FLOX (Flameless Oxidation)

FLOX, short for flameless oxidation, is a flameless combustion process developed by WS Warmeprozesstechnik GmbH that mixes air and fuel while recirculating exhaust gases back into the combustion chamber, producing a smooth, stable combustion without the flame peaks of conventional burners; above about eight hundred fifty degrees Celsius the flame is effectively suppressed. Because it avoids the peak flame temperatures where nitrogen oxides typically form, the process can reduce nitrogen oxide output by about twenty percent when burning brown coal and by about sixty five percent when burning Polish black coal, and it can approach near zero nitrogen oxide production in principle. First demonstrated in 1990, FLOX also gives more uniform heat distribution and better combustion efficiency, and it is used in industrial applications such as steel and metallurgical furnaces.