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Show ADVANCED DIAGNOSTIC EVALUATION OF AN ULTRA-LOW NOx INDUSTRIAL GAS BURNER ABSTRACT Neil C. Widmer, Jerald A. Cole, Richard R. Koppang Energy and Environmental Research Corporation 18 Mason Irvine, CA 92718 Robert V. Gemmer Gas Research Institute 8600 W. Bryn Mawr Avenue Chicago, IT.. 60631 Wayne Gensler Selas Corporation of America Dresher, PA 19025 Energy and Environmental Research Corporation (EER), Selas Corporation of America and the Gas Research Institute (GRI) have teamed to demonstrate the utility of advanced laser diagnostics and conventional diagnostics in studying an ultra-low NOx industrial gas burner. The test platform is the GRIlSandia Burner Engineering Research Laboratory (BERL) located at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, CA. This laboratory is used for the application of advanced diagnostic methods to study pollution formation and characterize burner performance. Tests conducted over an eight week schedule in the BERL parametrically evaluated a modified Selas K988 burner (U.S. Patent No. 5,271,729). The tests were conducted under regimes of operation where NOx emissions as low as 7 ppm (dry, 3% 02), or O.OllbIMMBtu, were achieved at full load with over ten percent excess air. Measurements identified regions of high ·CH radical concentrations, characterized the flame structure, the staged jet mixing pattern, the in-flame gas species concentrations and the inflame gas temperatures. Some of the advanced diagnostics employed during this burner study included laser doppler velocimetry to study near burner gas flow velocity and direction, Mie scattering to capture images of the burner's jet mixing structure and chemiluminescence to identify high concentrations of ·CH radicals in the flame zone. Results from the advanced diagnostic techniques are helpful in identifying potential regions of NOx formation and providing information suited towards refining the burner design for further NOx reductions under general furnace (rather than ideal laboratory) conditions. INTRODUCTION This paper reports the interim results of a GRI-sponsored study of a specially modified gas-fired process heater burner developed by Selas Corporation of America. This effort was conducted at the Burner Engineering Research Laboratory (BERL). The BERL, a joint program of GRI and the U.S. DOE, is located at Sandia National Laboratories' Combustion Research Facility in Livermore California. The aim of this study is to investigate the physical and chemical phenomena that allow the subject burner to operate with low NOx emissions under ideal conditions, and with negligible hydrocarbon emissions. The understanding developed from these types of studies can be used to guide the development of ultra-low NOx burners and ultimately to help industrial users comply with existing and pending air pollution regulations such as those mandated under Title I and Title III of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA). 1 |
