Experimental study of the combustion of natural gas and high-hydrogen content syngases in a radiant porous media burner

Autor: 
Carlos E. Arrieta, Alex M. García, Andrés A. Amell

The primary objective of this work is to study the blending of natural gas in equimolar
proportions with three high hydrogen content syngases in a radiant porous media burner.
We examined the effects of the composition of the syngases, the fuel-to-air ratio and the
thermal input on the flame stability, the radiation efficiency, and the pollutant emissions
(CO and NOx). In this study, we emulated the syngases with H2eCO mixtures, in which the
H2 to CO ratio was varied between 1.5 and 3. Additionally, pure natural gas was also used as
a base fuel for comparison. The thermal inputs evaluated in this study correspond to two
values (300 and 500 kW/m2) found in practical applications. The results indicate that the
thermal input and the fuel-to-air ratio significantly influenced the temperature profile in
the radiant porous media burner, the radiation efficiency, and the pollutant emissions. On
the other hand, contrary to what was observed in other studies for lower hydrogen concentrations,
we found that substituting natural gas with high hydrogen content syngases
(up to 50%) affected the flame stability limits. Significant differences were also observed for
the radiation efficiencies and pollutant emissions.