Design and evaluation of a porous burner for the mitigation of anthropogenic methane emissions

Environ Sci Technol. 2009 Dec 15;43(24):9329-34. doi: 10.1021/es902367x.

Abstract

Methane constitutes 15% of total global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The mitigation of these emissions could have a significant near-term effect on slowing global warming, and recovering and burning the methane would allow a wasted energy resource to be exploited. The typically low and fluctuating energy content of the emission streams makes combustion difficult; however porous burners-an advanced combustion technology capable of burning low-calorific value fuels below the conventional flammability limit-are one possible mitigation solution. Here we discuss a pilot-scale porous burner designed for this purpose. The burner comprises a cylindrical combustion chamber filled with a porous bed of alumina saddles, combined with an arrangement of heat exchanger tubes for preheating the incoming emission stream. A computational fluid dynamics model was developed to aid in the design process. Results illustrating the burner's stable operating range and behavior are presented: stable ultralean combustion is demonstrated at natural gas concentrations as low as 2.3 vol%, with transient combustion at concentrations down to 1.1 vol%; the system is comparatively stable to perturbations in the operating conditions, and emissions of both carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons are negligible. Based on this pilot-scale demonstration, porous burners show potential as a methane mitigation technology.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Air Pollutants / chemistry*
  • Animals
  • Ceramics
  • Computer Simulation
  • Greenhouse Effect
  • Humans
  • Incineration / instrumentation*
  • Incineration / methods
  • Materials Testing
  • Methane / chemistry*
  • Models, Chemical
  • Refuse Disposal / instrumentation
  • Refuse Disposal / methods
  • Temperature

Substances

  • Air Pollutants
  • Methane