Journal Adnan

of Chemical Technology
Ghareeb Tuaamahand Metallurgy,
Al-Hasnawi, 52, 1, 2017,
Eckehard 137 - 147
Specht

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENT

SPECIAL INJECTOR BURNER DESIGNS BY USING CFD
Adnan Ghareeb Tuaamah Al-Hasnawi1,2, Eckehard Specht1

1
Institute of Fluid Dynamics and Thermodynamics Received 13 September 2016
Otto von Guericke University Accepted 25 November 2016
Universitätsplatz 2 D-39106 Magdeburg, Germany
2
Training and Workshop Center
University of Technology-Baghdad
Tal Muhammad 35010, Baghdad, Iraq
E-mail: adnan_tuaamah@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

Hot air from the cooling zone of a continuous kiln is available at the end of the corresponding firing zone. It can be
used again with the application of special injectors. 3D simulations in a domain containing injector nozzles are carried
out to evaluate the temperature distribution inside the continuous kiln in case of using the hot air which comes from the
cooling zone. The roller hearth kiln is taken as a computational domain in this study. Parameters referring to the direc-
tion of the burner streamline, the quantity of the air sucked and the effect of the cone length are studied. The temperature
distribution at the outlet is determined in case of fixing the burner against or along the direction of the main flow. It is
shown that the maximum air velocity at the outlet of the burner cone is about 90m/s. The upstream model temperature
distribution is found better than the downstream one. It is also suggested that a burner with longer outlet duct can protect
the product from direct exposure to the flame.
Keywords: continuous kiln, ceramic products, CFD, flow mixing, pre mixed combustion.

INTRODUCTION a lot of studies referring to the heat transfer and the

Continuous kilns are extensively used in industry
for the production of a wide range of ceramics (bricks,
tiles, sanitary ware, porcelain, vitrified clay, etc.). Tunnel
kilns and roller hearth kilns are the major variants of the
continuous kiln. The materials are placed on cars in the
latter or on rollers which are pushed slowly through the
kiln. The middle section of the kiln contains of a row of
burners. There, the fuel and air injected flow in a counter
current to the material through the kiln. The hot gases
heat up the material to the sintering temperature. The
design of the continuous kiln depends on the product,
which in turn affects the cross section. Providing a
homogeneous temperature in the cross section presents
a definite problem. The flow and heat transfer there
must be known to simulate the kiln process. Therefore
simulation of the firing process in the continuous kilns
are carried out. A. Mezquita et al. present a calculation
methodology based on certain kiln operating param-
eters aiming to save energy. They suggest recovering
a part of cooling gases in the firing chamber instead
of their exhaustion into the atmosphere. According to
them the static pressure and oxygen content profiles
in the studied ceramic tile kiln verify that gases from
the fast cooling zone enter the combustion chamber.
Furthermore, they find that the air and gas volume flow
rates in each burner ring and the oxygen content in the
kiln chamber enable the gas volume flow rate from the
cooling to the firing zone. Furthermore, the results are
compared with experimental data. It is concluded that
17 % of the energy can be saved in the kiln. M. Han et
al. [2] propose an optimization process for fuel and air

