Oilon - The Warm Way

INDUSTRIAL GAS BURNER

COMBUSTION

M.Sc. Joonas Kattelus

R&D Director – Combustion Technology
Espoo 4.5.2017
 Content of the presentation
• Introduction to gaseous
combustion

• Burner technology

• Emission formation

• Emission reduction methods

• Modelling of gaseous flames

Introduction for gaseous combustion

Gaseous fuel types:

• NG/LNG (Natural gas )

• LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas)
• COG (Coke oven gas)
• BFG (Blast Furnace gas)
• Refinery gas
• Biogas
• Hydrogen
• In addition town gas, pyrolysis
gas, gasification gas etc etc…

NG LPG COG BFG Refinery gas Biogas Hydrogen

LHV Lower heating value [MJ/kg] 48-51 45-47 26-55 2-5 6-50 13-30 119
Composition* [vol-%] CH4 90-98 - 20-30 - 0-50 40-80 -
C2H6 1-8 - 0-2 - 0-15 - -
C3H8 0-3 0-100 - - 0-1 - -
C4H10 0-1 0-100 - - - - -
CO2 0-1 - 0-3 10-20 0-10 20-50 -
H2 - - 50-65 0-10 0-30 - 100
N2 0-2 - 0-10 40-55 10-20 0-1 -
CO - - 0-10 20-35 60-90 - -
H2O - - - 0-15 0 1-5 -
* also may in some cases contain small amounts of HCN, NH3, O2, CxHy etc. (Source: Alakangas et al - Suomessa käytettävien polttoaineiden ominaisuuksia)
Introduction for gaseous combustion

Flame types: Laminar/turbulent

Candle and cooker

are typical laminar
flames

Industrial burner
flames are always
turbulent
Introduction for gaseous combustion

Flame types: Premixed/diffusion

• Premixed flames arise from the

combustion of gaseous reactants
which are perfectly mixed prior to
combustion.

• Diffusion flames arise from a

combustion of separate gaseous
fuel and oxidizer streams which
combust as they mix.

(Source: Pitsch 2014, Princeton – CEFRC Combustion Summer School)

Introduction for gaseous combustion

Applications for industrial gas burner Other applications for industrial gas combustion:
combustion: • Engines
• Power plants  Automotive
 Steam & hot water generation,  Marine
 Marine applications,  Mechanical power/electricity production
 Fluidized bed start up/support, • [Fuel cells]
 Absorption cooling
 Etc.
• Industrial processes
 Side product/waste gas incineration • Gas combustion is widely used in different
 Hot air/oil production
applications
 Material processing
• Relatively clean
 Drying
 Etc.
• Can utilize both: fossil & renewable energy
• Gas turbines
 CHP/electricity production
• Will be utilized in future to an increasing extent
 Airplanes
Introduction for gaseous combustion
Applications for industrial gas burner combustion:

Powerplant
burners

Fluidized bed Hot air

burners generators

Airplane
turbines
Introduction for gaseous combustion
Applications for industrial gas burner combustion:
Burner technology

Burner requirements:

• Stability
• Cost effectiveness
• Flame dimensions
• Reliable in use (ignition,
capacity adjustment, O2
tolerances)
• Emissions
• Fuel versatility
• Turndown ratio
Burners can be divided into
• Energy efficiency two groups depending the
• Ease of maintenance fan integration level
• Compact and elegant design • Monoblock burners

The priority of these requirements is • Duoblock burners

defined individually in different markets
Burner technology

Since this lecture is all about gas combustion, we will concentrate our efforts today especially
into two of before mentioned burner requirements: Stability & Emissions
Let us start with flame stability issues. Emission formation and reduction tecniques will be
discussed later.
Flame stabilization means control over the reaction front.

