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Guidelines for low emission stove concepts

Prof. Jorma Jokiniemi
University Of Eastern Finland, Fine Particle and Aerosol
Technology Laboratory
&
Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT), Fine&Nano Particles
International Workshop
Technologies for clean biomass combustion
September 20
th
2012
Graz, Austria
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Introduction
This document is based on
scientific investigations and test
runs
Improvement of wood stoves
application of air staging
primary measures for OGC, PM
1
and CO emission reduction
Support for stove manufacturers
Optimization of their products
Development
Design
Guidelines for low emission stove concepts / Jorma Jokiniemi
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Target group
Primarily for stove manufacturers for development of low-emission
appliances
Researchers
Stove users
Policy makers
Limitations
Appliances that have a closed fire box
Typical stove models
Stoves using the updraft combustion principle
NOT applicable to
Heat storing appliances, Sauna stoves, Cooking stoves
Stoves with water jacket
Stoves which apply the downdraft principle
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Basic definitions
Schematic picture of a chimney
stove
Main combustion chamber
Fuel gasifies and the majority of
the combustion reactions take
place
Fuel zone and secondary
combustion zone
Post combustion chamber
Combustion gases and particles
burn out
Secondary combustion
Combustion of the gasification
products and intermediate
products
PM
1
:
Particulate matter below 1 m
TSP
Total suspended particulates
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Parameters affecting the emissions
Particle emissions
Fine particles (particles <1 m )
Soot
Formed in the flame when oxidation of the combustion gases is not
complete
Fine fly ash
Formed by vaporization and nucleation/condensation of inorganic
vapours released during combustion
Organic matter
Formed in incomplete oxidation of combustion gases
Condenses onto particles
Coarse particles (particles >1 m )
Unburned fuel particles and ash particles from the fuel bed
Coarse particle emissions affected by the air flow through the grate
and lenght and shape of the ducts
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Parameters affecting the emissions
Gaseous emissions
The most important gaseous pollutants are OGC, CO and NO
X
OGC = organic gaseous carbon compounds
OGC is released from the fuel during combustion
Affected by the completeness of the combustion
CO = carbon monoxide
Intermediate product from the oxidation of carbonaceous material
Efficiency of combustion affects also CO emissions
More difficult to control during the burn out phase (after flame
extinction)
NO
X
= nitrogen oxides
Emissions from wood combustion are fuel derived
Amount of NO
X
is determined by the nitrogen content in the fuel
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General requirements for low emission chimney
stoves
Adequate amount of combustion air
Especially secondary air
Sufficient draft
Temperature
Oxidization of combustion byproducts
Temperature is affected by:
Refractory lining in the combustion chamber
The shape and size of the combustion chamber
Window material & size
Location of air nozzles
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General requirements for low emission chimney
stoves
Mixing
Is needed to achieve complete combustion
Mixing is affected by
The direction and geometry of the air nozzles
The velocities of the flue gas and combustion air
The distribution of different air flows, such as secondary air and
window purge air (air staging)
The geometry of the fire box
The use of baffles in the secondary combustion chamber
Leakage air should be avoided by using appropriate materials for
the door and sealing
Short-circuiting of the flue gases should be avoided
No gaps between the plate separating the main combustion
chamber from the post combustion chamber
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Geometric design concept
The stove should consist at least of a main combustion
chamber and a post combustion chamber
Insulation materials should be used in the main combustion
chamber to keep temperatures high
For example refractory bricks with heat resistant wool and
a small air volume between isolation and the outer stove
casting
Window in moderate size
Glass qualities with with low radiation coefficient
Double glazed windows (with an air gap)
Combustion chamber should be hot enough but the fuel bed
should be kept at moderate temperatures
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Geometric design concept
The flue gas should have enough time to efficiently cool down
