A Numerical Investigation of Turbulent Non-Premixed Nozzle-Mixed Industrial Burner

Nozzle-mix burners are widely used in heat treatment and non-ferrous melting furnaces, and other applications, where temperature uniformity is required. These burners are stable over a wide range of air-fuel ratios from very lean to rich (up to 50% of excess fuel), high turndown ratio and low NO_X emissions at all air-fuel ratios. Here, the fuel is generally transported by a central jet and air through an annular jet. The separation between the fuel jet and the air annulus and confining wall are crucial for flame stabilization. The objective of the present work is to investigate the flow and flame characteristics of a nonpremixed nozzle-mix burner through a detailed parametric study. The inferences from this study will provide useful information for designers, regarding choice of parameters. The burner is modeled as an axisymmetric arrangement of fuel duct at the center, surrounded by a coaxial annular duct of air. The ducts discharge into a confined environment, formed by a chimney, placed coaxially with the ducts. The results of the numerical simulation show that for a given air-fuel ratio, as the fuel flow rate increased, the location of the flame base shifted from near the fuel nozzle towards the oxidizer nozzle. Similar shift in flame position was also observed for higher air velocities for a given fuel velocity. High fuel and air flow rates and small separation between fuel and air jets tend to destabilize the flame. For a given air-fuel ratio, flame height increased with increase in fuel flow rates, but the change became insignificant at higher flow rates. For a given fuel velocity, flame height decreased with increase in air flow rate for both buoyancy-controlled and momentum-controlled regimes. The air-to-fuel velocity ratio was found to be the most significant parameter in determining the flame height.