Low-Emission, Liquid Fuel Combustion System for Conventional and Alternative Fuels Developed by the Scaling Analysis

The objective of this study is to develop a theoretical basis for scalability considerations and design of a large-scale combustor utilizing flow blurring (FB) atomization. FB atomization is a recently discovered twin-fluid atomization concept, reported to produce fine spray of liquids with wide range of viscosities. Previously, we have developed and investigated a small-scale swirl-stabilized combustor of 7-kW_th capacity. Spray measurements have shown that the FB injector's atomization capability is superior when compared to other techniques, such as air blast atomization. However, despite these favorable results, scalability of the FB injector and associated combustor design has never been explored for large capacity; for example, for gas turbine applications. In this study, a number of dimensionless scaling parameters that affect the processes of atomization, fuel–air mixing, and combustion are analyzed, and scaling criteria for the different components of the combustion system are selected. Constant velocity criterion is used to scale key geometric components of the system. Scaling of the nonlinear dimensions and complex geometries, such as swirler vanes and internal parts of the injector is undertaken through phenomenological analysis of the flow processes associated with the scaled component. A scaled-up 60-kW_th capacity combustor with FB injector is developed and investigated for combustion performance using diesel and vegetable oil (VO) (soybean oil) as fuels. Results show that the scaled-up injector's performance is comparable to the smaller scale system in terms of flame quality, emission levels, and static flame stability. Visual flame images at different atomizing air-to-liquid ratio by mass (ALR) show mainly blue flames, especially for ALR > 2.8. Emission measurements show a general trend of lower CO and NO_x levels at higher ALRs, replicating the performance of the small-scale combustion system. Flame liftoff height at different ALRs is similar for both scales. The scaled-up combustor with FB injector preformed robustly with uncompromised stability for the range of firing rates (FRs) above 50% of the design capacity. Experimental results corroborate with the scaling methodology developed in this research.