Investigation of co2 diluted methane and propane swirling premixed flames using ch* chemiluminescence imaging

Abstract

Utilization of hydrocarbon gaseous fuels, such as biogas, landfill gas and others, is a valuable contribution to sustainable energy production and climate changing control. The presence of CO2 in these gases decreases heat of combustion, flame temperature, flame speed and can induce flame blow-off and combustion instabilities. In order to better understand the problem, flame geometry and location was investigated using chemiluminescence (CH*) imaging technique. Combustion took place in a purposely built, lean, premixed, unconfined swirl burner, fueled by methane and propane diluted with CO2. The fuel type, air-to-fuel equivalence ratio and CO2 content were chosen as the independent variables. The CH* imaging by means of a commercial CCD camera, fitted with an optical filter, was used for flame investigation. The analysis of images showed that the CH* emission intensity, flame geometry and location were remarkably affected by the fuel type and the air-to-fuel equivalence ratio, while the CO2 dilution was of minor importance.