Effects of partial pressure of oxygen on the stability of axial, oxy-coal, turbulent diffusion flames: Topical report task 8

Oxy-fuel combustion of pulverized coal with flue gas recirculation is potentially one of the few technologies that may allow CO2 sequestration technologies to be applied to existing coal-fired boilers. One issue of interest is to understand and predict the effects of the near-burner zone environment consisting of O2 and CO2 (instead of N2). The purpose of this research is to better understand the effect of partial pressure of O2 (PO2) on flame stability, which becomes another degree of freedom not present during air combustion. The data obtained were designed to form an experimental basis for validation of coal-jet ignition models. These models can play a useful role in predicting flame attachment and flame stability for retrofit of oxy-coal combustion into existing boilers. Type zero axial flames, which can be accurately characterized, are chosen to represent the near-burner zones of tangentially fired furnaces or cement kilns, where burner swirl is absent.