NOx Control

 Thermal NOx is highly dependent on flame/box temperature

and also highly dependent on oxygen concentration.

 Several potential ways to reduce emission are to:

 Reduce excess air/ staged air burner (O2)
 Reduce flame temperature/ staged gas burner
 Reduce flame temperature/ add flue gas recirculation
 Reduce flame temperature/ add inert (steam)

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 NOx NOx
Type Technology involved - fuel gas firing, - fuel oil firing,
*ppmv *ppmv
~200- 300
Conventional Raw gas or Premix ~80- 150

Staged air (1984)

~50- 100 ~150- 200
Low NOx Staged fuel gas (1986)
or both
Staged air + Staged fuel gas + ~15- 30
Ultra low NOx -
Flue gas recirculation (1992)
Staged fuel gas, Enhanced flue gas ~10- 20
Next generation -
recirculation, Premix primary, etc

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Gas fired burners
I. Raw gas burning:
• the raw gas burner receives fuel gas
from the gas manifold without any
premixing
Some of the advantages are:
• It has the greatest available turndown
ratio for any given combustion
condition.
• It can operate at very low gas pressure
on a wide variety.
• Noise level is low.

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 Gas fired burners
I. Premix inspiriting: is relies on the kinetic energy
made by expansion of the fuel gas through an orifice and
mix combustion air.
some of the advantages are:
• operating flexibility is good over a range of condition
• Fame length is short, flame sharply release the high heat.
• Burner orifices or spuds are fairly large and thy are located
in a cold zone.

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Staged Air Low NOx Burners
• 50% to 75% of the combustion air is supplied to the primary
combustion zone with 100% or all fuel
• This lowers the concentration of oxygen in the primary
combustion zone lowering the amount of NOx formed and
increasing the amount of NOx reducing agents.
• Secondary and tertiary air complete the combustion. NOx
formation in the the secondary flame zone is reduced
because the inerts from the primary flame zone reduce
flame temperatures.
• Reduces both thermal NOx and fuel NOx
• Provide 30% to 40% reduction in NOx compared to
conventional burners, 50-70 ppmv NOx
Staged Fuel Low NOx Burners

• Reverse of Stage Air Burners

• 30% to 50% of the fuel is injected combustion air to form lean
primary flame zone
• NOx is minimized by low flame temperature due to lean
combustion conditions
• Remainder of the fuel is injected downstream forming secondary
flame zone where combustion is completed. Thermal NOx in this
zone is low because the inerts from the primary flame zone
reduces flame temperatures and local oxygen concentration.
• reduces NOx emissions to 40 ppmv NOx

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 Staged Air and Staged Fuel Low Nox Burners
• Used for oil fuel and gas fuel (combination)

I.C.E. (International Combustion Equipment) Staged fuel/staged air dual fuel burners
Staged Combustion Low NOx Burners

Zeeco GB Staged Air Burner John Zink Variflame Burner

Flue Gas Recirculation

Recirculating flue gas back to the combustion zone has been one of the most effective
methods of reducing NOx emissions from gas and oil fired units since the early 1970’s.

FGR lowers NOx in two ways:

 Absorbing heat from the flame and lowering peak flame temperatures.
 lowering the average oxygen content of the air

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Flue Gas Recirculation - Internal
There are two main techniques for recirculating flue
gas: Internal FGR and External FGR.

 Internal FGR is commonly used in vertical fired

heaters which have burners mounted in the floor
firing upwards.

 Flue gas is induced from the furnace floor region

near the burner throat and recirculates through
the burner venturi using the energy of the high
velocity fuel jets.

 Burners using internal FGR are referred to as Ultra

LNB (ULNB) and are used mostly in natural draft
units.

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Flue Gas Recirculation - External
External FGR

Known as induced flue gas recirculation

(IFGR), utilizes the FD fan to pull
(induce) flue gas from the exhaust duct
into the combustion air at the fan.

The fan also serves as the mixing device.

IFGR is, thus, a very cost-effective
method to achieve significant Nox
reductions (50% to 80%)

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Comparision Burner Control - SCR
Ultra Low NOx Burner Standard Burner & SCR System
NOx emission 9 ppm 2.5 ppm
Excess Air 8.5 % 3%
Flue Gas Recirculation 40% 0%
Forced Draft Fan HP 2X or more X
Carbon Footprint Highest Lowest

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