There are many ways to stabilize Other contributions

a flame: to stability:
• Bluff body • Fuel properties

• Swirl • Main flow velocity

• Pilot flame

• Fuel/air counterflow

• Flame velocity > main flow velocity

• Combinations of these

Most commonly used in industrial combustion are

(Source: Baukal et al. 2001 – The John Zink Combustion
Bluff body and Swirl stabilization methods Handbook, Penninger – 2011 – Combustion technology)
Burner technology

Bluff body stabilization Swirl stabilization

High swirl

Low swirl
Hot recirculation products are constantly igniting the mixture

Different bluff body shapes (Source: Baukal et al. 2001 – The John Zink Combustion Handbook, Cheng - Low Swirl Combustion
Burner technology

Basic structure (gas burner)

Burner frame
Fan
Combustion Fan motor
head
Flame plate
(bluff body)
Pressure swich

Air damper +
servo

PI diagram
Burner technology
Basic structure and components in dual fuel (gas & oil) burner head

Gas manifold/lance
Oil gun Ignition system
(pilot burner/spark)

Gas nozzles
Flame scanner

Flame stabilization
• swirl
• bluff body
• flame speed etc.
• Turbulence control
Air dampers
• swirl control
• air distribution control
Emission formation

Light/heavy oil flame

Usually not
important
CO2
CxHy
CO
NOx PAH

SOx
particulates
Unavoidable with burner technology

Soot

Natural gas flame

CO2
Green house gas
Unavoidable with burner technology

NOx & CO most All other emissions can

NOx
important in gas be controlled and
combustion reduced with proper
CO
burner technology!
 Emission formation – CO

• Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas.

• It is toxic to humans and most of animals when encountered in concentrations above

about 35 ppm.
CO
• In the atmosphere, CO also has a role in the formation of ground-level ozone.

• CO is an intermediate combustion product and is formed and further oxidized into Carbon dioxide (CO2) in
normal furnace conditions (R1 & R1).

𝐶𝐻4 + 1.5𝑂2 → CO + 2𝐻2 𝑂 (R1)

CO + 0.5𝑂2 → 𝐶𝑂2 (R2)
• If CO is detected in flue gases it is due to following
reasons:

1. Not enough residual Oxygen.

2. Too cool furnace/flame.
3. Too short residence time inside the furnace.
4. Exaggerated air/fuel staging.
5. Insufficient mixing.

• CO formation conditions are often in open conflict with

NOx formation conditions.
 CO formation more likely in low NOx applications.

(Source: Wunning et al. 2009 – Handbook of Burner Technology for Industrial Furnaces, Raiko et al. 2002 – Poltto ja Palaminen)
Emission formation – NOx

• NOx ([Mono] Nitrogen Oxides) = mainly NO + NO2

NOx
• Single most strictly regulated emission in burner applications (Number one
concern).
Tiananmen square, Beijing – Calm weather
• Will cause serious damage to the environment:
o Acid rains.
o Smog.
o Ozone formation (potent respiratory hazard near ground
level).

Atmospheric NO2 concentration – NASA 2014

Emission formation – NOx

• NOX emissions are derived from three possible sources:

A) Combustion air nitrogen (air contains 78% N2 by volume). NOx

NOx

NOx
NOx
NOx C) Gaseous fuels
NOx containing nitrogen
components such as
ammonia NH3 and
hydrogen cyanide
HCN.

B) Fuel-bound Nitrogen (N) that

is bound to the liquid and solid
fuels (not in gaseous fuels).

• In natural gas combustion only A needs to be considered.

• In light oil combustion fuel bound Nitrogen (B) will also have an influence to the
total emission level. In heavy oil combustion B is in dominant role.
(Source: Wunning et al. 2009 – Handbook of Burner Technology for Industrial Furnaces, Raiko et al. 2002 – Poltto ja Palaminen)
Emission formation – NOx

• Fuel bound Nitrogen B (N) is much more reactive than

combustion air N2.
 Forms NOx-emissions rapidly even in low
temperatures.
 Even small amounts in fuel will have a great effect.
 Fuels with bound Nitrogen tend to produce higher
NOx-levels.

Example case for light oil combustion

• Combustion air Nitrogen N2 has NOx
much bigger bond energy, thus it is
harder to break than fuel bound N.
• There are two widely
acknowledged formation
mechanisms for combustion air
Nitrogen N2 transformation into
NOx.

o Thermal NO formation.

o Prompt NO formation.

(Source: Wunning et al. 2009 – Handbook of Burner Technology for Industrial Furnaces, Raiko et al. 2002 – Poltto ja Palaminen
Emission formation – NOx

Thermal NO formation:
• Bounding energy of N2 molecyle is so high, that combustion air oxygen O2 cannot break it
in normal combustion conditions.

