Abstract

Oxy-fuel combustion—burning fuel in oxygen mixed with CO₂—offers potential for carbon emission reduction. This study uses a miniature oxy-fuel burner to investigate flame stability, structure, and soot formation in CH₄ flames at atmospheric and elevated pressures. First, flame stability and nearfield structure were examined using OH-LIF under varying O₂/CO₂ compositions and fuel-side dilution (H₂, CO₂). Then, the effect of oxygen concentration on sooting behavior in laminar coflow flames was studied using PAH-LIF and LII, comparing O₂/CO₂ and O₂/N₂ environments at constant adiabatic flame temperature. Soot formation increased with oxygen concentration up to a peak, then declined. This trend held across various soot metrics. Finally, pressure effects were investigated in turbulent flames up to 5 bar. Total soot loading followed a ~P².¹ scaling, which reduced to near-linear when normalized by fuel mass flow rate.

Biography

Muhammad Bukar is currently a PhD Candidate in Mechanical Engineering at KAUST. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Kazan National Research technical University in 2018 and an MS in Mechanical Engineering from KAUST in 2019. His current research focuses on the investigation oxy-fuel jet flame at industrially relevant conditions for use in power generation through advanced laser techniques.