Flow and Combustion Performance Analysis of LPG and CNG Shower-Type Burners Using CFD Modeling
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Abstract
The increasing demand for sustainable energy in Thailand’s ceramic industry has led to the need for improving burner performance using cleaner fuels. Although Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) is commonly used due to its high calorific value, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is considered more environmentally friendly and cost-effective. In this study, the combustion and flow characteristics of a shower-type ceramic burner using LPG and CNG were analyzed through Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations and validated by experiments. The CFD work was divided into two parts: a cold-flow analysis to examine fuel–air mixing, and a hot-flow simulation to study combustion behavior. ANSYS Fluent 2021 R2 was used with a tetrahedral mesh and the RNG k–ε turbulence model. Experiments were carried out at 4 psi fuel pressure, and a K-type thermocouple was used to measure flame temperature. The simulated results agreed well with the experimental data, showing average deviations of 6.52% in velocity and 5.30% in temperature. LPG produced a slightly higher peak temperature (1,375.61 K) than CNG (1,332.83 K), while CNG showed higher flow velocity due to its lower density. Moreover, LPG provided a more uniform temperature distribution, which is beneficial for consistent ceramic firing. These results suggest that although CNG is cleaner, LPG offers better combustion characteristics under the current burner design. The findings highlight the potential for improving burner design through CFD modeling to support fuel switching in small-scale ceramic industries in Thailand.
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