Development of low-NOx emission burner of fan-assisted oil heaters for domestic use
Fan-assisted kerosene heaters are open-type space heaters and are the most popular in Japan because of the ease of their installation. These heaters use forced convection to emit the gas and heat produced by combustion. They thus allow high levels of heating efficiency and an even temperature distribution in the room. The problem with open-type space heaters is that interior air quality is deteriorated by nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx) contained in their combustion gas. SOx emissions from kerosene heaters are kept at low levels thanks to the Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) on sulfur concentration in kerosene. This means that the fan-assisted kerosene heaters now are left with the need for a method of reducing NOx emissions. Two combustion technologies for fan-assisted room heaters have been developed to reduce the NOx emission. The first is surface combustion on wire mesh, the second is catalytic combustion. Tests showed that premixed surface combustion systems using a metallic mesh reduced the flame temperature, consequently reduced NOx emission to half their values corresponding to the conventional burners. The optimized combustion load of the burner has made the high Turn Down Ratio (TDR) possible. The NOx emission of catalytic combustion can be greatly diminished by stable combustion of lean fuel-air mixture. In spite of this excellent advantage, reliability of catalytic combustion is not enough for home use application. In order to develop the catalytic combustor for room heaters, the heat resistant catalyst has been required.
- Research Organization:
- Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Hyogo (JP)
- OSTI ID:
- 20002729
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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