Fuel effects on lean blowout and emissions from a well-stirred reactor

The design and development of low-emission, lean premixed aero- and industr ial gas-turbine combustors is challenging because of a need to satisfy conf licting requirements of operability, combustion performance, and low emissi ons. A toroidal well-stirred reactor (WSR) is a laboratory idealization of a compact primary zone of a gas-turbine combustor. Such a WSR was designed, built, and operated at atmospheric pressure to study lean blowout and emis sions of CO, unburned hydrocarbons, and NOx over a range of residence time and fuel-air ratios. A variety of normal and cyclic alkanes, aromatics, and a blend of pure hydrocarbon fuels were tested. Results showed that fuel ty pe affects lean blowout limits, combustion efficiency, and pollutant emissi ons. These observations have important practical implications to the design of gas-turbine combustors.