An apparatus and method for producing heat and electricity including a burner to produce radiant heat. A thermal-to-electric conversion device is integrated with the burner and proximate to the radiant heat. The conversion device provides a first side disposed toward the radiant heat and a second side disposed toward a cooling fluid flow path, such as combustion air for the burner or a media to be heated by the burner.

Various aspects provide for a multistage fluidized bed reactor, particularly comprising a volatilization stage and a combustion stage. The gas phases above the bed solids in the respective stages are separated by a wall. An opening (e.g., in the wall) provides for transport of the bed solids from the volatilization stage to the combustion stage. Active control of the gas pressure in the two stages may be used to control residence time. Various aspects provide for a fuel stream processing system having a pretreatment reactor, a combustion reactor, and optionally a condensation reactor. The condensation reactor receives a volatiles stream volatilized by the volatilization reactor. The combustion reactor receives a char stream resulting from the removal of the volatiles by the volatilization reactor.

In staged combustion, wherein fuel is fed into a furnace, and less than all of the gaseous oxidant needed to completely combust the fuel is fed with the fuel and combusted, providing uncombusted fuel, and the remaining portion of gaseous oxidant needed to combust the fuel is fed into the furnace through a second port, fuel is fed and combusted at the second port to heat the second port and lessen the tendency of deposits to form at the second port.

A method is provided for heating a furnace arranged with a heating zone heated with a burner providing a flame extending in a longitudinal direction and fed with a fuel and a primary oxidant, the burner is operated with a mass relationship between the fed fuel and primary oxidant permitting less than 50% of the fed fuel to be combusted using the primary oxidant, and a respective pair of secondary oxidant lances are provided one either side of the furnace pointing into the heating zone, lancing a secondary oxidant into the heating zone downstream of the burner substantially parallel with a cross plane, such that a temperature is measured downstream of the lances and that each of the lance pairs includes an upstream, low-speed first and a downstream, high-speed second lance, wherein the amount of secondary oxidant supplied via the first lance is regulated to achieve a homogenous lateral temperature profile. A related furnace is also provided.

The invention relates to a method for combusting a fuel gas with an oxidant by using a burner assembly (10) comprising a burner (12) and a lance (14), the method comprising providing via the burner (12) a main gas flow to a combustion, wherein the main gas flow comprises a main part of the fuel gas and a first part of the oxidant. Further, the method comprises providing via the lance (14) a staging gas flow to the combustion, wherein the staging gas flow comprises a second part of the oxidant and an auxiliary part of the fuel gas. The main part of the fuel gas is larger than the auxiliary part of the fuel gas. Furthermore, the invention relates to a burner assembly (10) and a furnace comprising such.

Emissions of NO.sub.x and/or CO are reduced at the stack by systems and methods wherein a primary fuel is thoroughly mixed with a specific range of excess combustion air. The primary fuel-air mixture is then discharged and anchored within a combustion chamber of a burner. Further, the systems and methods provide for dynamically controlling NO.sub.x content in emissions from a furnace by adjusting the flow of primary fuel and of a secondary stage fuel, and in some cases controlling the amount or placement of combustion air into the furnace.

Various aspects provide for a multistage fluidized bed reactor, particularly comprising a volatilization stage and a combustion stage. The gas phases above the bed solids in the respective stages are separated by a wall. An opening (e.g., in the wall) provides for transport of the bed solids from the volatilization stage to the combustion stage. Active control of the gas pressure in the two stages may be used to control residence time. Various aspects provide for a fuel stream processing system having a pretreatment reactor, a combustion reactor, and optionally a condensation reactor. The condensation reactor receives a volatiles stream volatilized by the volatilization reactor. The combustion reactor receives a char stream resulting from the removal of the volatiles by the volatilization reactor.

A hydrogen gas burner structure includes a first cylinder tube, a second cylinder tube, a third cylinder tube, and an ignition device. An inside of the first cylinder tube is configured such that hydrogen gas flows. A space between the first cylinder tube and the second cylinder tube is configured such that a first combustion-supporting gas containing oxygen gas flows. A space between the second cylinder tube and the third cylinder tube is configured such that a second combustion-supporting gas containing oxygen gas flows. The ignition device is configured to ignite mixed gas. The tip of the first cylinder tube is located upstream of the tips of the second and third cylinder tubes in a gas flow direction in which the hydrogen gas and the first combustion-supporting gas and the second combustion-supporting gas flow.

The present invention provides a fuel incinerating system comprising a fuel injector, a multi-stage fuel-air mixing device comprising a plurality of fuel intake tubes stacked vertically and configured to provide annular gaps between one or more of the vertically stacked fuel intake tubes to entrain ambient air to form a fuel-air mixture; and a combustor in communication with the fuel-air mixing device and defining a combustion chamber and in communication with an ignition source. The combustor is configured to impede flow of the fuel-air mixture through the combustion chamber to achieve a desired retention time of the fuel-air mixture within the combustion chamber to achieve substantially complete combustions of the fuel.

An oxy-fuel burner including a central burner element having a central conduit terminating in a central nozzle and an annular conduit terminating in an annular nozzle surrounding the central conduit, the central conduit flowing a first reactant and the annular conduit flowing a second reactant; a first staging conduit spaced apart from a side of the central burner element and terminating in a first staging nozzle; a second staging conduit spaced apart from an opposite side the central burner element and terminating in a second staging nozzle; a first mechanism to apportion a flow of the second reactant into a non-zero primary flow of the second reactant directed to the annular conduit and a non-zero secondary flow of the second reactant; and a second mechanism to selectively apportion the secondary flow of the second reactant between the staging conduits; wherein one reactant is fuel and the other reactant is oxygen.