No abstract

To describe the effects of inert compounds in gaseous fuel, experiments on three different process burners (staged fuel burner, staged air burner, and low-calorific burner) were carried out. The tested burners are commercially available, but they were specially designed for experimental usage. Tests were carried out in the semi-industrial burner testing facility to investigate the influence of inert gases on the flame characteristics, emissions, and heat flux to the combustion chamber wall. Natural gas was used as a reference fuel, and, during all tests, thermal power of 500 kW was maintained. To simulate the combustion of alternative fuels with lower LHV, N2 and CO2 were used as diluents. The inert gas in the hydrocarbon fuel at certain conditions can lower NOx emissions (up to 80%) and increase heat flux (up to 5%). Once incombustible compounds are present in the fuel, the higher amount of fuel flowing through nozzles affects the flow in the combustion chamber by increasing the Reynolds number. This can change the flame pattern and temperature field, and it can be both positive and negative, depending on actual conditions.

The objective of the present study was to experimentally investigate and compare the characteristics of three oxygen-enhanced combustion (OEC) methods; premix enrichment (PE), air-oxy/fuel combustion (AO), and additionally also oxygen lancing (OL) method. The overall oxygen concentration varied from 21% to 38%. Combustion tests were carried out using the gas burner with the thermal input of 750 kW fired by natural gas. The characteristics of OEC methods, such as the concentration of nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide in flue gas, in-flame temperatures distribution in the horizontal symmetry plane of the combustion chamber, heat flux to the combustion chamber wall, flue gas temperature, and the stability of flame were investigated. NOx emissions increased by more than 40 times and by 20 times for the PE method. The tests using the AO and OL methods with NOx emissions below 150 mg/Nm3 at all oxygen concentrations showed significantly better results. For all OEC methods, radiative heat transfer increased with increasing oxygen concentration. The available heat was 20% higher at 38% O2 than at 21% O2. The flue gas temperature decreased with increasing oxygen concentration, which was affected by a decrease in N2 concentration in the oxidizer and a simultaneous increase in radiant heat flux.

A rotary kiln is a unique facility with widespread applications not only in the process industry, such as building-material production, but also in the energy sector. There is a lack of a more comprehensive review of this facility and its perspectives in the literature. This paper gives a semi-systematic review of current research. Main trends and solutions close to commercial applications are found and evaluated. The overlap between process and energy engineering brings the opportunity to find various uncommon applications. An example is a biogas plant digestate treatment using pyrolysis in the rotary kiln. Artificial intelligence also finds its role in rotary kiln control processes. The most significant trend within rotary kiln research is the waste-to-energy approach in terms of various waste utilization within the process industry or waste pyrolysis in terms of new alternative fuel production and material utilization. Results from this review could open new perspectives for further research, which should be focused on integrated solutions using a process approach. New, complex solutions consider both the operational (mass calculations) and the energy aspects (energy calculations) of the integration as a basis for the energy sustainability and low environmental impact of rotary kilns within industrial processes.

In this paper, the results of the 34 day test of particulate matter (PM) removal from air stream emerging from granulated fertilizers production (NPK and mixed ammonium sulphate fertilizers) are presented. Operators of the plant wanted to replace older wet scrubber preferably with filter bags which can provide waste less operation of the technology, because separated PM can be reintroduced to the production. Because of the assumption of the sticky and problematic deposits formation on the filter bags that could increase excessively the pressure loss, test on the pilot unit with 15 filter bags with pulse-jet bags cleaning was carried out. During the test, various technological conditions were tested. Temperatures, stream humidity, pressure loss of bags and inlet and outlet PM concentrations were monitored. It was found that dry cleaning of this air stream is problematic as expected, but feasible. Filter bags were absorbing considerable amounts of water from the dust stream (fertilizers are granulated by steam and water). This fact leads to hard removable deposit formation and increased pressure loss, but if the stream was preheated by a small natural gas burner, the deposition creation was reduced. According to results of the long term test, recommendations for the technological conditions for full scale bag filter were provided for given type of technology and production.