Energy 243 (2022) 123077

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Effects of adiabatic flame temperature on flames’ characteristics in a

gas-turbine combustor
Mansur Aliyu a, Ahmed Abdelhafez a, b, Medhat A. Nemitallah a, b, c, Syed A.M. Said a, *,
Mohamed A. Habib a, c
a
Mechanical Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, 31261, Saudi Arabia
b
IRC- Hydrogen and Energy Storage, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, 31261, Saudi Arabia
c
K.A. CARE Energy Research & Innovation Center at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this study a comparison between the premixed methane oxygen-enriched-air (CH4/O2/N2) and oxy-
Received 1 January 2021 methane (CH4/O2/CO2) in a gas-turbine model combustor that imitates pre-mixers in operational air-
Received in revised form fuel dry low emissions gas turbines is presented. The comparison and analyses that follow in this
21 November 2021
study are based on the results of experiments conducted. The combustion stability maps were obtained
Accepted 30 December 2021
Available online 3 January 2022
through the estimation of acoustic limits and measurement of blowout limits within the space of
equivalence ratio (4) e oxygen fraction (OF). The stability maps obtained were superimposed on the
contour plots of constant adiabatic temperature (Tad), Reynolds number (Re), and power density (PD) of
Keywords:
Adiabatic flame temperature
the combustor. Effects of Tad on flame macrostructure, flame stability, flame speed, and blowout
Equivalence ratio mechanism were investigated. The temperature distributions were also measured. The study results
Oxyfuel indicated that blowout of CO2 as well as N2 flames occur at constant Tad. These results are more pro-
Oxygen-enriched air nounced in the case of the multi-hole burner because, such burner is not characterized with sporadic
Stability maps nature of flame lifting and reattachment that dominate the occurrence of a blowout in swirl burner; for a
given OF, 4 at which CO2 flames blowout is higher than that of N2 flames due to the poorer resistance of
oxy-flames to blowout as compared to air flames; the stable combustion zone of CO2 flames is larger than
that of N2 flames.
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction of CO2 (carbon-dioxide) dilution on the flame characteristic have

To guarantee a complete combustion process in an engine even
with the newest form of technologies an engine has to operate on
excess air [1]. Operating on excess air means more than required
(stoichiometric) air containing 21% of oxygen by volume is sent to
the engine via the intake valve. This will enable the fuel molecules
to have the required amount of oxygen needed for complete
combustion. Although utilization of excess air increases the rate of
air-fuel mixing and hence guarantees a complete combustion
process, heat energy is wasted when excess air is used through the
flue gas [2] due to a large amount of diluent (Nitrogen) present in
the air [3]. The addition of diluent in a combustion process signif-
icantly affects the flame properties in many ways [4] and the effects
* Corresponding author. King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi
Arabia.
E-mail address: samsaid@kfupm.edu.sa (S.A.M. Said).
been established [5e7] including the works of the authors [8e10].
Since the cost of producing energy is getting on the high side,
enhancing energy efficiency should be of paramount concern [11].
The use of oxygen-enriched air is among the effective energy saving
methods in a combustion process. Since nitrogen draws off part of
the produced energy through the exhaust gas which eventually
lowers the efficiency of the fuel-utilization, combustion with
oxygen-enriched air reduces the heat energy loss, fuel consump-
tion, improves fuel variability, power density, and hence improve
the thermal efficiency by lowering the concentration of nitrogen
involved. Also, since nitrogen is the basis of NOx formation
decreasing it will reduce pollutants concentration in the flue gas
[3,12e17]. One of the prices to pay when adopting the oxyfuel
technology is the reduction in stability zone when compared with
that of the air/fuel flame [18]. Rashwan et al. [18] reported a
reduction of about 20% in the flammability limits for oxyfuel flame
with a 36% oxygen fraction, and a flashback was reported when the