𝑁2 + 𝑂2 → 2NO NOx
• Instead the formation of NO happens as a result of more complicated reaction path which is
actuated by a single atomed O-radical:
𝑁2 + 𝑂 → NO + N (R3)
N + 𝑂2 → NO + O (R4)
• This reaction path was first introduced in 1940’s and represents the so called Zeldovich mechanism.

• Later it was found that the importance of reaction R4 diminishes when residual O2 is decreased. In this
case reaction R4 is partly replaced by R5, where hydroxyl radical is operating as an oxidizer.

N + 𝑂𝐻 → NO + H (R5)
• The amount of generated O & OH-radicals is exponentially proportional to flame temperature thus
resulting high temperature dependency for the whole process.

• Studies show that Zeldovich NO formation is not significant below 1400 C but in temperatures above
1600 C it’s many times the dominating formation mechanism.

• For these reasons the presented mechanism is widely called ”thermal NO”.
(Source: Wunning et al. 2009 – Handbook of Burner Technology for Industrial Furnaces, Raiko et al. 2002 – Poltto ja Palaminen
Emission formation – NOx

Prompt NO formation

• Backround of Prompt NO formation goes back to 1970’s, when Fenimore showed that all
NO formation could not be explaned with Zeldovich mechamism in Hydrocarbon flames NOx
experiensing sub stoichiometric conditions.

• Instead he suggested that combustion air Nitrogen N2 would react according to reaction R6
in these conditions.

𝑁2 + 𝐶𝐻 → HCN + N (R6)
• Hydrogen cyanide HCN would then further oxidize to NO through many possible reaction paths.

• Prompt NO formation is only relevant in the flame reaction zone, when the combustion is not
complete and the needed hydrocarbon radicals (CH) are available.

• Usually the formation of prompt NO is very rapid and only slightly dependent from temperature.

• In conventional burner applications prompt NO contribution to the total emission level is no more
than 5 %.

• How ever in low NOx-applications, where the flame is relatively cool and strongly staged, the prompt
NO contribution becomes more relevant and should be taken into account in burner combustion
performance desing.

(Source: Wunning et al. 2009 – Handbook of Burner Technology for Industrial Furnaces, Raiko et al. 2002 – Poltto ja Palaminen
Emission reduction methods – CO

• As was mentioned earlier, CO as an incombustible substance is detected in flue gases due to following
reasons:

1. Not enough Oxygen.

2. Too cool furnace/flame.
3. Too short residence time inside the furnace.
4. Exaggerated air/fuel staging.
5. Insufficient mixing.

• Complete CO burn out could be promoted by altering the above mentioned conditions, but the problem is
that CO formation conditions are often in conflict with NOx formation conditions.

• However there are few variables that will promote both CO and NOx reduction:
o Choosing larger boiler.
o Adding more residual oxygen.

• Unfortunately these decisions are not something that burner manufacturer can make and there are some
downsides related to them as well (investment costs, operational costs).

• So as a conclusion we need to find an optimal balance between CO and NOx formation.

o Optimal balance conditions always depend from the many different side conditions e.g. fuel and
furnace properties.
o With properly designed burner adjustments the flame is able to conform to changing furnace
conditions.
(Source: Wunning et al. 2009 – Handbook of Burner Technology for Industrial Furnaces, Raiko et al. 2002 – Poltto ja Palaminen)
Emission reduction methods – NOx
There are many factors that have an impact on NOx formation:

1. Oxidizer and fuel composition.

1.1 Fuel characteristics (calorific value, Hydrogen/Carbon ratio, inert content etc.).
1.2 Oxidizer characteristics (external FGR, Air/oxygen, moisture content). NOx
2. Oxidizer and fuel temperature.
3. Oxidizer and fuel pressure (altitude).
4. Combustion air/fuel ratio.

5. Burner technology/design
5.1 Air and fuel distribution.
5.2 Air and fuel staging.
5.3 Internal FGR.
5.4 Steam/water injection.

6. Boiler design
6.1 Furnace shape & dimensions.
6.2 Wall temperature.
6.3 Refractory walls.
6.4 Burner placement and number.

7. Secondary methods
7.1 OFA/reburn.
7.2 SCR.
7.3 SNCR.
7.4 Oilon catalytic reduction (not be discussed in this presentation).
Emission reduction methods – NOx
1. Oxidizer and fuel composition:

• Calorific value (MJ/kg) determines the energy content of the fuel. NOx
 It can be stated as rule of thumb, that the bigger it is, the more NOx emissions there are
likely to emerge, since the fuel is more reactive.

