Energy & Fuels, Vol.20, No.4, 1434-1443, 2006
Mathematical modeling of nitric oxide destruction by reburning
A nitric oxide model incorporated into a comprehensive coal combustion model is presented for predicting NO reduction in a 93 kW laboratory-scale single-burner furnace with gaseous fuel reburning. This NO model, including the reburning NO submodel based on "partial equilibrium" approach, requires the solution of only two transport equations to model the behavior of NO reduction in the reburning process. A number of experiments have been performed in the same furnace, and the experimental data obtained from the optimized reburn configuration was used to validate the model. Effects of the critical kinetic parameters on predicted NO concentrations were investigated in this study, and the reburning NO submodel was further evaluated by including more reactions of NO reduction and by comparing with the global reburning model. Profile comparisons show that the predicted temperature and oxygen concentration are overall in good agreement with the measurements, and the general trend of predicted NO concentration is very similar to that measured. The results of this study show that the present reburning NO submodel is capable to predict quantitatively the NO reduction levels and depicts quite well the observed behavior of NO annihilation in the reburning process. It is expected that this computationally economic model represents a useful technique to simulate the gaseous fuel reburning process in practical combustors. The model presented in this study also provides a basis for further studies.