Heat transfer characteristics of a ceramic honeycomb regenerator for an oxy-fuel combustion furnace

• The regenerative system of an air–fuel system is not applicable to an oxy-fuel one.
• The temperature and pressure of a honeycomb regenerator are measured.
• Bypassing of 40% of exhaust gas is needed to avoid the saturation of regenerator.
• A longer honeycomb and shorter switching time show better temperature efficiency.
• We incorporate effect of the length, diameter and switching time into one curve.

Regenerative furnaces have been widely used to reduce waste heat, and to achieve constant temperature distribution in a furnace. However, direct application of the regenerative system for an air–fuel combustion furnace to an oxy-fuel combustion furnace is not possible, because of much higher volume flow rate in air–fuel combustion than the volume flow rate in oxy-fuel combustion. We therefore experimentally and numerically study the heat transfer performance of a ceramic honeycomb regenerator in oxy-fuel combustion. The pressures and temperatures in a regenerator are measured, and compared with numerical simulation that is calculated by using the CFD code, FLUENT, resulting in agreement. Numerical simulation shows that bypassing of ∼40% of the exhaust gas is essential, to prevent saturation of the honeycomb regenerator. Analysis of experimental data presents that a longer honeycomb and shorter switching time show better efficiency.