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2021.123077
0360-5442/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
M. Aliyu, A. Abdelhafez, M.A. Nemitallah et al.
Nomenclature
A The combined cross-sectional area of all burner holes
[m2]
CH4 Methane
CO2 Carbon dioxide
D Hole main diameter [m]
m_ Mass flow rate [kg/s]
M Molecular mass [kg/kmol]
N2 Nitrogen
O2 Oxygen
OF Oxygen fraction, volumetric percentage of O2 in the
diluted oxidizers
p Combustor pressure [kPa]
PD Combustor power density [MW/m3/bar]
R0 Normalized radial position inside the combustor
Ru Universal gas constant [kJ/kmol/K]
Re Jet Reynolds number
oxygen fraction in the oxidizer increased beyond 40%.
Runyon et al. [19] studied the effect of diluents (CO2 and N2) on
the combustion stability of premixed oxy-methane combustion in a
generic swirl combustor under atmospheric and elevated pressure
conditions. They reported that for low thermal power and atmo-
spheric condition, the stability range of CO2 diluted flames is wider
than that of the N2 diluted flame considering the total concentra-
tion of oxygen in the premix. Gillon et al. [20] and Chahine et al.
[21] studied the effect of oxygen enrichment on the combustion
characteristic of methane-air laminar diffusion flame. The per-
centage of oxygen fraction was varied from 21% to 30%. They re-
ported that the flame lift-off height is reduced when the oxygen
enrichment method is considered which can be justified by the
increase in laminar flame velocity and heat release as a result of an
increase in the flame temperature. Merlo et al. [22] investigated the
flame stability of non-premixed turbulent methane flame with
oxygen-enriched air under swirling conditions. They reported that
increasing the percentage of oxygen fraction in the air while
maintaining the same oxidizer flow rate improves flame stability
and combustion efficiency. Li et al. [23] investigated the oxyfuel
combustion of methane in three different fast mixed cylindrical
flame burners. The mole fraction of oxygen was varied between
0.25 and 1.0. They reported that a steady flame was achieved when
the mole fraction of oxygen was below 50% for lean to rich range of
equivalence ratio. They also reported that for combustion of a high
mole of oxygen fraction (above 70%) to be considered the width of
the tubular burner should be extremely thin. Cacua et al. [24]
studied the impact of oxygen-enriched air on combustion charac-
teristic for a dual fuel engine. One of the fuel compositions
considered was 60% vol. and 40% vol. of methane (CH4) and CO2,
respectively, and the percentage of oxygen fraction was varied from
21% to 27%. They reported that as the percentage of oxygen fraction
is increased; the thermal and combustion efficiencies were
increased, and the combustion stability of the dual-fuel engine was
also improved.
Belohradský et al. [25] compared the combustion characteristics
of oxygen-enhanced combustion techniques which include premix
enrichment and oxygen-enriched-fuel. The considered combustion
characteristics were; nitrogen oxides (NOx) formation, heat flux to
the combustor wall, the temperature of the flue gas, dimensions
and shape of flames, and stability. They reported that the oxygen-
enriched-combustion method; significantly reduces the emission
of NOx when compared to the premix enrichment technique;
2
Energy 243 (2022) 123077
T0 Normalized absolute temperature
T0 Ambient temperature [K]
Tad Adiabatic flame temperature [K]
v Bulk jet velocity [m/s]
VC Combustor volume [m3]
x Mass fraction
y Mole fraction
Z0 Normalized axial position inside the combustor
Greek symbols
4 Equivalence ratio
r Density [kg/m3]
m Dynamic viscosity [kg/m/s]
Subscripts
mix Reactant mixture (CH4þO2þ CO2 or CH4þO2þ N2)
i Each mixture constituent
J Property of diluent
obtained flames were sharp and stable during the tests, and flames
were elongated for about 25% when the percentage of oxygen
fraction was increased to 35% which is contrary to Baukal [12].
Watanabe et al. [26] examined the structures of lean premixed
turbulent air and oxy-flames in a swirl-stabilized reactor at a macro
(large) and micro (small) scale. They reported that at a macro scale,
the total length of the oxy-flame was noticeably shorter compared
to the air-flame, and that oxy-flames show a higher flame-surface
area density. Evans and Kyritsis [27] investigated the stability of
oxyfuel premixed flame in a narrow duct under the atmospheric
condition. Oxy-methane and Oxy-propane flames were studied and
compared. They reported that several formations of steady and
oscillating flames regimes were noticed and that, the boundaries
between these regimes for oxy-methane flames were solely
dependent on the equivalence ratio rather than the Reynolds
numbers. They also reported that increasing the length of the tube
gives room for more thermal interaction and hence, reduces the
oscillations’ stability for both fuels, which was more evident in the
case of methane. Baigmohammadi et al. [28] studied the effect of
oxygen enrichment, equivalence ratio, and flow rate of the reacting
mixture on the premixed flame dynamics of the propane-air in a
non-adiabatic reactor. They reported that increasing the flow rate
of the reactive mixture, equivalence ratio, and oxygen fraction up to
40% increase the flame stability while, flame instability may occur
when the level of oxygen is beyond 40%. Vega et al. [29] studied the
effect of the electric field on the flame shape of a laminar premixed
methane flame. They reported that the ionic wind effects that
initiate the deformation in the shape of the flame reduce when the
flow rate and oxygen enrichment level are increased. Abdelhafez
et al. [30] studied the dependence of flame stability and structure
on the adiabatic flame temperature of premixed oxygen-enriched
and oxy-methane flames (CH4/O2/N2 and CH4/O2/CO2 respec-
tively) in a gas turbine model swirl combustor. They reported that
stable flames of the same adiabatic flame temperature irrespective
of equivalence ratio and oxygen fraction have the same shape and
that, the adiabatic flame temperature is enough to characterize the
stable combustion region of both CH4/O2/N2 and CH4/O2/CO2
flames.
Luo et al. [31] studied the effects of oxygen-enrichment on the
combustion characteristic of a biomass micro fuel. They reported
that increasing the concentration of oxygen under atmospheric
combustion improves combustion performance by reducing the
burning time and enhances the combustion temperature of the
M. Aliyu, A. Abdelhafez, M.A. Nemitallah et al. Energy 243 (2022) 123077

fuel. However, the improvement in the combustion temperature experimental set-up needed to carry out the required measure-
deteriorates as the concentration of oxygen in the oxidizer is raise ments and observations is shown in Fig. 1. The diluted oxidizers
beyond 40%. Ahmadi et al. [32] reported that increasing the oxygen (mixtures of diluent and O2) were introduced into the test rig
enrichment level in both rich and lean combustion results in a radially as shown in Fig. 1. More details about the experimental
higher temperature field. Wu et al. [11] investigated the effect of setup are available in Aliyu et al. [10].
21e30% oxygen fraction on the emissions, fuel consumption, The diluted O2/N2 oxidizer was achieved from enrichment ox-
heating rate, and temperature distributions in two different tests. ygen and non-preheated air flows which were introduced into the
They reported that varying the oxygen fraction from 21% to 30% combustion chamber after passing through flow meters to obtain
increased the heating rate and reduced the natural gas (fuel) con- the required level of oxygen enrichment. A constant jet velocity of
sumption by 53.6% and 26.1% respectively. The reduction in fuel 5.2 m/s was maintained for all flames. Apart from the air that was
consumption is due to the decrease in the diluent (N2) which si- supplied from a stand-alone two-stage compressor, gases were
phons part of the produced energy. A similar finding was reported supplied from compressed cylinders as reported by Aliyu et al. [10].
by Kimura and Browall [15]. Lambert et al. [33] reported that Details of the compressor are presented by Abdelhafez et al. [30].
oxygen-enriched combustion reduces fuel consumption and the Flame images (for microstructure analysis) were captured using a
best level of enrichment is 29%. Persis et al. [34] studied the effect of high-speed camera, and flue gas temperatures were obtained using
CO2 dilution and oxygen enrichment on a laminar flame speed of R-type thermocouple. Details of the camera and thermocouple are
methane flames at atmospheric pressure for gas turbine applica- available in the author's past work [10].
tions. They reported that increasing the CO2 dilution decreases the
adiabatic flame temperature due to the high heat capacity of CO2.
They also reported that increasing the percentage of oxygen frac-
tion increased the flame speed and adiabatic flame temperature. A 2.2. Mathematical formulation
similar finding was reported by Han et al. [35]. Cardona and Amell
[36] measured the laminar flame speed of blend fuels using ordi- A detailed explanation of how a constant jet velocity of 5.2 m/s
nary air and oxygen-enriched air for a various ratio of air to fuel. was maintained for CH4/O2/CO2 flames is given in Abdelhafez et al.
They reported that the laminar flame speed of all the fuels [30]. Considering the same approach for CH4/O2/N2 mixture, the
considered is enhanced when the air is been enriched with oxygen. flow rates of different species can be expressed as follows:
An increase in the burning velocity was explained to be due to an
increase in mixture reactivity. Van Maaren et al. [37] Presented a


