Achieving fuel flexibility in modern combustors (2012-2014)

Modern combustors must operate reliably and safely while emitting less CO2 than earlier designs, and meeting progressive emission standards for pollutants such as oxides of nitrogen. The balance between operating performance and emissions has often been achieved by incremental optimisation on a single fuel such as natural gas. Emerging fuels derived from biomass, landfill waste and coal have widely varying properties and thus combustors for alternative fuels must be modified to maintain the balance. This project will develop the leading combustion models and apply them to different fuels burning in practical premixed and diffusion flame regimes, providing fundamental insights that will help to achieve fuel flexiblity in modern combustors.