Study of LPG and Biogas Combustion in Two-Layer Porous Radiant Burners (PRBs)

Abstract

The problem of toxic pollutant emission arising from combustion using conventional burners is a matter of serious concern all over the globe. The present study deals with the investigation on the unique Porous Media Combustion (PMC) system where combustion occurs within a radiant porous matrix resulting in entrapped combustion. The usability of the in-house developed Sideway Faced Porous Radiant Burner (SFPRB) has been experimentally investigated with biogas and compared with LPG (Mishra et al., in Appl Therm Eng 89:44–50, 2015 [12]) fueled porous burner. SFPRB is a double-layered burner incorporating a preheat zone and combustion zone of Alumina and Silicon Carbide porous structures, respectively. The SiC used has a high porosity of 90% and Alumina bears porosity of only 7%. Performance of the burner has been analyzed in terms of radiation efficiency and harmful CO and NOx emission. Biogas even being a Low Calorific Value (LCV) fuel is able to give commendable results of radiation efficiency and emission. From emission measurements, it is clear that porous media resulted in cleaner combustion (lower CO and NOx concentration) than the combustion in free flame burners.