pAv 4 OF
simple and precise technique to determine the adiabatic burning m_ CH4 ¼ 16 (1)
Ru T0 2 þ 4 OF
speed and flame temperature of flat premixed laminar flames, us-
ing a specifically fabricated flat flame burner. They reported a close


agreement between the developed method and experimental pAv OF
m_ O2 ¼ 64 (2)
result when a mixture of CH4/air is used. Kaskan [38] also reported Ru T0 2 þ 4 OF
that for a certain number of mixtures of fuel and oxidizer and at a
flame temperature range of 1300e1900 K, a linear relationship


pAv 1  OF
exists between the logarithm of the flame burning speed and the m_ CO2 ¼ 88 (3)
Ru T0 2 þ 4 OF
inverse of the acquired flame temperature.
The literature shows that there's still a lot to be done in the area


of lean premixed oxygen-enriched air combustion. Some of the pAv 1  OF
m_ N2 ¼ 56 (4)
studies reported in the literature investigated the effects of oxygen- Ru T0 2 þ 4 OF
enrichment on combustion characteristics while some were spe-
Equations (3) and (4) can be summarized as follows:
cific on flame stability. A study carried out in a swirl combustor that
relates the oxygen-enrichment level, flame stability, and adiabatic


flame temperature is briefly referred to in the literature. To the best
pAv 1  OF
m_ J ¼ 2MJ (5)
of the knowledge of the authors, no study on the dependency of Ru T0 2 þ 4 OF
flame stability and structure on adiabatic flame temperature for A test matrix covering ranges of equivalence ratio (4) and oxy-
premixed methane oxygen-enriched air flames in a micromixer gen fraction (OF) was developed using Microsoft Excel.
burner has been reported in the literature. Hence, the objective of It could be observed from equation (1) that the fuel (CH4) flow
the present study is to investigate the effect of adiabatic flame rate is independent of the property(s) of diluent (J) thus, irre-
temperature, oxygen fraction, and equivalence ratio on flame sta- spective of the diluent considered, the power consumed by the
bility and microstructure of premixed CH4 flames in a gas-turbine combustor is the same and depends mainly on the properties and
model combustor using a micromixer like multi-hole burner. flow rate of the fuel. Equation (6) gives an expression for the power
density of the combustor as a function of mass flow rate and
2. Experimental setup and mathematical formulation tabulated standard combustion enthalpy of methane (i.e. m_ CH4 and
hc respectively), atmospheric pressure, and the volume of the
2.1. Experimental setup combustor.

This study compares the stability limits, flame macrostructures, m_ CH4  hc

and combustion characteristics of atmospheric CH4/O2 flames un- PD ¼ (6)
Vc  p
der different diluents (N2 and CO2) in a premixed multi-hole burner
experimentally. Flames were classified into two categories Equation (7) was used to estimate the Reynolds number based
depending on the diluent type. These flames were studied in the on the mixture properties, jet velocity (v), and diameter (D) of the
same gas-turbine model combustor (to establish bases of compar- main hole. Mixture properties (i.e. bulk dynamic viscosity and
ison) that was built on the lean premixed dry low emissions density) were calculated using equations (8) and (9) respectively
method of air-fuel gas turbine operation [30]. The schematic of the [39,40].
3
M. Aliyu, A. Abdelhafez, M.A. Nemitallah et al. Energy 243 (2022) 123077

Fig. 1. Schematic drawing of the test rig.

