Means for providing oxygen enrichment for slurry and liquid fuel burners

A fuel burner comprising a cental axial fuel nozzle, a first annular shell defining a first passage surrounding said nozzle for delivery of primary oxidant gas, a combustion zone downstream of said nozzle where the fuel is combusted with said gas and a diffuser plate for swirling said gas into said combustion zone, wherein said diffuser plate has a series of vanes emanating radially outward from said fuel nozzle wherein said vanes have at least one trailing edge curved outward from the plane of said diffuser plate such that said edge is directed in the downstream direction of the flow of said primary oxidant gas in said first passage and said diffuser plate includes means for dispensing oxygenenriched gas to the primary oxidant gas supplied by a pipe means.

A coal-water slurry burner sized for operation in the range of approximately 2 to 400 million BTU's per hour, comprising:

• a central axial coal-water slurry nozzle, a first annual shell defining a first passage surrounding said nozzle for delivery of primary oxidant gas, a combustion zone downstream of said nozzle where the coal-water slurry is combusted with said primary oxidant gas, and a diffuser plate having multiple vanes emanating radially outward from said nozzle which vanes have a trailing edge curved outward from the plane of said diffuser plate such that said edges are directed in the downstream direction of the flow of said primary oxidant gas in said first passage, wherein said vanes have a dispenser of oxygen-enriched gas comprising a hollow interior with apertures communicating with said first passage through said trailing edge of said vanes.