Development of a novel premixed low-NOx burner technology

Abstract

Hydrogen burners present a carbon neutral alternative to coal and natural gas burners typically used in industries requiring high heat inputs. These burners face flame stability and NOx emission issues due to the risks involved with premixed air-hydrogen flow in the burner. This thesis focuses on the development of a lab scale premixed hydrogen burner to limit NOx emissions while ensuring flame stability. Beginning from published burner designs, both a free flame burner and a contained flame burner are designed and analyzed through an iterative process using computational fluid dynamics simulations performed on the mixing in each burner. The free flame burner design found adequate mixing in the nozzle provided by a two flap mixer design with increased injection holes, providing an outlet flow with equivalence ratios ranging from 0.60-0.85, which satisfies the lean burning requirement. The final contained flame burner design found good mixing conditions throughout the burner, with a mostly homogeneous mixture at the flame location in the burner. The findings from this research provide a baseline for future manufacturing and experimental testing of premixed hydrogen burners.