Article

pubs.acs.org/EF

Prediction of NOx and CO Emissions from an Industrial Lean-

Premixed Gas Turbine Combustor Using a Chemical Reactor Network
Model
Jungkyu Park,*,† Truc Huu Nguyen,† Daero Joung,‡ Kang Yul Huh,‡ and Min Chul Lee§
†
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Konkuk University, Seoul 143-701, Korea
‡
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang 790-784, Korea
§
Korea Electric Power Research Institute, Daejeon 305-380, Korea

ABSTRACT: NOx and CO emissions from gas turbines are limited by European legislation to 25 ppmvd for natural gas
operations. To meet this objective, and that of future legislation, it is necessary to develop a numerical tool that can predict NOx
and CO emissions quickly and accurately. In this study, a chemical reactor network (CRN) is developed based on computational
fluid dynamics (CFD). A combustor is modeled by using Star-CCM+, a commercial CFD code. The network consists of 22
chemical reactor elements, which act as different reaction zones in the combustor. The predictions of exhaust emissions in this
work were carried out using the CHEMKIN code and the full GRI 3.0 chemical kinetics mechanism. The model combustor tests
were conducted at different conditions using various flow rates and equivalence ratios for the main and pilot injector at three
different inlet temperatures. The predicted NOx and CO emission results closely matched the experimental data. The present
study focuses on the effects of inlet temperature and pilot-to-total fuel ratio on NOx emissions at various load conditions using
NO formation pathway analysis.

1. INTRODUCTION simulation. Successful tests have been conducted on several

Industrial gas turbine (GT) engines operating on natural gas
are considered one of the cleanest combustion technologies.
However, the high temperatures associated with gas turbine
combustion can lead to high levels of nitrogen oxide (NOx)
emissions. Reducing NOx without compromising the low CO
levels is one of the main concerns in the design of a GT
combustor. One of the major techniques used to reduce NOx
emissions is to use lean-premixed (LP) combustion, which can
reduce NOx emissions by avoiding the high local fuel−air
equivalence ratios that increase the flame temperature. Modern
LP combustors can achieve NOx emission levels of less than 10
ppm (adjusted to 15% O2 dry).
To develop sub-10 ppm lean premixed combustors, detailed
information on the NOx and the CO formation in the flame is
required. To accurately predict NOx and CO formation, it is
necessary to couple computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with
a detailed set of chemical kinetics. Attempts have been made to
include detailed chemistry in the turbulent models, but these
require great amounts of CPU time. To model complex
combustion systems, various reduced global kinetic mecha-
nisms have been developed.1−3 However, even the use of these
reduced kinetic equations in conjunction with CFD requires
long analysis times for an industrial GT combustor designer.
An intelligently designed chemical reactor network (CRN)
generated from CFD results can provide quantitative answers
on the NOx and CO emissions of a combustor.4−13 This
approach ensures that the calculations use a detailed set of
chemical kinetics, but it simplifies the flow representation.
Additionally, this approach can be used in combustor design
and stage modification because the CPU time is typically
several orders of magnitude less than that for the simplest CFD
industrial cases, and in each case, the prediction of NOx
emissions has shown good accuracy when compared to
experimental measurements. Falcitelli et al.8 defined a general
algorithm to construct the CRN. Novosselov et al.9,10 applied
CRN to a dry low emission industrial gas turbine combustor
and showed the ability to accurately predict NOx and CO
emissions. Fichet et al.13 proposed an optimized procedure to
split the reactive flow field into the homogeneous zones
considered to be a PSR.
In this study, the CRN approach is applied to the parametric
analysis of NOx and CO emissions from an industrial LP GT
combustor (DGT5).14 The combustor uses a double swirl pilot
and main burner to overcome combustion instability by
burning with a relatively high equivalence ratio mixture for a
low load condition. First, a three dimensional (3D) CFD
analysis using the partially premixed coherent flame model was
carried out. Then, the methodology for the construction of the
CRN was applied to the CFD fields to create an ensemble of
connected zones. Finally, each zone was considered to be an
ideal chemical reactor, and calculations were run using detailed
chemical kinetics. The CRN prediction of the amount of NOx
and CO was compared to the experimental data to verify the
model at various operating conditions. Additionally, NOx
pathway analysis was carried out to understand the effect of
the important parameters on NOx formation. From these
analyses, methods are proposed to achieve a NOx emission of
less than 10 ppm in the DGT5.
Received: October 27, 2012
Revised: January 31, 2013
Published: January 31, 2013

© 2013 American Chemical Society 1643 dx.doi.org/10.1021/ef301741t | Energy Fuels 2013, 27, 1643−1651
Energy & Fuels Article

Figure 1. Experimental setup of test combustor.

