Low-Btu gas combustion research. Final report. [From natural gas to low Btu gas]

Technical Report · Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1978

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6874082· OSTI ID:6874082

Shoffstall, D. R.; Waibel, R. T.

This research program was initiated to characterize problems associated with retrofitting existing utility boilers with low- and medium-Btu gases manufactured from commercially available coal conversion processes. All the experimental results were gathered from a pilot-scale furnace fired with a movable vane boiler burner at a heat input of 0.66 MW (2,250,000 Btu/hr). The low- and medium-Btu gases tested ranged in heating value from 3.7 to 11.2 MJ/m/sup 3/ (100 to 300 Btu/scf). They were synthetically produced with a natural gas reformer system. Data were collected to permit a comparison between natural gas and low-Btu gases in the areas of flame stability, flame length, flame emissivity, furnace efficiency, and NO/sub x/ emissions. Flame stability was found to be very sensitive to fuel jet velocity. An injection velocity of 30.5 m/s (100 ft/s) was found to be optimum. Flame length decreases with increasing movable vane angle (swirl of the combustion air), and the low- and medium-Btu gases tested were generally shorter than those of natural gas. Good agreement was obtained between measured and calculated flame emissivities. NO emissions were ordered by adiabatic flame temperature. The use of adiabatic flame temperature provided a good empirical method of predicting NO emissions for the fuels tested.

• Research Organization: Institute of Gas Technology, Chicago, IL (United States)
• OSTI ID: 6874082
• Report Number(s): EPRI-FP-848
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
03 NATURAL GAS
42 ENGINEERING
BOILERS
FUEL SUBSTITUTION
LOW BTU GAS
CALORIFIC VALUE
COMBUSTION
NATURAL GAS
AIR
BURNERS
COAL GASIFICATION
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
EMISSIVITY
FLAMES
KOPPERS-TOTZEK PROCESS
LURGI PROCESS
NITROGEN OXIDES
OXYGEN
RETROFITTING
STABILITY
SWIRL FLOW
WELLMAN-GALUSHA PROCESS
WINKLER PROCESS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMBUSTION PROPERTIES
CRYOGENIC FLUIDS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
FLUID FLOW
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL GAS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
GASIFICATION
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NONMETALS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
OXIDATION
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SURFACE PROPERTIES
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
010404* - Coal
Lignite
& Peat- Gasification
034000 - Natural Gas- Combustion
421000 - Engineering- Combustion Systems