rmix vD
Re ¼ (7)
mmix P
p m_ i
rmix ¼ P (9)
Ru T ðm_ i =Mi Þ
P pffiffiffiffiffiffi
m yi Mi Even though the main hole diameter and jet velocity remain
mmix ¼ P i p ffiffiffiffiffiffi (8) constant, change in mixture properties due to variation in opera-
yi Mi
tion parameters (4 and OF) is responsible for the change in Rey-
nolds number [10].
4
M. Aliyu, A. Abdelhafez, M.A. Nemitallah et al.
2.3. Experimental procedure
The experimental procedure carried out in this study is pub-
lished in detail by the authors [10]. The main features of the pro-
cedure are the jet velocity was kept constant at 5.2 m/s for all the
considered flames while the mixture flow rates (i.e. CH4, CO2, and
O2) were varied for required combinations of 4 and OF and the
stability map of the combustor was obtained by scanning the
blowout limit for one OF at a time while varying 4. Procedure to
achieve stability map of a combustor is also published by the au-
thors [10].
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Stability maps
Varying the value of oxygen fraction in a diluted O2/N2 oxidizer
is not expected to cause a significant change in the properties of
oxidizer because, the properties of the two elements (i.e. O2 and N2)
constituting the oxidizer are similar in some aspects. To be specific,
their heat capacities and densities are comparably the same with
little difference in their densities been attributed to a small varia-
tion in their molecular weight. Contrary to these, Carbon dioxide is
characterized by higher heat capacity and density. These two
properties are about 150% greater than those of O2 and N2 at a given
temperature and pressure. Therefore, oxygen fraction is expected to
significantly influence the characteristics of oxyfuel flame. One of
the major combustion parameters that are significantly affected by
oxygen fraction is the adiabatic flame temperature (Tad), this
parameter is of paramount importance when analyzing premixed
flames as it has been reported for a swirl burner [30,40]. A similar
analysis will be presented here for micromixer flames.
The first set of results pertains to stability maps. Figs. 2 e 4 show
the stability maps of the studied gas-turbine model combustor for
both CH4/O2/CO2 and CH4/O2/N2 flames at a constant jet velocity on
the background of adiabatic flame temperature (Tad), power density
(PD), and Reynolds number (Re) respectively. The color scale for the
two maps are the same, this is to ensure that identical comparisons
were achieved. The continuous line and circular marks represent
the blowout limit and points respectively while the dashed line
represents the acoustic limit. In every case, the stable combustion
region lies between these two lines (i.e. continuous and dash lines)
thus, the stable combustion zone is the area established above the
blowout limit and below the acoustic limit. Unlike what was re-
ported for swirl burner [30], blowout points for a set of cases (i.e.
given 4 and OF) are almost consistent meaning the sporadic nature
of flame lifting and reattachment that dominate the occurrence of a
blowout in swirl flames does not occur in the case of multi-hole
(micromixer like) burner. Therefore, the absence of sporadic lift-
ing and reattachment of flame before the blowout in the multi-hole
burner settings makes it easy and accurate to predict the blowout
points and hence, a stable combustion zone.
Several observations can be made by examining Fig. 2 closely.
The influence of oxygen fraction on adiabatic flame temperature for
an oxyfuel flame can be seen through the steepness in slopes of
constant adiabatic flame temperature contours for CH4/O2/CO2
flames. Also, the value of this temperature (Tad) for these flames is
always lower than that of their counterparts (i.e. CH4/O2/N2 flames)
for a given set of OF and 4. These observations are due to the higher
heat capacity of CO2 diluent as compared to N2 diluent as reported
in the previous study [30]. The CO2 diluent tends to absorb more
heat released from a combustion process thereby leaving a flame
with lower temperature.
An observation that both acoustic and blowout limit consis-
tently follow curves of constant Tad for CH4/O2/CO2 flames reported
5
Energy 243 (2022) 123077
by the authors [10] were also observed here for CH4/O2/N2 flames at
the same jet velocity. This can be justified from Fig. 2 through the R2
value of the exponential fit curves of both flames been greater than
99.7%. Therefore, this study is proving that flame stability is pri-
marily controlled by adiabatic flame temperature, irrespective of
the diluent (either CO2 or N2) used in premixed CH4 combustion
and burner geometry (multi-hole, micromixer, or swirl), with this
finding more pronounced in the case of the multi-hole burner,
compared to swirl burners. This phenomenon is attributed to the
reaction kinetics because for a similar constant inlet jet velocity, the
blowout and acoustic limits are influenced mostly by reaction ki-
netics [30]. Since a sensitive balance exists between the flow and
flame velocity at the blowout limit, the constant jet velocity
considered in this study implies that this limit takes place at a
constant flame velocity which strengthens the major role played by
reaction kinetics. It can be seen from Fig. 2 that for a premixed
combustion system running on natural gas and operating at either
constant bulk swirl velocity [30] or jet inlet velocity, the stability
maps are best described by adiabatic flame temperature.
Considering the above concept, it will be good to reiterate that
the design and operation of a premixed oxyfuel gas-turbine
combustor should be based on adiabatic flame temperature
similar to what is attainable in state-of-the-art lean premixed air-
fuel gas-turbine combustors. Even though the equivalence ratio is
used to control the temperature of a flame, the design, operation,
and evaluation of gas-turbine combustors are not based on equiv-
alence ratio but rather flame temperature hence, this study en-
dorses this existing tradition for oxy-fuel gas-turbine combustors.
Some other important observations that can be made from Fig. 2
and when also compared with the previous study [30] are as
follow:
 Stable flames were achieved for CH4/air (OF ¼ 21%) at 4 < 0.50
which is lower than what was reported for swirl flames, this
same condition falls in the blowout zone for oxyflames. Either
for CH4/O2/CO2 or CH4/O2/N2 flames, a multi-hole burner dis-
plays a greater performance over a swirl burner [30] through its
ability to function at a lower Tad of 1430 K as compared to 1870 K
[30] before the blowout in case of oxy-flame as shown in
Fig. 2(D). This is beneficial in extending the turndown capability
(low-load limit) of oxy-fuel gas turbines. Oxyfuel flames are
already known for their inferior stability (which is responsible
for its relatively small stable combustion zone) in comparison to
air-fuel flames [39], so using a burner technology that widens
the operability window on the blowout side is of critical
importance to the operation of the gas turbine.
 The equivalence ratio at which CO2 flames blowout is higher
than that of N2 flames at a given OF which confirms the poorer
resistance of oxyflames to blowout as compared to air flames.
However, the stable combustion zone of CO2 flames is larger
than that of N2 flames which is contrary to earlier findings re-
ported for swirl flame [18,30,41,and [42] but is in agreement
with the findings of Runyon et al. [19]. The situation, in this case,
is because of the negative influence of CO2 on reaction kinetics
which offers better retardation to the onset of acoustic in-
stabilities, thereby increasing the upper limit of the stable
combustion zone. This finding agrees with what was reported
by Jerzak and Ku znia [43].
 This study shows that even as high as 70% OF the CO2 and N2
flames are not identical, although the limits are coming closer.
This seems logical because (no matter how small it may be) the
two flames have different chemical kinetics, and the multi-hole
burner shows this difference in their combustion characteristics.
To re-enforce that adiabatic flame temperature is the optimum
M. Aliyu, A. Abdelhafez, M.A. Nemitallah et al. Energy 243 (2022) 123077

Fig. 2. Stability maps of CH4/O2/N2 and CH4/O2/CO2 flames ((A) and (B) respectively) plotted on the contours of constant adiabatic flame temperature (Tad) for a constant jet velocity
of 5.2 m/s. Comparisons of the two maps and the present with the previous study [30] are shown in (C) and (D) respectively.

parameter to characterize the stability map of a premixed CH4
flames (i.e. CH4/O2/N2 and CH4/O2/CO2) in a gas turbine combustor
working under a constant jet inlet velocity, the stability maps were
plotted on the contours plots of power density (PD) and Reynolds
number, in order to see the effects of fuel mass flow rate and
mixture properties respectively. Fig. 3 shows that blowout limits of
both CO2 and N2 flames did not follow curves of constant PD con-
trary to what was experienced in the case of Tad. An interesting
thing to note here is that the N2 map can characterized by PD to
some extent, whereas the CO2 map cannot due to significant
different in CO2 and O2 properties [30]. Therefore, power density
(basically CH4 mass flow rate) of a combustor cannot be completely

Fig. 3. Stability maps of CH4/O2/N2 and CH4/O2/CO2 flames (A and B respectively) plotted on the contours of constant power density (PD) for a constant jet velocity of 5.2 m/s.

