Experimental Study of Biogas–Hydrogen Mixtures Combustion in Conventional Natural Gas Systems

Biogas is a renewable gas with low heat energy, which makes it extremely difficult to use as fuel in conventional natural gas equipment. Nonetheless, the use of hydrogen as a biogas additive has proven to have a beneficial effect on flame stability and combustion behavior. This study evaluates the b...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Isabel Amez, Blanca Castells, Bernardo Llamas, David Bolonio, María Jesús García-Martínez, José L. Lorenzo, Javier García-Torrent, Marcelo F. Ortega
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-07-01
Series:Applied Sciences
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/14/6513
Description
Summary:Biogas is a renewable gas with low heat energy, which makes it extremely difficult to use as fuel in conventional natural gas equipment. Nonetheless, the use of hydrogen as a biogas additive has proven to have a beneficial effect on flame stability and combustion behavior. This study evaluates the biogas–hydrogen combustion in a conventional natural gas burner able to work up to 100 kW. Tests were performed for three different compositions of biogas: BG70 (30% CO<sub>2</sub>), BG60 (40% CO<sub>2</sub>), and BG50 (50% CO<sub>2</sub>). To achieve better flame stability, each biogas was enriched with hydrogen from 5% to 25%. The difficulty of burning biogas in conventional systems was proven, as the burner does not ignite when the biogas composition contains more than 40% of CO<sub>2</sub>. The best improvements were obtained at 5% hydrogen composition since the exhaust gas temperature and, thus, the enthalpy, rises by 80% for BG70 and 65% for BG60. The stability map reveals that pure biogas combustion is unstable in BG70 and BG60; when the CO<sub>2</sub> content is 50%, ignition is inhibited. The properties change slightly when the hydrogen concentrations are more than 20% in the fuel gas and do not necessarily improve.
ISSN:2076-3417