This collaborative project, which has been awarded funding by ADEME, the French Environment and Energy Management Agency, has two objectives: The reduction of nitrogen oxide emissions (NOx) generated at combustion plants which consume fossil fuels, and the improvement of energy efficiency by virtue of an increase in the modulation rate of the burners.

Bertin Technologies is responsible for digital combustion simulations to assist the analysis and understanding of data such as the flame length and the impact of the geometry of the furnace.

The Pprime Institute at Poitiers is carrying out fundamental research relating to our understanding of the mechanisms by which NOx are formed, by way of techniques of imaging free-radical species. These will teach us about how the chemical processes operate within the flame.

Babcock Wanson is designing and producing the prototypes, implementing them at its 8MW test station and validating them by way of experiments. As the project leader, Babcock Wanson will oversee the project right up to the industrial production of the high-performance burners of the future.

“This R&D project is part of Babcock Wanson’s strategy; as a manufacturer and designer of boilers and burners, Babcock Wanson offers its industrial and boilermaking clients products and services that are aimed at reducing their environmental impact, improving their energy efficiency and making it easier for them to operate their thermal installations”, explains Cyril Fournier-Montgieux, general manager of Babcock Wanson.

At the end of this 30-month programme, Babcock Wanson will have a range of micro-modulating burners with excellent performance in terms of energy and the environment.