6
M. Aliyu, A. Abdelhafez, M.A. Nemitallah et al. Energy 243 (2022) 123077

considered as an optimum parameter (like Tad) to describe the

stability maps of premixed CH4 flames in a gas turbine combustor
working under a constant jet inlet velocity. Similarly, Fig. 4 shows
the effect of mixture properties on the stability maps of CH4/O2/N2
and CH4/O2/CO2 flames. It can be seen from Fig. 4 that there is no
agreement correlation between the stability limits and Reynolds
number which houses mixture properties. Differences in slopes of
curves of blowout limits and acoustic limits were due to significant
differences in mixture properties (e.g. densities) of CO2 and N2.
Curves of CO2 flames are steeper than those of N2 flames because of
the higher-density of CO2 as compared to that of N2. Hence, using
mixture properties or Reynolds number to explain the stability
maps of premixed CH4 flames in a gas turbine combustor working
under a constant jet inlet velocity is not appropriate.

3.2. Flame macrostructure

The second set of results pertains to flame macrostructure.
Sample flame imaging used in investigating the macrostructure
characteristics of flames produced using the micromixer like multi-
hole burner of dimension and spacing presented in the previous
study [10] is shown in Fig. 5. The burner consists of 61 holes and the
reactant mixture exits each hole at a constant jet velocity forming a
cone-shaped-like flame, therefore, the reaction zone of a fully lit
burner consists of 61 flames that stabilize one another at the burner
surface. Looking at the flames from the 2-D perspective in the di-
rection (60 ) shown in Fig. 5 only nine out of the 61 flames can be
seen in such a way that all flames indicated by the same color will
be seen as one because they lined parallel to the direction of view.
The effect of oxygen fraction, equivalence ratio, and adiabatic
flame temperature were studied on flames’ macrostructure and
stability for both flames CH4/O2/CO2 (CO2) and CH4/O2/N2 (N2). The
adiabatic flame temperature was varied by varying either OF or 4
and by varying both OF and 4 concurrently. Fig. 6 shows the effect of
varying 4 (at a constant OF of 60%) and varying OF at (a constant 4 of
0.5) on flame macrostructure and stability for both CO2 and N2
flames, while Fig. 7 shows the effect of varying both operating
parameters on the characteristics of the same flames. As shown in
Figs. 6 and 7, flames 1e5 present the effect of variation in 4 at a
constant OF, flames 6e10 show the effect of variation in OF at a
constant 4, while flames 11e15 illustrate the effect of variation in
both parameters while keeping Tad constant on flames character-
istics. As it can be observed from Fig. 6, flames were selected in a
manner that pairs of similar Tad exist.
Fig. 5. Sample imaging for flames macrostructure characteristics.
It can be observed from Fig. 6 that at low OF or 4, flames are
week and long and approach blowout as values of operating pa-
rameters decrease, mechanism of the blowout for both flames is
presented in the coming section. In either flame, increasing the
value of either OF or 4 improves the stability of the flame and in-
creases the heat release rate because flames were seen to be more
bright, compact, and stronger. These findings agree with what is
available in the literature [10,11,28,30,and31]]. From the CO2 flames,
it can be observed that flames of similar Tad have nearly equal size
and shape it is hard to differentiate even for the fact that they
differed in OF and 4. Meanwhile, a slightly different trend was
observed for N2 flames. Flames 1 and 6, and 2 and 7 seem to be
different macroscopically even with the same Tad of 1540 K and
1600 K respectively. The N2 flames appear to exhibit the same
macrostructure from Tad of 1650 K and above, this shows that there
is a limit to what Tad can do when it comes to the macrostructure of
CH4/O2/N2 flames in a multi-hole (micromixer like) burner. Some
additional observations from Fig. 6 are that; there are no significant
differences in the effects of OF and 4 on the flame macrostructure
and that Tad is enough to generalize the macrostructure of a given
premixed oxyfuel flame [10,40,44] since it combined the effects of
OF and 4 and best explain the reaction kinetics effects, can still be
adopted for CH4/O2/CO2 flames but should be strictly applied with
caution when it comes to CH4/O2/N2 most especially when the

Fig. 4. Stability maps of CH4/O2/N2 and CH4/O2/CO2 flames (A and B respectively) plotted on the contours of constant Reynolds number (Re) for a constant jet velocity of 5.2 m/s.

7
M. Aliyu, A. Abdelhafez, M.A. Nemitallah et al.
Fig. 6. Effects of equivalence ratio (top at OF ¼ 60%) and oxygen fraction (bottom at 4 ¼ 0.5) on CH4/O2/CO2 (CO2, left) and CH4/O2/N2 (N2, right) flames' macrostructure at similar
pairs of adiabatic flame temperature.
Fig. 7. Effect of keeping the adiabatic flame temperature constant while varying both oxygen fraction and equivalence ratio on CH4/O2/CO2 (CO2, left) and CH4/O2/N2 (N2, right)
flames' macrostructure.
flame is becoming weak and approaching blowout point.
Further investigation on the effects of Tad on flame macro-
structure was carried out and presented in Fig. 7. Five flames were
selected from CH4/O2/CO2 (CO2) and CH4/O2/N2 (N2) flames each,
the Tad of the selected CO2 flames are around 1900 K while those of
the N2 flames are around 1750 K. All these flames are stable, i.e.,
away from blowout or acoustic instabilities. The OF and 4 of CO2
flames range from 42 to 60% and 0.325 to 0.500 respectively while
those of the N2 flames range from 42 to 60% also and 0.230 and
0.325 respectively. All the flame images presented in Fig. 7 for each
set of flames either CH4/O2/CO2 (CO2) or CH4/O2/N2 (N2) seem
identical, which is a strong indication that Tad plays a major role in
controlling the flame macrostructure of an oxyfuel flame.
Comparing the length of the CO2 and N2 flame on a macro scale, it
can be observed from Fig. 7 that there is no significant difference in
flames length knowing well that the flame with higher Tad should
be shorter. This is contrary to what was reported for a swirl burner
8
Energy 243 (2022) 123077
in a study carried out by Watanabe et al. [26].
Findings from this study are reinforcing the recommendation
drawn from previous studies [10,30,and39]] that the design and
operation of combustors of oxyfuel gas-turbine should be based on
Tad rather than the percentage of exhaust gas recirculation or
dilution ratio. Adiabatic flame temperature can be simply obtained
from a given value of operating parameters which can then give a
good prediction of flame stability modes and macrostructure.
3.3. Mechanism of a flame blowout
The mechanism of a flame blowout of the studied micromixer
like (multi-hole) burner was examined by slowly reducing the Tad
through the withdrawal of OF while keeping the 4 constant at a
value of 0.5 for both flames.
Fig. 8 shows the sequence of a blowout, it started with 36 and
27.1% OF and 1693 and 1750 K Tad for CO2 and N2 flames
M. Aliyu, A. Abdelhafez, M.A. Nemitallah et al. Energy 243 (2022) 123077

