Design, Simulation, and Experimental Study of a Novel Industrial Methanol Heat Exchange Hot Air Furnace

Abstract

Abstract. Green methanol, as a clean and renewable energy source, shows broad prospects for development and application. A heat-exchange hot air furnace transfers the thermal energy generated by fuel combustion to air through heat exchange, thereby producing clean hot air, which is widely used in various industrial fields. In this study, a novel industrial methanol heat-exchange hot air furnace was proposed, and numerical simulations were conducted based on computational fluid dynamics. The investigation focused on the atomization, evaporation, and combustion of methanol fuel within the burner, as well as the heat exchange between flue gas and air inside the furnace. A multi-physics-coupled numerical model was established within the computational fluid dynamic framework, and the combustion phenomena and fluid dynamic characteristics in the methanol heat-exchange furnace were systematically analyzed. Model validation indicates that the maximum temperature deviation between simulation results and experimental data is less than 5%. The average outlet temperature of the hot air is 502 K, while the average outlet temperature of the flue gas is 541 K, both of which satisfy the design target range of 493–553 K. The experimentally measured thermal efficiency of the system reaches 85.7%. Emission results indicate that the NOx concentration is approximately 16 mg/m3, while the concentrations of SO2 and particulate matter are all below 3 mg/m3, meeting the requirements of the national industrial furnace air pollutant emission standards. The developed numerical model provides a solid theoretical reference for methanol heat-exchange furnaces.