Experimental study of the effect of fuel vaporization on combustion efficiency

Technical Report · Sat May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1982

OSTI ID:5307187

Zakkay, V; Clisset, H

A residential-scale vaporizing burner concept for No. 2 oil has been developed. The design and construction of a prototype free-standing unit, complete with a recuperative air heat exchanger, a blue-flame sensor, and automatic controls for extended steady-state and cyclical operation, are presented here. The principal objective was to assess the effects of fuel vaporization on combustion efficiency and emission, and to assess its performance over extended operation on the order of a hundred hours. The vaporization scheme consists of spraying No. 2 oil onto a regeneratively heated surface at a temperature above the fuel-vaporization temperature (650/sup 0/F). Operation near stoichiometric condition is demonstrated with zero soot formation, 15.1% carbon dioxide, 0.4% O/sub 2/, and low CO levels (< 200 ppM) at the stack. However, due to the high flame temperatures, the NO levels (approx. 400 ppM) of this single-stage burner are excessive. Adaptation of this vaporization burner to a two-stage concept is suggested to overcome this problem. Nevertheless, the combustion quality with the vaporized combustion mode is substantially improved compared to conventional spray-combustion burners. The vaporizing oil burner was adapted to a wet-base boiler, and the thermal efficiency was determined by a calorimeter technique and the stack method. The thermal efficiency with the vaporized combustion mode is about 4% greater than some of the best conventional spray-combustion burners. The results of the extended operation show that a practical and reliable vaporizing oil burner has been achieved. However, the need for lower NO emissions, integration of the vaporization scheme with a more suitable boiler than the Axeman-Anderson, simplification of the controls for domestic service, and adaptation to commercial sized units with firing rates greater than 10 gph require further developmental work.

• Research Organization: New York Univ., NY (USA). Dept. of Applied Science
• DOE Contract Number: FG22-81PC40288
• OSTI ID: 5307187
• Report Number(s): NYU/DAS-82-05; ON: DE82016419
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
025000* -- Petroleum-- Combustion
42 ENGINEERING
421000 -- Engineering-- Combustion Systems
ATOMIZATION
BOILERS
BURNERS
CALORIMETRY
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON MONOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTION YIELD
COMBUSTION PRODUCTS
COMBUSTION PROPERTIES
DATA
DISPERSIONS
EFFICIENCY
ELEMENTS
EVAPORATION
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FUEL ECONOMY
FUEL INJECTION SYSTEMS
FUEL OILS
FUEL SYSTEMS
FUEL-AIR RATIO
FUELS
HEATING OILS
INFORMATION
LIQUID FUELS
MIXTURES
NITRIC OXIDE
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN OXIDES
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL DATA
OIL BURNERS
OILS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
SOOT
THERMAL EFFICIENCY
YIELDS