OCR Text |
Show SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS A high-temperature combustion research facility has been developed at the UCICL for the analysis of full-scale natural gas burners in simulated industrial applications. The initial research addresses the reduction of NOx emissions from burners operating on thennal oxidizers for the destruction of VOCs. The furnace simulator was suitably modified to emulate the most significant aspect of VOC oxidizers, that being the high furnace oxygen content. A series of tests on a production-line burner have been conducted in which the burner was maintained at one load while the furnace oxygen content was varied. Emission test results indicated the importance of furnace geometry in burner perfonnance, and revealed an intriguing NOx emission behavior which will serve as the subject of upcoming studies. This new facility has the capability to simulate a variety of industrial environments. Tests conducted so far have demonstrated the furnace's capability to operate at several furnace temperatures, oxygen contents, and loads, as well as to simulate batch and continuous operations with its novel twin exhaust system. Research programs with bulk emissions have been successful. Future immediate plans include designed experiments to detennine the emission behavior of experimental full-size burners when key operational and geometric design parameters are varied. In the next year in-furnace and in-flame equipment will be developed to allow visual, thennal, extractive, and laser probing of burner flames and the furnace environment. Equipment will be added for air preheat and for control of combustion air moisture. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This program is supported by the California Institute of Energy Efficiency and the Southern California Gas Company. Important technical assistance, burners and combustion equipment were donated by Maxon Corporation. Special thanks are extended to Mr. Bill Cummings of Maxon for his unfailing support. Appreciation is also extended to Mr. Antonio Boleda, an undergraduate researcher in the laboratory, for his assistance in furnace operations and in acquiring the data. |