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16
Laser Diagnostics for Oxygen-Enhanced Combustion
Sameer V. Naik and Robert P. Lucht
16.1 Introduction
When a fossil fuel is burned, oxygen in the air chemi-
cally reacts with combustible elements of the fuel to
produce heat. Since nitrogen is nearly inert, it is mainly
a diluent that carries away some of the energy released
during the combustion process and produces pollutants.
Oxygen-enhanced combustion has been considered as
an attractive alternative in order to increase efciency,
to reduce volume of the ue gas, to lower emissions of
NO
x
and CO
2
, and to improve heat transfer and ame
stability characteristics. With decreasing costs inv ...