2. MODEL TEST COMBUSTOR is 80% load of base load (i.e., 4.2 MW). In the case of hot-day
Figure 1 shows the experimental setup, including a combustor, conditions, the load was limited to 0.61 N due to the limitation
a fuel supply system, a air supply system, and the system for of the turbine inlet temperature. The test operating conditions
measuring the temperature and gas exhaust emissions. The were determined to have the same volume flow rates of air and
head of the DGT5 gas turbine combustor was connected to a fuel and the same temperature as the DGT5 at real operating
transparent, cylindrical quartz liner to permit imaging of the conditions under atmospheric pressure.
flame near the nozzle using a digital camera. This visualization
was used to validate the CFD analysis by comparing the flame 3. CFD ANALYSIS
shape and location with the calculated results.
Three-dimensional CFD modeling provides basic information
The quartz liner is cooled from the outside by forced air
convection. The combustor tail portion is a transient piece about the combustor behavior, such as flow rate, temperature,
made of stainless steel that is water cooled. R-type velocity, and chemical space concentration, which is necessary
thermocouples are attached along the body and at the exit to construct an accurate CRN. The test combustor shown in
gate of the combustor to measure the temperatures of the exit Figure 1 was modeled using STAR-CCM+. In this inves-
of the combustor and the inner and outer curvature of the bent tigation, a segregated flow solver is employed, which handles
transition piece. A Testo 360 gas analyzer was used to measure the pressure-velocity coupling based on SIMPLE algorithm. A
the concentrations of NO, NO2, O2, CO2, and CO by second-order upwind scheme is used for spatial discretization of
extracting an emission gas sample. The gas analyzer ensures the the convection term. For a turbulent model, the realizable k−ε
accuracy of NO, NO2, O2, CO2, and CO as 3%, 1%, 1.2%, 5%, model with enhanced wall treatment was used. The realizable
2%, and 2% of full measuring ranges, 0−3000 ppm, 0−500 k−ε model possesses good convergence characteristics for the
ppm, 0−21%, 0−25%, and 0−5000 ppm, respectively. In complex swirler and combustor.
addition, since the gas analyzer was calibrated by standard gases The turbulent reacting flow in the combustor was computed
before combustion test, the accuracy was determined to be as based on the partially premixed coherent flame model (PCFM)
low as standard gases around 1 ppm for NO and NO2. suggested by Zhang and Rawat.15 The PCFM considers both
The test was conducted from engine idle to base load for premixed and nonpremixed combustion on the basis of the
cold, standard and hot-day conditions, as shown in Table 1. 1.0
mixture fraction and the progress variable. The premixed
N stands for the base load of a 5.25 MW, gas turbine, and 0.8 N
combustion process is addressed by the CFM (Coherent Flame
Table 1. Experimental Input Dataa Model), whereas nonpremixed combustion is simulated by the
nonadiabatic equilibrium presumed probability density function
air (PPDF), considering heat loss through the liner wall. In the
air flow rate temp. main fuel pilot fuel
load (Nm3/h) °C (slpm) (slpm) CFM, the flame area density (FAD) is tracked through the
cold 0.4 N 320.7 305.4 31.3 85.8 transport equation
0.6 N 309.8 309.8 54.1 82.5
0.8 N 299.7 314.1 77.9 77.9 ∂∑ ∂u i ∑ ∂ ⎛ ∂∑ ⎞ 2
+ = ⎜Γ∑ ⎟ + α K t ∑ −D ∑
1.0 N 290.3 318.5 106 68.8 ∂t ∂x i ∂x i ⎝ ∂x i ⎠
standard 0.2 N 309.3 370.1 29 74.4
(1)
0.4 N 296 376.2 58.1 71.2
0.6 N 284.3 381.6 90.2 64.4 where Γ∑ is the diffusion coefficient and Kt is the mean
0.8 N 273.8 386.4 121.1 58.2 turbulence stretch. The variable α is a model constant, and D is
1.0 N 263.9 391.6 147.6 56.3 the consumption coefficient. Here, Kt is formulated by the
hot 0.1366 N 297.6 396.6 51 69.8
intermittent turbulence net flame stretch (ITNFS) model that
0.2952 N 285.4 403.8 63.9 66.7
0.4497 N 274.6 410.6 97.4 53
took into account the influence of different turbulent length
0.6082 N 264.5 417.2 125.1 55.2 scales on flame straining and quenching.15,16 The mean
progress variable c̃ is defined in eq 3 and is also solved in the
a
N = normal base load. CFM.
1644 dx.doi.org/10.1021/ef301741t | Energy Fuels 2013, 27, 1643−1651
