Natural gas combustion

Fuel combustion—natural gas and kerosene Insulation (urea formaldehyde)... 

The reformer uses an unique design of burner arrangement that is able to combust natural gas, propane, hydrogen-rich gas (such as Pressure Swing adsorption, PSA and tail gas) or combinations of these gases. The burner has a rapid response and can ramp up fi-om low-load to high-load in seconds. 

Figure 12.7 shows a system flow diagram of the 40 Nm /h-class membrane reformer system. The reactor is started up by combusting natural gas, and... 

Floor coverings— hnoleum and vinyl tile Fuel combustion—natural gas and kerosene Fumigators Furniture... 

Honeycombs (manufactured from HA214, Aluchrom YHf or PM2Hf) attached to a substrate using a low vacumn braze (Nicrobraz 210 (Co-19Cr-17Ni-8Si-4W-0.8B-0.4C) or Ni/Pd). A pre-oxidation treatment was given to the majority of these seals prior to their exposure to the combusted natural gas environment (as detailed in Table 3.4). 

Fuel switch. The choice of fuel used in furnaces and steam boilers has a major effect on the gaseous utility waste from products of combustion. For example, a switch from coal to natural gas in a steam boiler can lead to a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of typically 40 percent for the same heat released. This results from the lower carbon content of natural gas. In addition, it is likely that a switch from coal to natural gas also will lead to a considerable reduction in both SO, and NO, emissions, as we shall discuss later. 

Large quantities of sulphur are recovered from petroleum and natural gas. Naturally occurring hydrogen sulphide, HjS, and that produced in the cracking and catalytic hydrogenation of petroleum is first removed by absorption and the regenerated gas is converted to sulphur by partial combustion with air, the overall reaction being,... 

Synthetic oil is feasible and can be produced from coal or natural gas via synthesis gas (a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen obtained from incomplete combustion of coal or natural gas). However, these are themselves nonrenewable resources. Coal conversion was used in Germany during World War II by hydrogenation or. 

The first gas producer making low heat-value gas was built in 1832. (The product was a combustible carbon monoxide—hydrogen mixture containing ca 50 vol % nitrogen). The open-hearth or Siemens-Martin process, built in 1861 for pig iron refining, increased low heat-value gas use (see Iron). The use of producer gas as a fuel for heating furnaces continued to increase until the turn of the century when natural gas began to supplant manufactured fuel gas (see Furnaces, fuel-fired). 

Partial Oxidation. It is often desirable to augment the supply of naturally occurring or by-product gaseous fuels or to produce gaseous fuels of well-defined composition and combustion characteristics (5). This is particularly tme in areas where the refinery fuel (natural gas) is in poor supply and/or where the manufacture of fuel gases, originally from coal and more recently from petroleum, has become well estabHshed. 

Indirect Hquefaction of coal and conversion of natural gas to synthetic Hquid fuels is defined by technology that involves an intermediate step to generate synthesis gas, CO +. The main reactions involved in the generation of synthesis gas are the coal gasification m2LC ions Combustion... 

Methanol, a clean burning fuel relative to conventional industrial fuels other than natural gas, can be used advantageously in stationary turbines and boilers because of its low flame luminosity and combustion temperature. Low NO emissions and virtually no sulfur or particulate emissions have been observed (83). Methanol is also considered for dual fuel (methanol plus oil or natural gas) combustion power boilers (84) as well as to fuel gas turbines in combined methanol / electric power production plants using coal gasification (85) (see Power generation). 

Natural gas and its combustion properties appear to have been known since early times (2). Some early temples of worship were located in areas where gas was seeping from the ground or from springs, and it is reported that Julius Caesar saw a phenomenon called the "burning spring" near Grenoble, France. Gas wells were drilled in Japan as early as 615 AD and in 900 AD the Chinese employed bamboo tubes to transport natural gas to their salt works, where the heat was used to evaporate water from salt brine. The existence of natural gas in the United States was reported by early setders who observed gas seeps and columns of fire in the Ohio Valley and the Appalachian area in 1775 (3). 

Whereas there is no universally accepted specification for marketed natural gas, standards addressed in the United States are Hsted in Table 6 (8). In addition to these specifications, the combustion behavior of natural gases is frequently characteri2ed by several parameters that aid in assessing the influence of compositional variations on the performance of a gas burner or burner configuration. The parameters of flash-back and blow-off limits help to define the operational limits of a burner with respect to flow rates. The yeUow-tip index helps to define the conditions under which components of the natural gas do not undergo complete combustion, and the characteristic blue flame of natural gas burners begins to show yellow at the flame tip. These... 

Natural gas is attractive as a fuel ia many appHcatioas because of its relatively clean burning characteristics and low air pollution (qv) potential compared to other fossil fuels. Combustion of natural gas iavolves mixing with air or oxygen and igniting the mixture. The overall combustion process does not iavolve particulate combustion or the vaporization of Hquid droplets. With proper burner design and operation, the combustion of natural gas is essentially complete. No unbumed hydrocarbon or carbon monoxide is present ia the products of combustioa. 

Of all the fossil fuels, the use of natural gas results ia the formation of the least amouat of CO2 per unit of heat energy produced. On a constant energy basis, natural gas combustion produces approximately 30% less CO2 than Hquid petroleum fuels and approximately 45% less CO2 than coal and other soHd fossil fuels. 

Fuels ndEfficiency. Natural gas, oil, and electricity are the primary sources of energy propane is used as backup reserve in emergencies. Natural gas is the least expensive and most frequently used fuel, with heat content ranging from 34—45 MJ/nf (900—1200 Btu/ft ) for raw gas and approximately 3 MJ/m (80 Btu/fT) for air-gas mixtures. Fuel oil has heat content between 39—43 MJ/L (139,600—153,000 Btu/U.S. gal). Fuel oil is viscous at low temperature and must be heated before being fed to atomizing burners where it is mixed with air for combustion. 

Many commercial gases are generated by burning hydrocarbons (qv) eg, natural gas or propanes, in air (see Gas, natural Liquified petroleum gas). The combustion process, especially the amount of air used, determines the gas composition. For a given fuel-to-air ratio, the gas composition can be used to determine the water vapor content required to achieve a desired equiUbrium carbon content of the austenite (see Combustiontechnology). 

---