Computational fluid dynamics for biomass producer gas burner development to be used in a cremation process

Abstract

In this paper, the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has been applied for burner design and development in order to simulate the flow and significant characteristics of producer gas combustion, such as when pollution is released. The producer gas's constituents were taken by GC analysis, whereas the amount of combustion air was determined from 1 mole, assuming a combustion equivalent ratio of 0.9. From CFD simulation, it was found that the maximum temperature occurring from combustion is 1,800 K, and the temperature inside the crematory reached its maximum at 1,100 K. The turbulent intensity and turbulent kinetic energy of a burner, which are described as blending characteristics of fuel and air, are equal to 180% and 10.2 m2/s2, respectively. In addition, 6.78 × 10-5kmol/m3-s of the maximum NO formation rate was found, and there was no unburned CO released inside the crematory model. Hence, employing CFD assistance for the burner's design and development can save costs for the actual experimental rig implementation and reduce the time spent on conducting experiments. © 2014 Asian Institute of Technology.