skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: The knitted metal fiber burner: A new generation of surface combustion material for radiant heat and low NO{sub x} applications

Conference ·
OSTI ID:653245
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Bekaert Fiber Technologies, Marietta, GA (United States)
  2. Acotech, Marietta, GA (United States)
  3. Acotech SA, Zwevegem (Belgium)

The demand for efficient, clean energy has encouraged wider use of natural gas and a renewed interest in surface combustion. The sintered metal fiber burner is a permeable surface medium for surface combustion of premixed gas and air. Its potential of handling radiant modes of up to 5,000 kW/ m{sup 2} (1.6 million Btu/h{center_dot}ft{sup 2}) allows for a powerful radiant flux with efficiencies up to 60% in a very compact and durable design. It has found ready acceptance in applications such as drying, curing, baking, grilling, and other processes where direct radiant heat is an immediate benefit. Now, a new generation of metal fiber burners has been developed: the knitted metal fiber burner. This new type of burner combines the excellent combustion performance of the sintered mat with the advantages of a textile. It is flexible, easy to mount, and offers total thermal expansion control. It handles a span of firing intensities from 100 kW/m{sup 2} (32,000 Btu/h{center_dot}ft{sup 2}) in radiant mode up to 5,000 kW/m{sup 2} (1.6 million Btu/h{center_dot}ft{sup 2}) in blue flame mode. This span of outputs is achieved with very low NO{sub x} (less than 20 ppm at 0% O{sub 2}) and CO (less than 30 ppm at 3,500 kW/m{sup 2} [1.2 millions Btu/h{center_dot}ft{sup 2}] combustion intensity at 0% O{sub 2}) emissions. The easy and compact burner design allows for immediate applications in fire tube boilers, steam generators, water heaters, hot air generation, and process heaters.

OSTI ID:
653245
Report Number(s):
CONF-980123-; TRN: IM9827%%138
Resource Relation:
Conference: 1998 ASHRAE winter meeting, San Francisco, CA (United States), 17-21 Jan 1998; Other Information: PBD: 1998; Related Information: Is Part Of ASHRAE transactions 1998. Volume 104, Part 1A: Technical papers; PB: 834 p.
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English