Energy & Fuels
∂(ρ)c ̃ ∂(ρ)uic ̃ ∂ ⎛ ∂c ̃ ⎞ ∼ ΓC
+ = ⎜ΓC ⎟ + wċ + 2
∂t ∂x i ∂x i ⎝ ∂x i ⎠ ̃ ̃ )
(YFu − YFb
̃ − YFb
∂c ̃ ∂(YFu ̃ )
∂x i ∂x i (2)
̃ − YF̃
YFu
c̃ =
̃ − YFb
YFu ̃ (3)
where ỸFu is the fuel mass fraction in unburned gas and Ỹ Fb is
that in burned gas. c̃ is 0 in the unburned state and 1 in the fully
burned state according to eq 3. Using the assumption of thin
reaction layers, the source term w̃̇ c is modeled as
wc̃̇ = ρu SL ∑
where ρu is the unburned fuel density and SL is the laminar
flame speed. Any averaged quantities may be expressed in terms
of the mean progress variable and the conditional averages of
the unburned and burned states. The modeling constants for
the FAD source term affect the location of flame stabilization
and the distribution of the mean reaction rate.
Any Favre averaged quantities such as temperature,
molecular viscosity, and species mass fraction can be expressed
as a linear combination of the mean progress variable and the
conditional averages in unburned and burned state calculated
by PPDF as
Φ̃(f ̃ , c ;̃ x , t ) = (1 − c )̃ Φũ (f ̃ ; x , t ) + c Φ
̃ ̃ b (f ̃ ; x , t )
The grid in Figure 2 for the combustor contains
approximately 3.9 million unstructured polyhedral cells. A
Figure 2. Grid of the combustor.
constant heat flux boundary condition for the quartz wall is
used to consider both convective and radiative heat transfer. A
constant wall temperature of 28 °C is applied to the transition
piece, which is surrounded by cooling water. Table 1 shows the
boundary conditions for the simulation. Pilot fuel, main fuel,
and air are given in terms of the mass flow rates at the
respective inlets, whereas the continuity boundary condition is
specified at the outlet. The turbulence intensity is assumed to
be 10% of the mean inlet velocity, and the turbulent length
scale is specified as 10% of the nozzle diameter.
The PCFM constant, α, is a parameter used to determine the
FAD source term from the turbulent stretch in eq 1. Note that
the FAD and the laminar flame speed contribute to the source
term of the mean progress variable in eq 4. The variable α
affects the reaction rate by determining the location of the
premixed flame front in the simulation results. Aluri et al.9
proposed that α = 9.6, which is 5.6 times the standard value of
Article
1.5, after experimental investigations into premixed methane
flames. Figure 3 shows a flame image from the experiment and
(4)
Figure 3. Flame images from (a) the experiment and the
computational simulation for a PCFM constant of (b) α = 1.5 and
(c) α = 9.6.
the flame area density distribution from the simulation at the
standard 100% load. In Figure 3b, using the standard value of α
= 1.5 led to incomplete combustion and a mean temperature
that was lower than the measurement at the combustor outlet.
However, using α = 9.6, as seen in Figure 3c, results in a flame
area density distribution similar to that seen in the experiment.
Figure 4 shows the calculated and measured temperature
(5) profiles along the inner and outer curve in the transition piece
at the standard conditions. There is good overall agreement,
within 7% error, as shown in Figure 4c and d, whereas the
temperature is underestimated by approximately 200 °C for the
standard-idle case, shown in Figure 4b. The PCFM degree-of-
reaction is represented by the mean progress variable. Both the
FAD and the laminar flame speed are dependent on the
equivalence ratio. In low equivalence ratio scenarios, such as the
standard-idle case, the source term of the mean progress
variable is underestimated, resulting in a lower temperature
distribution.
Figure 5 shows the calculated and the measured profiles of
the outlet temperature at the standard condition. The locations
of the measuring points are illustrated in Figure 5a. The
calculated temperatures at the middle and the bottom of the
transition piece agree with the experimental data to within 6%
error. However, the top of the transition piece exhibits a
relatively large 12% error. It is presumed that the measurement
at the top would be conducted at a location closer to the wall,
which is cooled by flowing water.
4. DEVELOPMENT OF CRN
The combustor CRN is constructed based on the CFD-
predicted flow, flame behavior, and combustor boundary
