Optimizing Ammonia Injection in Bio-Fuelled CFBCs

Author(s):  
Edgardo Coda Zabetta ◽  
Patrik Yrjas ◽  
Mikko Hupa ◽  
Juha Roppo ◽  
Marko Nylund

The reduction of nitrogen oxides (NOx) via ammonia injection (NH3) was investigated for circulating fluidized bed combustors (CFBCs) fuelled with mixtures of coal, peat, wood, bark, and logging residues. The reference boiler was the Alholmen Kraft, i.e. the largest co-fired unit in the world (550 MWth, 194 kg/s, 165 bar, 545 °C). The boiler featured ammonia injectors at the cyclone. Fuel composition, gas composition, and temperature were measured at suitable locations along the boiler while operating with diverse fuel mixtures. A chemical model was developed for analyzing the NOx reduction and was validated against measurements. The model accounts for the elemental composition of fuels, the composition of gases at the cyclone and in the stack, and the profile of temperature from cyclone to stack. The chemical reactions downstream the ammonia injection are described by gas-phase detailed chemical kinetics and accounting for ideal mixing. Measurements and simulations reveal that NOx reductions of over 50% are achievable for any fuel mixture and with moderate amounts of ammonia. Reductions are mainly affected by the temperature. All simulations show the existence of a maximum reduction vs. temperature, whose extent and location is affected by the concentrations of CO, NO, and the molar ratio [NH3]injected/[NO]cyclone. Simulations also indicate that with fuel mixtures other than the mixtures used in the reference boiler the maximum reduction is also affected by the concentrations of H2O, O2, CxHy, and N2O. Finally, simulations suggest an additional strategy for reducing emissions in co-fired CFBCs, where the N2O formed from coal is used to support the NOx reduction by ammonia, thus reducing NOx while maintaining acceptable N2O emissions. Further investigation is necessary for clarifying the details of this strategy. Under all circumstances, the only N-based pollutants predicted in detectable amounts are NO and N2O.

Author(s):  
Changsui Zhao ◽  
Wenxuan Wang ◽  
Fengjun Wang ◽  
Chuanmin Chen ◽  
Song Han

Petroleum cokes including delayed coke, fluid coke, etc. are byproducts of solid residuals from the crude refining process. Using high sulfur petroleum coke as alternative fuel is feasible owing to its high fixed carbon and low ash content, but petroleum cokes are difficult to ignite due to their low volatile content and containing substantial concentrations of vanadium, nickel, nitrogen and sulfur, which can be sources of pollution emission and fireside fouling or corrosion problem. Co-firing petroleum coke and coal in circulating fluidized bed (CFB) is an ideal solution for those problems. Emission characteristic of gaseous pollutants from co-firing petroleum coke and coal is investigated in the paper. Experiments were carried out in a 0.6 MWt pilot-scale CFB combustor with the total height of 12m from the air distributor to the exit of combustor. The concentrations of SO2, NO, N2O, O2, CO2 and CO were measured on line by the gas analyzer. The effect of several parameters, in term of the primary air percentage, air excess coefficient, bed temperature, Ca/S molar ratio and percentage of petroleum coke in mixed fuel on the emission of SO2, NO, N2O is verified in experiments. Experimental results show that SO2 concentration in flue gas reduces with increase in the primary air percentage, excess air coefficient and Ca/S ratio for all kinds of fuel mixtures, whereas NO, N2O concentration rises with increase in the primary air percentage and excess air. When the bed temperature changes, the NO concentration varying trend is opposite to N2O. There is an optimal temperature for sulfur retention. Co-firing of petroleum coke and coal with different mixing ratio in CFB can be stable, efficient and environment friendly.


Author(s):  
Brian Hollon ◽  
Erlendur Steinthorsson ◽  
Adel Mansour ◽  
Vincent McDonell ◽  
Howard Lee

