Design of a feed system for an oxy-methane high pressure combustor

With growing concern over the effects that fossil fuels are having on the environment and the expected increases in energy demand in the coming decades, it is becoming increasingly more important to find cleaner and more efficient ways to generate energy. Natural gas has grown in popularity in the last decade thanks to a drastic drop in price and its lower carbon emissions compared to coal. With enough natural gas reserves in the United States to last over 90 years, natural gas is expected to be a large part of the future energy outlook. Increased demand from growing populations also pushes for the need of cleaner more efficient energy sources and oxy-methane high pressure combustion could be a possible solution. Oxy-methane high pressure combustion has the potential to produce energy more efficiently due to the elevated temperatures from using 100% oxygen and is also cleaner than normal methane-air combustion. Using oxy-methane at high pressure can also be beneficial as fuels behave differently at different pressure ranges. To further develop the use of oxy-methane in large-scale power generation efforts it is important to conduct research using oxy-methane at different pressure ranges to pursue higher efficiencies. This Thesis focuses on the design of a feed system for a 20 [bar] high pressure combustor that will operate with oxy-methane to test the efficiency of oxy-methane at high pressures. This research will be used as a stepping stone in the development for higher pressure systems to continue the study of oxy-methane at high pressure. The methodology used when designing a feed system for high pressure applications including calculations, design requirements, and part selection are discussed