Burner Design for better

Performance
 Burner Design Parameters
• To enhance firing capacity to
maximize thermal performance;
• Improve flame shape and maintain
uniform geometry and avoid
unfluctuating distribution,
• Minimize or eliminate CO, Nox, SOx &
other GHG emissions ,
• Supply air in 2 steps, (Primary air &
secondary air),
• To control Substantial noise and
minimize maintenance cost.
1-2
 Principles of combustion
Combustion is a chemical reaction that OCCURS at
• a high temperature, and
• oxidize the carbon present in the fuel.

3 Basic ingredients for combustion .

1. Fuel (hydrocarbon)
2. Oxygen (main source is air (approx. 20% oxygen and 80% nitrogen)
3. Ignition devise (source of heat)

Affects of presences of Nitrogen ?

3-3
 Combustion process

outputs

Inputs

3-4
 Products of complete combustion
The combustion process results in:

1. Heat (what is required)

2. Water Vapors (H2O)

3. Carbon dioxide (C02)

Note: Nitrogen passes through combustion unchanged.

3-5
 Impact of Incomplete Combustion

1. Incomplete combustion produces less

energy, wastage of fuel, creates poisonous
gases (CO) and brings acid rain,

2. Carbon/soot or can cause:

 respiratory distress
 Create Environmental imbalance,
& slow-down photosynthesis process

3. Carbon monoxide can be

lethal even in trace amounts.
• Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM)
• Respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM)
(Air or a gas suitable to be breathed)
 Causes of incomplete ccombustion
 Lack of air Supply
 Blockage of air supply system(Clean air filter on regular basis)
 Over Humid media of combustion or Fuel itself
 Over- Fuelling
 Exhaust Blockage
 Inadequate Impingement
(due to internal carbon/soot coating or deposition & regularly Clean up the ducts )

 cold fuel below ignition temperature

 Excessive presences of Inert in the fuel
 Spontaneous combustion( material suddenly burs out)
 Surface ignition and Self-Ignition (spontaneous ignition)

3-7
 Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill
Australia Pty Ltd
PowerPoint slides to accompany Puffett, 1-8
Hossack, Stone, Burn & Miles, Gasfitting
 Types of burners
• Ignition burner –
Once the fuel ignites, the combustion process continues
until fuel flow is discontinued or system is shutdown
Radiation burner-
i. The flame transfers its heat to the walls of the
container by Radiation.
ii. Convective Heat Transfer < 5%.
iii. Only Radiation Heat Transfer is Considered for
Performance Analysis!
• Impulse burner - a small amount of energy that moves
from one area to another (When two objects exert
momentum on each other they cause each other to
accelerate.)
1-9
 Flameless burner / Ultra-low NOx burner

i. In “FL-B” combustion occurs under diluted oxygen

conditions using internal flue gas recirculation; and
ii. the flame becomes invisible.
• “FL-B” uses air as oxidizer,
• flameless oxy-fuel uses commercial oxygen as an oxidant.

• NOTE : Flameless oxy-fuel gives high thermal efficiency,

higher levels of heat flux, and reduced fuel consumption
compared to conventional oxy-fuel

• Overall benefits include low NOx emissions and

better thermal uniformity.

1-10
 Flameless burner

• Flameless combustion is the most significant recent advancement

in high temperature combustion technology;
• Applied to industrial furnaces with well proven very low NOx
performance and high energy savings

Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill

Australia Pty Ltd
PowerPoint slides to accompany Puffett, 1-11
Hossack, Stone, Burn & Miles, Gasfitting
 Oxy Fuel Technology
Reduced Emissions
NOx emissions are reduced substantially with a oxy-fuel
conversion.
Improved Efficiency and Production
 Improvement in fuel efficiency as compared with
traditional air-fuel furnaces.
 The energy savings partially offsets the cost of oxygen.
There scale formation also comes down to 0.3%

 Ensure complete ccombustion

Increased Furnace Refractory Life
Temperature remains uniform & minimize the chances of
thermal shocks.
Simplified Operation
With no Recuperator , the operation and
maintenance are simple. 1-12
Conventional Combustion v/s Oxy-Fuel

• Traditional Combustion • Higher Flame temperature

– Air fuel fired 21% • No change in furnace
oxygen, 79% nitrogen design and materials
– 3 to 5% excess air
• Relatively Low Flame • Possibility of variable
Temperature processes

