Reburning and burnout simulations of natural gas for heavy oil combustion

Reburning and burnout simulations were carried out through PLUG code of CHEMKIN-III using a reduced mechanism, in order to determine preliminary experimental parameters for achieving maximum NOx reduction to implement the reburning technology for heavy oil combustion in pilot scale equipments in Brazil. Gas compositions at the entrance of the reburning zone were estimated by the AComb program. Simulations were performed for eight conditions in the usual range of operational parameters for natural gas reburning. The maximum NO reduction (ca. 50%) was reached with 10 and 17.5% of power via natural gas and 1.5 and 3.0% O2 excess, respectively, at 1273 K. The model predicts 250 ppm of NO, 50 ppm of CO and air mass flows in the range of about 50–130 kg/h for burnout.