Nondestructive neutron imaging diagnosis of acidic gas reduction catalyst after 400-Hour operation in natural gas furnace

摘要: Residential natural gas furnaces are the primary space-heating devices in US homes, leading to substantial environmental impact caused by the acidic components in the furnace combustion gases. To experimentally demonstrate acidic gas reduction in a furnace, a monolithic catalyst was fabricated and was called the AGR. A commercially-available condensing furnace was retrofitted with the AGR, and a 400-hour reliability and durability test was conducted. The results showed that the AGR significantly reduced acidic gases in the flue gas and produced condensate with neutral pH. Challenges were also revealed: inappropriate condensate drainage caused incomplete combustion and amorphous carbon deposits. To nondestructively survey the internal state of the AGR, neutron computed tomography (NCT) was employed to produce spatially resolved 2D and 3D representations of the 2-L, aged AGR component …