Fig. 8. Mechanism of a blowout for CH4/O2/CO2 (CO2, top) and CH4/O2/N2 (N2, bottom) flames both at an equivalence ratio of 0.5.

respectively. For CO2 flame, at 36% OF the outermost ring of the 3.4. Correlation between flame speed and adiabatic flame
burner is described with a lifted flame which eventually becomes temperature
extinguished as the OF decreases to 35% and subsequently lifts the
next ring as shown in Fig. 8 (top). This situation continues with an The relationship between flame speed (FS) and Tad was estab-
increase in flame length and the formation of lotus flower shape by lished using oxyfuel flames. Images of six stable CO2 flames, with
the flame until the OF reduces to 32% where the second ring also Tad ranging between 1700 and 1900 K as seen in Table 1, were
becomes extinguished and gives rise to a longer and lifted flame in selected to correlate the height of a single conical flame to FS and
the third ring. Just a percentage decrease in OF extinguishes the Tad, because the height of the selected flames can be determined
third ring and lives the burner with only seven attached stable jets. with enough level of accuracy from the images. The six flames in
It can be observed that both the lifted and unlit holes became Table 1 were chosen to have different OF and 4 values, so that their
ignited downstream of the burner by the lit central holes, this de- Tad values span the range 1700e1900 K. Fig. 9 shows how the ge-
scribes the cloudy blue flame that fills the combustor surrounding ometry of a single conical flame is examined to evaluate the FS.
the attached central jets. Reducing the OF below 30% results in an
unstable annular flame characterized by rapid extinguishing and
relighting until the flame eventually blows out.
Table 1
A similar sequence was obtained for N2 flame as shown in Fig. 8 Selected flames for FS-Tad analysis.
(bottom), at 27.1% OF full lit and an anchored flame was obtained,
and as the OF reduces the outer ring becomes lifted and eventually Tad [K] 10000/Tad h [mm] FS [m/s]


D
extinguished as explained for CO2 flame. The sequence continues ¼ v sin tan1
2h
until 21.5% OF is reached, at this point the flame remains stable but
1693 5.907 29.5 0.2799
long with the seven-central holes remain lit. This is expected since
1707 5.858 28.0 0.2948
the OF in CH4/air flames is 21% but the special thing here is that it is 1796 5.568 25.4 0.3244
achieved at 0.5 4 which is less than 0.55 that was reported for a 1806 5.537 24.5 0.3368
swirl burner [30]. 1899 5.266 22.3 0.3698
1902 5.258 21.5 0.3835

9
M. Aliyu, A. Abdelhafez, M.A. Nemitallah et al. Energy 243 (2022) 123077

Fig. 9. Relationship between flame speed and adiabatic flame temperature.

Even with the small range of Tad, the relationship between Tad and
FS turns out to be the form of logðFSÞa ð1 =Tad Þ, which is in perfect
agreement with the findings of Abdelhafez et al. [40], Van Maaren
et al. [37], and Kaskan [38]. The empirical equation for the graph
shown in Fig. 9 is presented in equation (10). This shows that the
smaller the Tad the smaller the FS and the longer the flame because
much time scale is required to bring the reaction to completion.

Fig. 10. Normalized flame temperature distributions along the centerline of the
combustor for the selected five CH4/O2/CO2 (CO2, top) and CH4/O2/N2 (N2, bottom)
flames.

Table 2
Five flames considered for the temperature distribution measurement.

Flame number CH4/O2/CO2 Flames CH4/O2/N2 Flames

4 OF (%) Actual Tad [K] 4 OF (%) Actual Tad [K]

2 0.250 60.00 1605 0.200 60.00 1594

5 0.325 60.00 1902 0.230 60.00 1747
7 0.500 33.00 1589 0.500 23.55 1595
Fig. 11. Normalized flame temperature distributions along the radius of the combustor
10 0.500 42.00 1899 0.500 27.10 1746
for the selected five CH4/O2/CO2 (CO2, top) and CH4/O2/N2 (N2, bottom) flames at axial
13 0.407 50.00 1901 0.275 50.00 1749
position Z’ ¼ 0.97.

10
M. Aliyu, A. Abdelhafez, M.A. Nemitallah et al. Energy 243 (2022) 123077

temperature distributions which show a silence roles play by OF

and 4 as previously explained [10]. Figs. 11 and 12 show the radial
temperature profiles at two different axial positions of 0.97 (close
to the combustor exit) and 0.70 (close to the flame). In any case, the
maximum temperature is obtained at the axis and decreases as the
thermocouple is moved outwardly with a sharp drop when the
combustor wall is approached. The reason for the sharp drop is as a
result of high convective and radiation heat transfer taken place
through the wall.

4. Conclusion

The study results indicate that:

1. Blowout of CO2 and N2 flames occur at constant adiabatic

temperature
2. The outcomes are more pronounced in the case of the multi-
hole burner because, where such burner is not characterized
with sporadic nature of flame lifting and reattachment that
dominate the occurrence of a blowout in swirl burner
3. For a given OF, the 4 at which CO2 flames blowout is higher than
that of N2 flames due to the poorer resistance of oxy-flames to
blowout as compared to air flames
4. The stable combustion zone of CO2 flames is larger than that of
N2 flames; with no similarity observed in the blowout limits of
CO2 and N2 even at maximum OF considered in this study
5. N2 flames follow a contour of constant PD to some extent while
CO2 flames do not
6. There is a limit to what Tad can do when it comes to macro-
structure of N2 flames; and that a linear correlation exists be-
tween the logarithm of flame speed and the inverse of Tad for
oxyfuel flames.
7. The outcomes of this study reinforce the recommendation that
the design and operation of combustors of oxyfuel gas-turbine
Fig. 12. Normalized flame temperature distributions along the radius of the combustor should be based on Tad rather than the percentage of exhaust
for the selected five CH4/O2/CO2 (CO2, top) and CH4/O2/N2 (N2, bottom) flames at axial gas recirculation or dilution ratio.
position Z’ ¼ 0.70.