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 Journal of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy, 52, 1, 2017
used around a tunnel kiln. Real process data is used to
calculate the energy to be supplied by fuels using the
corresponding mass and energy balances. They find
that the use of admixed coal in case of pulverized coal
or natural gas in the firing zone is advantageous. The
admixed coal improves the heating value of pulverized
coal, thereby causing no significant change of the fuel
cost. Natural gas eases the combustion providing good
control of the temperature profile in the firing zone, and
decreasing the environmental degradation. S. Kaya et
al.[3] improve the firing zone to minimize the fuel cost
by finding the optimal operating variables. Mathemati-
cal models are used to present the simplest form of the
phenomena of heat transfer, combustion of admixed
coal and pulverized coal, together with gas flow. They
conclude that the overall energy balance predicts an
energy use of 3385 KJ/kg brick, which is 2.7 % higher
than the optimized results. S. Kaya et al. [4] optimize
the heat recovery in the firing zone by finding the opti-
mum suction and air blown. The mathematical model
presents the phenomena of heat transfer and fluid flow. It
treats also state variables such as the air mass flow rate,
the brick and air temperatures along the cooling zone
of a tunnel kiln. They find that the minimum pressure
drop is obtained when the tunnel kiln’s cooling zone is
composed of two regions of suction and two regions of
blowing. S. H. Pulko et al. [5] carry out modelling of
a tunnel kiln to study the behaviour of ceramics during
firing and their variation with time. The TLM technique
is used to model the heat conduction within the ceramic.
It is accepted that the radiation affects the kiln function
and any visible burner, as well as the contact surface
between two ceramic bodies, that between a ceramic
body and the kiln walls. The results demonstrate the
feasibility of a ceramic piece deformation during firing.
Regarding CFD simulations, A.H. Tehzeeb et al. [6]
develop a new model for brick production in a tunnel
kiln by using ANSYS. One-sixth of the width (540 mm)
is taken in the simulation because of kiln symmetric
geometry. The turbulence (k-ε) model is chosen for
turbulence modeling. They estimate that CO2 and NOx
volumes generated inside the kiln refer to 1.010 m3/s and
0.108 m3/s, respectively. The direction of the air and gas
flow and velocity inside the tunnel are identified. Fur-
thermore, the simulation results are validated through a
comparison with values provided in a previous research
and real emission data. R. Oba et al. [7] present a nu-
138
merical model to simulate a tunnel kiln used in ceramic
industry. The tile load is presented as a single block. The
domain of the resolution is divided in sub-domains of
different volumes. The model is solved for the energy
distribution in the burning zone, the radiation between
the ceramic load and the refractory walls, the advec-
tion of gases inside the kiln and the energy loss from
the kiln to the surroundings. Vicent et al. [8] elaborate
a numerical simulation of a tunnel kiln used for firing
clay tiles, bricks, and similar products using natural gas
and sawdust as fuels. They develop a thermal model
which provides efficient energy consuming design. The
results show how the fuel consumption decrease brings
about increase of the walls thermal insulation thickness
and affects the load internal area of heat exchanged
with combustion gases inside the kiln. It is also shown
that a greater number of less tortuous channels inside
the load are required to promote efficient gas circula-
tion. The numerical simulation results are compared to
experimental values. R. Oba et al. [9] present a thermal
analysis of a tunnel kiln used for the production of roof
tiles using firewood and shale oil. A three dimensional
numerical model based on the finite volume method is
used to describe the thermal behaviour of the kiln. They
use the prescribed flue gas and air flow to overcome the
obstacle of high computational cost due to the large di-
mensions of the numerical domain. The results obtained
show that 35 % of the energy input to the kiln is lost
through the walls and the roof to the surroundings. Also,
the radiation heat flux is found of greater significance
to the heat transfers to and from the load accounting for
more than 75 % of the heat transfer. T. S. Possamai et
al. [10] advance a model of thermal energy transport in
ceramic frits melting kilns with oxy-firing combustion
process. They develop a numerical simulation in Fortran
language coupled with simulation in CFD software. The
rectangular refractory kiln working at a mean inside
temperature of 1400oC is used as a domain in the analy-
sis. The k-ε model is adopted for turbulence modelling.
The effect of several variables in the process such as
the kiln geometry, the burner position, the fuel and the
oxidizing type is studied. CFD results are compared
to experimental data and prove that the mathematical
models used in the numerical simulation are practically
consistent. Furthermore, the comparisons to the global
results from the FORTRAN code are expected to show
even higher accuracy.
 Adnan Ghareeb Tuaamah Al-Hasnawi, Eckehard Specht

The literature review provides guidelines and an

𝜕𝜕 𝜇𝜇 𝑡𝑡
extensive background for the present study. It is clear (𝜌𝜌𝑐𝑐) + ∇ ∗ (𝜌𝜌𝑣𝑣 𝑐𝑐) = ∇ ∗ � ∇𝑐𝑐� + 𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌 (1)
𝜕𝜕𝜕𝜕 𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆 𝑡𝑡
that most of the models and simulations are focused on
the thermal process aiming kiln efficiency improvement. where ρ is the density, v is the mean reaction progress
A hot air rich in oxygen is available between firing variable, Sc is the reaction progress, Sc t is the source
and cooling zone. It can be used again in the firing zone term, v is the velocity, is the turbulent Schmidt number,
through a special injector. There is no study reporting the while μt is the turbulent viscosity.
use of air from the cooling zone in the firing zone of a The value of c is defined as a boundary condition at
continuous kiln. That is why the present work reports on the all flow inlets. It is usually specified as either 0 (unburnt)
investigation of the temperature distribution in the firing or 1 (burnt) [11].
zone of a continuous kiln and the flame behaviour under The ratio between air to fuel (methane) is 9:1, which
different geometric and operation parameters in case of us- is the stoichiometric combustion ratio. The non-adiabatic
ing a special injector nozzle. This work can also contribute premixed combustion (Zimont) model and the k- model
to a number of aspects of industrial interest such as cost are used to carry out this work. The governing equations
reduction, productivity and efficiency increase. (continuity, momentum, energy equations) for flow
field, temperature distribution and heat transfer in the
General conditions studied domain are solved in the Cartesian coordinate
In premixed flames, the fuel and oxidizer are inti- system [11, 12].
mately mixed before they enter the combustion device.
In many industrial premixed systems, combustion takes ∂
( ρU i ) = 0
place in a thin flame sheet. The premixed combustion ∂xi (2)
model considers the reacting flow field to be divided
∂ ∂ ∂U j ∂P
into regions of burnt and unburnt species separated by = ( ρU jU i ) (µ )− (3)
the flame sheet. The flame front propagation is modelled ∂xi ∂xi ∂xi ∂xi
by solving a transport equation for the density-weighted
∂ ∂ ∂T
mean reaction progress variable, denoted by c [11]. ( ρC pU jT ) = (k ) (4)
∂xi ∂xi ∂xi

