Influence of primary air ratio on flow and combustion characteristics and NOx emissions of a new swirl coal burner

Cold airflow experiments on a small-scale burner model, as well as in situ experiments on a centrally fuel-rich swirl coal combustion burner were conducted. Measurements were taken from within a 300 MWe wall-fired pulverized-coal utility boiler installed with eight of centrally fuel-rich swirl coal combustion burners in the bottom row of the furnace during experiments. Various primary air ratios, flow characteristics, gas temperature and gas species concentrations in the burner region were measured. The results of these analyses show that with decreasing primary air ratio, the swirl intensity of air, divergence angles and maximum length and diameter of the central recirculation zone all increased, and the turbulence intensity of the jet flow peaked but decayed quickly. In the burner nozzle region, gas temperature, temperature gradient and CO concentration increased with decreasing primary air ratio, while O2 and NOx concentration decreased. Different primary air ratios, the gas temperatures and gas species concentrations in the side-wall region varied slightly.

Research highlights
► Turbulence intensities increased initially and then quickly subsided.
► The maximum length and diameter of the CRZ increase with decreasing primary air ratios.
► The NOx concentration decreases in the central zone with decreasing primary air ratios.
► High O2 concentrations and low CO concentrations in the side-wall region.