Impact of raw liquid natural gas composition on combustion properties and emission characteristic

The article presents the results of numerical and analytical investigations of the influence of raw liquid natural gas (LNG) composition on parameters characterizing the combustion process. The high content of higher hydrocarbons influences the thermodynamic combustion process described with parameters like the adiabatic flame temperature, laminar flame speed and ignition delay time. A numerical study of the impact of LNG fuels on emission characteristics using the Cantera code has been performed. Results have shown that the change of grid natural gas to some types of liquid natural gas can result in an incomplete combustion process and an increase of emission of toxic compounds such as carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons. For all investigated fuels the laminar flame speed rises by about 10% compared to natural gas, while the adiabatic flame temperature is nearly the same. The ignition delay time is decreased with an increase of ethane share in the fuel. The analysis of chemical pathways has shown that hydrogen cyanide and hydrogen formation is present, particularly in the high temperature combustion regimes, which results in an increase of nitric oxide molar fraction in flue gases by even 10% compared to natural gas. To summarize, for some applications, liquid natural gases cannot be directly used as interchangeable fuels in an industry sector, even if they meet the legal requirements.