ABSTRACT
Oxy-fuel burners were originally developed for applications that require extremely high ame temperatures that could not be achieved using air/fuel burners. Examples of these applications include cutting torches, glass polishing, and so on. Over the decades, advances in oxy-fuel burner
development have enabled oxy-fuel use in a variety of applications, spanning a range of industries and furnace temperatures. Oxygen addition to air/fuel burners, addition of oxy-fuel burners to air red zones, and/or conversion of air-red zones to oxy-fuel-red zones has been employed in a variety of industries to improve productivity, improve fuel efciency, and reduce net operating costs as well as reduce pollutant emissions. Industries that have
Lawrence E. Bool, III, Nicolas Docquier, Chendhil Periasamy, and Lee J. Rosen
CONTENTS
27.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................. 529 27.2 Development Tools ..................................................................................................................................................... 530 27.3 Experimental Tools ..................................................................................................................................................... 530
27.3.1 Laboratory-Scale Furnace Testing .............................................................................................................. 532 27.3.1.1 Example of a Purpose Built Laboratory-Scale Furnace: Forehearth Furnace ..................... 532 27.3.1.2 Example of a Generic Laboratory-Scale Furnace: High Temperature Furnace .................. 533
27.3.2 Pilot-Scale Furnace Testing .......................................................................................................................... 534 27.3.2.1 Example of a Pilot-Scale Furnace: L1500 .................................................................................. 535 27.3.2.2 Example of a Pilot-Scale Furnace: ALICE Test Furnace ......................................................... 536
27.3.3 Open Air Testing........................................................................................................................................... 538 27.3.4 Customer Testing .......................................................................................................................................... 539
27.4 Modeling Tools ............................................................................................................................................................ 541 27.4.1 Cold Flow Modeling ..................................................................................................................................... 541 27.4.2 Dense Phase (PLIF) Modeling .................................................................................................................... 541
27.5 Key Process Variables and Measurement Techniques .......................................................................................... 542 27.5.1 Fuel and Oxidant Properties ....................................................................................................................... 542 27.5.2 Flame Geometry ........................................................................................................................................... 543 27.5.3 Heat Transfer Measurement ........................................................................................................................ 543 27.5.4 In-Flame Temperature Measurement ........................................................................................................ 544 27.5.5 Temperature Distribution on Furnace Hearth and Crown .................................................................... 544 27.5.6 Stack Gas Temperature Measurement ....................................................................................................... 544 27.5.7 Heat Flux Measurement ............................................................................................................................... 544 27.5.8 Emission Measurement ................................................................................................................................ 545 27.5.9 In-Flame Chemical Composition Measurement ...................................................................................... 546 27.5.10 Stack Gas Sampling ...................................................................................................................................... 546 27.5.11 Advanced Flame and Aerodynamics Characterization .......................................................................... 546
27.6 Oxygen Safety in Burner Testing ............................................................................................................................. 546 27.6.1 Oxygen System Design and Material Compatibility ............................................................................... 546 27.6.2 Oxy-Cleaning, Operation, and Maintenance ........................................................................................... 547 27.6.3 Training .......................................................................................................................................................... 547 27.6.4 Safety in Working With Partners ............................................................................................................... 548
Disclaimer ............................................................................................................................................................................... 548 References ................................................................................................................................................................................ 548
utilized oxygen addition in their combustion processes include glass, metals (steel, iron, aluminum, copper), cement, rening, petrochemical processing, incineration, and power generation to name a few. As the list suggests the scale of, and critical requirements for, each process are often very different. This requires a detailed understanding of the burner’s performance and how this performance will integrate with the process. Unlike air-based burner manufacturers that typically focus on market(s) with similar requirements (i.e., burner manufacturers that supply burners for the process industry typically don’t provide burners for the steel or metals industry), oxy-fuel burner manufacturers are often called upon to develop burners for vastly different industries. This need for a portfolio of burners with different, and often contradictory, characteristics requires the capability to test burners under a wide range of process conditions dictated by the wide range of prospective customer’s processes. To accomplish this, a variety of tools are utilized to take a new concept for a burner from idea through to a commercially proven technology. This chapter will summarize the tools utilized by companies that offer oxy-fuel solutions.
