An Experimental Investigation of Supercritical Methane Injection Characteristics in a CO2 Environment
- OSTI
Abstract
Clean energy generation is gaining significant attention from industries, academia, and governments across the globe. The Allam cycle is one such technology that has been under focus due to its efficiency, environmental friendliness, and economics. This is a direct-fired cycle operating at supercritical conditions using carbon dioxide as a working fluid. Fuel or oxidizer jet mixing with CO2 is a vital phenomenon that governs combustion efficiency, and it is not well understood for the Allam cycle conditions. This paper experimentally investigated the jet characteristics of a methane jet injected into a subcritical to supercritical carbon dioxide environment. A wide range of injection pressures and temperatures were targeted between subcritical to supercritical conditions. Unlike previous studies, the current work focused on injecting lower-density (methane) jets into higher-density (carbon dioxide) environments. Schlieren imaging and methane absorption measurements were simultaneously performed with a CMOS high-speed camera and a 3.39 μm infrared laser. Specifically, we looked at the classical injection parameter of jet spreading angle, which was classically established to be mainly a density ratio function. Here, the jet cone angle was obtained from the postprocessed schlieren imaging. The jet cone angle is a critical characteristic parameter that describes the entrainment rate in a jet; thus, it is a crucial parameter in understanding the nature of the jet. The laser measurements were only used as an additional check to confirm the entry time of methane into the chamber filled with carbon dioxide. Notably, this paper makes a detailed comparison between the jet cone angles of jets with a density ratio. The result showed that the classical correlations, such as Abramovich's theory applied to submerged turbulent gas jets developed for low-density ratio jets, were unsuitable for higher-density ratio jets. It was also observed that the divergence angles were dependent not only on density ratio but also on other parameters such as pressure ratios and reduced pressures.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, FL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FE0025260
- OSTI ID:
- 2418127
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, Journal Name: Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 145; ISSN 0742-4795
- Publisher:
- ASME
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Influence of Real Gas Effects on Chemical Kinetics in Oxycombustion in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide
Determination of the Diffusion Coefficients of Binary CH4 and C2H6 in a Supercritical CO2 Environment (500–2000 K and 100–1000 atm) by Molecular Dynamics Simulations