Development of a LPP CGR Combustion System with Ultra-Low

Emissions for a SOLO161 Stirling Engine Based Micro-CHP Unit

Magnus Pålsson
Dep’t of Heat & Power Engineering, Lund University
P.O. Box 118, S-221 00 Lund, Sweden
Magnus.Palsson@vok.lth.se
http://burn.at/stirling

Abstract
During the last decade extensive research has been made at Lund University, Sweden, on a lean
premix (prevaporize) combustion concept with burnt gas recirculation and a metallic flame holder.
From this concept a new lean premixed natural gas combustion chamber with internal combustion gas
recirculation (CGR) has been developed for the V160/SOLO 161 Stirling engines. This combustor has
ultra-low emission levels, comparable to those of catalytic combustion. At the start of the current
project the combustor was ready to be adapted for production, with expected market introduction in
2001.
The Lund combustion chamber was modified to investigate the impact of air-fuel ratio and combustion
gas recirculation rate on emissions and controllability of the combustion system, and on pressure
losses in the combustion chamber. Different start-up strategies as well as different fuel-gas control
valves were tried in order to find well-working control routines/parameters. The combustion chamber
was redesigned using the gained knowledge, making it easy to manufacture while giving it maximum
life expectancy and durability. The SOLO 161 Stirling engine’s control system was adapted to the new
combustion system. Emissions of the final combustion system were measured and found to be close to
the design goal values. Combustor function and reliability has proved to be very good.

Introduction
To find a place for Stirling engines on today’s market for heat and power generation, it will be
necessary to have combustion systems that produce the least amount possible of harmful emissions.
The fact that modern gasoline engines produce less than 25 ppm (after the catalytic converter) of both
nitrogen oxides (NOx) and hydrocarbon emissions (HC), only stresses the importance of Stirling
combustor design. Also, the use of well-designed combustion chambers with low emissions will
increase overall system performance. High emission levels means poor combustion efficiency, and
combustion gas flow patterns in the combustion chamber have a considerable impact on heater
performance.

A combustor for a Stirling engine is characterised by the preheating of the inlet air to high
temperatures, typically 500-600ºC, which is needed for reasons of efficiency. This makes the Stirling
combustor quite different from most other combustors. Its closest relatives can be said to be the gas
turbine combustors, which due to the air compression and in some cases recuperators are also working
with hot inlet air. The formation of nitrogen oxides (NOx) is highly temperature dependent (figure 1).
With inlet air that is preheated to high temperatures, measures have to be taken to avoid high flame
temperatures with accompanying high NOx emission levels. The following strategies have been used
in trying to get low NOx combustion:

Rich burn – Quick quench – Lean burn

Lean premixed burn
Recirculation of burnt gases (EGR, CGR)
Catalytic combustion
Using a three-way catalyst
 Figure 1 - Temperature influence on NO formation rate [Ref 1].

Rich burn – Quick quench – Lean burn means that first the fuel is burned in a rich mixture, then the
combustion is quenched, heat is removed from the partly burnt mixture, extra air is added and then the
combustion is continued in a lean mixture. This method has been tried in Stirling combustors by
United Stirling, but results were not satisfactory and there was a problem with soot formation. Tests in
gas turbines have given a 50% NOx reduction compared to traditional diffusion combustors.

Lean premixed burn means that the combustion is taking place in a mixture with excess air compared
to what is consumed by the combustion. The excess air acts as a bulk gas absorbing heat from the
flame during the combustion. The drawback is that the extra air has to pass through the preheater,
lowering preheater efficiency (or demanding a bigger preheater). Also, the excess air increases oxygen
concentrations in the combustion chamber, affecting the oxidizing rate of nitrogen. Premixed
combustion demands some sort of flame stabilizing device (e.g. a swirler or flame holder), or the
flame will propagate backwards against the fuel outlet, where the flame will turn into a diffusion
flame. The use of excess air will increase combustor pressure losses.

