A simplified numerical approach to hydrogen and hydrocarbon combustion in single and double-layer porous burners

Abstract Motivated by the fuel hydrogen applications in porous combustors, as well as hydrogen production in syngas porous devices, this work shows a simplified one-dimensional, steady state heat and mass transfer model for stabilized premixed flames in porous inert media. Single-layer and double-layer porous burner are studied. The model has three conservation equations, describing the heat transfer in the solid and fluid phases and the mass transfer in the reacting flow. The model considers a plug flow and is solved numerically by using the finite volume method. The results are compared with benchmark data, depicting the superadiabatic flames and the heat recirculation process. A parametric analysis of the model reveals the effects of the porous media properties and the Lewis and Peclet numbers on the heat and mass transfer processes. Furthermore, the effects of the flame stand-off parameter in double layer porous burner are also analyzed. The results have considered the values of the dimensionless parameters based on reference data for hydrogen/air and methane/air combustion in porous burners built with SiC and Al2O3.