International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol.35, No.6, 2556-2565, 2010
Combustion characteristics of natural gas-hydrogen hybrid fuel turbulent diffusion flame
Combustion characteristics of natural gas - hydrogen hybrid fuel were investigated experimentally in a free jet turbulent diffusion flame flowing into a slow co-flowing air stream. Experiments were carried out at a constant jet exit Reynolds number of 4000 and with a wide range of NG-H(2) mixture concentrations, varied from 100%NG to 50%NG-50% H(2) by volume. The effect of hydrogen addition on flame stability, flame length, flame structure, exhaust species concentration and pollutant emissions was conducted. Results showed that, hydrogen addition sustains a progressive improvement in flame stability and reduction in flame length, especially for relatively high hydrogen concentrations. Hydrogen-enriched flames found to have a higher combustion temperatures and reactivity than natural gas flame. Also, it was found that hydrogen addition to natural gas is an ineffective strategy for NO and CO reduction in the studied range, while a significant reduction in the %CO(2) molar concentration by about 30% was achieved. (C) 2009 Professor T. Nejat Veziroglu. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:Natural gas;Hydrogen;Hybrid fuel;Free jet turbulent diffusion flame;Hydrogen-enriched flame