Hydrogen substitution of natural-gas in premixed burners and implications for blow-off and flashback limits

Abstract

Two multi-perforated premixed burners, designed for natural gas, are fueled with increasing hydrogen content to assess the limits of H2 substitution and investigate potential risks associated to it. The burners feature a different design, which affects flame stabilization and heat exchange between the fresh mixture and the hot burner walls. First, results are presented by means of stability maps that were collected at constant power and over a wide range of equivalence ratio, from pure methane-air to pure hydrogen-air mixtures. The impact of hydrogen addition on blow-off and flashback limits is then analyzed. On one side, it is observed that hydrogen addition increases blow off resistance, extending the operating range towards ultra-lean conditions. On the other side, hydrogen raises the thermal load on the burner favoring flashback. It is shown that the competition between the bulk velocity at the burner outlet and the laminar burning velocity is not a reliable parameter to predict flashback occurrence, while the thermal state of the burner represents a determining factor. An analysis of the thermal transient reveals a strict correspondence between the onset of flashback for a given mixture composition and the burner surface temperature. Results highlight the challenges linked to the design of fuel-flexible systems, pointing out practical limits of H2 substitution in burners designed for operation with natural gas.