Ultra Low NOx Burner Testing

The State of California has the strictest nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions standards in the nation. The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) recently updated Rule 1146.2 to require new and existing buildings to transition to zero-emissions NOx standards when replaced. For the first time ever, natural gas-fired pool boilers, larger water heaters, small commercial water heaters, boilers, and process heaters must meet zero-emission NOx standards. Under Rule 1146.2, all residential, commercial, and light industrial equipment rated from 75,000 Btu/hr to 2 million Btu/hr are regulated based on size. This rule is expected to result in the second-largest reduction of NOx emissions in a decade, by nearly 8 tons of NOx per day. San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (SJVAPCD) Rules 4305–4308, 4320, and 4351 establish NOx emissions limits for process heaters, boilers, and steam generators. The SJVAPCD has also adopted the Best Available Retrofit Control Technology (BARCT) rule. BARCT states that if businesses achieve lower NOx emissions than originally mandated by SJVAPCD, then all new permits must meet this achieved-in-practice limit. This rule establishes a moving target of NOx emissions for businesses since they cannot receive new permits unless they meet the lowest industry standards.

To meet these stricter regulations, manufacturers face the challenge of developing ultra-low NOx (ULN) or near-zero NOx (NZN) technologies for water heaters, boilers, and process heaters. ULN burners can play a crucial role in meeting NOx regulations. By optimizing fuel and air mixing, ULN burner technologies can achieve higher energy efficiency (EE) compared to traditional burners. Improved combustion can help reduce waste and enhance overall system performance through EE and fuel savings.

This project will evaluate the potential energy saving of the ClearSign burner technology compared to the industry standard mesh-style ULN burner. The project will compare the fuel use, energy use, emissions, and boiler operating efficiency before and after retrofitting the test firetube boiler with the ClearSign Core ^TM burner.

Background

The ClearSign Core™ technology is an innovative gaseous fuel combustion technology designed to significantly reduce environmental emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), a highly regulated pollutant, in industrial applications. ClearSign Core™ can meet very low levels of emissions required by the most stringent regulations in the country, while enhancing heat transfer characteristics. The ClearSign CoreTM technology consists of air fuel premixing, internal flue gas recirculation (FGR), and their patented distil flame holder technology. They are the only burner company that has this unique combination of those three combustion elements in a fuel burner.

This technology has been successfully implemented across several industrial applications, including once-through-steam-generators (OTSGs), enclosed ground flares, refinery process heaters, gas processing plant transmix heaters, and firetube boilers. Upcoming commercial installations for the technology include midstream oil heaters and boilers for agricultural and recycling industries. The technology has been third-party source tested to achieve as low as sub-2.5 ppm NOx (corrected to 3% O₂) in boiler applications. However, a complete evaluation of efficiency benefits of the technology over conventional NOx reducing technologies has not been previously carried out.

Mesh or surface stabilized burners are commonly used in firetube boiler applications and represent the previous generation of NOx reduction technology. The burners employ lean premixed combustion to achieve single digit NOx emissions and typically operate with high levels of O₂ in the flue gas. One such industry standard mesh-style burner will be selected as a baseline for this study.

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Market Assessment

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