Fig. 1. Model of the roller kiln and burner.

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 Journal of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy, 52, 1, 2017

Fig. 2. Model of the burner system.

where, Ui and T are the time-averaged velocity and tem-
perature in i direction. с, Cp, k, м and P are the density,
specific heat, thermal conductivity, viscosity and static
pressure, respectively.
Geometry and process simplification of the con-
tinuous kiln
The special injector nozzle is used in different con-
tinuous kilns. In this study the roller hearth kiln is taken
as a computational domain. ANSYS ICEM CFD is used
to draw the geometry. The typical roller kiln is 126m
long, 1.45 m wide and 0.872 m high [13]. This kiln is
used for producing tiles. The typical tile dimensions are
0.045x0.045x0.007 m. The roller kiln sample has four
burners with premixed combustion. These burners are
placed on the roof of the roller kiln. As shown in Fig. 1, a
half of the kiln total width is taken as a studying domain
to minimize the simulation time.
There is a bore hole on the roof. It allows the injector
to suck air from inside of the kiln channel and use it in
the combustion process. The burner dimensions refer to a
diameter of 0,024 m, length of 0.5 m, an output diameter
of 0.034 m with a slope of 28.3 and 0.044 m diameter
of the orifice to suck air. The cone dimensions refer to
an outlet diameter of 0.006m and length of 0.031 m as
shown in Fig. 2. To find the temperature distribution at
the outlet in two cases (the burner fires against the main
flow or along the main flow), a new geometry is created
to decrease the computation time but provide accurate re-
sults. The empty cube with orifice at the mid length of the
kiln is proposed. The slop of the burner is not considered
here. The unborn mixture is injected from the ending edge
of the burner, as shown in Fig. 3.

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 Adnan Ghareeb Tuaamah Al-Hasnawi, Eckehard Specht

Fig. 3. Modelling of the combustion chamber.

Fig. 4. a) Show location of the density region; b) Mesh with the prism layer of the different size element.

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 Journal of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy, 52, 1, 2017

Fig. 5. Grid independence study for the computational domain.

Grid design and mesh independence study
Various meshes are generated in the combustion
chamber to study the mesh independence. The mesh
is generated using the tetra/mixed method (Delaunary)
with a prism layer. In general, the Delaunary method
is considered more suitable for CFD simulations. This
method roots from the surface and proceeds further to
the top filling the whole geometry.
Five different meshes are generated by applying the
maximum size element. The mesh in the region that is in
front the burner is maintained fine by using the density
region method. Thus, the density region is not a part of
the geometry, but is used only to refine the mesh in a
volumetric zone as shown in Fig. 4a. Fig. 4b presents
three different grid settings. The details referring to the
different mesh sitting are listed in Table 1.
The global element scale factor is 1, while the maxi-
mum size of the burner and the density region are 0.003
and 0.007, respectively.
The influence of the grid number is described as
temperature. Fig. 5 shows the peak temperature, which
depends upon the grid number. It can be seen that the
peak temperature increases with increase of the number
of elements.

Fig. 6. 3D modelling of combustion chamber.

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 Adnan Ghareeb Tuaamah Al-Hasnawi, Eckehard Specht

