Changes in the markets for natural gas and their consequences for industrial combustion systems

Source/Quelle: [10]

»1 Permissible gas quality ranges in Germany

Source/Quelle: [10]

Source/Quelle: [3]

»2 Temporal evolution of the composition of natural gas supplied to a thermal processing plant near Leipzig, Germany

Source/Quelle: [3]

Source/Quelle: GWI

»3 Temperature distribution above the glass melt for the first scenario (constant air ratios)

Source/Quelle: GWI

»4 Heat flux distribution into the glass melt for the first scenario (constant air ratios)

Source/Quelle: GWI

»5 Heat flux distribution into the glass melt for the third scenario (constant burner loads and air ratios)

Source/Quelle: GWI

»6 Temperature profiles measured in GWI test rig (burner load 200 kW and air ratio 1.15 for all measurements)

Source/Quelle: GWI

Source/Quelle: [14]

»Table 1 Assessment of the susceptibilities of various industrial combustion processes to gas quality changes over the entire range of German Code of Practice G260

Source/Quelle: [14]

Natural gas is used to provide process heat for many manufacturing processes in various industries. The changes on the international gas markets will, however, have a profound impact on the industrial utilization of natural gas. In particular, frequent and rapid changes in gas quality may very well have consequences for product quality, pollutant emissions and efficiency in many manufacturing processes.

1 Introduction

Natural gas is an important source of energy for many industries. In 2011, about 1/3 of Europe’s gas consumption was due to various industrial applications (excluding power generation) [1], in particular the chemical industry and thermal processing industries. With regards to the generation of process heat in manufacturing processes, natural gas is in fact the most important source of energy in Germany [2]. These manufacturing processes range from low-temperature drying processes, for example in the food or paper industries, to extreme high-temperature melting and heat treatment...