Distributed combustion in a cyclonic burner

Distributed combustion regime occurs in several combustion technologies were efficient and environmentally cleaner energy conversion are primary tasks. For such technologies (MILD, LTC, etc…), working temperatures are enough low to boost the formation of several classes of pollutants, such as NOx and soot. To access this temperature range, a significant dilution as well as preheating of reactants is required. Such conditions are usually achieved by a strong recirculation of exhaust gases that simultaneously dilute and pre-heat the fresh reactants. However, the intersection of low combustion temperatures and highly diluted mixtures with intense pre-heating alters the evolution of the combustion process with respect to traditional flames, leading to significant features such as uniformity and distributed ignition. The present study numerically characterized the turbulence-chemistry and combustion regimes of propane/oxygen mixtures, highly diluted in nitrogen, at atmospheric pressure, in a cyclonic combustor under MILD Combustion operating conditions. The velocity and mixing fields were obtained using CFD with focus on mean and fluctuating quantities. The flow-field information helped differentiate between the impact of turbulence levels and dilution ones. The integral length scale along with the fluctuating velocity is critical to determine Damköhler and Karlovitz numbers. Together these numbers identify the combustion regime at which the combustor is operating. This information clearly distinguishes between conventional flames and distributed combustion. The results revealed that major controllers of the reaction regime are dilution and mixing levels; both are significantly impacted by lowering oxygen concentration through entrainment of hot reactive species from within the combustor, which is important in distributed combustion. Understanding the controlling factors of distributed regime is critical for the development and deployment of these novel combustion technologies for near zero emissions from high intensity combustors and energy savings using fossil and biofuels for sustainable energy conversion.