Nitrogen oxide, carbonaceous particles and policyclic aromatic hydrocarbon produced in combustion processes are among the main responsible of pollution both on global scale, "greenhouse effect", and in the urban areas, effect on human health. A drastic reduction of such emission can be obtained by using a new combustion technology that allows for minimizing the maximum temperature reached during combustion processes by means of high concentration of diluent species, such as nitrogen, water or flue gases. In this case, in order to make the oxidation occur the reactants need to be preheated at a temperature higher than fuel autoignition temperature. This results in an efficient and clean combustion process that is very promising for several practical applications, from the material treatment to energy production systems as gas turbine.
The study of this new technology has been carried out at the IRC in collaboration with the Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica of Università Federico II of Naples by means of numerical simulation and experimental approach and has yielded to the spreading of knowledge on this new combustion concept both in national and international field with the acronym MILD (Moderate or Intense Low-oxygen Dilution) coined from the same research group. The interest of scientific and industrial community toward this new combustion technology is demonstrated by the need of spreading and clarifying the MILD concepts by means of plenary lecture that the researchers of the group are invited to held on this topic and the invitation from the main scientific journal in the field of energy and combustion to publish a work on a critical evaluation of potentials and problems of MILD combustion.
A specific aspect considered in this study concerns the identification of the range of applicability of methane MILD combustion in stable conditions. By means of simple theoretical and experimental models the range of temperature, fuel/oxygen ratio and dilution level where it is possible to realize a stable combustion process has been identified.
In the framework of current environmental politics, the natural evolution of MILD Combustion technology is its application in the field of hydrogen combustion. The very diluted conditions allow for the use of hydrogen in traditional combustion systems in controlled conditions by moderating the oxidation process. On the basis of these considerations, the aim is to carry out in collaboration with Italian and foreign research centers a systematic and complete characterization of phenomenologies related to MILD Combustion of traditional and alternative fuels in order to individuate the range of major interest for the application of this process and to make these information available for the development of real systems.
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