• Readily Available • No change in versatility of

Nitrogen to Create NOX. the usage
Nitrogen Increases the
combustion volumes • Does not affect
Inclusions/impurities in the
• 78% Effective heat re-melted aluminum
escapes through Stack.
1-13
 RECUPERATOR BURNER
• A recuperate is a special purpose counter-flow energy unit to
recover heat from exhaust streams. or
• Reuse of the exhaust hot gases produced during combustion
process, to recover waste heat.
• Recuperations with flue temperatures of up to 950 C
• Preheat temperature of combustion air as high as 450 C
• Energy savings of 15-20 % and a maximum life

1-14
 Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill
Australia Pty Ltd
PowerPoint slides to accompany Puffett, 1-15
Hossack, Stone, Burn & Miles, Gasfitting
 Flat flame burner: produces a disc-shaped flame
• Designed to provide high intensive heat up to 1700 C,
• Technological, Energetically efficient along with Environmental advantages.

• Oxygen burner Sinter burner

• Customized burner
2e
1-16
Benefits of FFB:
•Uniform heat radiation over a wide
area
•No hot spot in front of the burner
outlet
•Robust burner &Fuel savings

•Features:
•Sizes from 150kW to 750kW
•Suitable for natural/Syngas, LPG, &
light oil
•Ignition by direct spark or premix pilot
•UV flame detection
•Hot air reversion to preheat air up to
550ºC

Typical Applications:
•Steel reheating
•Ceramics kilns
•Glass sheet bending 1-17
TYPES OF FLAT FLAME BURNERS
Adiabatic flat-flame burner

 Tube bundle is used to stabilize the flame

over the surface Where the fuel-air mixture
flows adiabatically
• Stable only over small range of conditions

Non-adiabatic flat-flame burner

Water-cooled coil that allows heat to flow

from the flame Non-adiabatically
which decreases Surface Losses

Remain Stable over relatively wide

range of conditions

18
 Appliances and burners are designed and certified

A good design must ensure,

• Occurrence of complete combustion.

• Correct installation and commissioning of the
appliance
• Appliance performs safe and efficient Operation.
• Ease of Maintenance
• Fail safe operation
• Minimum MTTB
3-19
 Simple rule of Burning

Burning Velocity

Air Flow velocity

Fuel
• Burning Velocity > Flow Velocity (Flame Flash Back)
• Burning Velocity < flow Velocity : ( Spontaneous Blow Off )
• Burning Velocity = Flow Velocity : (Stable Flame).
 Fuel burning equipment & Flame Stability

1. Indirect heat transfer fuel-burning equipment

• A device used for the combustion of fuel in which heat

is transferred from the products of combustion
thorough an intermediate media for economical
heating or power generation.
2. Direct heat transfer fuel-burning equipment

• A device used for the combustion of fuel to transfer

heat from the products of combustion directly
for heat utilization 1-21
 Stability & Flammability Limits

Rich Mixture
Fuel Flow rate

Zone
Flash
Back Stable Flame Blow off

Lean Mixture Zone

Air Flow rate

Flame behaviour depends upon “Aeration System”

 Types of Aeration
1. Post-aerated

• Gas is supplied at the burner head;

• Air for combustion is supplied from the surroundings of
burner head.

2. Split aerated

• Approximately half the air enters in the burner and mixed

with the gas prior to burning.
• The remaining air is supplied at the point of combustion
i.e. burner head.
3-23
 2 main techniques of Aeration System

1-Primary Air
• Air is mixed with gas before the mixture is ejected for
ignition is called primary air.
• A minimum percentage of primary air is required for
complete combustion which depends upon;
i. the type of fuel,
ii. Specific characteristics including heating value of the fuel.
2- Secondary Air
 Excess air supplied to complete the combustion.
 Sum of all air that is supplied is called total air.
Ideally 10 times air is needed to accomplish
complete combustion of natural gas
1-25
Aerated burners

Air4

3-26
Compact Unit of Aerated burners

3-28
 Burner – A device which facilitates a chemical
reaction between fuel and oxidizer (usually O2
from air) to produce heat in a controlled manner.

IDEAL BURNER CHARACTERISTICS

• Blue flame with possibly some yellow tips when using
propane or butane as the fuel.
( For natural gas burner heating value of approximately 1075 Btu/Ft³ )

• Distinct individual flame pattern.

( the number of ports are countable from each port).

