Fuels produced from renewable sources offer an economically viable pathway to curtail emissions of greenhouse gases. Two such liquid fuels in common usage are biodiesel and ethanol derived from soybean, corn, or other food crops. In recent years, significant effort has been devoted to identify alternate feedstock sources and conversion techniques to diversify the biofuels portfolio. In this study, we have measured emissions from flames of diesel, biodiesel, emulsified bio-oil, and diesel-biodiesel blends. Experiments are conducted in an atmospheric pressure burner with an air-atomized injector and swirling primary air around it to replicate typical features of a gas turbine combustor. Experiments were conducted for fixed air and fuel flow rates, while the airflow split between the injector and the coflow swirler was varied. Results show a significant reduction in emissions as the fraction of total air fed into the atomizer is increased. Blue flames, reminiscent of premixed combustion, and low emissions of nitric oxides and carbon monoxide were observed for all fuel blends. In general, the emissions from biofuel flames were comparable or lower than those from diesel flames.

No abstract

Swirl-stabilized combustion and porous inert medium (PIM) combustion are two methods that have been used extensively, although independently, for flame stabilization. In this study, the two concepts are combined so that the porous insert serves as a passive device to mitigate combustion noise and instabilities. A properly shaped PIM is placed within the combustor to directly influence the turbulent flow field and vortical and/or shear layer structures associated with the outer recirculation zone and inner recirculation zone. After presenting the concept, the paper provides a conceptual understanding of the changes in the mean flow field caused by the PIM. Combustion experiments were conducted at atmospheric pressure using HfC/SiC coated open-cell foam structures of different pore sizes and shapes. Measurements of sound pressure level (SPL) and CO and NOx emissions were taken for different equivalence ratios and reactant flow rates. Combustion mode and PIM geometry to decrease the SPL are identified. Results show that the porous insert can reduce combustion noise without adversely affecting NOx and CO emissions. Experiments show that the proposed concept can also mitigate combustion instabilities encountered at high reactant flow rate.

Swirl-stabilized combustion and porous inert medium (PIM) combustion are two methods that have been used extensively, although independently, for flame stabilization. In this study, the two concepts are combined so that the porous insert serves as a passive device to mitigate combustion noise and instabilities. A properly shaped PIM is placed within the combustor to directly influence the turbulent flow field and vortical and/or shear layer structures associated with the outer recirculation zone and inner recirculation zone. After presenting the concept, the paper provides a conceptual understanding of the changes in the mean flow field caused by the PIM. Combustion experiments were conducted at atmospheric pressure using HfC/SiC coated open-cell foam structures of different pore sizes and shapes. Measurements of sound pressure level (SPL) and CO and NO x emissions were taken for different equivalence ratios and reactant flow rates. Combustion mode and PIM geometry to decrease the SPL are identified. The results show that the porous insert can reduce combustion noise without adversely affecting NO x and CO emissions. Experiments show that the proposed concept can also mitigate combustion instabilities encountered at high reactant flow rate.

Lean Premixed Combustion (LPM) is a widely used approach to effectively reduce pollutant emissions in advanced gas turbines. Most LPM combustion systems employ the swirling flow with a bluff body at the center to stabilize the flame. The flow recirculation region established downstream of the bluff-body brings combustion products in contact with fresh reactants to sustain the reactions. However, such systems are prone to combustion oscillations and flame flashback, especially if high hydrogen containing fuels are used. Low-Swirl Injector (LSI) is an innovative approach, whereby a freely propagating LPM flame is stabilized in a diverging flow field surrounded by a weakly-swirling flow. The LSI is devoid of the flow recirculation region in the reaction zone. In the present study, emissions measurements are reported for a LSI operated on mixtures of methane (CH4), hydrogen (H2), and carbon monoxide (CO) to simulate H2 synthetic gas produced by coal gasification. For a fixed adiabatic flame temperature and air flow rate, CH4 content of the fuel in atmospheric pressure experiments is varied from 100% to 50% (by volume) with the remainder of the fuel containing equal amounts of CO and H2. For each test case, the CO and nitric oxide (NOx) emissions are measured axially at the combustor center and radially at several axial locations. Results show that the LSI provides stable flame for a range of operating conditions and fuel mixtures. The emissions are relatively insensitive to the fuel composition within the operational range of the present experiments.