RANS simulations on combustion and emission characteristics of a premixed NH3/H2 swirling flame with reduced chemical kinetic model

Ammonia (NH₃) is considered as a potential alternative carbon free fuel to reduce greenhouse gas emission to meet the increasingly stringent emission requirements. Co-burning NH₃ and H₂ is an effective way to overcome ammonia’s relative low burning velocity. In this work, 3D Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) numerical simulations are conducted on a premixed NH₃/H₂ swirling flame with reduced chemical kinetic mechanism. The effects of (A) overall equivalence ratio Φ and (B) hydrogen blended molar fraction X_H2 on combustion and emission characteristics are examined. The present results show that when 100%NH₃-0%H₂-air are burnt, the NO emission and unburned NH₃ of at the swirling combustor outlet has the opposite varying trends. With the increase of Φ, NO emission is found to be decreased, while the unburnt ammonia emission is increased. NH₂ → HNO, NH → HNO and HNO → NO sub-paths are found to play a critical role in NO formation. Normalized reaction rate of all these three sub-paths is shown to be decreased with increased Φ. Hydrogen addition is shown to significantly increase the laminar burning velocity of the mixed fuel. However, adding H₂ does not affect the critical equivalence ratio corresponding to the maximum burning velocity. The emission trend of NO and unburnt NH₃ with increased Φ is unchanged by blending H₂. NO emission with increased X_H2 is increased slightly less at a larger Φ than that at a smaller Φ. In addition, reaction rates of NH₂ → HNO and HNO → NO sub-paths are decreased with increased X_H2, when Φ is larger. Under all tested cases, blending H₂ with NH₃ reduces the unburned NH₃ emission, especially for rich combustion conditions. In summary, the present work provides research finding on supporting applying ammonia with hydrogen blended in low-emission gas turbine engines.