conditions. Figure 6 shows how the combustor can be divided
into reactor zones based on the temperature, velocity, and
flame area density. The main and pilot flame zones are
determined from the temperature and flame area density
distribution. The main, dome, and pilot recirculation zones are
determined from the flow and temperature distribution. Finally,
the post flame zones are approximately determined from the
temperature because this region does not affect much on the
NOx formation, and the transition piece zone is treated as one-
dimensional flow reactor, PFR. In this CRN, the main flame is
divided into three streams. Some of the flow from the outer
flame region bypasses the main flame zone and is directed to
1645 dx.doi.org/10.1021/ef301741t | Energy Fuels 2013, 27, 1643−1651
Energy & Fuels
Figure 4. Calculated and measured profiles of the temperature (K)
along the inner and outer curve of the transition piece for the standard
condition.
the near wall post flame zone, which occurs because the mixture
burns slowly at the relatively low temperature in this zone due
to the lower fuel−air ratio from the outside stream being
diluted by the dome cooling air. The postflame zone must be
split into two streams, the intermediate and the near wall post
flame, because of the equivalence ratio and the temperature
gradient that exist near the wall, as shown in Figure 6a. The two
streams are combined in the center post flame, where the local
equivalence ratio and temperature distribution are more
uniform. The air−fuel ratio of the pilot injector is assumed to
be uniform. The pilot stream mixes with the gas in the main
recirculation zone. The pilot stream then enters into the inner
main flame stream. The mass exchange between all reactors
were calculated by the specific flow field as the sum of the mass
flows across the surface boundaries. In this way all the mass
exchanges are considered and the network is designed including
the recycling streams.
Figure 7 shows the CRN layout with flow splitting between
the reactor zones, which consist of 17 perfectly stirred reactor
(PSR), plug flow reactor (PFR), and mixer (MIX) elements.
PSR better represents the zones where the directions of velocity
vectors are randomly distributed, as in the injection and
recycling zones. PFR correctly characterizes a one-directional
flow. MIX elements represent the mixture zones that have not
yet ignited. The model of each ideal reactor is described in
detail in refs 9, 12, and 17. CRN includes several distinct
regions, which are described as follows:
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Figure 5. Calculated and measured profiles of the outlet temperature
(K) for the standard condition.
• the main flame zone, consisting of the inner, center and
outer fuel-air streams, as provided by the main injector.
An in-series PSR is used to model the flames due to the
temperature and flame area density differences as seen in
Figure 6a.
• the pilot flame zone, consisting of the pilot input stream,
as provided by the pilot injector and the sleeve providing
the cooling air input stream. The post pilot flame is
modeled as a PSR followed by a PSR because of the
temperature differences in the post pilot flame region as
seen in Figure 6a.
• the main recirculation zone, consisting of the back-mixed
hot product gas flow and the pilot cup cooling air input
stream.
• the pilot recirculation zone, located between the pilot
flame zone and the main recirculation zone.
• the dome recirculation zone, consisting of the back-
mixed hot product gas flow and the dome cooling air
input stream.
• the postflame zone, consisting of the CO burnout zone.
One of the most important goals of CRN development is to
accurately represent the air and fuel flow distribution in the
injector outlet stream because the injector flow distribution is
critical in determining the reaction zone structure. Here, an
uniform distribution is assumed in the circumferential direction.
Figure 8 represents the radial, average mass flux and
equivalence ratio profile at the main injector outlet obtained
from the CFD results. The air and fuel flow rates of the injector
are mapped into the CRN as three separate streams, each with
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Energy & Fuels Article