Recirculation of burnt gases works the same way as does lean premixed burn, but in this case it is the
recirculated burnt gases that act as bulk flow. As the burnt gases are mostly inert, this means that the
recirculation will decrease oxygen concentrations inside the combustion chamber. There are two main
methods of recirculation, EGR and CGR.
EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) means that exhaust gases (cooled in the preheater) are
recirculated.
CGR (Combustion Gas Recirculation) means that hot combustion gases are recirculated from
after the heater, inside the combustor.
The use of EGR will decrease preheater efficiency, and both EGR and CGR will in varying degrees
increase combustor pressure losses.

Catalytic combustion means that the combustion takes place in a catalytically active surface, where
the oxygen and fuel molecules are bound to the surface, split, and recombined to form combustion
products by the catalytically active material (e.g. platinum, palladium, rhodium) in the surface. The
released heat then has to be removed from the material by convection, conduction and/or radiation.
Catalytic combustion is developed in gas turbine combustors. Promising tests with catalytic
combustion on the surface of Stirling heaters have been made at Lund University [Refs 2, 3].

Using a three-way catalyst means reducing the emissions only after they are already formed. For NOx
reduction to be possible the combustion has to be fuel-rich or stoichiometric. For oxidization of CO
and HC to be possible the combustion has to be stoichiometric or lean. E.g., for the catalyst to be
effective in lowering all three target emission levels, the combustor has to be run at stoichiometric
conditions. Also the catalyst has to reach light-off temperature to work, typically 400-500ºC, which
means that it cannot be used at the exhaust pipe of a Stirling engine because of its low exhaust
temperature. However, a catalyst can be mounted inside the Stirling combustor downstream of the
Stirling heater, where the combustion gas has a temperature of 700-900ºC.

Laboratory tests at Lund University

Initial tests along different development lines were made on the Lund University United Stirling
V160F laboratory engine, onto which an experimental combustion chamber was fitted (figure 2). The
design of the combustion chamber makes it possible to replace different parts inside it. The combustor
chamber is at one end equipped with a big quartz glass window, allowing optical access to the flame
and flame holder. Using the knowledge gained in these tests, a prototype combustion chamber was
designed by Intersol and mounted on a SOLO 161 Stirling engine unit supplied by SOLO
Kleinmotoren. The unit was installed in the Lund University engine laboratory, and was equipped with
a solar application control system to made it possible to run the engine independent of what combustor
control system was used. Subsequent tests were carried out on the SOLO 161 engine, and the SOLO
engine control system was adapted to the new combustion system.
cooled
combustion gases stirling
preheater engine
exhaust gases heater
flame
CGR holder
flow guide
inlet pre- body
air heated mixing tube
fuel

air QUARTZ
GLASS
hot combustion WINDOW
gases HERE ON
LAB BURNER

Figure 2 – Schematic view of the V160/SOLO 161 combustor (radial flame holder, 4 air nozzles)

Flat axial
flame holder

fuel

Figure 3 – Schematic view of the lab combustor with single air nozzle and flat axial flame holder fitted

Tests with single air nozzle and concentric gas nozzle

The four-nozzle arrangement (shown in figures 2 and 6, right) used in [Ref . 1] had been replaced with
the single air nozzle shown in figures 3 and 6, left. The single nozzle had an outer concentric gas
nozzle, the idea being that injecting the fuel in the shear layer between high-speed air from the nozzle
and the recirculation suction flow would improve mixing and lower emissions. However, no support
for this theory could be found in the tests. On the contrary, ejector efficiency dropped and emission
levels increased. Probably this is because the single nozzle needs a longer mixing tube than the four
nozzles to reach the same ejector efficiency. Theoretically, splitting a nozzle into four smaller ones
retaining the total cross section area will half the required mixing tube length.
Figure 4 – Flame holder variations Left: Flat axial flame holder
Right: Cylindrical radial flame holder.

Tests with flat axial flame and single air nozzle with concentric gas nozzle
The combustor was fitted with a flat axial flame holder (Figure 3, 4 left). The engine was run with this
configuration in a series of tests. The design of the tests was to see how combustion chamber volume
affects emissions, especially CO. No conclusive results were found. The combustor was easily started
with the flat flame holder and worked fine at low and medium power, but had an unstable laminar
flame at higher load so the design was abandoned. During all tests with the flat flame holder the single
nozzle described in the last paragraph was used. Test results are shown in Figure 5.

