Numerical simulation of combustion characteristics at different coal concentrations in bituminous coal ignition in a tiny-oil ignition burner

With the objective of producing a full-scale tiny-oil ignition burner, identical to the burner used in an 800 MWe utility boiler, numerical simulations were performed using Fluent 6.3.26 to study the progress of ignition for four coal concentration settings covering sub-operation conditions prevailing during the experiments performed with the burner. The numerical simulations conformed to the experimental results, demonstrating the suitability of the model used in the calculations. Simulations for a coal concentration of 0.40 kg/kg corresponding to a single burner operating at its rated output were also conducted, which indicated that gas temperatures along the burner centerline were high. As gas flowed to the burner nozzle, the high-temperature region expanded, ensuring a successful pulverized-coal ignition. With increasing coal concentration (0.08-0.40 kg/kg), the gas temperature along the burner centerline and at the first and second combustion chamber exits decreased at the equivalent radial points. At the center of the second combustion chamber exit, the O2 concentrations were almost depleted for the five coal concentrations, while the CO concentrations peaked. © 2013 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.