摘要 |
<p>Disclosed is a method of treating the components of a gaseous fuel mixture to obtain a predetermined mass ratio of the gaseous components for use in a metallurgical melting furnace. Two streams of gaseous fuel components are temperature equalized in a heat exchanger, pressure equalized by pressure balancing regulators, and mixed together by a mixing valve which controls only the volume flow rates of the two streams. The resulting gaseous fuel mixture has a predetermined oxygen to fuel mass ratio, which is easily maintained near stoichiometric composition and which when combusted, supplies a hot gaseous blast of predetermined composition. When air and a liquefied fuel such as liquid propane are the fuel components, the liquefied fuel is vaporized prior to heat equalizing, pressure equalizing, and mixing. When a gaseous fuel such as natural gas is one of the fuel components, no vaporization or dilution is required. The resulting carefully controlled gaseous fuel mixture is used to provide both the heat and the required atmosphere of controlled chemical composition in a copper melting furnace.</p> |