• No blowing or lifting of flames;

(i.e., separation of the flame from the burner port.)

 No lazy flames.
(This is an indication of too little primary or secondary air.) 1-29
• Flame heights are uniform around the burner
periphery.

• (NOTE: In looking at the simmer burners below (smaller

burners),
• If the flame heights are not equal This is fault of
design and configuration;
• No flash-back of burner flames.
• No offensive noise during ignition, operation or
extinction.
• No offensive odors emanating from the combustion
process.

1-30
 Burner adjustment
An adjustable aerated
burner helps to achieve
correct flame
.
a. Correct flame

b. Over-aerated

c. Under-aerated

3-31
Components of
an accurate
FLAME

1-32
Precise Aeration System gives complete Combustion

• Improper aeration system when air or O2 supply is

poor.
• %age of Water,CO & carbon is more as compared to
CO2
• The carbon is released in the form of soot.
• Significant heat loss is a main disadvantage of poor
aeration

1-33
Clean Energy Systems’ (CES) technology is a zero
emission

1-34
 Oxy-fuel combustion

Oxy-fuel combustion is a step towards CES

• Pure oxygen is supplied instead of air during the
combustion Process
• The products of combustion are nearly pure CO2 and
water.
• CO2 can be easily isolated simply by cooling the flue
gases.
• The efficiencies of a power plants improve up to 30%
• A step towards zero emission technology and CO2
production can be attained..

1-35
 Oxy-fuel combustion flow sheet

• Oxygen up to 95% purity supplied to combustor to produce

mainly CO2, water and NOx emission reduces to zero.
• Recycling of flue gas enhances combustion efficiency,
• Oxy- combustion also control the flame temperature
• Absences of nitrogen correspondingly reduces heat losses.
• Addition of Oxygen separation plant increases
capital and operating costs
 Inference
• Oxy-fuel combustion is technically feasible
with current technologies
• CO2 in flue gas is relatively pure and can be
utilized for other processes;
• Potential to reduce pollutant emissions,
especially Nox
• However, SOx removal might be required
• Higher heat capacities of CO2 & H2O than N2, which
strengthen the process of heat transfer.
 • World's renowned companies are adapting Oxy-Fuel
combustion due to potential benefits as compared to
technologies.

• This technology ultimately may reduce greenhouse gas

(GHG) emissions significantly.

Companies like BP, Cenovus, Chevron, Devon,

Eni, MEG Energy, Petrobas, Praxair, Shell
Canada, Statoil Canada and Suncor Energy
1-38
 Main Types of Flow
Laminar flow Swirl Flow
• Minimal microscopic mixing of
adjacent layers
– Turbulent flow
• Characterized as a random
motion in 3-dimensions
• Flow occurs with vortices (eddies)
• Flame is super-imposed on one
another,
• Flow is randomly distributed
• Swirl Flow
– Axis of rotation is parallel to cylinder
– Generate swirl about valve axis
(inside port)
 Why Turbulence?
– Decrease burning time
• Reduces knock
• Reduces emissions (NOx)

– Allows for leaner mixture (stratified charge)

 Fuel is injected just before ignition
• Reduces emissions (HC)

– Decreases in combustion temperature

• Reduces knock
• Reduces emissions (CO)
 Performance Affecting factors
• Minimal flame travel
• Sufficient turbulence
• A fast combustion, low variability
• High volumetric efficiency at WOT
• Minimum heat loss to combustion walls
• Low fuel octane requirement
• The exhaust and supply should work
together
 Net Heat during Combustion
     
Q fu  mc LHV  QCO  QC  Q slag  Q ai


 Q CO Incomplete combustion loss

 QC Unburned Carbon loss

 Q slag Loss due to slag

 Q ai Energy brought in by preheated air & fuel.

 A part of this total heat should be absorbed in furnace.

 The designer should provide an environment for the same.
 Heat Release Rate per Unit Volume, qv
 The amount of heat generated by combustion of fuel in a unit
effective volume .

mc LHV
qv  kW / m3
V
• Where, mc = Design fuel consumption rate, (kg/s.)
• V = volume, (Cu. m.)
• LHV= Lower heating value of fuel ( kJ/kg.)

• A proper choice of volumetric heat release rate ensures

the critical fuel residence time.
mc LHV
qv  
t r  t burning
*

Vtr

• Fuel particles are burnt completely.

