NO{sub x} and CO emissions from an aerovalve pulse combustor

The Morgantown Energy Technology Center (METC) has an ongoing research program to investigate the benefits of pulse combustion in advanced energy systems. The overall goals are to study and improve the pressure-gain performance of pulse combustors, to investigate the effects of pressure on operating characteristics, and ultimately to determine the feasibility of using pulse combustors in gas turbine applications [Gemmen et al., 1992, 1993]. An additional goal is to ensure that the combustor designs under consideration produce low levels of NO{sub x} and CO pollutant emissions. The gas sampling and analysis system is currently under development. Preliminary data on NO{sub x} and CO emissions concentrations have been obtained and appear encouraging. After further leak checking, system debugging, and calibrating are completed, new experimental data should be available to be reported at the conference. In addition, a modeling effort is being initiated to aid in the interpretation of the experimental results. Some details of the experimental and modeling approaches are given below.