Fuel burner and process for gas manufacture

Claim 2

The burner as described in claim 1 wherein said converging exit nozzle consists of a frusto-conical section whose minimum diameter is downstream and normal to the axis of said central conduit and whose maximum diameter is the inside diameter of the downstream end of said concentric outer conduit.

Claim 3

The burner as describEd in claim 1, wherein the tip section of said concentric outer conduit terminates in an American Society of Mechanical Engineers, standard long-radius nozzle.

Claim 4

The burner as described in claim 1, wherein the exit ends of the plurality of tubes and the exit end of said concentric outer nozzle terminate in the same plane perpendicular to the burner axis at the downstream end of the burner.

Claim 5

The burner as described in claim 1, wherein the exit ends of all of said plurality of tubes terminate in a plane perpendicular to the axis of said coaxial concentric conduit, and said plane is retracted upstream from the downstream end of the tip section of said coaxial concentric conduit in order to permit a limited degree of premixing but no burning, thereby preventing damage to the ends of the tubes and to the end of the tip section.

Claim 6

The burner as described in claim 1, wherein the exit ends of all of said plurality of tubes terminate in a plane perpendicular to the axis of said coaxial concentric conduit, and said plane is located downstream from the downstream end of the tip section of said coaxial concentric conduit.

Claim 7

The burner as described in claim 1, wherein the inside diameters of all of said plurality of tubes are equal, and the lengths of all of said tubes are equal.

Claim 8

The burner as described in claim 1, wherein the quantity of said tubes extending from said central conduit is a number selected from the group consisting of 2 to 200 or more.

Claim 9

The burner as described in claim 1, wherein the number of tubes extending from said central conduit is selected so as to maintain a burner scale factor P/SL 48.2 n/D22 of at least 266 when an oil containing stream is flowing through said center conduit and an oxygen containing stream is passing through said outer concentric conduit and the Y ratio of the burner is 21.7 wherein: P sum of the perimeters for all of said extending tubes (based on inside tube diameter) S total cross-sectional area of all of said extending tubes (based on inside tube diameter) n number of said extending tubes D2 inside diameter of the downstream end of the tip section of the concentric outer conduit. L 1/2 (D2/ Square Root n - Do) Wherein Do inside diameter of each tube 12. And the Y ratio is the area of the downstream end of the tip section of the concentric outer conduit less the total cross sectional area of all of the tubes extending from the exit end of the central conduit based on the outside diameter of said tubes divided by the total area of all of said tubes based on the inside diameter of the tubes.

Claim 10

The burner of claim 1 further provided with a second open-ended coaxial concentric conduit which is disposed about the first concentric conduit and in spaced relationship therewith, and a converging nozzle terminating said second coaxial concentric nozzle so as to provide a passageway for introducing a temperature moderating stream around the other two streams.

Claim 11

The burner as described in claim 1, wherein a stream of oxygen-rich gas selected from the group consisting of air, oxygen-rich air containing more than 21 mole percent O2, and substantially pure oxygen is passed through said inner assembly and a stream of hydrocarbon is passed through said concentric outer conduit.

Claim 12

The burner as described in claim 12, wherein a temperature moderator selected from the group consisting of steam, carbon dioxide, atomized liquid water, cooled portion of product gas, cooled off-gas from an ore-reduction zone, and an inert gas such as nitrogen, and mixtures thereof is admixed with the oxygen-rich gas, the hydrocarbon or both.

Claim 13

The burner as described in claim 1, wherein a stream of hydrocarbon is passed through said inner assembly and a stream of oxygen-rich gas selected from the group consisting of air, oxYgen-rich air containing more than 21 mole percent O2, and substantially pure oxygen is passed through said concentric outer conduit.

Claim 14

The burner as described in claim 14, wherein a temperature moderator selected from the group consisting of steam, carbon dioxide, atomized liquid water, cooled portion of product gas, cooled off-gas from an ore-reduction zone, and an inert gas such as nitrogen, and mixtures thereof is admixed with the oxygen-rich gas, the hydrocarbon, or both.

Claim 15

The burner as described in claim 1 provided with a cooling means for cooling the tip section of said coaxial concentric conduit by heat exchange with a cooling fluid.

Claim 16

The burner as described in claim 1 provided with a cooling means for cooling the tip section of said coaxial concentric conduit by heat exchange with a cooling fluid, wherein said cooling means comprises a hollowed out face-cooling plate at the downstream end of the burner and cooling coils encircling said tip section through which circulating cooling water is passed.

Claim 17

A partial-combustion burner for use in introducing reactants into a gas generator, comprising a central passageway for introducing a first reactant stream into said gas generator, said central passageway comprising a central conduit having a plurality of tubes extending downstream and in communication therewith, said tubes being parallel to each other and to the burner axis and in symmetrically spaced relationship without touching each other; and an open-ended coaxial concentric outer conduit disposed about said central passageway and in spaced relationship therewith for providing a passageway for a second reactant stream, said concentric conduit having a tip section for introducing said second reactant stream into the interstices between the plurality of parallel tubes extending from said central conduit and from there into said gas generator, a converging exit nozzle terminating said tip section so as to accelerate the second reactant stream to a suitable high velocity and to provide a flat velocity profile across the interstitial cross section.

Claim 18

A burner comprising, an inner assembly, comprising a central conduit with a downstream end and an upstream end, said upstream end being open for admitting a first reactant stream and said downstream end being sealed around a plurality of tubes in symmetrical spaced relationship without touching each other, said tubes being parallel to each other and to the burner axis and extending downstream from the exit end of said central conduit and in communication therewith, and said tubes having downstream ends for discharging said first reactant stream; a first open-ended coaxial concentric conduit disposed around the outside of said inner assembly and in spaced relationship therewith for providing a passageway for a second reactant stream, said first concentric conduit having a tip section which terminates in a converging exit nozzle for introducing said second reactant stream into the interstices between the plurality of parallel tubes extending from said conduit and then to discharge; a second open-ended coaxial concentric conduit which is disposed about the first concentric conduit and in spaced relationship therewith, and a converging nozzle terminating said second coaxial concentric nozzle so as to provide a passageway for introducing a stream of temperature moderator around the other two streams; and cooling means in contact with the tip section of said second coaxial concentric conduit, said cooling means comprising a face-cooling plate at the discharge end of said burner and cooling coils encircling said tip section, said face-cooling plate being hollowed out for circulating a coolant.

Claim 19

The burner as described in claim 19 wherein said temperature moderator is selected from the group consisting of steam, carbon dioxide, atomized liquid water, cooled portion of product gas, cooled off-gas from an ore-reduction zone, and an inert gas such as nitrogen, and mixtuRes thereof.