Numerical Study of the Optimization of Combustion and Emission Characteristics of Air-Staged Combustion in a Pulverized Coal-Fired Boiler

Air-staged combustion is known to be one of the techniques of NOx reduction. The objective of this study is to determine the optimal ratio of air flow distributed for CCOFA and SOFA; at this optimal ratio, the combustion and exhaust emission characteristics of a pulverized coal-fired boiler are maintained at a satisfactory level. A numerical investigation was performed at various airflow ratios of 16.7/83.3%, 25/75%, 50/50%, 75/25%, and 83.3/16.7%. An inert gas was considered as a substitute for air to isolate the effects of the cooling process and chemical reaction on NOx reduction; during NOx reduction in air-staged combustion, both the effects typically occur simultaneously. The results of our study show that the optimum condition, under which the maximum NOx reduction and highest boiler efficiency can be obtained, corresponds to the equal splitting of the over-fire air between CCOFA and SOFA.