OXY-FUEL COMBUSTION

Oxy-fuel combustion is a carbon capture technology that involves burning a fuel with pure oxygen instead of air. Carbon in the fuel converts to CO₂ and hydrogen in the fuel converts to water vapor (H₂O), which upon cooling condenses to yield a product gas of nearly-pure CO₂. Combustion with pure oxygen creates very an extremely hot flame, so a portion of the product CO₂ is recycled and co-fed with the oxygen to control the flame temperature. Burning the fuel in this manner—which requires pre-separation of oxygen from air—is overall more efficient than burning with air and then separating CO₂ from the resultant flue gas. Another advantage of oxy-fuel combustion is that unlike burning with air, which is 21% O₂ in nitrogen, the percent O₂ in recycled CO₂ is specified by the operator. That provides another means of control and opens opportunities for higher heat flux and higher fuel throughput.

Atmospheric pressure oxy-fuel combustion is investigated in the Multi-Fuel Combustor.
Pressurized oxy-fuel combustion is conducted in the Pressurized Entrained-Flow Reactor.