Credit author statement

logðFSÞ ¼ 1:1362  1446 = Tad (10)
Mansur Aliyu: Writing e original draft, Investigation, Meth-
odology, Data curation, Formal analysis Ahmed Abdelhafez: Proj-
ect administration, Funding acquisition, Formal analysis, Writing e
3.5. Temperature measurements review & editing, Medhat A. Nemitallah: Supervision, Formal
analysis, Writing e review & editing, Syed A. M. Said: Supervision,
Fig. 10 e 12 show the flame temperature distributions along the Writing e review & editing, Mohamed A. Habib: Writing e review
combustor centerline and in the radial directions at two axial po- & editing
sitions, respectively for both flames as indicated. The purpose is to
show the relationship between Tad, OF, 4, and flame structure. The
Declaration of competing interest
temperature measurements’ domain has been well explained by
the authors in their previous study and equations for normalization
The authors declare that they have no known competing
were also presented [10]. Operating parameters and Tad of selected
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
flames are shown in Table 2.
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Looking at Fig. 10 closely, it can be observed that the tempera-
ture distribution along the axis of the combustor follows a linear
Acknowledgment
relationship for both flames. The normalized axial temperature, in
any case, is less than 1.00 due to heat transfer by radiation to the
This research work was supported by King Fahd University of
surroundings and convection to the quartz combustor confine-
Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM) through the Deanship of Scientific
ment. Flames with lower Tad tend to have higher normalized tem-
Research (DSR) project number DF181020.
perature values when compared with those with higher value of
Tad. The reason is that the rate at which heat is lost from the lower
temperature flame is less compared to the higher temperature ones References
and it is more obvious here due to the dominance of radiation heat
[1] Heywood JB. Internal combustion engine Fundamentals. 1988.
transfer. Even though flames 5, 10, and 13 have the same structure [2] Baskar P, Senthilkumar A. Effects of oxygen enriched combustion on pollution
in both CO2 and N2 flames, there are still small differences in their and performance characteristics of a diesel engine. Eng Sci Technol Int J

