Excess enthalpy combustion utilizes heat recirculation, in which heat is transferred from hot products to cold reactants to effectively preheat the reactants, in order to achieve improved combustion performance through the extension of flammability limits and increased burning rate. This research examines the effect of key parameters in excess enthalpy combustion on combustion stability, fuel conversion, and product species production through experimental and numerical investigation. Operating condition parameters that are studied include inlet reactant equivalence ratio and inlet velocity, and reactor geometry parameters that are studied include reactor channel height and length. Premixed reactants, including gaseous and liquid fuels, are investigated at rich and lean conditions. The examination of liquid fuels and the ability of a reactor to support rich and lean combustion of both gaseous and liquid fuels is a significant demonstration of a reactor’s flexibility for practical applications. This research experimentally and numerically examines excess enthalpy combustion in a counter-flow reactor. First, the counter-flow reactor, previously used for thermal partial oxidation of gaseous hydrocarbon fuels, is used in experiments to reform a liquid hydrocarbon fuel, heptane, to syngas. The effect of inlet operating conditions, including reactant equivalence ratio and inlet velocity, on combustion stability and product composition is explored. Second, lean combustion is demonstrated through experiments in the same counter-flow reactor previously used in reforming studies. The effect of inlet operating conditions, including reactant equivalence ratio and inlet velocity, on combustion stability and pollutant concentrations in combustion products is studied. An analytical model, previously developed for rich combustion, is adapted to qualitatively predict the behavior of the counter-flow reactor in response to changes in lean operating conditions. Third, lean combustion in the counter-flow reactor is further studied by examining the combustion of increasingly complex gaseous and liquid fuels. Again, the effect of inlet operating conditions, including reactant equivalence ratio and inlet velocity, on combustion stability and pollutant concentrations in combustion products is studied. Fourth and finally, a computational scaling study examines the impact of counter-flow reactor channel geometry on combustion stability, temperature increase above adiabatic values, heat recirculation, and fuel and product species conversion efficiency. / text

This study investigates peculiarities of the filtration combustion (FC) of the gaseous fuel-air mixtures in a porous inertia media (PIM). Combustion wave velocities and temperatures were measured for hydrogen-air, propane-air and methane-air mixtures in the PIM at different mixture filtration velocities. It is shown that the dependences of the combustion wave velocities on the equivalence ratio are V-shaped, It was further confirmed that the FC in the PIM has more contrasts than similarities with the normal homogeneous combustion. One of the interesting observations in the present study, which is not common in normal homogenous combustion, is the shifting of the fuel-air equivalent ratio at the minimum combustion wave velocity from the stoichiometric condition (¢ = 1). For a hydrogen-air mixture, the fuel-air equivalence ratio at the minimum combustion velocity shifts from the stoichiometric condition to the rich region, while for the propane-air and methane-air mixtures the fuel-air equivalence ratio at the minimum combustion velocity shifts toward fuel-leaner conditions. The measured maximum porous media temperatures in the combustion waves are found to be weakly dependent on the mixture filtration velocities. In general, the effects of the mixture filtration velocities on the measured maximum porous media temperatures are not significant.

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The conversion of coal and char nitrogen has been investigated during fuel rich combustion. The experiments were done with the objective of clarifying the roles of NO, HCN, and NH₃, and char nitrogen in the post-combustion gases in the first, fuel rich stage of a staged combustor. The experimental apparatus includes a downflow combustor of 15 cm internal diameter and 180 cm length constructed of fibrous alumina insulation surrounding a central tube composed of vacuum- formed alumina cylinders. The combustion gases and solids were sampled in situ with a water-cooled and -quenched probe. Neither the combustor nor the sample probe were found to be reactive towards NO. Temperatures of the gases and walls were measured with Type K thermocouples and the particle temperatures were determined with a seven wavelength infrared pyrometer. Gas compositions were measured chromatographically using a 5A molecular seive for permanent gases (H₂, O₂, N₂, CO, and CH₄) and Poropak T for polar gases (CO₂ and HCN). A chemiluminescent analyzer measured NO. NH₃ and HCN were measured in the quench water with ion electrodes. The C, H, N, ash compositions of the char were measured with an elemental analyzer. Experiments of the fuel rich conversion of char nitrogen show that at all stoichiometries (SR = 0.8, 0.4) the concentrations of HCN and NH₃ in the post-flame gases are small compared to the concentration of NO. Char nitrogen conversion was stoichiometric or greater. NO destruction was found to be controlled by a heterogeneous mechanism involving the char carbon surface. The mechanism is deactivated by oxygen, an effect demonstrated by others. The fuel rich conversion of coal nitrogen was investigated with a Utah bituminous coal. At moderate fuel rich conditions (SR = 0.8), the residual char nitrogen conversion is 90 percent or greater and NH₃ and HCN concentrations were less than 20 ppmv. NO peaked at 1200 ppmv (1850 K) and declined to 600 (1580 K) ppmv over 1.8 seconds. Coal nitrogen conversion is dominated by NO formation at this stoichiometry. At extreme fuel rich conditions (SR = 0.4), coal nitrogen conversion is 85 percent. The gas is dominated by HCN, NO, and NH₃. HCN decayed from 600 ppm to 300 ppmv, NO from 350 to 50, and NH₃ increased from 200 to 375 ppmv, indicating that interconversion reactions in the gas phase are dominating. The kinetics which govern the volatile nitrogen reactions can be described by global homogeneous kinetics as follows: UNFORMATTED TABLE/EQUATION FOLLOWS: r₁ = d/dt[HCN] = -5.5x10¹⁷ exp(-83.3 K/RT)[HCN][H₂O]/[H₂]¹/² mole/cm³s r₂ = d/dt[NO] = -2.2x10¹⁶ exp(-54.4 K/RT)[NO][NH₃]/[H₂]¹/² d/dt[NH₃] = d/dt[NO] - d/dt[HCN] UNFORMATTED TABLE/EQUATION ENDS These yield rates for free radical reactions very similar to those determined in gas flame experiments, lending credence to their validity. A one-dimensional combustor model has been formulated which accounts for the heterogeneous combustion and gasification of the coal and char. This model includes the devolatilization of the coal and homogeneous oxidation of carbon monoxide and devolatilized species. The water-gas shift reaction is assumed to be equilibrated. The model also includes the mass, momentum and energy balances of the particles but obviates the solution of the combustor heat balance by using the measured gas temperature in the solution. The model accurately predicts the gas and elemental conversions and particle temperatures observed in the experiments, and supports the homogeneous and heterogeneous kinetics of post-combustion fuel nitrogen conversion.

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