• In case of Hydrocarbon combustion a Hydrogen/Carbon ratio will also affect to the NOx emissions
together with calorific value.
NOx reduction with FGR

 Usually there tends to be more NOx’s when hydrocarbons get heavier and Hydrogen/carbon
ratio of the fuel molecule decreases.

• Air contains 78 vol-% of molecular Nitrogen N2. N2 is an inert substance  it does not participate
in major reactions.

o If air as an oxidizer is replaced for example with pure Oxygen, NOx emissions will rise
drastically.

o On the other hand if air as an oxidizer is diluted with recirculated flue gas, the relative portion
of inert substances will grow and NOx emissions will decrease.

• Combustion air moisture content will also have an influence to overall NOx emission.

 The bigger the relative moisture, the more inert substances there are → NOx will decrease.

(Source: Raiko et al. 2002 – Poltto ja Palaminen, Baukal et al. 2001 – The John Zink Combustion Handbook)
Emission reduction methods – NOx
2. Oxidizer and fuel temperature:

• Oxidizer preheating will increase the NOx emissions. NOx

• Fuel preheating will increase the NOx emissions.

• The amount of NOx increase is case/fuel/burner dependent, but rough estimates can be made
from these figures.

(Source: Raiko et al. 2002 – Poltto ja Palaminen, Baukal et al. 2001 – The John Zink Combustion Handbook)
Emission reduction methods – NOx
3. Oxidizer and fuel pressure:

• Altitude of the boiler plant will have an effect to the burner operating conditions.
NOx
• This needs to be taken into account in the project design process.
• In higher altitudes air density decreases. Sometimes temperature drop will compensate this
phenomena.
Example case
• Density change will have multiple effects on burner 35 Burner
pressure
operation: drop
33 [mbar]
o Burner pressure drop increases.
31
o Velocities will grow in burner head and in the
furnace. 29
 Possible risk for flame stability. Δp_poltin [mbar]
27
o Flame begins to grow in size (CO risk).
Altitude[m]
o NOx emissions decrease. 25
0m 1000 m 2000 m 3000 m

Sea level

Contours of velocity [m/s]

Emission reduction methods – NOx
4. Combustion air/fuel ratio:

• NOx emissions are dependent from combustion air/fuel ratio.

NOx
• It can be described with different parameters:

1. Residual oxygen level (Europe).

2. Lambda (Europe).

3. Equivalence ratio (North America).

4. Excess air (North America).

• The maximum NOx level is usually

reached between lambda 1 – 1.25
depending from burner design.

• In practice this means, that NOx-level can

be reduced with more excess air.

 This is particularly true in premixed

and partly premixed type burners.

(Source: Raiko et al. 2002 – Poltto ja Palaminen, Baukal et al. 2001 – The John Zink Combustion Handbook)
Emission reduction methods – NOx
5. Burner technology/design:

NOx
• There are different ways to reduce NOx emissions with burner design (primary
methods):

5.1 Air and fuel distribution.

5.2 Air and fuel staging.

5.3 Internal FGR.

5.4 Water/steam injection.

Emission reduction methods – NOx
5.1 Burner technology/design: Air and fuel distribution

• Ensuring that air and fuel are distributed symmetrically/as designed to the burner head is one NOx
of the basic functions of the burner head as a component.

o Usually this is done with sufficient pressure drop on both gas/air sides.

o Air cabin design and internal guiding vane structures etc. will help to achieve even distribution
with reduced pressure drop.

o A common mistake for inexperinced customer is to have improper air ducting before the burner.
This is something that cannot be fully compensated with burner design.

• Uneven flow profile will undermine the effectiveness of air staging in the burner head, thus NOx and
CO emissions will grow bigger than in optimal circumstances.

Case 1 - Insufficient rounding Case 2 - Proper rounding and

guiding vanes
Velocity [m/s] Unwanted temperature peaks can occur in
Velocity [m/s]
the flame structure.

Significant flow Even flow profile

acceleration due
to the flow
separation
Emission reduction methods – NOx
5.2 Burner technology/design: Air and fuel staging

• Air and fuel staging is the traditional and most commonly used primary method for NOx NOx
reduction purposes.