HC emissions [ppm CH4] NOx emissions [ppm]

1.6 File 990902−2
25 File 990902−2

1.5 20

1.4 15

1.3 10

1.2 5
1.6 1.7 λ 1.8 1.9 1.6 1.7 λ 1.8 1.9

CO emissions [ppm] Thermal Power [kW]

200 File 990902−2
19 File 990902−2

150 18.5

100 18
1.6 1.7 λ 1.8 1.9 1.6 1.7 λ 1.8 1.9

Figure 5 – Results of test with the flat axial flame holder and single air nozzle

Tests with cylindrical radial flame holder, four air nozzles and varied recirculation rates
The four-nozzle arrangement is shown in figure 6, right. By connecting the exhaust pipe via an
adjustable valve to the air inlet it was possible to add EGR to the internal CGR (figure 7). The EGR
rate (and thus the combined EGR/CGR rate) could be varied by adjusting the EGR valve. This will
affect combustion chamber temperatures somewhat, compared with CGR-only combustion.
Figure 6 – Nozzle configurations. Left: Single air nozzle with outer concentric gas nozzle
Right: Four air nozzles prepared for a central gas nozzle.

The burner was tested at varying lambda while keeping the combined EGR/CGR rate as constant as
possible. In the case of no added EGR (Figure 11, CGR=55%) the combustor’s innate CGR rate curve
is followed. The test was repeated for different combined EGR/CGR rates (Figure 8). The burner was
run at a power of 18 kWth, which corresponds to about 60% of full load. See also tests with varied
EGR/CGR-rate for the single air nozzle and flat flame holder, reported in [Ref. 4].

Figure 7 - Schematic view of arrangement for adding variable EGR flow to the CGR flow

Tests with four air nozzles and varied nozzle area

Three different sets of four air nozzles were tried in the combustor’s ejector. The individual nozzles
had diameters φ0, φ1, and φ2, where φ1=1.18*φ0 and φ2=1.35*φ0. Emissions, temperatures, pressure
losses and brake power were measured, and results are shown in Figure 9. For each set of nozzles two
curves for pressure loss are plotted; the top curves represent total air pressure loss, while the bottom
curves show pressure drop over air nozzles, flow guide body (see Figure 2 for reference) and flame
holder. Please note that engine efficiency values shown in Figure 9, lower right, are for guidance only,
as the combustion chamber was equipped with a big un-insulated window with large radiative and
convective heat losses. Furthermore, the combustion chamber was not properly insulated in these tests,
and auxiliary power consumption is not included in the calculations.

Shortening of the mixing tube

To make the combustion chamber fit into the engine’s cover box, the combustion chamber length had
to be shortened. Earlier measurements [Ref. 5] have shown that a shorter mixing tube will result in
lower ejector efficiency (i.e. lower CGR rate), but the impact on emissions is not obvious. It was
decided to shorten the mixing tube from a length of 6.5 diameters to a length of less than 4 diameters.
 40 30 400
CGR=55%
25 CGR=60%
30 300 CGR=70%
20

NO [ppm]

CH4 [ppm]

CO [ppm]
20 15 200
x
10
10 100
5

0 0 0
1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8
λ λ λ

1700 75 665
Adiabatic flame temp [°C]

CGR=55%
CGR=60%
70

Mixtube temp [°C]

CGR=70%
CGR rate [%]
1650 660
65

60
1600 655
55

1550 50 650
1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8
λ λ λ

Figure 8 – Emissions 991005, radial flame holder, 4 air nozzles, diameter Φ0 , varied EGR/CGR rate
60 % load (18 kW). 1 marker represents 1000 samples

15 10 200
Φ =Φ
8 nozzle 0
Φnozzle= Φ1
NO [ppm]

CH [ppm]

CO [ppm]

