Better, safer, cleaner combustion

How can one drastically reduce fuel consumption? If the margin in terms of gains in efficiency at the main operation point is low (less than 5% using conventional combustion on most of the thermal facilities), the margin in terms of fuel savings at off-design operation is much greater. 

Combustion technologies can be improved. Furthermore, the operating costs of thermal facilities can be reduced while improving safety. We address these affirmations with three flagship projects at CBOne: MethaNull, rePorT, and emootion.

 

At Combustion Bay One, we own these technologies, we fine-tune these and we regularly publish our results. 

 

  • MethaNull was proven to save 10% fuel consumption at part load, below the extinction limit of conventional combustion. The same type of actuation could improve the combustion robustness, force full combustion and reduce considerably the pollutants at part load. Read more:  Improving fuel economy, clean energy - MethaNull
  • rePorT monitors the injection conditions at the level of every single burner. It therefore reports in real-time about the quality of combustion. It could become a major tool for adaptive maintenance and augmented safety in thermal facilities. Read more: GTI2016: Filling in the missing link on combustion monitoring between laboratory and real gas turbine
  • emootion is a portable combustion monitoring system, including optical measurements. It surveys possible drifts in the operation and facilitates maintenance. It can detect in real-time a burner malfunction or an excess of soot production. It plays a crucial role in terms of safety, optimisation of the operation, and reduction of the maintenance costs. The emootion technology is shared with FH Joanneum. Read more: ASME Turbo Expo 2017: Make Combustion Great Again!!!!

All three technologies are compatible with each other. Many existing industrial burners can be retrofitted using these. In the near future, they will be fit for integration in pressurised burners, including power gas turbines and eventually aeroengines.

Let us take an example. The next generation of airplanes will move electrically on the ground. Which means that it will start as late as possible the engines before take-off, and turn them off right after landing. There is a 3 to 5% possible saving in terms of transported fuel at stake. In order to make this possible, the gas-turbine must warm-up in a safe and environmental-friendly way within the shortest possible time. Which means go from cold status to full-load in a time frame of the order of the minute.

We combine the best possible combustion technologies at a state-of-the-art (best trade-off between safety, thermal power needed and environmental impact) with the newcoming methods that enable more flexibility, such as quick start and stops.

We wish to thank at this point our loyal financial partners, sponsors, and contributors, namely the FFG, the AWS, the SFG, and the WKO. Thanks also to our colleagues and project partners from FH Joanneum / Aviation who share the emootion technology with us, Joanneum Research / MATERIALS, and the company Heideco who greatly contributed to the latest development of these technologies.