Figure 6. CFD predicted temperature, velocity vector, and flame area density profiles for the standard base load condition.

Figure 7. 22-element CRN used for evaluating NOx and CO emissions of the test combustor.

its own unique averaged mass flow value. This approach allows
the treatment of variable velocities within the flame, as well as
variable fuel−air ratios. The flat and linear injector fuel−air
ratio profiles are shown in Figure 8b. The flat profile also
contains the variable air flow rate as a function of the injector
radial coordinates, as shown in Figure 8a, but the equivalence
ratio is uniform. In the case of a linear profile, the equivalence
ratio changes linearly as a function of the radial coordinates.
The equivalence ratio of the outer stream is minimized, and the
equivalence ratio of the inner stream is maximized.
1647
The CFD calculation was carried out for various load
conditions. The flame and flow patterns are varied much from
very low load to full load. However, the several distinct regions
are maintained . In this study, the 22-element set of reactors is
used for the CRN calculation of all the conditions, but the
volume and input flow rates of the reactor elements of the
network and the flow splitting between the elements are
recalculated at each different conditions to use as input in the
model.
dx.doi.org/10.1021/ef301741t | Energy Fuels 2013, 27, 1643−1651
Energy & Fuels
Figure 8. Radial distributions of the mass flux and the equivalence ratio at the main injector outlet.
The kinetic computation is carried out on the reactor
network using the detailed kinetic model, GRI Mech 3.0,18 for
chemical species involved in combustion. GRI Mech 3.0 is an
optimized mechanism designed to model natural gas
combustion, including NO formation and reburn. This
mechanism contains 325 reactions and 53 species. In this
study, commercial chemical reactor code, CHEMKIN, was used
for the kinetic computation at each different inlet temperature
and load conditions.
5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
5.1. Comparison of the CRN Prediction with the
Experimental Data. Figure 9 shows a comparison of the CRN
Figure 9. NOx emissions from the CRN predictions and the
experimental data.
predictions and experimental data of NOx emissions at various
loads for cold, standard, and hot-day conditions. The solid lines
denote predictions with the nonuniform injector stream
treatment and linear equivalence ratio profile. The dotted line
denotes the predicted results with the flat equivalence ratio
profile, and the symbols represent experimental measurements.
The CRN predictions of the NOx emissions for all cases show
1648
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good agreement with the experimental data. The CRN
prediction with the linear injector equivalence ratio profile
shows better agreement with the experimental data at higher
loading than that with the flat injector equivalence ratio profile.
A linear, radial fuel−air distribution creates local hot zones in
the combustor and thus keeps the NOx levels above the CRN
prediction for the flat fuel-air distribution. The difference
between the experimental data and the CRN prediction with
the flat injector equivalence ratio profile is correlative with the
local nonuniformity of the equivalence ratio in the main
injector. The difference becomes larger as the inlet temperature
increases. In this calculation, the same proportional nonun-
iformity is used for the three inlet conditions. Both the CRN
predictions and the experimental data show that, as the load
increases, the NOx emissions decrease for the lower load
conditions and increase again for the higher load conditions. As
the inlet temperature increases, the NOx emissions from the
combustor become higher at each of the load conditions.
The CRN predictions and experimental data for the CO
emissions at various loads for the three inlet temperature
conditions are shown in Figure 10. The CRN predictions of the
CO emissions show reasonably good agreement with the
experimental data for all cases. The CRN prediction for the
nonuniform treatment and the linear injector equivalence ratio
profile show better agreement with the experimental data than
that with the flat injector equivalence ratio profile, especially at
the lowest load. A linear, radial fuel−air distribution creates hot
local zones in the main flame zone and keeps the CO levels
below the CRN prediction for a flat fuel−air distribution. Both
the CRN predictions and the experimental data show that the
maximum CO emissions occur at the lowest load condition and
decrease as the load becomes higher. For the lower loads, larger
amounts of CO are not oxidized because incomplete
combustion occurs due to leaner combustion in the main
flame, even though the hot pilot burned gases are well
entrained into the main flame. As the inlet temperature
increases, the CO emissions from the combustor decrease.
5.2. NOx Formation Zones and Pathway. Using CRN
modeling helps to understand the zones and pathways that
contribute to NOx emissions in lean-premixed gas turbine
combustors. The NOx production rate in each PSR reactor for
the standard inlet temperature condition is plotted in Figure
