A burner apparatus and a method of operating the burner apparatus can include a housing and an array maintained by the housing. The burner apparatus can function according to an air staged mode of operation. The array can include a group of low-capacity fuel swirlers and low-capacity air swirlers, wherein individual or groups of the low-capacity fuel swirlers and/or low-capacity air swirlers among the array can be turned on or off based on a required burner capacity.

A method for operating a burner arrangement of a heat engine, particularly a gas turbine, having a plurality of burners, each having at least one pilot burner and main burner, in which method, on the basis of a preset operation of the heat engine, the total quantity of fuel supplied to the burners is maintained substantially constant in a load-controlled manner: in a first group of burners, for each burner, both the pilot burner as well as the main burner are supplied with fuel; in a second group of burners, the fuel supply to the main burners is interrupted, while the pilot burners continue to be operated; and the fuel quantity remaining as a result of the interruption of the fuel supply to the main burners of the second group is redistributed to the still active main burners of the first group. CO emissions are reduced as a result.

Processes and systems for producing glass fibers having regions devoid of glass using submerged combustion melters, including feeding a vitrifiable feed material into a feed inlet of a melting zone of a melter vessel, and heating the vitrifiable material with at least one burner directing combustion products of an oxidant and a first fuel into the melting zone under a level of the molten material in the zone. One or more of the burners is configured to impart heat and turbulence to the molten material, producing a turbulent molten material comprising a plurality of bubbles suspended in the molten material, the bubbles comprising at least some of the combustion products, and optionally other gas species introduced by the burners. The molten material and bubbles are drawn through a bushing fluidly connected to a forehearth to produce a glass fiber comprising a plurality of interior regions substantially devoid of glass.

A method of operating a combustion burner to heat a furnace. Fuel and combustion air are supplied into a combustion zone and ignited. Additional combustion air is supplied into the atmosphere outside of the combustion zone. The amount of additional combustion air supplied outside of the combustion zone is decreased as a temperature of the atmosphere inside the furnace increases such that the content of nitrogen oxides (NOx), as corrected for 3% O.sub.2 (cNOx (3% O.sub.2)), in the gases generated by combustion of the fuel and the combustion air and emitted from the furnace maintained below a predetermined value.

Burner comprising an inner fluid supply unit and an outer fluid supply unit, wherein the inner fluid supply unit comprises a first inner fluid ejection element, a second inner fluid ejection element encompassing the first inner fluid ejection element and a third inner fluid ejection element encompassing the second inner fluid ejection element and wherein the inner fluid supply unit is configured for ejecting a first oxidant, a second oxidant and a fuel. The outer fluid supply unit comprises at least two outer fluid ejection elements, arranged at a specific radial distance from the inner fluid supply unit, wherein each individual outer fluid ejection element is configured for ejecting the first oxidant and the second oxidant by means of a central fluid ejection element and an encompassing fluid ejection element encompassing the central fluid ejection element.

Embodiments of the present invention include high-temperature staged recirculating burners and radiant tube burner assemblies that provide high efficiency, low NOx and CO emissions, and uniform temperature characteristics. One such staged recirculating burner includes a combustion tube having inside and outside helical fins forming opposing spiral pathways for combustion gases and products of combustion, a combustion nozzle coupled to the combustion tube, a gas tube running axially into the combustion tube, and a staging gas nozzle coupled to the gas tube, where the staging gas nozzle includes radial exit holes into the combustion tube and an axial gas staging tube extending into the combustion nozzle to stage combustion.

A burner and methods of using the burner. The burner utilizes bypass conduits to separate the combustion air that is passed to the primary combustion zone into two or more portions. The two portions are injected into the primary combustion zone at different points so as to reduce the flame temperature. A NOx reducing medium may be mixed with the combustion air in the bypass conduit. The NOx reducing medium may be flue gases from a combustion chamber having the primary combustion zone.

A method of melting a charge in a double-pass tilt rotary furnace having a door, including operating a first burner at a first firing rate, the first burner being mounted in a lower portion of the door and producing a first flame having a length; operating a second burner at a second firing rate, the second burner being mounted in an upper portion of the door and producing a second flame having a length, the second flame being distal from the charge relative to the first flame; in an initial phase when the solids in the charge impede the first flame, controlling the second firing rate to be greater than the first firing rate; and in an later phase after melting of the solids in the charge sufficiently that the first flame is not impeded, controlling the first firing rate to be greater than the second firing rate.

A system and method for synchronized oxy-fuel boosting of a regenerative glass melting furnace including first and second sets of regenerative air-fuel burners, a first double-staged oxy-fuel burner mounted in a first wall, and a second double-staged oxy-fuel burner mounted in a second wall, each oxy-fuel burner having a primary oxygen valve to apportion a flow of oxygen between primary oxygen and staged oxygen and a staging mode valve to apportion the flow of staged oxygen between an upper staging port and a lower staging port in the respective burner, and a controller programmed to control the primary oxygen valve and the staging mode valve of each of the first and second oxy-fuel burners to adjust flame characteristics of the first and second oxy-fuel burners depending on the state of operation of the furnace.

A recuperative gas burner for industrial applications can include a combustion chamber and a burner tip providing an outlet opening of the combustion chamber. The gas burner includes a gas supply for combustion gas having a first gas supply duct and a second gas supply duct. The combustion gas can be provided to the combustion chamber through the first gas supply duct. The combustion gas can also be provided to the burner tip through the second gas supply duct. The gas burner can include an air supply for combustion air and an exhaust gas flow channel for exhaust gas, wherein the exhaust gas flow channel and the air supply are configured such that combustion air can be heated by the exhaust gas.