Experiments were carried out to obtain data on the efficiency of nitric oxide (NO) reduction by reburning under oxy-fuel conditions. The work was carried out in a 100 kW test facility fired with propane. The data were analyzed by means of a combustion model, which included a detailed description of the reburning chemistry. The importance of several combustion parameters on the reburning efficiency was studied: inlet oxygen concentration, flue gas recycle ratio, temperature, and stoichiometric ratio. The inlet oxygen concentration was kept between 25 and 37 vol % and the burner stoichiometric ratio between 0.7 and 1.15. NO was injected in the oxidizer. As expected, similar to air-firing, reburning in oxy-fuel is favored by substoichiometric conditions. A decrease in combustion temperature, caused by a lowered stoichiometric ratio, is shown to be advantageous for reduction of NO under oxy-fuel conditions. The effect of inlet oxygen concentration on reburning is not significant as long as the combustion conditions are fuel-lean. However, the amount of recycled flue gas, which increases with decreasing oxygen content, significantly improves the total reduction. Instead, when the stoichiometric ratio is decreased, the recycle flow of the flue gas is reduced, which, to some extent, counteracts the otherwise positive effect of fuel-rich conditions in the flame zone in oxy-fuel conditions. Thus, during oxygen-rich combustion, the total reburning efficiency in oxy-fuel combustion is superior to once-through reburning in air-firing, but during substoichiometric conditions, the reduction in air and oxy-fuel combustion is comparable.

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The first reference gas mixtures of sulfur-free natural gas odorants that are traceable to the International System of Units (SI) have been produced and their compositions validated. These mixtures, which contain methyl acrylate and ethyl acrylate at amount fractions between 1.1 and 2.1 μmol mol(-1), can be used to underpin measurements of sulfur-free odorants, which are increasingly being used to odorize natural gas in transmission networks as they have less harmful properties than traditional sulfur-containing odorants. The reference gas mixtures produced have been shown to be stable in passivated aluminum cylinders for at least 8 months and have been validated (to within 6% or less) by interlaboratory measurements at three National Measurement Institutes. The stability of methyl acrylate and ethyl acrylate in gas sampling bags has been investigated, and the challenges of analyzing 2-ethyl-3-methylpyrazine, which is used as a stabilizer in sulfur-free odorants, are also briefly discussed.