Some
of the impurities (Br, Cl, Fuel-N, and S) in fuels can reduce
the radicals (O, H, and OH) formed in the flames on combustion, thus
lowering the radical mole fraction. The variation in the radical mole
fraction affects the NO
x
emissions. In this study, the radical reducing effects caused by
these impurities were modeled based on measurements of the radical
mole fractions. Linear relationships were obtained between the mole
fractions of the impurities in the flames and the reciprocals of the
radical mole fractions. The slope of this straight line was defined
as the radical reducing effect coefficient (α). The value of
α for each radical was determined for fuels containing HBr,
CH3Br, HCl, CCl4, CH3NH2, NH3, H2S, and CS2 impurities.
The OH radical was the most susceptible to the reducing effects of
the fuel-N impurity. However, the calculated radical mole fractions
(CH4–NH3 flame) by detailed chemical
kinetics did not agree with the experimental results, and the O atom
radicals were, in fact, most susceptible to the fuel-N impurities.
The calculations overestimated the OH mole fraction and fuel-N conversion
to NO
x
. The α value
calculated for the OH radical was 19.4 times smaller than that obtained
experimentally. The contributions of OH radicals to fuel-NO
x
generation for methane–ammonia
and hydrogen–ammonia cocombustion were investigated by using
a simplified reaction scheme for fuel-NO
x
. If the OH radical was a controlling factor in fuel-NO
x
generation, the difference
in NO
x
conversion between
experiment and calculation could be explained. On the basis of the
results, the reaction scheme was extended to the solid fuel combustion
of coal and biomass. The NO
x
conversion for the cocombustion of coal and ammonia was lower than
that for the methane–ammonia cocombustion. The effect of Cl
impurities on biomass combustion was also investigated. If the OH
radical mole fraction was lowered by the presence of Cl in the biomass
fuel, the NO
x
conversion
tended to be low. However, if the OH mole fraction was too low to
decompose ammonia in the flame, the NO
x
conversion tended to be high.