Numerical study on characteristics of combustion and pollutant formation in a reheating furnace

Abstract

Energy consumption of fuel-fired industrial furnace accounts for about 23% of the national total energy consumption every year in China. Meanwhile, the re-duction of combustion-generated pollutants in furnace has become very im-portant due to the stringent environment laws and policy introduced in the recent years. It is therefore a great challenge for the researchers to simultaneously en-hance the fuel efficiency of the furnace while controlling the pollution emission. In this study, a transient 3-D mathematical combustion model coupled with heat transfer and pollution formation model of a walking-beam-type reheating furnace has been developed to simulate the essential combustion, and pollution distribu-tion in the furnace. Based on this model, considering nitrogen oxides formation mechanism, sensitivity study has been carried out to investigate the influence of fuel flow rate, air-fuel ratio on the resultant concentration of nitrogen oxides in the flue gas. The results of present study provide valuable information for im-proving the thermal efficiency and pollutant control of reheating furnace.