11
M. Aliyu, A. Abdelhafez, M.A. Nemitallah et al.
2016;19:438e43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jestch.2015.08.011.
[3] Zhaosheng Y, Xiaoqian M, Ao L. Kinetic studies on catalytic combustion of rice
and wheat straw under air- and oxygen-enriched atmospheres, by using
thermogravimetric analysis. Biomass Bioenergy 2008;32:1046e55. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2008.02.001.
[4] Mazas AN, Fiorina B, Lacoste DA, Schuller T. Effects of water vapor addition on
the laminar burning velocity of oxygen-enriched methane flames. Combust
Flame 2011;158:2428e40. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.combustflame.2011.05.014.
[5] Kobayashi H, Hagiwara H, Kaneko H, Ogami Y. Effects of CO2 dilution on
turbulent premixed flames at high pressure and high temperature. Proc
Combust Inst 2007;31:1451e8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proci.2006.07.159.
[6] Cong T Le, Dagaut P. Oxidation of H2/CO2 mixtures and effect of hydrogen
initial concentration on the combustion of CH4 and CH4/CO2 mixtures: ex-
periments and modeling. Proc Combust Inst 2009;32:427e35. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.proci.2008.05.079.
[7] Qiao L, Gan Y, Nishiie T, Dahm WJA, Oran ES. Extinction of premixed methane/
air flames in microgravity by diluents : effects of radiation and Lewis number.
Combust Flame 2010;157:1446e55. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.combustflame.2010.04.004.
[8] Said SA, Aliyu M, Nemitallah MA, Habib MA, Mansir IB. Experimental inves-
tigation of the stability of a turbulent diffusion flame in a gas turbine
combustor. Energy 2018;157:904e13. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.energy.2018.05.177.
[9] Aliyu M, Nemitallah MA, Said SA, Habib MA. Characteristics of H2-enriched
CH4-O2 diffusion flames in a swirl-stabilized gas turbine combustor: experi-
mental and numerical study. Int J Hydrogen Energy 2016;41:20418e32.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2016.08.144.
[10] Aliyu M, Abdelhafez A, Said SAM, Habib MA, Nemitallah MA, Mansir IB.
Characteristics of oxyfuel combustion in lean-premixed multihole burners.
Energy Fuel 2019;33:11948e58. https://doi.org/10.1021/
acs.energyfuels.9b02821.
[11] Wu K, Chang Y, Chen C, Chen Y. High-efficiency combustion of natural gas
with 21 e 30 % oxygen-enriched air. Fuel 2010;89:2455e62. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.fuel.2010.02.002.
[12] Baukal Jr CE. Oxygen-enhanced combustion. 2013.
[13] Gohlke O, Busch M. Reduction of combustion by-products in WTE plants : O2
enrichment of underfire air in the MARTIN SYNCOM process. Chemosphere
2001;42:545e50.
[14] Henrich E, Burkle S, Meza-Renken ZI, Rumpel S. Combustion and gasification
kinetics of pyrolysis chars from waste and biomass. J Anal Appl Pyrolysis
1999;49:221e41.
[15] Kimura SG, Browall WR. Membrane oxygen enrichment I. Demonstration of
membrane oxygen enrichment for natural gas combustion. J Membr Sci
1986;29:69e77.
[16] Zhang W, Chen Z, Li W, Shu G, Xu B, Shen Y. Influence of EGR and oxygen-
enriched air on diesel engine NO e smoke emission and combustion char-
acteristic. Appl Energy 2013;107:304e14. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.apenergy.2013.02.024.
[17] Poola RB, Sekar R. Reduction of NOx and particulate emissions by using
oxygen-enriched combustion air. ASME J Eng Gas Turbines Power 2003;125:
524e33. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.1563236.
[18] Rashwan SS, Ibrahim AH, Abou-Arab TW, Nemitallah MA, Habib MA. Experi-
mental investigation of partially premixed methaneeair and
methaneeoxygen flames stabilized over a perforated-plate burner. Appl En-
ergy 2016;169:126e37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.02.047.
[19] Runyon J, Marsh R, Valera-medina A, Giles A, Morris S, Pugh D, et al. Methane-
oxygen flame stability in a generic premixed gas turbine swirl combustor at
varying thermal power and pressure. Proc. ASME Turbo Expo 2015 Turbine
Tech Conf Expo 2015;GT2015:1e13.
[20] Gillon P, Chahine M, Sarh B, Blanchard J, Gilard V. Stabilization of lifted
laminar Co-flow flames by oxygen-enriched air. Combust Sci Technol
2012;184:556e71. https://doi.org/10.1080/00102202.2011.651230.
[21] Chahine M, Gillon P, Sarh B, Blanchard JN, Gilard V. Stability of a laminar jet
diffusion flame of methane in an oxygen enriched air co-jet. Cagliari, Sardinia,
Italy: Chia Laguna; 2011.
[22] Merlo N, Boushaki T, Chauveau C, Persis S De, Pillier L, Sarh B, et al. Com-
bustion characteristics of methane e oxygen enhanced air turbulent non-
premixed swirling flames. Exp Therm Fluid Sci 2014;56:53e60. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2013.11.019.
[23] Li B, Shi B, Zhao X, Ma K, Xie D, Zhao D, et al. Oxy-fuel combustion of methane
in a swirl tubular flame burner under various oxygen contents: operation
12
Energy 243 (2022) 123077
limits and combustion instability. Exp Therm Fluid Sci 2018;90:115e24.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2017.09.001.
[24] Cacua K, Amell A, Cadavid F. Effects of oxygen enriched air on the operation
and performance of a diesel-biogas dual fuel engine. Biomass Bioenergy
2012;45:159e67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2012.06.003.
[25] Belohradský P, Skryja P, Hud ak I. Experimental study on the influence of
oxygen content in the combustion air on the combustion characteristics.
Energy 2014;75:116e26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2014.04.026.
[26] Watanabe H, Shanbhogue SJ, Taamallah S, Chakroun NW, Ghoniem AF. The
structure of swirl-stabilized turbulent premixed CH 4/air and CH4/O2/CO2
flames and mechanisms of intense burning of oxy-flames. Combust Flame
2016;174:111e9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.combustflame.2016.09.015.
[27] Evans CJ, Kyritsis DC. Operational regimes of rich methane and propane/ox-
ygen flames in mesoscale non-adiabatic ducts. Proc Combust Inst 2009;32:
3107e14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proci.2008.06.089.
[28] Baigmohammadi M, Tabejamaat S, Faghani-Lamraski M. Experimental study
on the effects of mixture flow rate , equivalence ratio , oxygen enhancement ,
and geometrical parameters on propane- air premixed flame dynamics in
non-adiabatic meso-scale reactors. Energy 2017;121:657e75. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.energy.2017.01.057.
[29] Vega EV, Shin SS, Lee KY. NO emission of oxygen-enriched CH4/O2/N2 pre-
mixed flames under electric field. Fuel 2007;86:512e9. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.fuel.2006.07.034.
[30] Abdelhafez A, Nemitallah MA, Rashwan SS, Habib MA. Adiabatic flame tem-
perature for controlling the macrostructures and stabilization modes of pre-
mixed methane flames in a model gas-turbine combustor. Energy Fuel
2018;32:7868e77. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.8b01133.
[31] Luo SY, Xiao B, Hu ZQ, Liu SM, Guan YW. Experimental study on oxygen-
enriched combustion of biomass micro fuel. Energy 2009;34:1880e4.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2009.07.036.
[32] Ahmadi M, Avval MS, Yousefi T, Goharkhah M, Nasr B, Ashjaee M. Tempera-
ture measurement of a premixed radially symmetric methane flame jet using
the Mach e zehnder Interferometry. Opt Laser Eng 2011;49:859e65. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.optlaseng.2011.02.020.
[33] Lambert J, Sorin M, Paris J. Analysis of oxygen-enriched combustion for steam
methane reforming (SMR). Energy 1997;22:817e25.
[34] G??kalp I. De Persis S, Foucher F, Pillier L, Osorio V. Effects of O2 enrichment
and CO2 dilution on laminar methane flames Energy 2013;55:1055e66.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2013.04.041.
[35] Han J, Lee C-E, Kum S-M, Hwang Y-S. Study on the improvement of chemical
reaction mechanism of methane based on the laminar burning velocities in
OEC. Energy Fuel 2007;21:3202e7.
[36] Cardona CA, Amell AA. Laminar burning velocity and interchangeability
analysis of biogas/C3H8/H2 with normal and oxygen-enriched air. Int J
Hydrogen Energy 2013;38:7994e8001. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.ijhydene.2013.04.094.
[37] Van Maaren A, Thung DS, De Goey LRH. Measurement of flame temperature
and adiabatic burning velocity of methane/air mixtures. Combust Sci Technol
1994;96:327e44.
[38] Kaskan WE. The dependence of flame temperature on mass burning velocity.
Symp Combust 1957;6:134e43.
[39] Carr NL, Kobayashi R, Burrows DB. Viscosity of hydrocarbon gases under
pressure. Dallas: Pet. Branch Fall Meet; 1953. p. 9.
[40] Abdelhafez A, Rashwan SS, Nemitallah MA, Habib MA. Stability map and
shape of premixed CH4/O2/CO2 flames in a model gas-turbine combustor.
Appl Energy 2018;215:63e74. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.apenergy.2018.01.097.
[41] Kutne P, Kapadia BK, Meier W, Aigner M. Experimental analysis of the com-
bustion behaviour of oxyfuel flames in a gas turbine model combustor. Proc
Combust Inst 2011;33:3383e90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proci.2010.07.008.
[42] Amato A, Hudak B, D'Carlo P, Noble D, Scarborough D, Seitzman J, et al.
Methane oxycombustion for low CO2 cycles: blowoff measurements and
analysis. J Eng Gas Turbines Power 2011;133. https://doi.org/10.1115/
1.4002296.
[43] Jerzak W, Kuznia M. Experimental study of impact of swirl number as well as
oxygen and carbon dioxide content in natural gas combustion air on flame
flashback and blow-off. J Nat Gas Sci Eng 2016;29:46e54. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.jngse.2015.12.054.
[44] Shroll AP, Shanbhogue SJ, Ghoniem AF. Dynamic-stability characteristics of
premixed methane oxy-combustion. J Eng Gas Turbines Power 2012;134:
1e10. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4004737.