Effect of aqueous vapor on the combustion characteristics of low concentration coal mine gas in a porous media burner

In order to research the combustion characteristics of low concentration coal mine gas containing aqueous vapor in porous media, numerical analysis was carried out by the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. The temperature distribution law and pollutant discharge were studied when the gases with different aqueous vapor contents burnt in a porous media burner. It is shown that the axial temperature and combustion efficiency of the burner decrease with the increase of moisture content in the gas. Temperature distributions at each location in the burner under different working conditions are visualized through two-dimensional temperature contours and they provide guidance for burner design. The NO_x discharge amount decreases when the aqueous vapor content increases at appropriate thermal efficiency; this not only contributes to protect the environment, but also is useful to make CO change into CO₂ for controlling toxic gas production.