1. Investigations of Microwave Stimulation of Turbulent Flames with Implications to Gas Turbine Combustors
- Author
-
Christer Fureby, P. Petersson, Marcus Aldén, Zhongshan Li, N. Zettervall, Jenny Larfeldt, Elna J.K. Nilsson, Tomas Hurtig, and Andreas Ehn
- Subjects
Flexibility (engineering) ,Waste management ,Hydrogen ,business.industry ,Chemistry ,Electric potential energy ,Fossil fuel ,chemistry.chemical_element ,02 engineering and technology ,Combustion ,medicine.disease_cause ,01 natural sciences ,7. Clean energy ,Energy engineering ,Soot ,010305 fluids & plasmas ,Electricity generation ,020401 chemical engineering ,13. Climate action ,0103 physical sciences ,medicine ,0204 chemical engineering ,business ,Process engineering - Abstract
Efficient and clean production of electrical energy and mechanical (shaft) energy for use in industrial and domestic applications, surface- and ground transportation and aero-propulsion is currently of significant general concern. Fossil fuels are mainly used for transportation and aero-propulsion, but also for power generation. Combustion of fossil fuels typically give rise to undesired emissions such as unburned hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, soot and nitrogen oxides. The most widespread approach to minimize these is to apply various lean-burn technologies, and sometimes also dilute the fuel with hydrogen. Although efficient in reducing emissions, lean-burn often results in combustion instabilities and igniteon issues, and thus become challenging itself. Another desired aspect of today’s engines is to increase the fuel flexibility. One possible technique that may be useful for circumventing these issues is plasma-assisted combustion, i.e. to supply a small amount of electric energy to the flame to stimulate the chemical kinetics. Although not new, this approach has not yet been fully explored, partly because of it’s complexity, and partly because of apparent sufficiency. Recently, however, several research studies of this area have emerged. This paper attempts to provide a brief summary of microwave-assisted combustion, in which microwaves are utilized to supply the electrical energy to the flame, and to demonstrate that this method is useful to enhance flame stabilization, delay lean blow-off, and to increase combustion efficiency. The main effect of microwaves (or electrical energy) is to enhance the chemical kinetics, resulting in increased reactivity and laminar and turbulent flame speeds. Here we will demonstrate that this will improve the performance of gas turbine combustors. (Less)
- Published
- 2017