Dev of a radiant recuperative burner for industrial furnaces using permeable ceramic membranes

Completed

Energy Efficiency(Industry)

Basic and strategic applied research
Applied Research and Development

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Not Cross-cutting

Dr RJ Tucker
Zerontec

3

Carbon Trust

01 September 2004

31 August 2005

12 months

£71,221

West Midlands

Dr RJ Tucker, Zerontec

Project Contact, Hotwork Combustion Technology Ltd
Project Contact, School of Applied Sciences, University of Glamorgan

The objective of the project is to design, build and test a novel concept for high temperature heating in furnaces using a permeable ceramic wall for thermal radiation enhancement.

Enhancing the heat transfer in high temperature fossil fuel-fired furnaces and process plant can lead to significant savings in energy and CO2 emissions. Thermal radiation is the dominant mode of heat transfer when operating above 700 C. One technique for enhancing radiation transfer is to place a permeable ceramic wall across the combustion products flow path. Because of the structure of the ceramic, there is a high rate of convective heat transfer into the wall which then reradiates energy back into the furnace. The result is a reduction in combustion product temperature across the wall and a net energy saving. This technique has been studied for over half a century but has not been widely exploited owing to the lack of ceramics that meet the challenging requirements. A permeable ceramic is needed that has the required properties and is available at an installed cost for a pay back time of under two years. The project aims to develop and test ceramic foam modules and use these tobuild a permeable wall into a natural gasfired test furnace. A recuperative burner will be installed downstream of the wall which will increase efficiency further. The permeable wall is estimated to generate a saving of 16% in fuel/carbon, and 36% in NOx emissions. The modules will be tested for thermal integrity, and potential fuel savings and industrial applications will be determined. The three stages of the project will be: development of the foam ceramic; report on the measured and predicted furnace performance; and identify and quantify market and environmental opportunities

01/01/07