Experimental validation of the GRI-MECH 3.0 kinetic mechanism applied to methane combustion products power and chemical accumulation processes

Improving fuel efficiency in energy-intensive industries such as electric and thermal power generation, metallurgy, and petrochemistry is a pressing issue. One approach to improving energy efficiency in these industries is the beneficial use of waste heat from exhaust gases. A promising technological approach in this area is energy-chemical accumulation, which is a thermochemical process that involves producing synthetic hydrogen-containing fuel from combustion products. The heat from the combustion products is used to fuel endothermic reactions, such as steam reforming. However, developing technical and technological solutions for energy-chemical accumulation requires reliable mathematical models, including kinetic mechanisms. This study validates the GRI-MECH 3.0 kinetic mechanism for energy-chemical accumulation of methane combustion products. The study focused on a model of a process furnace that involved oxygen-based methane combustion with the addition of secondary methane to the combustion products. Numerical modeling and experimental studies established that steam reforming reactions with hydrogen and carbon monoxide formation occur under these conditions. The GRI-MECH 3.0 kinetic mechanism demonstrates acceptable accuracy with an oxidizer excess ratio (relative to the primary methane consumption) in the range of 0.9-1.1. At significant oxygen deficiencies, the experimental and numerical results diverge significantly, due to a certain idealization of incomplete methane combustion processes in the models used.

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