Large Eddy Simulation of CO2 diluted oxy-fuel spray flames

Likun Ma,Xu Huang,Dirk Roekaerts

doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2017.02.050

Likun Ma, Xu Huang + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2017.02.050

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Abstract

We report results of a computational study of oxy-fuel spray jet flames. An experimental database on flames of ethanol burning in a coflow of a O2–CO2 mixture, created at CORIA (Rouen, France), is used for model validation (Cléon et al., 2015). Depending on the coflow composition and velocity the flames in these experiments start at nozzle (type A), just above the tip of the liquid sheet (type B) or are lifted (type C) and the challenge is to predict their structure and the transitions between them. The two-phase flow field is solved with an Eulerian–Lagrangian approach, with gas phase turbulence solved by Large Eddy Simulation (LES). The turbulence-chemistry interaction is accounted for using the Flamelet Generated Manifolds (FGM) method. The primary breakup process of the liquid fuel is neglected in the current study; instead droplets are directly injected at the location of the atomizer exit at the boundary of the simulation domain. It is found that for the type C flame, which is stabilized far downstream the dense region, some major features are successfully captured, e.g. the gas phase velocity field and flame structure. The flame lift-off height of type B flame is over-predicted. The type A flame, where the flame stabilizes inside the liquid sheet, cannot be described well by the current simulation model. A detailed analysis of the droplet properties along Lagrangian tracks has been carried out in order to explain the predicted flame structure and discuss the agreement with experiment. This analysis shows that differences in predicted flame structure are well-explained by the combined effects of droplet heating, dispersion and evaporation as function of droplet size. It is concluded that a possible reason for the difficulty to predict the type A and B flames is that strong atomization-combustion interaction exists in these flames, modifying the droplet formation process. This suggests that atomization-combustion interaction should be taken into account in future study of these flame types.

Highlights

Since in many combustion processes the main source for NOx formation is the oxidation at high temperature of the N2 contained in air, a natural suggestion to reduce or eliminate the NOx emission, has been to separate N2 and O2 and use enriched air or pure O2 as oxidiser
This suggests that atomization-combustion interaction should be taken into account in future study of these flame types
In our previous study of the AII case of Delft Spray-in–Hot-Coflow (DSHC) flames, which has a similar ‘‘double flame” structure as this case, we have discussed the mechanism of the formation of this inner and outer structure from the point view of combustion, and found that they are created by different species, main fuel or intermediate species, and are of different type, premixed or non-premixed

Summary

Introduction

Since in many combustion processes the main source for NOx formation is the oxidation at high temperature of the N2 contained in air, a natural suggestion to reduce or eliminate the NOx emission, has been to separate N2 and O2 and use enriched air or pure O2 as oxidiser. This is the concept of oxy-fuel combustion. The flue gas of this combustion process is predominantly CO2 and H2O, by separating water vapor through cooling or compression, a CO2 stream for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is available Such a zero emission combustion system, is appealing

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