10 150
6 Φnozzle= Φ2
x

4
5 100
2
0 0 50
1.6 1.8 2 1.6 1.8 2 1.6 1.8 2
λ λ λ
Adiabatic flame temp [°C]

1900 50 650
Mixtube temp [°C]
CGR rate [%]

1850
40 640
1800
30 630
1750

1700 20 620
1.6 1.8 2 1.6 1.8 2 1.6 1.8 2
λ λ λ
Pressure drop [mmH2O]

29 1000 30
Thermal Power [kW]

High values=total, low=ejector only

800 29 CGR=55%
Efficiency [%]

28 28 CGR=60%
600 CGR=70%
27
400
27 26
200 25
26 0 24
1.6 1.8 2 1.6 1.8 2 1.6 1.8 2
λ λ λ

Figure 9 – Emissions for radial flame holder, comparison between 4 air nozzles diameter φ0, φ1, φ2;
V160 lab engine at 12Mpa cycle pressure and 1500rpm. 1 marker represents 1000 samples
Lowering of combustion chamber pressure drop
Lowering combustor pressure losses is important for two reasons; first, low pressure drop will
minimize air blower demands and thus auxiliary power consumption. Secondly, it is necessary to have
a pressure inside the mixing tube that is lower than the gas supply pressure or no fuel can be fed to the
combustion chamber. Furthermore, the mixing tube pressure should be low enough to allow a
sufficient pressure difference over the gas-flow regulating device to allow reasonably accurate control
of the gas flow. The main part of the combustor pressure drop is in two components; in the air
preheater and in the air nozzles. The pressure drop in the preheater is hard to reduce, and can be
regarded as “useful” pressure drop. Also the pressure drop in the air nozzle(s) can be regarded as
useful as it drives the recirculation flow and mixing of the unburnt mixture, but as can be concluded
from Figure 9 it is possible to lower the nozzle pressure drop (i.e. increasing nozzle diameter)
considerably and still have a high enough recirculation rate to get acceptable emissions. On the other
hand, lowering the recirculation rate will mean that we have to increase λ (read: air flow) to keep
below a certain emission level, which in turn will lead to higher pressure losses in preheater and
nozzles. As often is the case, we end up in a trade-off between different goals – it is all about finding
the right balance.

Adaptation to 100 mbar natural gas supply pressure

The Lund engine laboratory is equipped with a 3.6 bar (absolute) natural gas grid used for running the
engines. At the location chosen for the field test of the engine, grid pressure is only 100 mbar, as is it
for many end users. Therefore it was necessary to adapt the lab burner to this lower gas pressure, in
order to analyse the impact on combustor performance. A larger gas nozzle had to be fitted, along with
a 100 mbar pressure regulator on the gas supply line. At start the lab’s integrated proportional gas
valve and precision mass flow meter, mounted on the high-pressure side of the pressure regulator, was
used for combustion power control. Later its valve function was overtaken by low-pressure gas flow
regulators (see Tests with different gas flow regulating devices below). However, the mass flow
metering function was retained during all tests, with the integrated valve in the fully opened position.
Tests showed that the combustor, after adaptation, could be run with a supply gas pressure of less than
100 mbar.

Tests with different gas flow regulating devices

Different gas regulator valves were tried. Extensive tests with an electromagnetic proportional valve
were made. The tests showed that the valve had too poor control characteristics. The hysteresis was far
from negligible, and both precision and accuracy were bad. If an oscillating control signal to the valve
was used, valve performance was improved, but not enough to make it satisfactory.

Design of the new combustion chamber

All information gained in current and earlier lab tests was applied in the designing of the new SOLO
161 combustion chamber. The main design is retained from the lab combustion chamber, but
redesigning was made to get a light but rugged construction. Special care was put into making the
combustor ready for cheap mass production. Apart from the air preheater all parts are easily
manufactured from sheet metal. The use of expensive materials has been minimized. The design
allows multiple dismantling of the combustor, to make replacements of all parts possible, an important
feature for a prototype combustor. The innards of the combustor are shown in (Figure 10).

