SBIR-STTR Award

Improvements in heating oil combustion technology are needed to ensure this fuel remains a viable part of the U.S. Energy supply mix. These improvements include reduced NOx emissions, reduced firing rates, and increased system efficiency. This project will further develop a technology called low-pressure (fan) air atomization to achieve a dramatic reduction in the NOx emissions of oil burners available to residential users. A practical burner must ignite reliably under cold conditions with a stable flame, have CO emissions under 50 ppm in steady state, and not have coke accumulation during operation. Phase I will develop, produce, and characterize a series of variants of the low pressure air atomization nozzle/burner head concept to allow firing rate operation over the range 0.3 to 0.65 gph (40-90,000 BTU), with controllable nozzle spray angles from 45 degrees to 80 degrees, and with acceptable atomization performance. Then, a practical burner head with a NOx emission level of under 20 ppm at 3% O2 will be demonstrated.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee:
14.4 million households (or 15%) in the United States use either fuel oil or kerosene. This technology has the potential to eliminate tens of thousands of tons of NOx emissions from the environment each year, while at the same time increasing total system operating efficiency