The flame radiation enhancement in gas-fired furnaces significantly improves the thermal efficiency without significantly affecting the NOx emissions . In this paper, the effects of inlet natural gas preheating on the flame luminosity, overall boiler efficiency, and NO emission in a 120 kW boiler have been investigated experimentally. Flame radiation is measured by use of laboratory pyranometer with photovoltaic sensor. A Testo350XL gas analyzer is also used for measuring the temperature and combustion species. The fuel is preheated from the room temperature to 350°C. The experimental measurements show that the preheating of natural gas up to about 240°C has no considerable effect on the flame luminosity. The results show that increasing the inlet gas temperature from 240°C, abruptly increases the flame luminosity. This luminosity increase enhances the boiler efficiency and also causes significant reduction in flame temperature and NO emission. The results show that increasing the inlet gas temperature from 240°C to 300°C increases the flame luminous radiation by 60% and boiler efficiency by 20%; while the maximum flame temperature and the boiler NO emission show a 10% and 8% decrease respectively.

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