Numerical calculation on combustion process and NO transformation behavior in a coal-fired boiler blended ammonia: Effects of the injection position and blending ratio

Abstract

Ammonia (NH3), as a potential carbon-free alternative fuel, can be blended into coal-fired boiler to achieve significant pollution reduction and carbon reduction, but there are concerns about high NOx emissions due to high nitrogen content. According to the characteristics of coal/NH3 co-combustion, a dual-fuel co-combustion model with strong adaptability and high accuracy was established in this study through Chemkin software to study the influence of different injection positions and blending ratios on combustion characteristics and NOx generation process. Then, the co-combustion model was applied to the three-dimensional CFD calculation process of a 330 MWe front-fired boiler, and the combustion characteristics, NOx distribution and reaction process were calculated when cal. 20% NH3 was blended in the primary air. The results show that when cal. 20% NH3 is blended, the change of NO content mainly occurs in ignition zone and flame zone, and the transformation behavior of N in NH3 is optimized to a 15-step elementary reaction; The temperature distribution in the furnace is similar, and the average temperature at the furnace outlet decreases from 1033 °C to 988 °C, while NH3 have a preferential combustion reaction with air than coal, resulting in a decrease in the burnout rate of coal; The NOx concentration at the furnace outlet decreases from 355 mg/Nm3 to 281 mg/Nm3, which is 20.85% lower than that under the pure coal burning condition, and the variation range of O2 concentration and unburned NH3 concentration is small.