Influence of Atomizing Parameters on Droplet Properties in a Pulse Combustion Spray Dryer

A pulse combustor employed in a spray-drying system offers a new approach for liquid atomization that yields high-quality powders at low cost. Using a pulse combustion atomizer, there is no need for any form of nozzle dispersion and its atomization mechanism differs from those of conventional atomizers, such as rotary atomizers and pressure and pneumatic nozzles. In this work, based on the analysis of atomization mechanism, experiments of unsteady pulsating atomization were carried out in an experimental system of a Helmholtz-type pulse combustor. An optical analyzer was used for measuring the mean diameter of atomized droplet and droplet distribution. The effects of liquid feed rate, air flow oscillatory frequency, and liquid viscosity on atomized droplet size and size distribution were investigated and analyzed. The results indicate that the uniform droplet size distribution can be obtained under the conditions of a low feed rate, high-frequency pulsating flow, and moderate viscosity. The range of the droplets' Sauter mean diameter (SMD) is between 50 and 80 µm. The pulsating air flow from the pulse combustor can be used to atomize liquid or slurry without a nozzle and the atomizing quality can meet the requirements of spray drying.     

纳米Ｃu/CNＴs对AP/HTPB推进剂热分解与燃烧的催化研究

以碳纳米管为载体，采用液相还原沉积法制备了纳米Cu/CNTs复合催化剂，并用SEM、XRD和XPS对其结构和成分进行了表征。研究了纳米Cu/CNTs对AP/HTPB推进剂热分解和燃烧过程的催化作用，结果表明：纳米Cu/CNTs能显著降低AP] HTPB推进剂的热分解峰温，并使总表观分解热明显增大，且对AP/HTPB推进剂燃烧有良好的催化效果，能显著提高推进剂的燃速，降低压强指数。初步探讨了纳米Cu／CNTs催化AP] HTPB推进剂热分解和燃烧过程的作用机理。     

影响多级内燃机油低温动力粘度的主要因素

在多级内燃机油研制过程中，利用冷启动模拟试验机分别考察了基础油、粘度指数改进剂、功能添加剂对油品低温动力粘度的影响，结果表明：基础油尤其是重质基础油影响最大，为调制大跨度粘度等级内燃机油提供了依据。     

Experimental estimate of the laminar burning velocity of iso-octane in oxygen-enriched and CO2-diluted air

Oxygen-enriched combustion is of great interest for industrial applications, since membrane separation technology can be used. The objective of this work is to provide unique data on laminar burning velocity, a key parameter in real combustion development, for the oxygen-enriched combustion of an iso-octane/air mixture for various dilution (by air or CO₂) cases. Experiments were carried out in a stainless steel combustion chamber at atmospheric pressure and 373 K. The iso-octane was mixed with a mixture of O₂, CO_2, and N₂. The volume fraction of O₂ was varied from 21% to 29% and CO₂ was varied from 0% to 28%. The classical shadowgraphy technique was used to detect the reaction zone in order to deduce the un-stretched burning velocity, using a nonlinear methodology. All the experimental data were compared with the numerical results obtained with chemical kinetic schemes available in the literature. For further experimental investigations, a correlation is proposed to predict laminar burning velocity as a function of the quantity of O₂ and CO₂ in the gas mixture. Finally, analytical and experimental data concerning Markstein length are discussed.     

Reactivity of a NiO/Al2O3 oxygen carrier prepared by impregnation for chemical-looping combustion

The reactivity of a Ni-based oxygen carrier prepared by hot incipient wetness impregnation (HIWI) on α-Al₂O₃ with a NiO content of 18 wt% was studied in this work. Pulse experiments with the reduction period divided into 4-s pulses were performed in a fluidized bed reactor at 1223 K using CH₄ as fuel. The number of pulses was between 2 and 12. Information about the gaseous product distribution and secondary reactions during the reduction was obtained. In addition to the direct reaction of the combustible gas with the oxygen carrier, CH₄ steam reforming also had a significant role in the process, forming H₂ and CO. This reaction was catalyzed by metallic Ni in the oxygen carrier and H₂ and CO acted as intermediate products of the combustion. No evidence of carbon deposition was found in any case. Redox cycles were also carried out in a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) with H₂ as fuel. Both tests showed that there was a relation between the solid conversion reached during the reduction and the relative amount of NiO and NiAl₂O₄ in the oxygen carrier. When solid conversion increased, the NiO content also increased, and consequently NiAl₂O₄ decreased. Approximately 20% of the reduced nickel was oxidized to NiAl₂O₄, regardless ΔX_s. NiAl₂O₄ was also an active compound for the combustion reaction, but with lower reactivity than NiO. Further, the consequences of these results with respect to the design of a CLC system were investigated. When formation of NiAl₂O₄ occurred, the average reactivity in the fuel reactor decreased. Therefore, the presence of both NiO and NiAl₂O₄ phases must be considered for the design of a CLC facility.     

