Development status and level of low emissions combustor technologies for civil aero-engine

In order to provide a development outlook of low emissions combustor technologies for civil aero-engine from the viewpoint of science and technology, the pollutant emissions controlling methods from rich burn and lean burn are expounded starting from the pollutant mechanism and basic principle, and the current development status of three kinds of low emissions combustion technologies is reviewed, including rich-quench-lean (RQL), lean premixed prevaporised (LPP), and lean direct injection (LDI). And the achieved level of new generation civil aviation low emissions combustor technologies is analyzed. The twin annular premixing swirler (TAPS) combustor using lean burn technology has been applied to aero-engine engineering with airworthiness certification, and it reduces NO_x emissions by 50.0%-65.8% below CAEP/6 (Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection/6), reaching an ultra-low emissions level. It demonstrates the development potential of lean burn. To achieve the super ultra-low emissions goal of better than 75.0% NO_x reduction relative to CAEP/6, it needs to conduct more in-depth research on spray, mixing, flow, combustion and their unsteady interactions, using advanced tools of combustion numerical computations and optical diagnostics.