High velocity injection of enriched oxygen gas having low amount of oxygen enrichment

US6685464B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• L' Air Liquide—Societe Anonyme à Directoire et Conseil de Surveillance pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des Procedes Georges Claude · FR
• American Air Liquide, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Ovidiu Marin · Paris, FR
• Benjamin Bugeat · Oak Park, US
• Eric Streicher · Viroflay, FR
• Pietro Di Zanno · Rueil-Malmaison, FR

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 28, 2001
• Grant date: Feb 3, 2004
• Expiry date: Jun 30, 2021

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y02E20/34
• WIPO field: Thermal processes and apparatus
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for combustion of a hydrocarbon fuel in a combustion chamber of a furnace or boiler are presented, the combustion normally using only air as an oxidant, part of the air entering the combustion chamber through one or more burners, and a remaining portion of air entering the combustion chamber at a plurality of locations downstream of the burners. The methods comprise injecting oxygen-enriched gas through a plurality of lances into the combustion chamber at a plurality of downstream locations, the oxygen-enriched gas injected at a velocity ranging from subsonic to supersonic, and the oxygen-enriched gas being present in an amount sufficient to provide an oxygen concentration of no more than 2% on a volume basis greater than when air is used alone as oxidant.