A. Williams Cofiring coal with natural gas within the same furnace volume results in NOx and SOx emissions being significantly reduced. A drop tube furnace has been built in which the effects of varying methane concentrations on coal particles can be studied. In particular, heating rates, particle morphology and gaseous emissions are being investigated.
Current work is concerned with regenerative burners of the type used in the steel industry.
With the help of British Steel a considerable amount of experimental data has been obtained on such a high temperature system. This has been modelled with reasonable accuracy by a CFD program coupled with a post-processing NOx program. The catalytic combustion of natural gas to develop ultra-low NOx burners is being investigated. True catalytic combustors, where most of the combustion takes place at the surface of the catalyst, are too bulky for practical use. Experimental measurements are being coupled with modelling of both surface and gas phase reactions.