• Air staging reduces NOx emissions due to its ability to create local regions for fuel rich and lean mixtures.

• Inside these regions there are locally more inert

substances available that do not take part into
combustion reaction thus lowering the peak
temperatures of the flame.

• Air staging disadvantages:

o Flame dimensions are increased and furnace

size may become too small.

o Unburned fuel and CO emissions may

increase as the flame is less intensive and
bigger in size.

Rich

Lean
(Source: Raiko et al. 2002 – Poltto ja Palaminen, Baukal et al. 2001 – The John Zink Combustion Handbook)
Emission reduction methods – NOx
5.3 Burner technology/design: Internal FGR

• Internal FGR is a process where combustion products inside the furnace are recirculated NOx
back into the flame.

• This is a naturally occurring phenomenon, but can be

used as an advantage if taken into account properly in the
burner design and placement phase.

• Although the furnace flue gases are relatively hot, they are
considerably cooler than the flame itself when recirculated
back into the flame root.

 Can be used as a diluent, reducing the flame

temperature.

ACE

(Source: Baukal et al. 2001 – The John Zink Combustion Handbook)

Emission reduction methods – NOx
5.4 Burner technology/design: Water/steam injection

• One way to reduce flame temperature is to inject water or steam into the combustion zone or
NOx
mix it with combustion air.

• Water is typically more effective in reducing NOx emissions compared to steam, but it will
have a bigger impact to the boiler efficiency, which will in both cases decrease.

• This is because of the latent heat absorbed by water and increased amount of flue gases,
which both will in turn increase flue gas losses. Water latent heat can be partly recovered in
condensing boilers.

• Water/steam injection
also increases the plant
operating costs.

(Source: Wunning et al. 2009 – Handbook of Burner Technology for Industrial Furnaces)
Emission reduction methods – NOx
6.1 Boiler design: Furnace shape & dimensions

• The emission performance of a burner does always depend strongly from the boiler it is
installed. NOx
• When estimating the emission levels for a certain fuel, one of the first things to consider are the
furnace dimensions and shape.

o For NOx performance point of view the width and height are the most important factors,
because they determine the base level for internal flue gas recirculation.

o Also the furnace cross sectional shape must be reasonable in order to confirm that
internal FGR is distributed symmetrically to the flame root.

o Length is more important in order to

confirm that there is no incombustible
matter after the furnace.
Emission reduction methods – NOx
6.2 Boiler design: Wall temperature

• Wall temperature of heat transfer surfaces inside the furnace is proportional to the total heat NOx
transfer rate from the flame into the boiler water/steam.

 The hotter the surface, the less heat transfers there can be from the flame.

 The less heat transfer there is, the hotter the flame will be.

 The hotter the flame is, the more NOx emissions it will generate.

• There are multiple factors that have an impact to the wall temperature:

1. Working fluid (water/steam/oil/etc.).

2. Boiler pressure.
3. Furnace wall thickness.
4. Furnace slagging.

• The most important factors in gas combustion are 1. and 2.

• Refractory walls will also affect to the NOx performance by

the same physical mechanism, but it will be discussed
separately in chapter 6.3.
Emission reduction methods – NOx
6.3 Boiler design: Refractory walls

Furnace refractory surfaces affects the flame in

multiple ways:
NOx
• Lowers heat transfer inside the furnace.

 Flame temperature rises. NOx

emissions increase. CO emissions
usually decrease.

• Flame becomes shorter. Decrease in size

depends from the refractory area and
placement.

• Unsymmetrical refractory area (e.g. bottom

refractory) can cause disturbances in the
furnace back flow pattern due to natural
convection and unsymmetrical heat transfer. 135
Relative NOx Example case
130 increase [%]
125
 In worst case scenario this can lead to
120
improper operation with unburnt fuel and
115
excessive emissions.
110
105
Relative area of the bottom refrectory compared to overall wall
100 area [%]
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Emission reduction methods – NOx
6.4 Boiler design: Burner placement and number

NOx
• It is an experimental fact, that NOx emission will increase if
a flame flow pattern is influenced by another flame.

• Therefore optimal burner placement is crucial especially in

cases with multiple burners involved.

• Fundamental aspect for proper burner placement is to find

locations, where single flame flow/backflow pattern is as
similar as possible compared to one burner solutions.

 Not too close to walls, not too close to other flames.