Table 1. Mesh setting details. the different burner designs. The maximum element size
for the whole geometry and the perimeter of the tiles is
Mesh
Max size Cells number 0.1 and 0.04, respectively. The total element is 5413676.
No.
Fig. 7 shows the roller kiln mesh.
1 0.1 2641966
2 0.07 2645324
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3 0.04 2751402
4 0.03 2888541
Three different designs are proposed to study (i)
5 0.02 3674289
air sucked directly (ii) air sucked by bore hole in the
The temperature distribution curve changes to a line roof insulation (iii) air sucked by bore hole in the roof
and the peak temperature remains constant at 1144.22°C insulation with a longer burner outlet. The results in
when the grid number increases to 2888541cells. The this section include the influence of the cone length, the
results referring to the simulated temperature distribu- amount of air suction, and the behavior of the streamline
tion obtained from model No.4 are illustrated in Fig. 6. (without combustion). This is the scope of this research.
It illustrates the 3D model mesh chosen for simulation The second purpose is to find the temperature dis-
of the combustion chamber. tribution at the outlet (with combustion) in two different
The computational mesh represents the geometry cases, when the burner is installed against the direction
of the region of interest. Therefore, the burners mesh is of the main flow (Upstream), and when the burner is
extremely fine with a maximum element size of 0.003. installed in the direction of the main flow (Downstream).
It is used to study the direction of the streamline, the The effect of the three different burner designs on
quantity of the air sucked and the maximum velocity for the velocity distribution and on the direction of the

Fig. 8. Contours of velocity distribution at z = 0.978 m in

Fig. 7. 3D modelling of the roller kiln and burner. longitudinal direction.

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 Journal of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy, 52, 1, 2017

Fig. 9. (a) burner; (b) velocity distribution inside the burner system at different levels.

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 Adnan Ghareeb Tuaamah Al-Hasnawi, Eckehard Specht
streamline is demonstrated in Figs. 8 and 9.
Fig. 8 illustrates the contours of the velocity distribu-
tion inside the roller kiln on the ground of the different
models. Fig. 8 (i) shows the first design burner installed
with orifice of suction air exposed along the stream of
the main flow, so that air is sucked directly from the
surrounding. Fig. 8 (ii) and (iii) show the air is sucked
by bore hole in the roof insulation.
The outlet of the burner is supplied with a guide at
an angle of 28.3o to control the direction of the stream.
This is applied to the other models too. The velocity of
the main flow is 2 m/s, and air is injected into the burner
with velocity of 12 m/s.
Fig. 8 shows that the velocity distribution is similar
in all models. Furthermore, the streamline is exposed
directly on the tiles in the first and second models, while
in the third model (iii) the streamline is not tangential to
the product. A steam guide is used in all models.
The velocity distribution at different levels within
the burner is shown in Fig. 9. Fig. 9a shows the posi-
tion of the selected points along the burner. Fig. 9b (i)
shows that the velocity distribution changes completely
Fig. 10. Influence of the burner direction on temperature contours (a) downstream flow; (b) upstream flow.
and increases in the suction region (between 0.9 m and
0.872 m). The same behavior is observed in the other
designs as shown in Fig. 9b (i) and (ii). It is seen that the
maximum velocity is about 90 m/s at the cone outlet, and
it is decreased to 20 m /s at the burner outlet. The value
of air sucked is about 13 m3/h, 15 m3/h and 12 m3/h,
respectively. Furthermore, the cone length is studied. It
is found that when its length is increased twice, the air
sucked increases with about 40 %.
The shape of the premixed flame referring to two
cases (the burner fires in the same direction and against
the direction the main flow) is presented in Fig. 10. The
temperature of the main flow and of the mixture (from
the burner) is 1000°C and 600°C, respectively, while the
velocity is 2 m/s and 12 m/s, correspondingly.
Fig. 10a illustrates the buoyancy effect of the burner
fired in the direction of the main flow (downstream flow).
On the other hand, it is worth noting that the temperature
around the burner as shown in figure 10b (upstream flow)
has better distribution.
Fig. 11 shows the temperature distribution at the
outlet of the kiln in two different cases, upstream and
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 Journal of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy, 52, 1, 2017
Fig. 11. Temperature distribution at outlet of the kiln as a function of burner.
downstream of the main flow. The width of the tempera-
ture distribution is not very different, always between
1000°C and 1163°C, but there is a very small increase
in upstream case. Moreover, it can be observed that the
peak of temperature distribution in the downstream case
increases about 14 % when compared to the upstream
one. This is due to the impact of the main flow on the
temperature distribution in the domain.
CONCLUSIONS
3D simulations are carried out to a part of a continu-
ous kiln by using ANSYS-14 aiming to study a special
injector nozzle introduction. The standard k-e turbulence
model is used in this study. The mixing and the stream-
line in the kiln are visualized by temperature contours
in the cross section of the kiln. The post-process is used
to show the effect of the parameters considered on the
mixing and the streamline of the burner. Based on CFD
results the following conclusions are drawn:
l The maximum velocity at the outlet of the cone
in case of a roller kiln is about 90 m/s.
l Theupstream model provides better temperature
distribution in the cross-section area than the down-
stream one in case of a roller hearth kiln.
Burner with longer outlet protects the product from
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direct exposure to the flame in case of a roller hearth kiln.
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