In a project sponsored by the California Energy Commission to study the behavior of gaseous fuels, the UC Irvine Combustion Lab (UCICL) has continued exploring how different types of fuels and fuel composition impact the behavior of various burner configurations.

Recent work has focused on the behavior of a surface stabilized burner provided by Alzeta Corporation and installed in the 117kW boiler at the UCICL simulator facility. Using a combination of experimental exhaust stack measurements from Horiba PG-250 and Horiba MEXA 1400QL-NX instruments, the pollutant emissions behavior of this burner is being studied when operated on biogas (CO2/methane), hydrogen enriched natural gas, and natural gas with higher hydrocarbons. These measurements are used in combination to predict how emissions change with fuel type and concentration.

Along with eight other burner configurations, the results can be looked to for insight into how adopting future fuels may impact pollutant emissions and operability of different burners.