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How to Use Flow Simulation to Maximize Industrial Burner Performance

David Schowalter, PhD, ANSYS, Inc.

INTRODUCTION
Industrial operations in developed countries are facing ever more stringent requirements for low NOx, CO, and particulate emissions. Additionally, increased fuel costs and downward price pressure on consumer products mean that process plants must do more with less, while ensuring maximum reliability in plant equipment and a minimum amount of downtime. This combination of challenges has a particularly burdensome impact on industrial burner manufacturers, who not only have to guarantee emission levels, but are also called upon to make sure these new and entirely different low emission burners provide the same thermal conditions as the older models. These challenges have resulted in low emissions and high heat output in modern high end burners. The highest performing models are carefully designed using engineering simulation tools. A 2002 Department of Energy report1 cited the following capabilities of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software,

which has been an integral part of the advancement of burner technology in the last 20 years: 1. Predicting catastrophic failure 2. Predicting qualitative trends and parametric analysis 3. Visualizing performance characteristics with customers 4. Predicting non-reacting gaseous flows 5. Quantitative analysis of gas velocity and temperature patterns 6. Qualitative analysis of radiation heat transfer 7. Predicting flame dynamics and shape 8. Flame interaction analysis 9. Understanding the effects of geometric changes in burners 10. Modeling temperature and heat release patterns and qualitative trends associated with major species 11. Integration of detailed burner codes with thermal behavior of process tubes The report also mentions the critical need of making simulation tools more accessible to design engineers. Since the report was published, significant progress has been made on this front.

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BURNER MODELING FOR THE DESIGN ENGINEER

In some cases, a good deal of useful information about air and fuel flow in a burner can be learned from a simple flow solution without resorting to complex combustion modeling. For example, complete combustion with minimal generation of CO and unburned hydrocarbons usually requires proper premixing of fuel and air. Also, appropriately preheating air upstream of the burner can provide energy savings of 30 to 50%. Additional savings can be achieved by minimizing pressure drop within the burner. Simulation can assist in optimizing all of these aspects of the burner by including only flow and basic heat transfer in the model. In one example, Astec Inc. used computer simulation to reduce the time needed to develop a new aggregate drying burner, designed for use in asphalt plants, from the normal 6 to 12 months to only 32 days. Under unusually tight time constraints, the burner needed to meet stringent requirements for highly efficient combustion and low emissions of NOx, CO, and noise. Astec engineers developed an initial premix burner design, and then confirmed through simulation that gas injection resulted in near-ideal mixing, avoiding uneven concentrations of air and fuel that would increase emissions levels and reduce combustion efficiency. As seen in Figure 3, the fuel is brought into the mixing chamber through holes in pipes arranged in a radial pattern. Visualization such as this allowed the engineers not only to evaluate the mixing performance, but also to gain a clear physical understanding of the flow in the burner. In a second example, Coen Company used flow modeling to evaluate the design of a windbox for a 250MW utility boiler project in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The purpose of the study was to ensure uniform distribution of flow to the burners with the lowest pressure drop possible. Initial results showed that velocity distributions at the outlet were uneven, which would have impacted performance. New simulation models including flow vanes were built, and the new results showed less than a 4% variation in mass flow (Figure 2). These changes in the design improved the burner performance and stability, reduced emissions, provided proper flame shaping, and minimized overall fan power requirements. As a result, major modifications to the windbox were not necessary, and eventual field test measurements confirmed the predicted performance. Tools that make virtual modeling more accessible to the design engineer have been under development for several years and are available in the marketplace today. Flow simulation no longer requires an advanced degree or a constant string of projects to maintain the required skill set. Figure 3 shows the user interface for one such tool. It displays pathlines colored by velocity magnitude for a windbox similar to the one in Figure 2. A CAD drawing of the equipment geometry is required as input. Clear guidance is given at each stage

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in the analysis, with next and back buttons available for navigation between steps. Alternatively, movement between set-up stages can be accomplished through the navigator in the upper left of the screen. Green checkmarks indicate which steps have been finished. This user friendly analysis capability allows small burner manufacturers to benefit from in-house flow analysis without requiring expertise in computational methods or combustion models.

SUMMARY
Fluid flow modeling technology has been used for more than 20 years to analyze burners and combustors. In recent years, the usability of the tools has improved such that design engineers can now take advantage of engineering simulation, saving time and money for industrial burner manufacturers.

1 Improving Industrial Burner Design with Computational Fluid Dynamics Tools: Progress, Needs, and R&D Priorities, Department of Energy Office of Industrial Technologies & Sandia National Laboratory, 2002. http://www.eere.energy.gov/industry/combustion/pdfs/cfd_wkshp_report.pdf

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