The decreasing effect of ammonia enrichment on the combustion emission of hydrogen, methane, and propane fuels

In the present study, non-premixed combustion and NOx emission of H-2, NH3, C3H8, and CH4 fuels have been studied in a combustion test unit under lean mixture conditions (l = 4) at 8.6 kW thermal capacity. Furthermore, the combustion and NOx emission of the H-2, C3H8, and CH4 fuels have been investigated for various NH3 enrichment ratios (5, 10, 20, and 50%) and excess air coefficients (l = 1.1, 2, 3, and 4) at the same thermal capacity. The obtained results have been compared for each fuel. Numerical simulation results show that H2 emits intense energy through the reaction zone despite the lowest fuel consumption in mass, among others, due to its high calorific value. Therefore, it has a higher flame temperature than others. At the same time, C3H8 has the lowest flame temperature. Besides, NH3 has the shortest flame length among others, while C(3)H(8 )has the most extended flame form. The highest level of NOx is released from the NH3 flame in the combustion chamber, while the lowest NOx is released from the CH4. However, the lowest NOx emission at the combustion chamber exit is obtained in NH3 combustion, while the highest NOx emission is obtained with H2 combustion. It results from the shortest flame length of NH3, short residence time, and backward NOx reduction to N-2 for NH3. As for H-2, high flame temperature and relatively long flame, and high residence time of the products trigger NOx formation and keep the NOx level high. On the other hand, excess air coefficient from 1.1 to 2 increases NOx for H-2, CH4, and NH3 due to their large flame diameters, unlike propane. Then, NOx emission levels decrease sharply as the excess air coefficient increases to 4 for each fuel. NH3 fuel also emits minimum NOx in other excess air coefficients at the exit, while H-2 emits too much emission. With NH3 enrichment, the NOx emissions of H-2, CH4, and C3H8 fuels at the combustion chamber exit decrease gradually almost every excess air coefficient apart from l = 1.1. As a general conclusion, like renewable fuels, H-2 appears to be a source of pollution in terms of NOx emissions in combustion applications. In contrast, NH3 appears to be a relatively modest fuel with a low NOx level. In addition, the high amount of NOx emission released from H(2)and other fuels during the combustion can be remarkably reduced by NH3 enrichment with an excess air combustion. (C) 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC.

Automated summary

In this study, non-premixed combustion and NOx emission of H-2, NH3, C3H8, and CH4 fuels were investigated. The results showed that H-2 fuel had a high flame temperature, NH3 fuel had the shortest flame length, and C3H8 fuel had the longest flame shape. The highest level of NOx emissions was observed from NH3 fuel in the combustion chamber, while the lowest NOx emissions were observed from CH4 fuel. NH3 enrichment and excess air combustion could significantly reduce the NOx emissions from H(2) and other fuels during combustion.