Transport membrane combustion process with mixer/swirler combustion chamber

A method of combusting a fuel stream comprising:

• delivering an oxygen-containing stream to a feed zone of an ion transport membrane assembly, wherein molecular oxygen present in the oxygen-containing stream is transported across a plurality of ion transport membranes to a plurality of permeate zones of the ion transport membrane assembly;
• delivering the molecular oxygen present in the plurality of permeate zones to a combustion chamber;
• delivering the fuel stream to the combustion chamber to combust the fuel stream with the molecular oxygen to form an exhaust stream comprising carbon dioxide and water vapor;
• mixing the molecular oxygen and the fuel stream with one or more of (i) a mixer disposed upstream of the combustion chamber and (ii) a swirler disposed inside the combustion chamber;
• heat exchanging the oxygen-containing stream with the exhaust stream via a heat exchanger, prior to delivering the oxygen-containing stream to the feed zone;
• flowing a portion of the exhaust stream comprising carbon dioxide and optionally water vapor into the plurality of permeate zones of the ion transport membrane assembly to form an oxygen-enriched stream comprising the molecular oxygen, carbon dioxide, and optionally water vapor;
• and
• delivering the oxygen-enriched stream to the combustion chamber.