Computational and Experimental Studies into Concentration Limits of Associated Petroleum Gas Combustion

The issue of utilizing associated petroleum gas from low-yield fields in gas turbine power plants has become relevant recently. To develop universal power plants ensuring steady combustion of dissimilar in composition and highly ballast gases from different fields, reliable information on their combustion limits under real operating conditions is required. Composition analysis of associated petroleum gases from various fields of the Russian Federation shows that the volume fraction of ballast components can be as high as 90 %, heavy hydrocarbons up to 10 %, hydrogen sulfide-up to 6 %. This work is aimed to theoretical determination and experimental confirmation of combustion concentration limits of associated petroleum gas. Another purpose is to work out recommendations for selection of the excess air ratio in the primary zone of the chamber at the design stage. This is achieved by theoretical determination of the air access coefficient on the upper and lower combustion limits using phlegmatization methods and experimental substantiation of the computational results. The first experimental results were obtained in the process of burning petroleum gases collected directly in the fields with the volume fraction of ballast components 26 % and 40 %. To clearly determine the presence of combustion in the chamber, a synchronous video recording of the process was conducted. Computational and experimental studies into concentration limits of associated alternated composition petroleum gas combustion resulted in some recommendations on organizing stable diffusion and homogeneous combustion in one-, two- or three-zone combustion chambers