Low NOx Natural Gas Burner Development at ABB

Environmental considerations are affecting virtually every aspect of the power industry. To help the industry meet continuously changing emissions limits, ABB has embarked on the development of low NOx burners for natural gas, wall-fired boilers, based on both internally-staged diffusion and premixed combustion systems. Data collected during the evaluation of these large laboratory-scale (70x10^6 Btu/hr) natural gas combustion systems have shown that the dominant variable affecting NOx emissions levels is flame temperature. ABB burners developed on the basis of either diffusion or premixed combustion have achieved NOx concentrations below 20 ppm at ABB Power Plant Laboratories in Windsor, CT. The ABB LNV™ low NOx venturi diffusion burner offers better performance for moderately low NOx requirements. With flue gas recirculation, the ABB Environmental (EV) premixed burner achieved ultra-low NOx emissions.