A study of furan as a model oxygenated reburn fuel for nitric oxide reduction

Reduction of NO with furan under pyrolytic and oxidative conditions is inve stigated. Experiments in a single pulse shock tube are performed under the conditions covering the temperature range of 1210-1950 K, pressures from 12 .4 to 15.3 atm, residence times of 570-1140 Cls, initial NO concentrations of 300-380 ppm, and initial furan concentration of 1.44 mol % for the pyrol ysis series and 0.36 mol % for the two oxidation series with equivalence ra tio, phi, of 5.0 and 2.4. Furan removed NO at progressively lower temperatu re as the equivalence ratio decreased. The maximum NO reduction achieved in the temperature range of this study is 50% for pyrolysis and 80% for the o xidation series. The only N-containing products observed are Na and low yie lds of HCN. A kinetic reaction model which reproduces the experimental data substantially is presented and this is used to compare the efficiency of N O reduction by furan and other hydrocarbons under shock tube and stirred fl ow reactor conditions. The efficiency of NO removal by furan is comparable to that by propene. Acetylene is more effective than either fuel. Low-tempe rature conversion of NO by C2H2, however, is predicted to lead to the forma tion of NO2. The ability of furan, a major product of thermal decomposition of biomass, to reduce NO in the absence of O-2 suggests that biomass may b e an efficient,and inexpensive alternative to other reburning fuels.