Redesign of flame holder and its supports

During the tests with the new SOLO 161 combustion chamber, the flame holder broke due to thermal
or mechanical stresses and fell off the mixing tube end. (But, amazingly, the combustor still worked!).
Both the flame holder and the combustion chamber’s internal support for the flame holder were
redesigned, and there has been no further problem with the combustion chamber after that.
Figure 10 – Combustor intestines Left: Flame holder and flame shield attached to mixtube
Middle: CGR backplate w nozzles attached to mixtube inlet
Right: Air preheater fitted outside CGR backplate.

Control system
Combustion control gets more and more important as demands on emission reductions gets tougher
and tougher. To reach near-zero emission levels over a wide operating range, sophisticated combustion
parameter control is needed. The fact that the Stirling engine combustor is very complicated, with high
air preheat temperature and a need of a wide power range does in no way lessen the demands on the
combustion control system. Strict mission control may lead to the need for varying air-fuel ratio (λ)
over the power range, as the minimum emissions λ is generally not the same at low load as it is at high
load. It also means that there must be some way to estimate λ in real-time. Work on real-time λ
estimation using neural networks has been made at Lund and Halmstad Universities [Ref.s 7, 8].
An added control problem with the Stirling combustion chamber is its relatively high pressure losses
because of the air preheating. The pressure loss is even higher when lean burn, EGR or CGR is used.
The problem is that the air density is decreasing with increasing temperature, while the pressure loss is
increasing with decreasing air density. At combustor operating temperature the pressure drop is more
than doubled compared with the same massflow at cold conditions. This means that the air-blower
characteristics affect start-up λ control.
One way to control combustion λ dynamically is to us a lean lambda probe for real-time λ estimation.
On the SOLO 161 combustor another (though not as exact) solution was chosen. For normal operation
(hot engine) a Kromschröder air/gas ratio control is used. The air/gas ratio controller works by
regulating inlet gas pressure so that it is the same as the air inlet pressure, measured at some suitable
location. (c.f. Figure 11, NG pressure regulator). Then the air-fuel ratio is determined by an adjustable
needle valve on the fuel line. No real-time air-fuel adjustment is done. During combustor start an on-
off choke gas valve (c.f. Figure 11, Choke valve) in series with a restricting orifice on a parallel fuel
line, bypassing the Kromschröder control, is used for cold start gas flow control.
At combustion start the air blower is run at a calculated rpm, and the orifice-controlled gasflow is used
for gas supply. When the combustor is hot enough for the Kromschröder control to start working, the
air flow is increased an the fuel line feeding the Kromschröder control is opened. When the combustor
temperature is close to operating temperature the choke valve is closed, and now the gas flow will be
determined, via the Kromschröder control, by the air flow. The start sequence is shown in Figure 12.
 E le c tr o n ic c o n tro l u n it

P rim a ry S e c o nd a r y
C ho k e va lve M a in s w itc h
m a in N G m a in N G A ir b lo w e r S p a rk p lug
NG g e ne ra to r
va lve va lve

380 V
50 H z

N G p re s s ure C o m b us tio n
re g u la to r c ha m b e r
E le c tr(o n)ic
A ir
NG

Figure 11 – Schematic drawing of gas valves and control arrangement

S TA RT
E N G IN E !

RU N B LO W E R
A T M A X RP M
T H E > T S TA RT, L O W ? NO

W A IT YES
T IM E t 0
OP E N S E C OND A R Y
M A IN G A S V A L V E

RU N B LO W E R
T H E > T CO L D S TA R T ? A T M E D IU M
NO
RP M

YES

NO
T H E > T HO T S TA R T ? NO T H E > T S TA RT, H IG H ?

YES
YES

RU N B LO W E R TU R N O N
RU N B LO W E R
A T M E D IU M G E N E R A TO R
A T L OW RP M
RP M

TU R N O N
NO
IG N IT IO N T H E > T CH O K E O F F ?

YES
O P E N P R IM A R Y
M A IN G A S V A L V E
C LOS E C HOK E
GAS VALVE

OP E N C HOK E
GAS VALVE

NO
T H E > = T CO NT RO L ?

