Exhaust gas composition characterization in combustion systems

A method of operating an exhaust testing system to characterize exhaust gas composition, the method comprising:

• capturing, by sampling pipes attached to a cage mounted to an exhaust stack of a combustion system, exhaust gas from the combustion system;
• providing, by the sampling pipes, the exhaust gas to a gas analyzer;
• determining, by the gas analyzer, a composition of the exhaust gas;
• indicating, by the gas analyzer, the composition of the exhaust gas to a controller;
• and
• adjusting, by the controller, an input gas composition to the combustion system based on the composition of the exhaust gas.

One or more non-transitory computer-readable media stored thereon instructions to control exhaust gas composition of a combustion system, that, in response to execution, cause a computing device comprising a processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

• obtaining, from a laser heterodyne radiometer, a measurement that indicates a proportion of unreacted natural gas in exhaust gas generated by the combustion system wherein the laser heterodyne radiometer receives the exhaust gas captured by carbon sampling pipes attached to a conical steel cage mounted to an opening of an exhaust stack of the combustion system and measures the proportion of unreacted natural gas in the exhaust gas;
• comparing the proportion of unreacted natural gas in the exhaust gas to a threshold that indicates a maximum allowable proportion of unreacted natural gas in the exhaust gas;
• determining that the proportion of unreacted natural gas in the exhaust gas exceeds the threshold based on the comparison;
• generating signaling to adjust an input fuel-to-air ratio for the combustion system to reduce the proportion of unreacted natural gas in the exhaust gas;
• and
• transferring the signaling for delivery to the combustion system wherein the combustion system adjusts the input fuel-to-air ratio based on the signaling.