Project description
Flameless combustion soars to new heights
Combustion is the fast heat-producing reaction between hydrocarbon fuel and oxygen. While CO2 is often the focus, NOx (a family of compounds including nitrogen dioxide or NO2) and particulates are also emitted by modern jet engines. NO2 is an important pollutant on its own, and it participates in atmospheric ozone and acid rain chemistry. While new combustion processes that minimise NOx production from industrial burners have been developed, they have not yet been applied to the combustion of kerosene in jet engines. Reducing particulate matter emission from kerosene or new synthetic fuels is also important. The EU-funded LEAFINNOX project covers these gaps through a combination of experiments and modelling that provide new combustion concepts minimising both NOx and particulate emissions.
Objective
"The low-NOx potential of ""Flameless Oxidation"" (or ""MILD combustion"", as is otherwise known) has been demonstrated for industrial furnaces and gaseous-fuel flames, but it has not been explored yet for aviation gas turbines burning kerosene. In this project, the ""Lean Azimuthal Flame"" (LEAF), a new combustor design that can operate at the ""Flameless Oxidation"" mode and that has been tested for gaseous fuels so far producing very low NOx, CO, and unburnt hydrocarbons, will be developed for kerosene as an innovative low-NOx candidate combustor concept for the long-term. The work comprises tests at low and elevated pressures, development of new kinetic schemes for kerosene combustion under MILD combustions, development of experimental diagnostics and sectional models for nanoparticles so as to assess the particulate emissions of the kerosene LEAF and to increase our predictive capability, modelling by advanced combustion models (Large-Eddy Simulation with sub-grid Conditional Moment Closure supplemented with the new kinetic schemes for NOx and soot), and the construction of low-order models for emissions and thermoacoustics for the LEAF. The models can also assist the medium-term improvement of existing combustors such as those based on the RQL or LPP concepts. The consortium consists of four highly-experienced partners, with significant expertise with the LEAF, combustion in vitiated air, NOx and particulate emissions chemistry, and numerical modelling, and with emphasis on knowledge transfer to industry. The outcomes of the project can provide new options to the European aeroengine industry and can result in significanly lower NOx emissions than at present due to the unique low emissions of the ""Flameless Oxidation"" combustion mode."
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsliquid fuels
- natural scienceschemical scienceselectrochemistryelectrolysis
- natural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryhydrocarbons
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsfossil energynatural gas
- engineering and technologynanotechnologynano-materials
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
CB2 1TN Cambridge
United Kingdom