Ignition strategies for fuel mixtures in catalytic microburners

Abstract

Ignition of methane–air and propane–air mixtures over platinum catalyst in a parallel-plate microburner is studied numerically and a comparison of their ignition characteristics is presented. The ignition behaviour of the two fuels is compared for the case of heated feed and the strategy of using propane–methane mixed fuel is analysed. We show that adding small quantities of propane reduces the ignition temperature of lean methane–air mixture. Transient response of the mixed methane–propane fuel reveals sequential ignition of propane followed by methane. Sensitivity analysis on physical properties of methane and propane shows that the higher apparent activation energy of methane combustion accounts for most of the observed differences in their ignition behaviour. Ignition by resistive preheating, specifically the effect of locally preheating initial section of the burner is investigated. The amount of electric power required for ignition decreases with decrease in the electrical preheating length. This reduction in ignition power is especially significant for low conductivity walls, compared to highly conducting walls. Finally, the gap size of the channel has a relatively small effect on ignition in catalytic microburners.