{"41365":{"#nid":"41365","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Device Burns Fuel with Almost Zero Emissions","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech researchers have created a new combustor (combustion chamber where fuel is burned to power an engine or gas turbine) designed to burn fuel in a wide range of devices \u2014 with next to no emission of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and carbon monoxide (CO), two of the primary causes of air pollution. The device has a simpler design than existing state-of-the-art combustors and could be manufactured and maintained at a much lower cost, making it more affordable in everything from jet engines and power plants to home water heaters.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We must burn fuel to power aircrafts and generate electricity for our homes. The combustion community is working very hard to find ways to burn the fuel completely and derive all of its energy while minimizing emissions,\u0022 said Dr. Ben Zinn, Regents\u0027 professor, the David S. Lewis Jr. Chair in Georgia Tech\u0027s Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering and a key collaborator on the project. \u0022Our combustor has an unbelievably simple design, and it would be inexpensive to make and inexpensive to maintain.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAttaining ultra low emissions has become a top priority for combustion researchers as federal and state restrictions on pollution continuously reduce the allowable levels of NOx and CO produced by engines, power plants and industrial processes. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECalled the Stagnation Point Reverse Flow Combustor, the Georgia Tech device, originally developed for NASA, significantly reduces NOx and CO emissions in a variety of aircraft engines and gas turbines that burn gaseous or liquid fuels. It burns fuel with NOx emissions below 1 parts per million (ppm) and CO emissions lower than 10 ppm, significantly lower than emissions produced by other combustors. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe project\u0027s initial goal was to develop a low emissions combustor for aircraft engines and power-generating gas turbines that must stably burn large amounts of fuel in a small volume over a wide range of power settings (or fuel flow rates). But the design can be adapted for use in a variety of applications, including something as large as a power generating gas turbine or as small as a water heater in a home.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We wanted to have all the clean-burning advantages of a low temperature combustion process while burning a large amount of fuel in a small volume,\u0022 Zinn said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe combustor burns fuel in low temperature reactions that occur over a large portion of the combustor. By eliminating all high temperature pockets through better control of the flow of the reactants and combustion products within the combustor, the device produces far lower levels of NOx and CO and avoids acoustic instabilities that are problematic in current low emissions combustors.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo reduce emissions in existing combustors, fuel is premixed with a large amount of swirling air flow prior to injection into the combustor. This requires complex and expensive designs, and the combustion process often excites instabilities that damage the system.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut Georgia Tech\u0027s design eliminates the complexity associated with premixing the fuel and air by injecting the fuel and air separately into the combustor while its shape forces them to mix with one another and with combustion products before ignition occurs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe project was funded by the NASA University Research Engineering Technology Institute (URETI) Center on Aeropropulsion and Power and Georgia Tech. The primary investigators on the project were Professors Ben T. Zinn, Yedidia Neumeier, Jerry Seitzman and Jeff Jagoda from the School of Aerospace Engineering, and Visiting Research Engineers Yoav Weksler and Ben Ami Hashmonay.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Simple design makes ultra-low emission combustion more efficient, affordable and stable"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"Georgia Tech researchers have developed a simple and inexpensive device that can burn fuel in everything from home water heaters to jets with virtually no emissions.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Device can steeply cut pollution in many devices"}],"uid":"27281","created_gmt":"2006-06-21 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:02:23","author":"Lisa Grovenstein","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2006-06-21T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2006-06-21T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"41366":{"id":"41366","type":"image","title":"Zinn and combustor","body":null,"created":"1449174301","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:25:01","changed":"1475894368","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:39:28","alt":"Zinn and combustor","file":{"fid":"190059","name":"tmz16958.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tmz16958_1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tmz16958_1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":743657,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tmz16958_1.jpg?itok=-NIuZHRy"}},"41367":{"id":"41367","type":"image","title":"Combustor diagram","body":null,"created":"1449174301","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:25:01","changed":"1475894368","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:39:28","alt":"Combustor diagram","file":{"fid":"190060","name":"tpw99794.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tpw99794_1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tpw99794_1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":411297,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tpw99794_1.jpg?itok=45aI1nJz"}}},"media_ids":["41366","41367"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.ae.gatech.edu\/","title":"Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.ae.gatech.edu\/labs\/comblab5\/index.html","title":"The Ben T. Zinn Combustion Laboratory"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"136","name":"Aerospace"},{"id":"139","name":"Business"},{"id":"144","name":"Energy"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"2082","name":"aerospace engineering"},{"id":"745","name":"air quality"},{"id":"2135","name":"Ben Zinn"},{"id":"2134","name":"combustor"},{"id":"464","name":"emissions"},{"id":"408","name":"NASA"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELisa Grovenstein\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications \u0026amp; Marketing\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=lgrovenste3\u0022\u003EContact Lisa Grovenstein\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-8835\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["lisa.grovenstein@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}