Development of an oxy-fuel combustor with fuel preheating for regenerator system

Abstract

This paper deals with the development of a regenerator system with oxy-fuel combustion that enables fuel preheating. Such a system would save input energy as its combustor configuration is designed to provide high fuel temperature. In this study, three different combustor configurations were first considered and numerically analyzed. The simulation results revealed that fuel temperature and the distributions of the mixed gases were affected by the configuration of the combustor. The regenerator system with fuel preheating combustor was then set up and demonstrated in a bench-scale test rig. The experimental results indicated that the fuel temperature increased to over 410A degrees C and that the heat recovery ratio increased by 9.6%. Thus, it was shown that the application of fuel preheating could enhance the thermal efficiency in the regenerator system with oxy-fuel combustion.