NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF COMBUSTION OF NATURAL GAS WITH HIGH-TEMPERATURE AIR

ABSTRACT This article deals with Ihe technology of burning natural gas with high-temperature air and large quantities of flue gas. The objective of this work is to assess the potential of several combustion models for their abilities to predict characteristics of the new combustion technology. Three numerical models have been used: (a) an Eddy-Break-Up model with a two-step reaction scheme, (b) an Eddy-Dissipation Concept model with chemical equilibrium and (c) pdf/mixture fraction model with equilibrium, non-adiabatic look up tables for chemistry. The nitric oxide post processors have incorporated thermal and prompt mechanisms as well as the NOx reburning mechanism. The computational results have been compared with both in-furnace measurements (temperature, O2, CO2, CO, CH4, NO, velocities, radiative heat flux) and with the measured furnace exit parameters. All three models have correctly reproduced the characteristics of the high temperature air combustion, namely the uniformity of the temperature field, high radiative fluxes and low NOx and CO emission. With the exception of a small region located within the natural gas jets, the chemical equilibrium assumption with respect to both natural gas combustion and equilibrium O, OH and N radicals have resulted in predictions of very good quality. The Eddy Dissipation Concept model and the pdf/mixture fraction model have provided almost identical results. The tested combustion models cannot describe the chemistry and temperature field in the fuel jet region. This is partially caused by imperfections in predicting the entrainment of the weak methane jet interacting with the strong combustion air stream. A more comprehensive understanding of the chemistry of natural gas combustion under fuel-rich conditions with comburent containing 3-4% oxygen is required to develop appropriate non-equilibrium sub-models for this fuel jet region.

[1]  Norbert Peters,et al.  Laseroptical investigation of highly preheated combustion with strong exhaust gas recirculation , 1998 .

[2]  Stephen B. Pope,et al.  Computations of turbulent combustion: Progress and challenges , 1991 .

[3]  A. Peters,et al.  Mathematical Modeling of a 2. 25 MWt Swirling Natural Gas Flame. Part 1: Eddy Break-up Concept for Turbulent Combustion; Probability Density Function Approach for Nitric Oxide Formation , 1995 .

[4]  G. Soete Overall reaction rates of NO and N2 formation from fuel nitrogen , 1975 .

[5]  J. Wunning,et al.  Flameless oxidation to reduce thermal no-formation , 1997 .

[6]  Alessandro Saponaro,et al.  Zero-dimensional analysis of diluted oxidation of methane in rich conditions , 2000 .

[7]  R. Weber,et al.  Modeling of Oxy-Natural Gas Combustion Chemistry , 2000 .

[8]  Felix Jiri Weinberg,et al.  Burners Producing Large Excess Enthalpies , 1973 .

[9]  C. Westbrook,et al.  Chemical kinetic modeling of hydrocarbon combustion , 1984 .

[10]  A. Gupta,et al.  Homogenization and stabilization during combustion of hydrocarbons with preheated air , 1998 .

[11]  D. K. Edwards,et al.  Molecular Gas Band Radiation , 1976 .

[12]  Michael J. Pilling,et al.  Evaluated Kinetic Data for Combustion Modelling , 1992 .

[13]  A M Russell,et al.  Science and technology. , 1972, Science.

[14]  C. Bowman Kinetics of pollutant formation and destruction in combustion , 1975 .

[15]  Pedro J. Coelho,et al.  Numerical simulation of a mild combustion burner , 2001 .

[16]  R. Weber,et al.  Combustion of natural gas with high-temperature air and large quantities of flue gas , 2000 .

[17]  Masashi Katsuki,et al.  The science and technology of combustion in highly preheated air , 1998 .

[18]  G. Rybicki Radiative transfer , 2019, Climate Change and Terrestrial Ecosystem Modeling.

[19]  A. Gupta,et al.  Effect of Air Preheat Temperature and Oxygen Concentration on Flame Structure and Emission , 1999 .

[20]  Roman Weber,et al.  On emerging furnace design methodology that provides substantial energy savings and drastic reductions in CO2, CO and NOx emissions , 1999 .

[21]  Roman Weber,et al.  A computationally efficient procedure for calculating gas radiative properties using the exponential wide band model , 1996 .

[22]  B. Magnussen On the structure of turbulence and a generalized eddy dissipation concept for chemical reaction in turbulent flow , 1981 .

[23]  N. Peters Laminar flamelet concepts in turbulent combustion , 1988 .

[24]  A. A. Westenberg Kinetics of NO and CO in Lean, Premixed Hydrocarbon-Air Flames , 1971 .

[25]  Roman Weber,et al.  Computing of Oxy-Natural Gas Flames using Both a Global Combustion Scheme and a Chemical Equilibrium Procedure , 2000 .

[26]  B. Hjertager,et al.  On mathematical modeling of turbulent combustion with special emphasis on soot formation and combustion , 1977 .