downstream of the combustion chamber
Sufficient heat exchanging surfaces to maximize the efficiency
Should be associated with mainly post combustion chamber
The heat exchange can be improved by introducing forced ventilation
A grate should be used
Simple deashing
However, air flow through the grate should be able to be shut down
completely
Only kept open during the first ingition phase and during the last
batch after flame extiction
Combustion of coal briquettes is possible if the stove is equipped
with a grate
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Geometric design concept
Firebox geometry:
High and slim combustion chamber is usually preferable
(compared to wide and low)
This shape improves flame dispersion
Leads to more homogeneous residence pattern for the produced
pyrolysis gases in the hot zones
Less danger of short circuit flows to the exhaust pipe
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Air supply and staging
Different air flows are introduced
Facilitate optimized fuel decomposition
Char burnout
Almost complete gas phase burnout
An effective way of reducing the emissions in a chimney stove
Combustion air can be supplied as primary, secondary and window
purge air
Primary air: supplied directly to the fuel bed either from below the grate or at
the bottom of the combustion chamber (if there is no grate)
Secondary air: supplied to the secondary combustion zone
Where burn out of the combustion gases take place
Window purge air:
Mainly creates a flush air for the window
Can take part in secondary combustion
Can also add to the promary air
It is recommended to introduce only at the top of the door so that it flows downwards along
the window
Guidelines for low emission stove concepts / Jorma Jokiniemi
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Air supply and staging
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Primary air
Secondary air
Window purge air
Main combustion chamber
Post combustion chamber
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Air supply and staging
Minimum requirements
Primary air and window purge air
Should be separately controllable
Manual control should be achived by single control (to avoid false
operation)
Injection of secondary air is strongly recommended
Other points of air staging design
Secondary air should be preheated
Primary air should not be preheated
Even distribution of window purge air
Pressure drop should be kept low due to limited draught
Secondary air nozzles should be at the correct place
With too low nozzles, secondary can act in primary combustion
If they are too high, no optimized mixing of air and flue gases is achieved
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Automatic combustion control
Reduces user influence on the combustion process
Efficient measure for low emissions combustion and
improved combustion efficiency
The simplest way is to employ a thermo-mechanical operated
primary air flap
Electronic sensor driven automatic control by monitoring:
Temperature (for example in the secondary combustion zone)
Oxygen concentration
Incompletely burned compounds
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Automatic combustion control
Examples of automatic control concepts:
Different combustion phases can be indentified by temperature
changes
T-sencors are the cheapest sensors available for this purpose
furnace temperature based control
The combustion air can be easily controlled by dampers
temperature controlled combustion air supply
As soon as temperature exceeds a certain level, the primary air
damper reduces the air supply to avoid excessive burning rates
At the same time secondary air is increased to keep adequate
combustion air
Shorter ignition phase can be achieved
Higher furnace temperatures
Lower gaseous and particulate emissions within a shorter time
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Automatic combustion control: examples
Control strategy: as soon as the furnace temperature drops below a certain value,
the amount of window purge air should be reduced to keep the temperature at a
reasonably high and nearly constant value over the batch
In the burnout phase the air supply should be adjusted
excess oxygen is kept low and too much cooling of the combustion chamber is prevented
With combustion air flow control during the main combustion and burnout phase a
more stable O
2
concentrations in the flue gas can be achieved
Generally lower O
2
levels as well as sufficiently high temperatures can be achieved
Control of secondary air injection:
When high combustion temperatures are reached at the end of the ignition phase,
secondary air should be supplied to improve mixing of the combustion air and flue
gases released from the logs to improve burnout