 Burner amount is also to be considered.

• In a multi burner solutions with three or more burners the

swirl direction is an important aspect in order to guarantee
perfect burn out and minimal NOx’s.

(Source: Raiko et al. 2002 – Poltto ja Palaminen)

Emission reduction methods – NOx
7.1 Secondary methods: OFA/reburn

• OFA (Over Fire Air) is a form of air staging that can be utilized in large furnaces with low
NOx
thermal heat loads.

• Reburn is a similar strategy for fuel staging.

 In many cases OFA is also utilized in order to achieve complete burn out.

(Source: Wunning et al. 2009 – Handbook of Burner Technology for Industrial Furnaces, Raiko et al. 2002 – Poltto ja Palaminen)
Emission reduction methods – NOx
7.2 Secondary methods: SCR

• SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) involves injecting a NOx reducing chemical NOx
into an exhaust gas stream in the presence of a catalyst within a specific
temperature window (230 – 600 C).

• It is considered to be very effective NOx

reduction method.

• Ammonia NH3 (or urea) is sprayed into the

flue gas duct. NO reacts to N2:

4NH3 + 4NO + O2  4N2 + 6H2O (R7)

• Disadvantages SCR:

o High costs: investment and operational.

o Catalyst maintenance and/or
regeneration needed.
o Excess pressure drop.
o Not very tolerant to changing operating
conditions.

(Source: Wunning et al. 2009 – Handbook of Burner Technology for Industrial Furnaces, Raiko et al. 2002 – Poltto ja Palaminen)
Emission reduction methods – NOx
7.3 Secondary methods: SNCR

• SNCR (Selective Noncatalytic Reduction) involves injecting a NOx reducing chemical into a NOx
furnace within a specific temperature window (800– 1100 C).
• No catalyst is involved to the process.

• Ammonia NH3 (or urea) sprayed into the furnace.

NO reacts to N2:

4NH3 + 2NO + 2O2  3N2 + 6H2O (R8)

• Disadvantages SNCR:

o High costs: (investment) and operational.

o Reduces NOx but may increase other

undesirable emissions such as CO, N2O and
NH3.

o Heavily depend of the furnace temperature,

works between temperature range 800 –
1100 C.

o Proper mixing not easy to achieve.

(Source: Wunning et al. 2009 – Handbook of Burner Technology for Industrial Furnaces, Raiko et al. 2002 – Poltto ja Palaminen)
Modelling of gaseous flames – Theory

• There are numerous alternative models to be used in burner combustion modelling.

• The right combo for models to be used in a single case is determined by the burner/flame
type and the anwers that we are seeking for.
o For example if we are interested merely on flame dimensions and emissions are not that
important, we can use more simple reaction models.

o Or if we are modelling monoblock burner (with integrated fan) we need to use Sliding meshes or
moving reference frame model.

• It is safe to say that in practical applications the geometry representation are always
generated in 3D-form, since there are no simple 2D cases in real world.
o Lab models are complitely different thing.

o This requirement for 3D is also affecting to our model options, since 3D-meshes are more
complicated, thus resource intensive.

→ Usually we are not able to use time dependent schemes or particle tracking methods
together with combustion modelling.

• Because of the vast amount of available models, I will concentrate only to the ones that
are most often used on Oilon’s applications.

(Source: Wunning et al. 2009 – Handbook of Burner Technology for Industrial Furnaces, Raiko et al. 2002 – Poltto ja Palaminen), Ansys Fluent 18.0 theory manual 2017).
Modelling of gaseous flames – Theory

Basic fluid flow: Heat Transfer: We want to calculate temperature

• Compressible flow
• Incompressible flow
• Gravitational effects?
Turbulence:
• RANS modelling
o k-ε: standard, RNG & realizable
o k-ω: standard, BSL & SST, k-kl-ω
o Transition SST model
o V2F model
o RSM (Reynolds stress model)
• Time dependent modelling
o SAS (Scale adaptive)
o DES (Detached eddy), SDES, SBES
o LES (Large eddy simulation)
o Direct numerical solution
Gas pressure high
• Energy equation We want take reaction
• Energy due to reaction energy into account
High swirl,
• Convection (& Conduction)
We want to calculate
compromise in o Boundary layer models convection heat transfer
resource point of view o Natural convection through the cooling
• Radiation surfaces
o WSGGM
Reasonable assumption
o P-1 (we have been validation
o Rosseland model our models with this)
o DO
o S2S (Surface to surface) Works well in furnace
o MC (Monte Carlo model) applications
Combustion:
• Species Transport Widely used, versatile,
• Non-Premixed includes many models for
• Premixed chemistry acceleration

