Numerical and Experimental Investigation of a Burner for Smokeless Combustion of Flash-Vaporized Off-Gas from Tight Gas
LU Ke
YUE Tianqi
QIN Feng
SU Ming
YI Chang
HE Yang
ZHAO Liang
WU Jiahui
XU Yishu
Abstract：The flash vapor emissions generated during the production process at tight gas field stations are typically rich in water and non-methane hydrocarbons.When these emissions are burned for disposal,a common problem is the generation of"black smoke".This issue is often encountered due to incomplete combustion and the formation of particulate matter.In this study,a Venturi-structured burner that facilitates partial-premixed combustion by a jet of combustible waste gases entraining air was designed.The primary objective was to reduce soot formation while ensuring stable combustion.To understand the effects of various structural parameters on combustion performance and soot formation behavior,computational fluid dynamics(CFD)simulations were conducted.The simulation investigated the influence of several key burner parameters,including the sleeve angle,sleeve diameter,and the presence of swirl vanes in the fuel jet.Based on these findings,the optimal burner structure was determined,a prototype burner was fabricated,and field trials were conducted to validate the design.The results from CFD simulations and experimental verification revealed several important trends.First,increasing the sleeve angle in the intake section of the burner proved to be the most effective optimization strategy.By increasing the angle from 30° to 60°,the entrained air volume increased by 64％,and soot formation was reduced by 73％.This improvement can be attributed to the enhanced air-fuel mixing,which improves combustion efficiency and reduces particulate matter formation.In contrast,enlarging the diameter of the mixing sleeve created low-velocity zones within the burner.This reduction in air velocity decreased the cooling effect of the sleeve and caused early ignition of the fuel.As a result,regions of the burner exceeded 1 500 K,creating high-temperature zones that could jeopardize the safe long-term operation of the burner.This finding emphasizes the importance of maintaining an optimal balance in the burner's structural design to avoid excessively high temperatures.The addition of swirl vanes at the fuel nozzle proved beneficial in creating a swirling jet inside the combustion chamber.This approach successfully reduced soot formation and flame size.Importantly,it achieved these improvements without significantly altering the external dimensions of the burner,contributing to a more compact and efficient design.Finally,the burner designed based on the simulation results showed stable flame behavior in field tests,with no visible black smoke.The newly designed burner,which incorporates multi-point jet entrainment,swirl-stabilized combustion,and partial-premixed features,effectively reduced soot formation during the combustion of flash vapor emissions from tight gas field stations.This demonstrates the potential of this burner design to achieve clean combustion and reduce the environmental impact of gas field emissions.
Keywords：Tight gasSootVenturiPartial-premixed combustionBurner
Publication Date：2025-12-30
Online Publishing Date：2025-12-18(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：12( 176-187 )