Control strategy: the ratio of window purge air and secondary air is recommended
to be fixed
During charcoal burnout the secondary air should be closed again and only primary
air should be injected in order to expedite char burnout
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CFD-aided design of wood stoves
Iso-surfaces of CO concentrations [ppmv w.b.] in the flue gas in the vertical symmetry plane
of a stove
Modifications: closure of opening in the redirection baffle; additional tertiary air nozzles;
larger transition to the chimney and insulation of the post-combustion chamber
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Basic geometry
(
tot
= 2.3)
Optimised geometry
(
tot
= 2.0)
window
entrance of
flushing air
flue gas
exit
combustion
chamber
post-combustion
chamber
tertiary air
nozzles
wood logs
redirection
baffle
transition
5000
4750
4500
4250
4000
3750
3500
3250
3000
2750
2500
2250
2000
1750
1500
1250
1000
750
500
250
0
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CFD-aided design of wood stoves
CFD model developed by BIOS BIOENERGIESYSTEME, Graz
University of Technology and BIOENERGY 2020+
Empirical fixed-bed model
Can be applied to wood log combustion
CFD model inplemented in ANSYS/Fluent
Adapted and validated for turbulent reactive flowe in
combustion plants
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CFD-aided design of wood stoves
Because unsteady state simulation of the whole batch is impossible,
virtual steady-state operating conditions have been defined
An energy balance around the stove as a function of time has been
performed based on test run data
To reduce possible falsifications by the heat storage
Two virtual steady-state operating cases with a heat storage of the
stove can be estimated
Gas phase simulation
Realized k- Model for turbulence
Discrete Ordinates Model fro radiation
Eddy Dissipation Model in combination of with a Methane 3-step
mechanism (CH
4
, CO, H
2
, CO
2
, H
2
O, O
2
)
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With CFD model for stoves, relevant processes can be analyzed
The flow of combustion air
The flue gas in stove
The flow of the convective air in the double air jacket of the stove
Gas phase combustion in the stove
Heat transfer between gas phase and stove material
Several factors can be simulated
Combustion air, convective air and flue gas:
Velocities & temperatures
Path lines
Concentrations of gases
Material and surfacetemperatures
Heat transfer
Efficiency
Pressure losses
Guidelines for low emission stove concepts / Jorma Jokiniemi
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CFD-aided design of wood stoves
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CFD-aided design of wood stoves
The CFD-aided development and optimization
Can lead to reduced stove emissions (CO and PM)
Better utilizations of the stove volume
Enhanced efficiency
Reduced development times
Less tests
Better security in plant development
Guidelines for low emission stove concepts / Jorma Jokiniemi
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CFD-aided design of wood stoves: example
CO concentrations before
and after optimization
Before
High emissions
Bypass flow
Post combustion
chamber not insulated
Optimized
Closure of bypass flow
Insulation of the post
combustion chamber
Higher T in the post
combustion chamber
Better CO burnout
Larger heating surface &
better efficiency
Guidelines for low emission stove concepts / Jorma Jokiniemi
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Basic geometry
(
tot
= 2.3)
Optimised geometry
(
tot
= 2.0)
window
entrance of
flushing air
flue gas
exit
combustion
chamber
post-combustion
chamber
tertiary air
nozzles
wood logs
redirection
baffle
transition
5000
4750
4500
4250
4000
3750
3500
3250
3000
2750
2500
2250
2000
1750
1500
1250
1000
750
500
250
0
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Further optimization
Additional tertiary air
nozzles
Optimization leads to
Better burnout
Reduced excess air
Better efficiency
Guidelines for low emission stove concepts / Jorma Jokiniemi
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CFD-aided design of wood stoves: example
Basic geometry
(
tot
= 2.3)
Optimised geometry
(
tot
= 2.0)
window
entrance of
flushing air
flue gas
exit
combustion
chamber
post-combustion
chamber
tertiary air
nozzles
wood logs
redirection
baffle
transition
5000
4750
4500
4250
4000
3750
3500
3250
3000
2750
2500
2250
2000
1750
1500
1250
1000
750
500
250
0
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Guidelines for low emission stove concepts will be
available online!
www.bioenergy2020.eu
Thank you for your attention!
Guidelines for low emission stove concepts / Jorma Jokiniemi
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