Combustion testing programs

Testing of turbine fuels is handled in an analogous manner. Three sizes of test rigs have been utilized in the EPRI combustion test program-mini, sub-scale,and single combustor cans. 

The combustion test program of synthetic liquid fuels is being conducted in a 20-horsepower (hp) firetube boiler and associated equipment. The system consists of a 20-hp, Johnston, three-pass, firetube boiler designed to transfer roughly 670,000 Btu/hr to the water side a water treatment and feed system a fuel holding tank and transfer pump and a stack exhaust duct equipped with numerous sample ports for gaseous and particulate emissions testing. 

VFO works well in gas turbines. In a nine-month test program, the combustion properties of VFO were studied in a combustion test module. A gas turbine was also operated on VFO. The tests were conducted to study the combustion characteristics of VFO, the erosive and corrosive effects of VFO, and the operation of a gas turbine on VFO. The combustion tests were conducted on a combustion test module built from a GE Frame 5 combustion can and liner. The gas turbine tests were conducted on a Ford model 707 industrial gas turbine. Both the combustion module and gas turbine were used in the erosion and corrosion evaluation. The combustion tests showed the VFO to match natural gas in flame patterns, temperature profile, and flame color. The operation of the gas turbine revealed that the gas turbine not only operated well on VFO, but its performance was improved. The turbine inlet temperature was lower at a given output with VFO than with either natural gas or diesel fuel. This phenomenon is due to the increase in exhaust mass flow provided by the addition of steam in the diesel for the vaporization process. Following the tests, a thorough inspection was made of materials in the combustion module and on the gas turbine, which came into contact with the vaporized fuel or with the combustion gas. The inspection revealed no harmful effects on any of the components due to the use of VFO. 

Hay DJ, Finkelstein A, Klicius R. 1986. The national incinerator testing and evaluation program two-stage incinerator combustion tests. Chemosphere 15 9-12. 

The situation is somewhat different in terms of large scale combustion turbine test programs. Resumption of a methanol test burn is scheduled for early 1979. It was originally scheduled for a total of 500 hours of running time, averaging about four hours per day of actual operation. However a fire at the station, which was not related to the use of methanol, caused a six-month delay. 

In the fall of 1978 a full-scale test program was pursued in a commercial power plant of the Consolidated Edison Company in New York City (4). The test was conducted in three phases in Con Edison s 74th street station utilizing a 450,000 lb/hr steam electric Combustion Engineering tangentially-fired boiler, as shown in Table V. 

The testing used similar procedures to those described for the laboratory test program. The fuels were blended in tank trucks at the ECLP pilot plant at Baytown, Texas and driven to Charleston, South Carolina. The fuels were loaded hot and remained at an elevated temperature in insulated tank trucks. Fuel temperature for the combustion of the EDS fuels was approximately 43°C. The preheating system was bypassed with the EDS fuels to prevent sediment formation due to incompatibility in the fuel... 

To date, the test program has consisted of two periods of No. 6 fuel oil firing, two periods of SRC-II firing, and two combustion runs on No. 2 oil. Each test period was preceded by a few brief tests to shake down the boiler and determine settings for the atomizing air flow, fuel preheat temperature, and fuel/air proportioning controller. To date, eight runs have been made with No. 6 oil five at about 23% excess air and three at about 11 excess air. Two runs have been completed on No. 2 oil one at 11% excess air and one at 20% excess air. Five SRC-II fuels have been tested a... 

BB-101 Combustibility Report Large-Scale Test Program on Electrical and Electronic Equipment and Electronic Equipment and Application Enclosures. 

The main objective of the test program is to burn processed MSW in a fluidized-bed boiler environment to investigate combustion characteristics, heat transfer, corrosion and erosion, and control parameters. The tests, are being conducted in a CPC-owned 0.7 sq m fluidized-bed combustor which has been reworked to incorporate water tubes for heat extraction in both the bed region and exhaust. Additional tubes will be air cooled to simulate boiler temperatures and to observe erosion and corrosion phenomena, detailographic examination will be made of these materials. 

Here, we will report on five different designs for catalytic combustors. The principal schedule is shown in Figure 5 and a summary of results from recent pilot-scale combustion tests is given in Table 5, which concludes some of the information discussed here. Concepts for stationary and mobile applications, as well as for gaseous and liquid fuels, will be discussed. Special attention to the recently finished AGATA-program will be given. 

This report describes the two-year road test program, supported by laboratory analysis, conducted by the Canadian Combustion Research Laboratory of Energy, Mines and Resources Canada to evaluate the effectiveness of automotive exhaust lead traps. The exhaust traps were designed and built by the Du Pont Company. 

In a laboratory test program on controlled burning of TDF, with the exception of zinc emissions, potential emissions from TDF are not expected to be very much different that from other conventional fossil fuels, as long as combustion occurs in a well-designed, well-operated, and well-maintained combustion device. Selected results from this study are shown in Table 6.7. Nc that mercury in TDF is typically below detection limits. 

To determine the applicability of the process to flue gas from coal combustion, a small scale (0.6 MWg) unit was built and placed into (deration by UOP, hic. at Tampa Electric Company s Big Bend Station in North Ruskin, Florida. The pilot plant was started up in 1974 and operated for approximately 2 years. During this time, six runs were made involving over 13,000 acceptance and regeneration cycles with the same acceptor loading. The test program demonstrated... 

Table 10-11 indicates projects intended to demonstrate some of these combustion modification technologies for commercial feasibility or demonstrate applicability where they have not been used previously. The degree of NO, reduction achievable while maintaining acceptable boiler performance is an important element of these test programs. As of mid-1994, all of the programs had been completed except the TVA micronized coal rebuming program. 

In addition to these full-scale tests, EPA has initiated a program to conduct extensive intermediate-scale incinerator studies, i.e., studies that would approximate the actual conditions that exist in full-scale incinerators but that at the same time would be close enough to the laboratory studies previously discussed to allow correlation of the results from both scales of operation ( ). The EPA Combustion Research Facility (CRF) has been constructed to conduct this program at the National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR), Jefferson, Arkansas. 

---