Fuel oil reburning application for NO/sub x/ control to firetube package boilers

Journal Article · Wed Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1987 · J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1115/1.3240026· OSTI ID:5568698

Mulholland, J A; Hall, R E

Two pilot-scale (0.73 MW or 2.5 x 10/sup 6/ Btu/hr) firetube package boilers were retrofitted for fuel oil reburning application for NO/sub x/ emission control. When firing distillate fuel oil (0.01 percent nitrogen content), an overall NO/sub x/ reduction of 46 percent from an uncontrolled emission of 125 ppm (dry, at zero percent O/sub 2/) was realized by diverting 20 percent of the total boiler load to a second stage burner; a 51 percent NO/sub x/ reduction from 265 ppm was achieved in a distillate/residual fuel oil mixture (0.14 percent nitrogen content) reburning application. Nitrogen-free fuel oil reburning was found to be slightly more effective at reducing NO/sub x/ than was natural gas reburning, although longer fuel-rich zone residence times were required to allow for evaporation and mixing of the fuel oil droplets. Key parameters investigated which impact the reburning process were: primary flame NO/sub x/, reburn zone stoichiometry, and reburn zone residence time. Reburning applied to firetube package boilers requires minimal facility modification. Reburning can be coupled with other NO/sub x/ control techniques (e.g., distributed air low NO/sub x/ burners) to achieve NO/sub x/ emissions of less than 100 ppm. However, for very low primary flame NO/sub x/ conditions (i.e., less than 200 ppm), reburning fuel nitrogen content is a limiting factor, and reburning with a low-nitrogen-content fuel, such as natural gas or nitrogen-free distillate oil, may be necessary to achieve 50 percent NO/sub x/ reduction.

• Research Organization: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air and Energy Engineering Research Lab., Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
• OSTI ID: 5568698
• Journal Information: J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power; (United States), Journal Name: J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power; (United States) Vol. 109:2; ISSN JETPE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
025000* -- Petroleum-- Combustion
500200 -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR POLLUTION ABATEMENT
BOILER FUELS
BOILERS
BURNERS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMBUSTION
COMBUSTION WAVES
DISTILLATES
ELEMENTS
EMISSION
ENERGY SOURCES
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL GAS
FUEL OILS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
LIQUID FUELS
NATURAL GAS
NITROGEN
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN OXIDES
NONMETALS
OILS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDATION
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PETROLEUM
PETROLEUM DISTILLATES
PETROLEUM FRACTIONS
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
POLLUTION ABATEMENT
RETROFITTING
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES