On Diluted-Fuel Combustion Issues in Burning Biogas Surrogates
This paper describes an analysis of the burning velocity of pure and diluted fuels, with implications for the development and operation of biogas-fueled combustors. Background work in the area of flame stabilization and propagation are introduced from the combustion literature. Fuels examined in this paper were methane and ethylene; the diluents were primarily nitrogen, as well as argon, carbon dioxide, and helium. Trends in terms of burning velocities as functions of equivalence ratio are reported for a variety of fuels. Additionally, flame temperatures and associated burning velocities as a function of diluent composition are reported. Implications for several flame stabilization theories are discussed, as well as point to potential issues in converting combustors to accept biogas as a fuel permitting stable operation.