Influence of Reactant Mixing in a Laminar Flow Reactor: The Case of Gas Reburning. 1. Experimental Study

An experimental work of the reburn process in a laminar flow reactor with two coaxial feeding streams has been performed, with the objective of analyzing the influence of reactant mixing in this reactive system. The ways of reaching different mixing conditions have been diverse: by means of changing the velocity ratio among the two streams through which reactants are fed into the reactor, and by introducing the reactants into the reactor through different conducts (fuel introduced through the inner stream and oxidant introduced through the outer stream and vice versa). Moreover, the influence of the main variables of the reburn process average residence time, temperature, and stoichiometry has been studied under laminar flow conditions. In addition, the results achieved in the present work have been compared with data from the literature obtained from experiments conducted under ideal plug-flow reactor conditions. The results show an important influence of the reactant injection mode, which affects the reaction conditions. That influence is mostly attributed to the combination of the effects of the local stoichiometry conditions within the reaction zone and the residence time distribution.