Autoignition and front propagation in low temperature combustion engine environments

In this paper, we computationally investigate the fundamental aspects of autoignition and subsequent combustion phenomena in low temperature combustion (LTC) engine environments using direct numerical simulations (DNS). In particular, the effects of thermal and equivalence ratio stratification on the autoignition and subsequent front propagation in high pressure and stratified hydrogen-air turbulent mixtures are studied using detailed chemistry. Depending on fuel injection timing, exhaust gas recirculation, and wall heat loss, different correlations between temperature (T) – equivalence ratio (?) fields can exist prior to the major heat release event. Here, we investigate three cases with different initial T–? correlations: (A) a baseline case of a uniform composition with temperature inhomogeneities only, (B) uncorrelated T–? fields, and (C) negatively-correlated T–? fields. Numerical diagnostics are developed based on an appropriately defined Damköhler number to distinguish different modes of heat release. It is found that the majority of heat release in the baseline case and the uncorrelated case occurs during the front propagation in the form of both spontaneous ignition fronts as well as deflagration waves, whereas the negatively correlated case ignites predominantly homogeneously.     

Modeling of ion transport reactor for oxy‐fuel combustion

This paper aims at investigating the performance of a cylindrical ion transport reactor designed for oxy‐fuel combustion. The cylindrical reactor walls are made of dense, nonporous, mixed‐conducting ceramic membranes that only allow oxygen permeation from the outside air into the combustion chamber. The sweep gas (CO₂ and CH₄) enters the reactor from one side and mixes with the oxygen permeate, and the products are discharged from the other side. The process of oxygen permeation through the reactor walls is influenced by the flow condition and composition of air at the feed side (inlet air side) and the gas mixture at the permeate side (sweep gas side). The modeling of the flow process is based on the numerical solution of the conservation equations of mass, momentum, energy, and species in the axisymmetric flow domain. The membrane is modeled as a selective layer in which the oxygen permeation depends on the prevailing temperatures as well as the oxygen partial pressure at both sides of the membrane. The CFD calculations were carried out using fluent 12.1 (ANSYS, Inc., Canonsburg, PA, USA), whereas the mass transfer of oxygen through the membrane is modeled by a set of user defined functions. The model results were validated against previous experimental data, and the comparison showed a good agreement. The study focused on the effect of oxygen partial pressure and temperature on the resulting combustion zones inside the reactor for the two cases of co‐current and counter‐current flow regimes. The results indicated that the oxygen to fuel mass ratio increases as the percentage of CO₂ increases in the inflow sweep gas for both co‐current and counter‐current flows. The obtained sweep mixture ratio (CO₂/CH₄) of 24 is found within the stoichiometric limit over most of the reactor length in the co‐current configuration, whereas the sweep mixture ratio of 15.67 is found in the counter‐current configuration owing to the high O₂ permeation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental analysis of the ignition front propagation of several biomass fuels in a fixed-bed combustor

Fixed-bed combustion in a tube reactor is a useful procedure to exploit a large variety of biomasses obtaining accurate in-bed data. In this paper, the ignition front propagation velocity is experimentally studied in a counter-current process for eight different biomass fuels with a wide range of origins, compositions and packing properties. Air mass flow rate is the main operative parameter and clearly distinguishes three stages of combustion (oxygen-limited, fuel limited and cooling by convection). The impact of the excess air ratio is also analyzed. This parameter confirmed that the maximum front velocity is achieved under sub-stoichiometric conditions, where the cooling effects of excessive air are minimized. Other variables with a major influence on the ignition front velocity are moisture and ash content. Finally, an uncertainty analysis is included to determine the accuracy of the entire measurement process.     

Combustion limits of liquid monofuels

A mathematical model for steady-state nonadiabatic waves of filtration combustion of liquid monofuels in narrow tubes is proposed. Using this model, it is shown that combustion in this system can proceed in two regimes with different dominant mechanisms of heat transfer from combustion products to the preflame zone. The nature and parametric dependences of the limits of both regimes are analyzed. Calculations using the model are in good agreement with experimental data on the combustion of liquid hydrazine in narrow tubes. __________ Translated from Fizika Goreniya i Vzryva, Vol. 45, No. 2, pp. 29–39, March–April, 2008.     

Long-term integrity testing of spray-dried particles in a 10-kW chemical-looping combustor using natural gas as fuel

Chemical-looping combustion, CLC, is a combustion concept with inherent separation of CO₂. The fuel and combustion air are kept apart by using an oxygen carrier consisting of metal oxide. The oxygen carriers used in this study were prepared from commercially available raw materials by spray-drying. The aim of the study was to subject the particles to long-term operation (>1000 h) with fuel and study changes in particles, with respect to reactivity and physical characteristics. The experiments were carried out in a 10-kW chemical-looping combustor operating with natural gas as fuel. 1016 h of fuel operation were achieved. The first 405 h were accomplished using a single batch of NiO/NiAl₂O₄-particles. The last 611 h were achieved using a 50/50_mass-mixture of (i) particles used for 405 h, and (ii) a second batch of particles similar in composition to the first batch, but with an MgO additive. Thus, at the conclusion of the test series, approximately half of the particles in the reactor system had been subjected to >1000 h of chemical-looping combustion. The reason for mixing the two batches was to improve the fuel conversion. Fuel conversion was better with the mixture of the two oxygen carriers than it was using only the batch of NiO/NiAl₂O₄-particles. The CO fraction was slightly above the equilibrium fraction at all temperatures. Using the oxygen carrier mixture, the methane fraction was typically 0.4-1% and the combustion efficiency was around 98%. The loss of fines decreased slowly throughout the test period, although the largest decrease was seen during the first 100 h. An estimated particle lifetime of 33 000 h was calculated from the loss of fines. No decrease in reactivity was seen during the test period.