Oxy-fuel burner investigations for CO2 capture in cement plants

Oxy-fuel conditions may have a considerable influence on the cement production process. This paper presents the results of a first validation work aiming to model the combustion behavior under rich CO2 conditions. The experiments took place in a 500 kWth pulverized fuel combustion rig. A swirl burner is employed to stabilize an air and an oxy-fuel case (29% oxygen in combustion gases). Detailed measurements of temperature and concentrations (O2, CO2, CO) along the furnace length are used to validate the simulation work. A commercial CFD software (Ansys Fluent) is employed to simulate both air and oxy-fuel cases. The results from the simulations indicate a good agreement with the measured values. However, some discrepancies are observed in near burner region that may be also be related to the measurement method employed.