11a. At the lowest load, the largest NOx production rate occurs
in the post pilot flame (PSR12), but at the highest load, the
largest NOx production rate occurs in the main flame (PSR6).
As the load increases, the NOx production rate in the pilot
flame zone (PSR10−13) decreases due to a decrease in the
equivalence ratio in the pilot injector, whereas the NOx
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Energy & Fuels
Figure 10. CO emissions from the CRN predictions and the
experimental data.
Figure 11. NOx production rate and temperature in each PSR reactor
for the standard inlet temperature condition.
production rate in the main flame zone (PSR1−6) and in the
immediate post flame (PSR7) increases due to an increase in
the equivalence ratio in the main injector. This explains the
trend for NOx emissions that is seen in Figure 9. The
temperature at each PSR for the standard inlet condition is
plotted in Figure 11b. The temperature in the post pilot flame
(PSR12), just downstream of pilot flame, is highest among all
the PSRs. As the load increases, the temperature in the main
flame zone and in the post flame zone increases significantly,
whereas the temperature in the pilot flame zone drops very
little. However, a small decrease in the temperature of the pilot
flame zone can affect NOx production because the temperature
in the pilot flame zone is higher than 1800 K.
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Table 2 shows the contributions of the different combustion
zones to the NOx emissions at various loads for the three
different inlet temperature conditions. As noted, most of the
NOx is formed in the pilot flame, but most of the NOx is
formed in both the main and pilot flame at the base load for the
three different inlet conditions. In the DGT5 combustor, there
is a relatively high amount of NOx formed in the pilot flame
zone and the pilot recirculation zone. At the lowest load, there
is a high amount of NOx formed in the post flame, especially for
the cold condition, because the combustion is not completed in
the main flame zone but rather continues to completion in the
post flame zone.
The GRI 3.0 mechanism used in this study includes four NO
formation mechanisms (Zeldovich, N2O, prompt, and NNH).
However, in this study, each mechanism was separated from the
others to analyze the importance of each pathway. The NOx
production computed using the separated rate equations for
each pathway is plotted in Figure 12. A summation of the NOx
separately calculated by each of the four mechanisms is equal to
the NOx predicted by the GRI 3.0 mechanism within ±1%, as
seen in Figure 12. The Zeldovich pathway is the most
important pathway in all the conditions, except the low load
and cold inlet condition. As the load increases, the NOx
produced by the Zeldovich pathway decreases due to a
decrease of the pilot flame zone temperature and increases
again at the highest load due to an increase in the main flame
zone temperature, as seen in Figure 11. Also, NOx produced by
the Zeldovich pathway increases significantly according to the
increase of the inlet temperature. The N2O pathway becomes
noticeably important at the highest load because the
equivalence ratio in the main flame increases largely at the
highest load and the combustion is still lean. At the highest
load, the NOx produced by the N2O mechanism is somewhat
comparable to that of the Zeldovich mechanism. The prompt
pathway is more important for the lower load condition than
the higher load condition because the prompt NO is produced
primarily in the richer pilot flame zone instead of in the leaner
main flame zone. As the load increases, the NOx produced by
the prompt mechanism decreases due to a decrease in the
equivalence ratio in the pilot flame. Additionally, the NOx
produced by the NNH mechanism shows trends similar to the
prompt mechanism, and the contribution by the NNH pathway
is not negligibly small. Table 3 shows the relative contributions
of the NOx formation mechanisms for the modeled combustor.
Figure 13 shows the NOx production rate from the four
pathways in each PSR reactor at the 0.4 N load and the 1.0 N
load for the standard inlet temperature condition. At the 0.4 N
load (Figure 13a), most NOx production occurs in the pilot
flame zone, and at the 1.0 N load, the NOx production occurs
in both the pilot and the main flame zone. For the prompt and
NNH mechanisms, the nitrogen oxide forms in the early part of
the pilot or the pilot/main flame (PSR10−11, PSR1−2, and
PSR5−6). The formation rates then decrease quickly as the
flame continues to completion. The N2O and Zeldovich routes
exhibit high formation rates in the heart of the pilot or the
pilot/main flame (PSR11, PSR6) and persist into the near post
flame zone.
5.3. Effect of Pilot-to-Total Fuel Ratio. Figure 14 shows
the CRN predictions and the experimental data for the NOx
emissions for various pilot-to-total fuel ratios at the standard
base (1.0 N) load condition. As the pilot-to-total ratio
decreases, the NOx emissions decrease, but at pilot-to-total
fuel ratios below 0.2, the NOx emissions increase a little again.
dx.doi.org/10.1021/ef301741t | Energy Fuels 2013, 27, 1643−1651
Energy & Fuels Article