W A IT
T IM E
t IG N YES

TU R N O F F
IG N IT IO N E N G IN E IS N O W H O T A N D R U N N IN G O K !

R U N IN TE M P E R A T U R E C O N TR O L M O D E

(M A IN C O N T R O L L O O P - N O R M A L O P E R A T IO N )
IS TH E R E A NO
FLA ME ?

YES

Figure 12 – Generalised engine start sequence

Operation of the new combustor mounted on the SOLO 161 engine.
When the new combustor and control system mounted on the SOLO 161 engine, a suitable start-up
sequence had to be determined (see above). The operation of engine and combustor hardware and
software guards was checked. The engine combustor control was constantly adapted as the running
experience increased. The combustor was mapped for emissions at different powers and air-fuel ratios
(some data shown in figure 13). A suitable air-fuel ratio was chosen for engine operation at full load,
and the gas-supply system adjusted accordingly. The only problem with the combustion chamber so
far is the flame holder breakdown described above, plus that the choke gas line restriction had to be
changed from an adjustable valve to a milled orifice as the valve did not give correct flow when warm.
Running time of the engine is at the time of writing approximately 1300 hours, of which 1200 were
run on location in Göteborg. During these 1200 hours the engine delivered approximately 6000 kWh .
50 200

C3H8 [ppm] 180 Pth=27.5kW

45 P =20.0kW
th
40 160

35 140 C3H8 [ppm]

30 120

25 100

20 80 CO/10 [ppm]
CO/10 [ppm]
15 60

10 40

5 NO [ppm] 20 NOx [ppm]

x

0 0
1.4 1.45 1.5 1.55 1.6 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
λ λ
Figure 13 – Emissions for the new SOLO 161 combustor when in Lund. Note the emissions at λ≤1!

Project partners
Project partners are: Intersol*, Sydkraft AB/Sydgas*, Lund University, (Div. of Combustion
Engines)*, Göteborg Energi*, Swedish Gas Center*, Vattenfall Naturgas, Helsingborg Energi, Lunds
Energi, Stockholm Energi Gas, STEM - Swedish National Energy Administration (Sweden), SOLO
Kleinmotoren* (Germany), Danish Gas Technology Center (Denmark), and EnergieNed (The
Netherlands), where * denotes active partners.

References
1. Nilsson, Johan, “A study on a Low Emission Combustor - Lean Premix Prevaporize Concept”,
ISRN LUTMDN/TMVK--7014-SE. Lund Institute of Technology, Lund, Sweden, 1992.
2. G. Lundholm, P. Lundqvist and L. Erlandsson, “A Stirling-Electric Parallel Hybrid Engine system
with Catalytic Combustion and Integrated Air Conditioning”, ISEC97002, 8th ISEC, Ancona, May
27-30, 1997.
3. G. Lundholm, M. Pålsson, “First Trials with Direct Catalytic Combustion on the Heater Surface
of a V160 Stirling Engine”, submitted and accepted for the 10th ISEC, Osnabrück, Germany, Sept
24-26, 2001
4. D. Laing and M. Pålsson, “Hybrid Dish/Stirling systems: Combustor and Heat Pipe Receiver
Development”, accepted for publication in ASME-Journal of Solar Energy Engineering
5. Pålsson, Magnus, “Design and Testing of Stirling Engine Premix CGR Combustor for Ultra Low
Emissions”, ISEC97001, 8th ISEC, Ancona, Italy, May 27-30, 1997
6. Pålsson, Magnus, “Development and Field Test of a SOLO161 Stirling Engine based
Micro-CHP unit with Ultra-Low Emissions”, submitted and accepted for the 10th ISEC,
Osnabrück, Germany, Sept 24-26, 2001
7. P. Jansson, M. Pålsson, T. Rögnvaldsson, A. Törner, “Neural Networks for Air-Fuel Estimation
and Burner Control in a Micro-Cogen System”, ISEC99049, Pilanesburg, South Africa, 1999
8. Henrik Svensson, “Burner Optimization with Neural Networks”, Master Thesis, Halmstad
University, January 1998