Compact Waste Incinerator Based on Vortex Combustion

Abstract Active control of fluid dynamics has been used to enhance mixing in incinerator afterburner experiments in order to increase the DRE of a waste surrogate. Experiments were conducted in two stages: a detailed study of the concept of utilizing vortex combustion for incineration in a small scale flame burning gaseous fuel and an extension to a more practical system using liquid fuel with significantly higher heat release. The open loop active control system is based on the concept of combustion in periodic axisymmetric vortices. Acoustic excitation is used to stabilize coherent vortices in the air flow. Acoustic excitation and automotive fuel injectors, were used to control gaseous or liquid fuel injection, respectively, such that the fuel is introduced into the air vortices at the right time during their formation. It is shown that this control methodology leads lo improved waste destruction. A gaseous fueled actively controlled 4.5 kW incinerator was able to surpass 99.997% DRE (destruction and re...