Study of three burner configurations and their effect on pollutant emission characteristics of the furnace

In diffusion combustion systems, turbulent mixing of the oxidant (usually air) with fuel is affected by the burner design. Enhanced mixing process can help to tailor the performance of the flame and pollutant emission characteristics of the furnace. Hence making any changes to the burner configuration might lead to higher thermal efficiency and lower pollutant emissions. These are crucial because of the limited fossil fuel supplies of the earth and its delicately balanced environment. In the present work, three different methane burners and the corresponding pollutant emissions are studied numerically. Heat transfer rate along with NOx and CO emissions from the furnace in the three cases are compared. Combustion in a natural gas-fired furnace is simulated to verify the simulation methodology and the solution algorithm and results are compared with those of the existing references. According to the results, even small changes to the burner design can dramatically change pollutant emission levels

Keywords:

Pollutant emission , burner design , turbulent mixing , methane combustion , CFD