Work

Numerical simulation of premixed methanol combustion characteristics in a swirl burner

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Burner pollutant emissions are a significant source of atmospheric nitrogen oxides (NO x ), posing an ongoing challenge for low-NO x design. This study uses Fluent software to numerically simulate a methanol sleeve-type swirl burner, employing the eddy-dissipation concept (EDC) combustion model and a detailed chemical reaction mechanism. This study examines the influence of swirl angle and excess air ratio on burner thermal performance, with particular emphasis on NO x /CO emissions and velocity–temperature field synergy angle within the burner through application of the field synergy principle. Our results show that the field synergy angle exhibits a nonmonotonic trend (initial decrease followed by an increase) as the swirl angle increases, a trend that strongly correlates with the observed variations in NO x and CO emissions. Furthermore, an increased swirl angle significantly improves exhaust gas temperature uniformity. While higher excess air in the premixed gas effectively reduces NO x , it concurrently increases CO emissions, lowers combustion efficiency, and has minimal impact on field synergy angle. Therefore, for an effective low-NO x burner design, optimizing the field synergy angle is crucial for controlling NO x formation rather than solely relying on increasing the excess air ratio. This study presents novel insights for the design and optimization of low-NO x methanol-air premixed gas burners.

Source: Case Studies in Thermal Engineering

DOI: 10.1016/j.csite.2025.107335

Authors: Jingfei Li, Cheng Bao, Xingyu Lu, Shuodong Mi

Institution: University of Science and Technology Beijing

Language: English

Topic: Combustion and flame dynamics

Subfield: Computational Mechanics

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Affordable and clean energy

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,620