OCR Text |
Show Also in the burner area, Prof. Glassman at Princeton is conducting a scoping investigation of asymmetric whirl combustion, a novel method of combusting gaseous fuels to achieve exceptionally low NOx emissions. And, Prof. Turns at Penn State is determining why fuel injection recirculation (in which recirculated combustion gases are added to the gas fuel) is more effective than conventional flue gas recirculation. The petroleum refming industry, through the Petroleum Environmental Research Forum (PERF) and the natural gas industry are joining DOE in sponsoring an effort at Sandia and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories to determine how the combustion of gaseous fuels produces toxic emissions. This project is focusing on air toxics, which may be considered to be the "NOx of the '90s" , in preparation for the regulations which are to become effective in the year 2000. If it is known how combustion air toxics form, it is likely that their emissions level can be minimized by using specifically designed burners or by applying designated operating requirements to the combustion of gaseous fuels. Projects with both an environmental and efficiency focus include a fundamental investigation by Prof. Zinn at Georgia Tech which is supporting the development of a black liquor gasifier; a high temperature porous radiant burner by Alzeta which is now in the demonstration phase, destroying volatile organic hydrocarbon emissions at a Silicon Valley semiconductor manufacturer host site. Also, the University of New Hampshire is seeking a more economical method of producing oxygen than the present commercial production methods. Such a system would have application to oxy-fuel ruing which was rust demonstrated by DOE at Gallo Glass and which is now used by 15% of the glass industry. Also underway is the development of a workpiece analyzer by a Surface Combustion - Textron Defense Systems team. The workpiece analyzer is a laser-based acoustic system to measure the temperature of metals undergoing heat treatment in industrial furnaces. Additionally, several industry oriented projects are expected to result from an industrial heating equipment research solicitation conducted earlier this year. 6 |