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Show Abstract The Development of a Low NOx High Intensity Burner Dr. A.J. (Art) Stretton Research Engineer AECOMETRIC CORPORATION The Conamara Group Richmond Hill, Ontario, L4C 2Z9 Tighter emission standards and rising fuel costs have created a market for high intensity burners which outperform standard turbulent flame burners. AECOmetric High Intensity Burners feature a swirling vortex which completely mixes the fuel and air to provide stoichiometric combustion efficiency and flame temperatures of about 3000 degrees Fahrenheit. The Conamara Group is engaged in a research program in conjunction with the National Research Council and Consumers Gas to reduce the NOx emissions from 100 ppmv to under 20 ppmv. Experimental results will be presented to illustrate the impact of secondary air schemes on the CO and NOx performance of the burner. Introduction The current inventory of combustion systems in many modern industrial processes reflect energy and maintenance concerns that are several decades old. Prior to 1972, the low cost of fossil fuels limited performance expectations to relatively complete combustion without adversely affecting the operating life of process equipment. After the fuel crisis, there has been an effort to produce burners capable of near theoretical efficiency with simple rugged designs to meet the increasing needs of industrial process heating. One such improvement is reflected in the development of the AECOmetric High Intensity Burner. The original design was developed by the Ontario Research Foundation for Gulf Oil Canada between 1966 and 1971. The goal was to create a burner capable of cleanly burning very heavy oils with "vortometric" combustion, meaning that the flame resides in a vortex and uses zero excess air (stoichiometric conditions). The prime benefits were the drastic reduction of excess air (a parasitic heat load on the system) and improved heat transfer to the load. By reducing total air mass for a given energy release, there are two important benefits that result. First, the fuel cost of heating excess air is eliminated, and secondly, total emissions mass is reduced by a corresponding volume. Page 1 |
