under the Representative Concentration Pathways （RCPs） RCP8,5 scenario, approximately 100Gt （gigatonnes） of O2 would be removed from the atmosphere per year until 2100, and the O2 concentration will decrease from its current level of 20.946% to 20.825%. Human activities have caused irreversible decline of atmospheric O2. It is time to take actions to promote O2 production and reduce O2 consumption.

Study on Characteristics of Co-firing Ammonia/Methane Fuels under Oxygen Enriched Combustion Conditions

Having a background of utilising ammonia as an alternative fuel for power generation, exploring the feasibility of co-firing ammonia with methane is proposed to use ammonia to substitute conventional natural gas. However, improvement of the combustion of such fuels can be achieved using conditions that enable an increase of oxygenation, thus fomenting the combustion process of a slower reactive molecule as ammonia. Therefore, the present study looks at oxygen enriched combustion technologies, a proposed concept to improve the performance of ammonia/methane combustion. To investigate the characteristics of ammonia/methane combustion under oxygen enriched conditions, adiabatic burning velocity and burner stabilized laminar flame emissions were studied. Simulation results show that the oxygen enriched method can help to significantly enhance the propagation of ammonia/methane combustion without changing the emission level, which would be quite promising for the design of systems using this fuel for practical applications. Furthermore, to produce low computational-cost flame chemistry for detailed numerical analyses for future combustion studies, three reduced combustion mechanisms of the well-known Konnov's mechanism were compared in ammonia/methane flame simulations under practical gas turbine combustor conditions. Results show that the reduced reaction mechanisms can provide good results for further analyses of oxygen enriched combustion of ammonia/methane. The results obtained in this study also allow gas turbine designers and modellers to choose the most suitable mechanism for further combustion studies and development.

Combustion of Hydrogen in an Experimental Trapped Vortex Combustor

Combustion performances of pure hydrogen in an experimental trapped vortex combustor have been tested underdifferent operating conditions. Pressure fluctuations, NOx emissions, OH distributions, and LBO (Lean Blow Out)were measured in the tests. Results indicate that the TVC test rig has successfully realized a double vortex constructionin the cavity zone in a wide range of flow conditions. Hydrogen combustion in the test rig has achievedan excellent LBO performance and relatively low NOx emissions. Through comparison of dynamic pressure data,OH fluctuation images, and NOx emissions, the optimal operating condition has been found out to be Φp=0.4,fuel split=0.4, and primary air/fuel premixed.