Oxygen Burner Nozzle Configuration for NOx Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing heating furnace burners that use high oxygen content with hydrocarbons result in high NOx emissions and local overheating due to extreme flame temperatures, necessitating a solution to reduce emissions and achieve more homogeneous furnace temperatures.
Innovation Solution
The method involves a burner head with uniformly distributed pairs of fuel and oxidant nozzles, positioned along the circumference, which injects fuel and oxidant through multiple pairs of nozzles, creating turbulent zones and mixing with flue gases to dilute oxygen and reduce combustion temperature, thereby lowering NOx production and achieving a more homogeneous temperature distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If fuel and oxidant are discharged close to each other from the burner head, then combustion efficiency is improved, but flame temperature becomes excessively high causing NOx emissions and local overheating
Solution Approach 1:
The burner head is divided into multiple separate nozzle pairs distributed around its circumference. Each pair consists of a fuel nozzle and an oxidant nozzle positioned at specific intervals, creating segmented combustion zones rather than a single concentrated flame. This segmentation distributes the thermal load and reduces peak temperatures while maintaining overall combustion efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The nozzle pairs are positioned at different locations around the burner head circumference, creating localized combustion zones with different characteristics. The oxidant and fuel are discharged at different positions within each pair, creating local mixing zones that control the combustion process and temperature distribution in specific areas of the furnace.
2Productivity
If oxygen content in the combustion zone is increased, then combustion efficiency is improved, but flame temperature increases causing harmful emissions
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the spatial distribution parameters of oxidant and fuel discharge by using multiple nozzle pairs positioned around the burner head circumference. This parameter change allows efficient combustion with high oxygen content while distributing the heat release over a larger volume, preventing excessive temperature rise and reducing NOx formation.
3Stability of the object's composition
If multiple pairs of nozzles are used to distribute fuel and oxidant, then temperature homogeneity is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple nozzle pairs are integrated into a single burner head assembly that is mounted as one unit in the furnace wall. The fuel supply system and oxidant supply system are merged into a coordinated arrangement where corresponding nozzles operate in pairs, simplifying the overall system while achieving temperature homogeneity through the distributed nozzle configuration.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach significantly reduces NOx emissions and achieves a more uniform furnace temperature by diluting oxygen and creating a cooler, more diffuse flame, allowing for efficient operation with high oxygen content oxidants without the need for extensive furnace reconstruction.
Implementation Method 1
The idea is to lower the oxygen content in the combustion zone through separation, high pressure and optimized positioning of the nozzles, even though the oxidant has an oxygen content of more than 80%. This is accomplished by the use of a nozzle configuration that gives rise to a large underpressure over the surfaces of the nozzle that do not have nozzles for the medium. Because of the underpressure, flue gases are sucked in from the furnace atmosphere, and are rapidly and turbulently mixed with the outflowing media.
Implementation Method 2
Because of the underpressure, flue gases are sucked in from the furnace atmosphere, and are rapidly and turbulently mixed with the outflowing media.
Implementation Method 3
Normally, when hydrocarbons are burned in combination with large oxygen content, one reaches flame temperatures above 2 000 °C
Data Source
AI summary
Method for combustion of a fuel with an oxidant in the form of oxygen gas in a heating furnace, where fuel and oxidant are supplied to a burner head. The invention is characterized in that fuel and oxidant, respectively, are injected via the burner head (1) through at least two pairs of nozzles (2, 3; 4, 5), where one pair is formed by a separate fuel nozzle (3; 5) and a separate oxidant nozzle (2; 3), in that the nozzles (2 - 5) of the pairs are uniformly distributed along and within the circumference (6) of the burner head (1), and in that a fuel nozzle (3, 5) is provided with an oxidant nozzle (2, 4) on each side of the fuel nozzle (3, 5). Furthermore, the invention refers to a burner.