Table 2. NOx Production Formation Zones

load/zone main flame post flame pilot flame pilot recir main recir dome recir
cold 0.4 N 3.2% 17.4% 65.8% 10.7% 1.5% 1.4%
0.6 N 3.0% 5.7% 76.4% 11.0% 2.4% 1.6%
0.8 N 7.9% 1.1% 74.9% 11.8% 2.6% 1.7%
1.0 N 22.8% 1.1% 65.5% 8.0% 1.4% 1.2%
standard 0.2 N 4.6% 15.3% 73.3% 4.6% 0.9% 1.3%
0.4 N 3.0% 2.6% 86.8% 5.0% 1.2% 1.3%
0.6 N 12.2% 0.6% 79.6% 5.4% 1.2% 0.9%
0.8 N 33.1% 2.8% 58.6% 3.8% 1.0% 0.6%
1.0 N 53.5% 6.3% 35.2% 2.7% 1.8% 0.5%
hot 0.1366 N 1.7% 9.6% 80.1% 6.2% 1.6% 0.9%
0.2952 N 4.7% 1.5% 85.7% 6.2% 1.1% 0.7%
0.4497 N 25.0% 0.9% 67.3% 5.3% 0.8% 0.7%
0.6082 N 44.1% 3.0% 47.9% 3.6% 0.8% 0.5%

Table 3. NOx Formation Pathway

load/pathway Zeldovich N20 prompt NNH
cold 0.4 N 29.0% 13.6% 32.4% 25.0%
0.6 N 26.4% 15.6% 33.3% 24.7%
0.8 N 26.8% 18.4% 30.8% 24.0%
1.0 N 31.7% 21.2% 26.1% 21.0%
standard 0.2 N 33.4% 13.8% 32.0% 20.7%
0.4 N 35.4% 16.5% 28.6% 19.5%
0.6 N 35.7% 20.8% 23.3% 20.2%
0.8 N 30.7% 23.9% 23.2% 22.2%
1.0 N 38.9% 21.0% 21.7% 18.4%
hot 0.1366 N 43.5% 14.0% 23.9% 18.7%
0.2952 N 45.9% 16.9% 20.5% 16.7%
0.4497 N 39.0% 24.2% 18.4% 18.4%
0.6082 N 44.8% 22.6% 17.0% 15.6%

Figure 12. Amount of NOx formed by each of the four pathways at

various load conditions.

The NOx emissions increase largely by increasing the pilot-to-

total fuel ratio from the base value of 0.38 to 0.5, but a
reduction in the NOx emissions can be achieved by decreasing
the pilot-to-total fuel ratio from the base value to within the
combustion stability limit. Table 4 shows the contributions
from the different combustion zones to the NOx emissions at
various pilot-to total fuel ratios. As the pilot-to-total fuel ratio
decreases the contribution of NOx production in the pilot flame
decreases, but increases in the main flame and post flame.
Figure 14 also shows the CRN-predicted NOx emissions
using the separated rate equations for each pathway at various
pilot-to-total fuel ratios. As the pilot-to-total fuel ratio
decreases, the NOx produced by the Zeldovich pathway
decreases significantly due to a decrease in the post pilot
1650
Figure 13. NOx production rates from the four pathways in each PSR
reactor for the standard inlet temperature condition.
flame temperature. The NOx produced by the prompt pathway
decreases slightly due to a decrease in the equivalence ratio in
the pilot flame. The NOx produced by the N2O and the NNH
pathways does not change noticeably. The reduction in NOx
produced in the pilot flame zone by the Zeldovich pathway is
the main reason for the reduction in NOx emissions that occurs
with a decrease in the pilot-to-total fuel ratio.
dx.doi.org/10.1021/ef301741t | Energy Fuels 2013, 27, 1643−1651
Energy & Fuels

■
Article

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This paper was supported by Konkuk University in 2011.

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■ AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail: jungkyup@konkuk.ac.kr.
Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
1651 dx.doi.org/10.1021/ef301741t | Energy Fuels 2013, 27, 1643−1651