This paper discusses the development and testing of a full-scale micro-mixing lean-premix injector for hydrogen and syngas fuels that demonstrated ultra-low emissions and stable operation without flashback for high-hydrogen fuels at representative full-scale operating conditions. The injector was fabricated using Macrolamination technology, which is a process by which injectors are manufactured from bonded layers. The injector utilizes sixteen micro-mixing cups for effective and rapid mixing of fuel and air in a compact package. The full scale injector is rated at 1.3 MWth when operating on natural gas at 12.4 bar (180 psi) combustor pressure. The injector operated without flash back on fuel mixtures ranging from 100% natural gas to 100% hydrogen and emissions were shown to be insensitive to operating pressure. Ultra-low NOx emissions of 3 ppm were achieved at a flame temperature of 1750 K (2690 °F) using a fuel mixture containing 50% hydrogen and 50% natural gas by volume with 40% nitrogen dilution added to the fuel stream. NOx emissions of 1.5 ppm were demonstrated at a flame temperature over 1680 K (2564 °F) using the same fuel mixture with only 10% nitrogen dilution, and NOx emissions of 3.5 ppm were demonstrated at a flame temperature of 1730 K (2650 °F) with only 10% carbon dioxide dilution. Finally, using 100% hydrogen with 30% carbon dioxide dilution, 3.6 ppm NOx emissions were demonstrated at a flame temperature over 1600 K (2420 °F). Superior operability was achieved with the injector operating at temperatures below 1470 K (2186 °F) on a fuel mixture containing 87% hydrogen and 13% natural gas. The tests validated the micro-mixing fuel injector technology and the injectors show great promise for use in future gas turbine engines operating on hydrogen, syngas or other fuel mixtures of various compositions.


Author(s):  
Jinkwan Song ◽  
Jong Guen Lee

Using a mixture of water and diesel fuel is considered a way to reduce gas emissions including NOx and COx in the gas turbine. This paper presents experimental results on spray characteristics of the water-diesel fuel mixture in an air crossflow. A plain-orifice type injector of 0.508 mm in diameter is employed in the research. Pure water, pure diesel fuel, and water-diesel fuel mixtures with different mixing ratios are used to compare their spray characteristics. In order to observe spray behaviors in different breakup regimes, Weber numbers for water of 30 and 125 are chosen as the operating condition and the corresponding Weber numbers for diesel fuel at the same conditions are 92 and 382, respectively. Momentum flux ratios are 10 and 20. A tee connection and a subsequent static mixer are employed at upstream of fuel injector to mix two liquids. Phase Doppler Particle Analyzer (PDPA) measurement is performed to measure droplet distributions and mean drop size at various mixture ratios, and planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF) technique with dyeing either diesel or water is used to look into the primary breakup process. PDPA data show that the spray characteristics of water-diesel fuel mixtures such as mean drop size and number density distribution can be predicted from the measured drop size distribution of pure fluids by weighting those quantities by mass fraction of each fluid, indicating that the water and diesel are injected alternately without significant mixing between the two fluids. A short transition of liquid flow from water-to-diesel or diesel-to-water produces small fraction of relatively bigger droplets.


2004 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaakko Saastamoinen

New process concepts in energy production and biofuel, which are much more reactive than coal, call for better controllability of the combustion in circulating fluidized bed boilers. Simplified analysis describing the dynamics of combustion in fluidized bed and circulating fluidized bed boilers is presented. Simple formulas for the estimation of the responses of the burning rate and fuel inventory to changes in fuel feeding are presented. Different changes in the fuel feed, such as an impulse, step change, linear increase and cyclic variation are considered. The dynamics of the burning with a change in the feed rate depends on the fuel reactivity and particle size. The response of a fuel mixture with a wide particle size distribution can be found by summing up the effect of different fuel components and size fractions. Methods to extract reaction parameters form dynamic tests in laboratory scale reactors are discussed. The residence time of fuel particles in the bed and the resulting char inventory in the bed decrease with increasing fuel reactivity and differences between coal and biomass is studied. The char inventory affects the stability of combustion. The effect of char inventory and oscillations in the fuel feed on the oscillation of the flue gas oxygen concentration is studied by model calculation. A trend found by earlier measurements is explained by the model.


