Numerical study of the combustion and application of SNCR for NOx reduction in a lab-scale biomass boiler

In this paper, a numerical study of flow, reactions and NOx emissions from a biomass boiler is presented. Detailed reaction mechanisms for the decomposition of tar species, combustion of hydrocarbons and formation of NOx are employed by adopting appropriate reaction sets from literature. The proposed mechanism is used to perform CFD simulations of a laboratory-scale biomass boiler, and temperature and species concentrations are compared with the experimental data. NOx formation and emissions are studied in detail and the contribution of different pathways for NOx formation are identified. Furthermore, the CFD model is used to study the application of Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction (SNCR) method in this boiler. The effects of height and flow rate of ammonia injection on the performance of SNCR method are studied. It is observed that the SNCR, can reduce up to 63% of NOx emissions.

Automated summary

This paper presents a numerical study on flow, reactions, and NOx emissions from a biomass boiler, utilizing detailed reaction mechanisms and CFD simulations. The study identifies different pathways for NOx formation and evaluates the performance of the Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction (SNCR) method, showing a reduction of up to 63% in NOx emissions.