Reaction chemistry: Needed to predict radical • Partially Premixed

concentrations and slow reactions • Composition PDF Transport model
• Global like CO & NO formation
• Skeletal
• Detailed This is the most common model setup for modeling
natural gas combustion on typical Oilon burner
(Source: Wunning et al. 2009 – Handbook of Burner Technology for Industrial Furnaces, Raiko et al. 2002 – Poltto ja Palaminen), Ansys Fluent 18.0 theory manual 2017).
Modelling of gaseous flames – The practice

Work procedure:

• Calculation initialization
• Calculation start
o Iterating 1 hour…
o Iterating 2 hours…
o Iterating 1 day…..
o Iterating 1 week……..

• And suddenly => RESULTS!

Modelling of gaseous flames – Benefits

NOx Emission Reduction in Power Plant Burners 1975–2017

 Earlier progress was mainly achieved with laboratory tests and full-scale prototypes.

 Lately (last 10 years) more and more results are gained with computer simulations (CFD).

 Oilon ACE burner is the first fully CFD-developed burner model.

250 120
Current NOx levels
TP-burner
S-burner 100
200
NOx level [mg/nm3] ref O2 = 3 %

NOx level [ppmv] ref O2 = 3 %

80
LENOX
150

60
ULTRAX
100
40

50 ACE
FGR 20

catalytic
Year
0 0
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020
Modelling of gaseous flames – Case ACE

• Oilon ACE is the first fully CFD-developed burner model.

• It means that CFD was for the first time used as a primary design tool to guide and control
the rest of the development process.
• Therefore the role of CFD is much bigger than conventionally in this particular development
project.

3. Virtual performance optimization

1. Concept planning

5. Power scaling and

commercialization

2. Initial modelling work

4. Prototype phase
Modelling of gaseous flames – Case ACE

After the concept planning phase an initial

Velocity magnitude CO mole fraction
modelling work was started.

It was carried out with fast-paced case by

case modelling with simple global reaction
mechanisms, light meshes and numerous
boundary condition assumptions.

1. Development of basic burner functions: Temperature

 Reaching desirable thermal power

with standard residual oxygen.

 Obtaining desirable flame stability.

2. Concept development potential

Reaction heat
verification:

 Comparing flame temperature

profiles to existing products with
valid measurement data. Temperature

3. Initial emission performance

optimization.
Modelling of gaseous flames – Case ACE

Initial modelling was followed by performance optimization, which was carried out with more detailed
modelling that included skeletal reaction mechanisms and more comprehensive meshes with minimal
boundary condition assumptions.

Burner External FGR influence to emissions and stability

adjustment
pre testing Air/fuel staging optimization
Nozzle pressure optimization
Internal FGR optimization Emissions

Definition of flame dimensions

Flame temperature
Fuel variation

Stability control
(eg. OH-radical
formation)

Furnace geometry
influence to emissions
and stability
Modelling of gaseous flames – Case ACE

Lab tests were straightforward and fast to conduct because of the virtual experience gained from CFD modelling.

1. Initial testing  good agreement to CFD-models.

2. Performance optimization through whole range of variables such as P, O2,res, FGR-amount.

3. Identical testing procedure and combustion optimization with liquid fuels (light/heavy oil).
 Modelling of gaseous flames – Case ACE

1. Good agreement by comparing the model results to visible flame.

Primary flame photo Primary flame modelled Reaction heat (visible part of the flame is red) Temperature

2. Good agreement by comparing the modelled results to measurement data.

30 30 30 100

Relative NOx,dry,O2=3% [%]

NOx (dry, O2,ref = 3%) [ppmv]

90
CO (dry, O2,ref = 3%) [ppmv]

25 25 25 CFD model
80
Burner Δp [mbar]

20 20 20 measurements
70
15 15 15
60
10 10 10 50

5 5 5 40
FGR amount [%]
0 30
0 0
modelled measured 0 5 10 15 20
modelled measured modelled measured
Thank you for your attention!

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