Author(s):  
H. H.-W. Funke ◽  
N. Beckmann ◽  
S. Abanteriba

Abstract The negative effects on the earth’s climate make the reduction of the potent greenhouse gases carbon-dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) an imperative of the combustion research. Hydrogen based gas turbine systems are in the focus of the energy producing industry, due to their potential to eliminate CO2 emissions completely as combustion product, if the fuel is produced from renewable and sustainable energy sources. Due to the difference in the physical properties of hydrogen-rich fuel mixtures compared to common gas turbine fuels, well established combustion systems cannot be directly applied for Dry Low NOx (DLN) hydrogen combustion. The paper presents initial test data of a recently designed low emission Micromix combustor adapted to flexible fuel operation with variable fuel mixtures of hydrogen and methane. Based on previous studies, targeting low emission combustion of pure hydrogen and dual fuel operation with hydrogen and syngas (H2/CO 90/10 vol.%), a FuelFlex Micromix combustor for variable hydrogen methane mixtures has been developed. For facilitating the experimental low pressure testing the combustion chamber test rig is adapted for flexible fuel operation. A computer-controlled gas mixing facility is designed and installed to continuously provide accurate and homogeneous hydrogen methane fuel mixtures to the combustor. An evaluation of all major error sources has been conducted. In the presented experimental studies, the integration-optimized FuelFlex Micromix combustor geometry is tested at atmospheric pressure with hydrogen methane fuel mixtures ranging from 57 vol.% to 100 vol.% hydrogen in the fuel. For evaluating the combustion characteristics, the results of experimental exhaust gas analyses are applied. Despite the design compromise, that takes into account the significantly different fuel and combustion properties of the applied fuels, the initial results confirm promising operating behaviour, combustion efficiency and pollutant emission levels for flexible fuel operation. The investigated combustor module exceeds 99.4% combustion efficiency for hydrogen contents of 80–100% in the fuel mixture and shows NOx emissions less than 4 ppm corrected to 15 vol.% O2 at the design point.


2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Liu ◽  
Ho Kyong Shon ◽  
Yousef Okour ◽  
Weikun Song ◽  
Saravanamuthu Vigneswaran

AbstractThe objectives of this study were to prepare a high-performance bismuth titanate photocatalyst and to develop a novel photocatalytic reactor with three-phase internal circulating fluidized bed photoreactor (TPICFBP). Bismuth titanate photocatalyst was hydrothermally prepared under optimum operating parameters such as hydrothermal temperature, reaction time and molar ratio of Bi to Ti. The photocatalytic activity of bismuth titanate using TPICFBP was evaluated for the photocatalytic degradation of Acid Red G (ARG). The photodegradation of ARG over Bi


Author(s):  
Homam Nikpey ◽  
Mohsen Assadi ◽  
Peter Breuhaus

Previously published studies have addressed modifications to the engines when operating with biogas, i.e. a low heating value (LHV) fuel. This study focuses on mapping out the possible biogas share in a fuel mixture of biogas and natural gas in micro combined heat and power (CHP) installations without any engine modifications. This contributes to a reduction in CO2 emissions from existing CHP installations and makes it possible to avoid a costly upgrade of biogas to the natural gas quality as well as engine modifications. Moreover, this approach allows the use of natural gas as a “fallback” solution in the case of eventual variations of the biogas composition and or shortage of biogas, providing improved availability. In this study, the performance of a commercial 100kW micro gas turbine (MGT) is experimentally evaluated when fed by varying mixtures of natural gas and biogas. The MGT is equipped with additional instrumentation, and a gas mixing station is used to supply the demanded fuel mixtures from zero biogas to maximum possible level by diluting natural gas with CO2. A typical biogas composition with 0.6 CH4 and 0.4 CO2 (in mole fraction) was used as reference, and corresponding biogas content in the supplied mixtures was computed. The performance changes due to increased biogas share were studied and compared with the purely natural gas fired engine. This paper presents the test rig setup used for the experimental activities and reports results, demonstrating the impact of burning a mixture of biogas and natural gas on the performance of the MGT. Comparing with when only natural gas was fired in the engine, the electrical efficiency was almost unchanged and no significant changes in operating parameters were observed. It was also shown that burning a mixture of natural gas and biogas contributes to a significant reduction in CO2 emissions from the plant.


2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed S. Ibrahim ◽  
Samer F. Ahmed

Global warming and the ever increasing emission levels of combustion engines have forced the engine manufacturers to look for alternative fuels for high engine performance and low emissions. Gaseous fuel mixtures such as biogas, syngas, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) are new alternative fuels that have great potential to be used with combustion engines. In the present work, laminar flame speeds (SL) of alternative fuel mixtures, mainly LPG (60% butane, 20% isobutane, and 20% propane) and methane have been studies using the tube method at ambient conditions. In addition, the effect of adding other fuels and gases such as hydrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen on SL has also been investigated. The results show that any change in the fuel mixture composition directly affects SL. Measurements of SL of CH4/LPG–air mixtures have found to be about 56 cm/s at ø = 1.1 with 60% LPG in the mixture, which is higher than SL of both pure fuels at the same ø. Moreover, the addition of H2 and O2 to the fuel mixtures increases SL notably, while the addition of CO2/N2 mixture to the fuel mixture, to simulate the EGR effect, decreases SL of CH4/LPG–air mixtures.


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