A catalytic combustor concept with short catalyst segments and a thermal reactor is investigated with regard to NOx production of this concept under high-temperature conditions. The maximum combustor exit temperature was more than 1800 K with catalyst temperatures below 1300 K. For combustion of iso-octane, NOx emissions of 4 ppm (dry, 15% O2) at a flame temperature of 1800 K were measured. No significant influence of catalyst length, reference velocity and overall residence time on NOx emissions was observed.
Additionally, the test combustor was fuelled with commercial diesel and kerosene (Jet-A). In this case, NOx emissions were noticeable higher due to fuel-bound nitrogen. The emissions measured were for diesel, 12 ppm, and for kerosene, 7 ppm, (each dry, 15% O2), again at a flame temperature of 1800 K. To evaluate the conversion ratio of fuel-bound nitrogen to NOx iso-octane was doped with various amounts of ammonia and metyhlamine. The conversion rates were 70 to 90%, with a slight tendency to lower values (50%) for nitrogen mass fractions above 0.1%.
Considering the NOx emission level of actual premix burners, the lower emission value of the presented catalytic combustor results from a perfect premixed plug-flow combustion system incorporating a catalyst herein and not from a specific advantage of the principle of catalytic combustion itself. Again similar to a premix-combustor are the NOx emission characteristics in the case of lean combustion of nitrogen bound fuels, which yield very high conversion rates.
NOx Emission Characteristics of a Catalytic Combustor Under High-Temperature Conditions