• The flue gas is cooled to the required safe temperature.
 Heat Release Rate per Unit Cross Sectional Area,qa

• The amount of heat released per unit cross sectional area.

• Also called as Grate heat release rate.

m c LHV
qA  kW / m 2
Agrate

• Agrate is the cross sectional area or grate area of the furnace, Sq. m.
• This indicates the temperature levels in the furnace.
• An increase in qa, leads to a rise in temperature in burner region.
• This helps in the stability of flame
• Increases the possibility of slagging.
 Heat Release Rate per Unit Wall Area of the Burner Region

• The burner region of the furnace is the most intense heat zone.
• The amount of heat released per unit water wall area in the burner
region.

m LHV
qb  kW / m2
2 a  bH b

• a and b are width and depth of furnace, and Hb is the height of

burner region.
• This represents the temperature level and heat flux in the burner
region.
• Used to judge the general condition of the burner region.
• Its value depends on Fuel ignition characteristics, ash characteristics,
firing method and arrangement of the burners.
 Selection of Design Parameters

A suitable value for;

• the rate of heat generated by combustion of fuel in a
unit effective volume , qv.
• the rate of heat released per unit cross section, qA.
• The rate of heat released per unit wall area of burner
section , qb.
 General Guide Lines for Design

The parameters should satisfy

 Sufficient time & physical environment to complete the
combustion of fuel.
 Adequate radiative heating surfaces to cool the flue gas
sufficiently to ensure safe operation.
 Aerodynamics should prevent impingement of flames.
 Provision of reliable natural circulation
 An exit path for free fall of ash, without major heat loss.
 The configuration of the furnace should be compact enough
to minimize the construction material.
Basic Geometry of A Burner

mc LHV
V
qv

mc LHV
Agrate  a  b 
qA


2 a  b H b 
mc LHV
qb
Any limit on minimum height of furnace?

Any limit on depth of furnace C.S.?

 Combustion—Summary
 For combustion to occur three ingredients are
required.
1. Fuel (hydrocarbon)
2. Oxygen (normally taken from air)
3. Ignition (heat)
 The combustion process results in:
1. heat (what is required)
2. WATER VAPOUR (H2O)
3. carbon dioxide (C02)
 Incomplete combustion results in:
carbon monoxide
 Burner types: post-aerated, aerated (bunsen), forced
and induced draught.
3-49
 High Efficiency
Domestic Gas Stoves

Design, Fabrication & Experimental

RESULTS & RECOMMENDATION
 Final Design

• Heat Recirculating & Preheating of Air

• Maintaining Swirl Flow
• Minimizing Convective & Radiative Losses
• Loading Height( i.e. distance b/w utensil &stove)
Labeled Diagram
 FLOW FIELD
Flow fields are of many types.
• Radial Flow
• Swirl Flow
• Vertical Flow

Different flow regimes are investigated and the Swirl

flow regime is Selected.
 LOADING HEIGHT

• Loading height is the distance between the

utensils placed on the top of the stove and
the burner assembly.
• Changing the loading height drastically affects
the thermal efficiency.

Experimentation was done to check the best loading

height. And its come to be 4cm for stove with 28cut.
 MINIMIZING HEAT LOSSES

• The heat produced by the combustion is in

direct effect of surrounding air.
• Heat losses through Convection and radiation
to the surrounding.

Work had done to reduce this heat losses and heat

recirculation assemble had been design, fabricated and
tested.
Thermal Efficiency Comparison

Stoves Gas Volume Volume of Temperature Efficiency

Supplied Water increased
(L) (L) (ͦC) (%)
Conventional 50 7 22 33.4
Modified 50 7 25.9 39.5
Heat re-circulating 50 7 28.2 42.8
Heat re-circulating 50 7 30.1 45.8
insulated
 Graph

50

45

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

0
Local Stove modified Stove HDGS

Maximum World Reported Efficiency= 43-45%

High Efficiency Insulated Gas stove = 45.8%
 • Assignment

•Explain the problem of depletion of energy resources and future

solutions.

•Describe the environmental damage associated with the use of

fossil fuels such as Global warming, acid rains, dangers posed by
leaded fuels, oil spills, gas leaks and explosions, water pollution
caused by poorly managed coal mines, and air pollution.

•Discuss the environmental damage associated with the use of

fuel-wood, wind and uranium as a source of energy.

•Suggest quantitatively the possible solutions of the

energy related problem
1-58