Investigation of thermal and environmental characteristics of combustion of gaseous fuels

Abstract

Numerical investigations are fulfilled for some thermal and environmental characteristics of combustion of gaseous fuels used at present in tube furnaces of petroleum refineries. The effect of the fuel composition on these characteristics is shown and probable consequences of the substitution of natural gas to other types of fuels. Methane, ethane, propane, butane, propylene, and hydrogen are considered for comparison, which in most cases are constituents of the composition of the fuel burnt in furnaces. The effect of the fuel type, its associated combustion temperature, combustion product emissivity, temperature of combustion chamber walls, mean beam length, and heat release on the variation in the radiant heat flux within the radiant chamber of furnaces is investigated. The effect of flame characteristics, which are determined by the presence of diffusion combustion zones formed by burners used at present in furnaces for reducing nitrogen oxides emission, is analyzed. The effect of the fuel type on the equilibrium NO concentration is also investigated. The investigations were carried out both at arbitrary given gas temperatures and at effective temperatures dependent on the adiabatic combustion temperature and the temperature at the chamber output and determined based on solving a set of equations at various heat-release rates of the combustion chamber.