The nitric oxide formation in anode baking furnace through numerical modeling

Thermal nitric-oxide (NOx) formation in industrial furnaces due to local overheating is a widely known problem. Various industries made significant investments to reduce thermal NOx by varying the operating conditions and designs of the furnace. It is difficult to find the optimal operating conditio...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Prajakta Nakate, Domenico Lahaye, Cornelis Vuik
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2021-11-01
Series:International Journal of Thermofluids
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666202721000598
_version_ 1818429378961342464
author Prajakta Nakate
Domenico Lahaye
Cornelis Vuik
author_facet Prajakta Nakate
Domenico Lahaye
Cornelis Vuik
author_sort Prajakta Nakate
collection DOAJ
description Thermal nitric-oxide (NOx) formation in industrial furnaces due to local overheating is a widely known problem. Various industries made significant investments to reduce thermal NOx by varying the operating conditions and designs of the furnace. It is difficult to find the optimal operating conditions that minimize NOx formation in the furnace by trial and error methods. The high temperature in the furnace complicates performing experiments in the furnace. Numerical modeling can provide significant information in such cases. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to obtain a numerical model of the furnace in such a way that the operating conditions can be varied and examined.In this paper, a three-dimensional steady-state finite element model for the anode baking industrial furnace is discussed. The COMSOL Multiphysics software is used for modeling the non-premixed turbulent combustion and the conjugate heat transfer to the insulation lining. The cfMesh software is used for obtaining the mesh. The results show that the simulated temperature agrees well with the measured data from our industrial partner in regions distant from the flames. The analysis shows that by decreasing the fuel mass flow rate and increasing the fuel pipe diameter by 45%, the peak in thermal NOx ppm generated in the furnace decreases by 42%. The model is limited by the use of a single-step chemistry mechanism with an eddy dissipation combustion model and a simplified approach for radiation, such as the P1 approximation model. The model can be further improved by considering a detailed chemistry mechanism model for combustion and a discrete ordinate model for radiation.
first_indexed 2024-12-14T15:16:34Z
format Article
id doaj.art-3c975784641449b3a1d172fe71a88e2b
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2666-2027
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-14T15:16:34Z
publishDate 2021-11-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series International Journal of Thermofluids
spelling doaj.art-3c975784641449b3a1d172fe71a88e2b2022-12-21T22:56:18ZengElsevierInternational Journal of Thermofluids2666-20272021-11-0112100122The nitric oxide formation in anode baking furnace through numerical modelingPrajakta Nakate0Domenico Lahaye1Cornelis Vuik2Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands; Aluminium and Chemie, Rotterdam B.V., The Netherlands; Corresponding author at: Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands.Delft University of Technology, The NetherlandsDelft University of Technology, The NetherlandsThermal nitric-oxide (NOx) formation in industrial furnaces due to local overheating is a widely known problem. Various industries made significant investments to reduce thermal NOx by varying the operating conditions and designs of the furnace. It is difficult to find the optimal operating conditions that minimize NOx formation in the furnace by trial and error methods. The high temperature in the furnace complicates performing experiments in the furnace. Numerical modeling can provide significant information in such cases. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to obtain a numerical model of the furnace in such a way that the operating conditions can be varied and examined.In this paper, a three-dimensional steady-state finite element model for the anode baking industrial furnace is discussed. The COMSOL Multiphysics software is used for modeling the non-premixed turbulent combustion and the conjugate heat transfer to the insulation lining. The cfMesh software is used for obtaining the mesh. The results show that the simulated temperature agrees well with the measured data from our industrial partner in regions distant from the flames. The analysis shows that by decreasing the fuel mass flow rate and increasing the fuel pipe diameter by 45%, the peak in thermal NOx ppm generated in the furnace decreases by 42%. The model is limited by the use of a single-step chemistry mechanism with an eddy dissipation combustion model and a simplified approach for radiation, such as the P1 approximation model. The model can be further improved by considering a detailed chemistry mechanism model for combustion and a discrete ordinate model for radiation.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666202721000598Thermal NOx formationIndustrial furnaceDiffusion tuningEddy dissipation modelP1 approximation model
spellingShingle Prajakta Nakate
Domenico Lahaye
Cornelis Vuik
The nitric oxide formation in anode baking furnace through numerical modeling
International Journal of Thermofluids
Thermal NOx formation
Industrial furnace
Diffusion tuning
Eddy dissipation model
P1 approximation model
title The nitric oxide formation in anode baking furnace through numerical modeling
title_full The nitric oxide formation in anode baking furnace through numerical modeling
title_fullStr The nitric oxide formation in anode baking furnace through numerical modeling
title_full_unstemmed The nitric oxide formation in anode baking furnace through numerical modeling
title_short The nitric oxide formation in anode baking furnace through numerical modeling
title_sort nitric oxide formation in anode baking furnace through numerical modeling
topic Thermal NOx formation
Industrial furnace
Diffusion tuning
Eddy dissipation model
P1 approximation model
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666202721000598
work_keys_str_mv AT prajaktanakate thenitricoxideformationinanodebakingfurnacethroughnumericalmodeling
AT domenicolahaye thenitricoxideformationinanodebakingfurnacethroughnumericalmodeling
AT cornelisvuik thenitricoxideformationinanodebakingfurnacethroughnumericalmodeling
AT prajaktanakate nitricoxideformationinanodebakingfurnacethroughnumericalmodeling
AT domenicolahaye nitricoxideformationinanodebakingfurnacethroughnumericalmodeling
AT cornelisvuik nitricoxideformationinanodebakingfurnacethroughnumericalmodeling