Ammonia/hydrogen-fueled combustion represents a very promising solution for the future energy scenario. This study aims to shed light and understand the behavior of ammonia/hydrogen blends under flameless conditions. A first-of-its-kind experimental campaign was conducted to test fuel flexibility for different ammonia/hydrogen blends in a flameless burner, varying the air injector and the equivalence ratio. NO emissions increased drastically after injecting a small amount of NH3 in pure hydrogen (10% by volume). An optimum trade-off between NOx emission and ammonia slip was found when working sufficiently close to stoichiometric conditions (ϕ = 0.95). In general, a larger air injector (ID25) reduces the emissions, especially at ϕ = 0.8. A well-stirred reactor network with exhaust recirculation was developed exchanging information with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, to model chemistry in diluted conditions. Such a simplified system was then used in two ways: 1) to explain the experimental trends of NOx emissions varying the ammonia molar fraction within the fuel blend and 2) to perform an uncertainty quantification study. A sensitivity study coupled with latin hypercube sampling (LHS) was used to evaluate the impact of kinetic uncertainties on NOx prediction in a well-stirred reactor network model. The influence of the identified uncertainties was then tested in more complex numerical models, such as Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations of the furnace. The major over-predictions of existing kinetic scheme was then alleviated significantly, confirming the crucial role of detailed kinetic mechanisms for accurate predictive simulations of NH3/H2 mixtures in flameless regime.
In this present work, simulations of 20 kW furnace were carried out with hydrogen-enriched methane mixtures, to identify optimal geometrical configurations and operating conditions to operate in flameless combustion regime. The objective of this work is to show the advantages of flameless combustion for hydrogen-enriched fuels and the limits of current typical industrial designs for these mixtures. The performances of a semi-industrial combustion chamber equipped with a self-recuperative flameless burner are evaluated with increasing H2 concentrations. For highly H2-enriched mixtures, typical burners employed for methane appear to be inadequate to reach flameless conditions. In particular, for a typical coaxial injector configuration, an equimolar mixture of hydrogen and methane represents the limit for hydrogen enrichment. To achieve flameless conditions, different injector geometries and configuration were tested. Fuel dilution with CO2 and H2O was also investigated. Dilution slows the mixing process, consequently helping the transition to flameless conditions. CO2, and H2O are typical products of hydrogen generation processes, therefore their use in fuel dilution is convenient for industrial applications. Dilution thus allows the use of greater hydrogen percentages in the mixture.
Numerical simulations employing two different modeling approaches are performed and validated against experimental results from a moderate or intense low-oxygen dilution (MILD) system with internal recirculation. The flamelet-generated manifold (FGM) and partially stirred reactor (PaSR) closures are employed in a Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) framework to carry out the numerical simulations. The results show that the FGM model strongly overpredicts temperature profiles in the reactive region, while yielding better results along the central thermocouple. The PaSR closures based on a prescribed mixing time constant, C mix , of 0.01, 0.1, and 0.5 are compared, showing that a C mix value of 0.5 is the most appropriate choice for the cases under investigation. A PaSR formulation allowing local estimation of the C mix value is found to provide improved results for both the lateral and central thermocouples. A flame index analysis, used to assess the ability of FGM and PaSR to capture intense mixing of the cyclonic burner, indicates how the FGM model predicts a typical non-premixed region after the injection zone, contrary to the experimental observation.
In the present work, the correlation between the Heat Releaser Rate (HRR) and species mole fractions and net reaction rates is studied. The PaSR closure model is employed in a RANS framework to implement a detailed kinetic scheme, including the excited species OH*, used as a HRR marker. The effect of oxygen dilution on the combustion regime is investigated, as it can lead to Moderate or Intense Low-Oxygen Dilution (MILD) conditions. Two cases with different levels of oxygen concentration are analyzed. The results suggest the possibility of combining chemical species to construct an appropriate scalar to achieve better correlation with the HRR. It is found that typical markers such as radicals O, OH, OH* correlate fairly well with the HRR but improved correlations can be achieved with appropriate species mole fractions combinations, particularly for the MILD region of the flame.Keywords: heat release rate, heat release rate markers, OH*, laser induced fluorescence, jet in hot coflow, Moderate or Intense Low-Oxygen Dilution Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering | www.frontiersin.org
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