Mixture Preparation Effects on Distributed Combustion for Gas Turbine Applications

2012 ◽  
Vol 134 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed E. E. Khalil ◽  
Ashwani K. Gupta ◽  
Kenneth M. Bryden ◽  
Sang C. Lee

Distributed combustion is now known to provide significantly improved performance of gas turbine combustors. Key features of distributed combustion include uniform thermal field in the entire combustion chamber for significantly improved pattern factor and avoidance of hot-spot regions that promote thermal NOx emissions, negligible emissions of hydrocarbons and soot, low noise, and reduced air cooling requirements for turbine blades. Distributed combustion requires controlled mixing between the injected air, fuel, and hot reactive gasses from within the combustor prior to mixture ignition. The mixing process impacts spontaneous ignition of the mixture to result in improved distributed combustion reactions. Distributed reactions can be achieved in premixed, partially premixed, or nonpremixed modes of combustor operation with sufficient entrainment of hot and active species present in the combustion zone and their rapid turbulent mixing with the reactants. Distributed combustion with swirl is investigated here to further explore the beneficial aspects of such combustion under relevant gas turbine combustion conditions. The near term goal is to develop a high intensity combustor with ultralow emissions of NOx and CO, and a much improved pattern factor and eventual goal of near zero emission combustor. Experimental results are reported for a cylindrical geometry combustor for different modes of fuel injection with emphasis on the resulting pollutants emission. In all the cases, air was injected tangentially to impart swirl to the flow inside the combustor. Ultra low NOx emissions were found for both the premixed and nonpremixed combustion modes for the geometries investigated here. Results showed very low levels of NO (∼10 ppm) and CO (∼21 ppm) emissions under nonpremixed mode of combustion with air preheats at an equivalence ratio of 0.6 and a moderate heat release intensity of 27 MW/m3-atm. Results are also reported on lean stability limits and OH* chemiluminescence under different fuel injection scenarios for determining the extent of distribution combustion conditions. Numerical simulations have also been performed to help develop an understanding of the mixing process for better understanding of ignition and combustion.

Author(s):  
Alessandro Innocenti ◽  
Antonio Andreini ◽  
Andrea Giusti ◽  
Bruno Facchini ◽  
Matteo Cerutti ◽  
...  

In the present paper a numerical analysis of a low NOx partially premixed burner for industrial gas turbine applications is presented. The first part of the work is focused on the study of the premixing process inside the burner. Standard RANS CFD approach was used: k–ε turbulence model was modified and calibrated in order to find a configuration able to fit available experimental profiles of fuel/air concentration at the exit of the burner. The resulting profiles at different test points have been used to perform reactive simulations of an experimental test rig, where exhaust NOx emissions were measured. An assessment of the turbulent combustion model was carried out with a critical investigation of the expected turbulent combustion regimes in the system and taking into account the partially premixed nature of the flame due to the presence of diffusion type pilot flames. A reliable numerical setup was discovered by comparing predicted and measured NOx emissions at different operating conditions and at different split ratio between main and pilot fuel. In the investigated range, the influence of the premixer in the NOx formation rate was found to be marginal if compared with the pilot flame one. The calibrated numerical setup was then employed to explore possible modifications to fuel injection criteria and fuel split, with the aim of minimizing exhaust NOx emissions. This preliminary numerical screening of alternative fuel injection strategies allowed to define a set of advanced configurations to be investigated in future experimental tests.


Author(s):  
Y. Wang ◽  
L. Reh ◽  
D. Pennell ◽  
D. Winkler ◽  
K. Döbbeling

Stationary gas turbines for power generation are increasingly being equipped with low emission burners. By applying lean premixed combustion techniques for gaseous fuels both NOx and CO emissions can be reduced to extremely low levels (NOx emissions <25vppm, CO emissions <10vppm). Likewise, if analogous premix techniques can be applied to liquid fuels (diesel oil, Oil No.2, etc.) in gas-fired burners, similar low level emissions when burning oils are possible. For gas turbines which operate with liquid fuel or in dual fuel operation, VPL (Vaporised Premixed Lean)-combustion is essential for obtaining minimal NOx-emissions. An option is to vaporise the liquid fuel in a separate fuel vaporiser and subsequently supply the fuel vapour to the natural gas fuel injection system; this has not been investigated for gas turbine combustion in the past. This paper presents experimental results of atmospheric and high-pressure combustion tests using research premix burners running on vaporised liquid fuel. The following processes were investigated: • evaporation and partial decomposition of the liquid fuel (Oil No.2); • utilisation of low pressure exhaust gases to externally heat the high pressure fuel vaporiser; • operation of ABB premix-burners (EV burners) with vaporised Oil No.2; • combustion characteristics at pressures up to 25bar. Atmospheric VPL-combustion tests using Oil No.2 in ABB EV-burners under simulated gas turbine conditions have successfully produced emissions of NOx below 20vppm and of CO below 10vppm (corrected to 15% O2). 5vppm of these NOx values result from fuel bound nitrogen. Little dependence of these emissions on combustion pressure bas been observed. The techniques employed also ensured combustion with a stable non luminous (blue) flame during transition from gaseous to vaporised fuel. Additionally, no soot accumulation was detectable during combustion.


Author(s):  
Gordon E. Andrews ◽  
S. A. R. Ahmed

The scale up of jet shear layer low NOx concepts for compact gas turbine applications is considered using natural gas as the fuel with all experiments at one atmosphere pressure and 600K air inlet temperature. A 76mm diameter cylindrical combustor with 4 round jet shear layers was compared with a near double scale combustor with 140mm diameter and 4 round jet shear layers with the same total blockage as for the smaller combustor. This is compared with 16 round jet shear layers of the same diameter as for the smaller combustor. The shear layer air holes were fuelled by eight radial inward fuel injection holes in each shear layer jet. All three designs had acceptable combustion efficiencies, but the NOx emissions were considerably higher for the 4 shear layer design in the larger combustion. When the same shear layer hole size was used and the number increased in the larger combustor the NOx emissions were identical. Changing the shape of the hole from circulat to slot for the same area, considerably reduced the NOx in the four hole 76mm combustor, but had little effect on the 16 hole 140mm combustor. Fuel staging within the array of shear layers was successfully demonstrated for four levels of fuel staging. There was some intermixing of air from the unfuelled jets, but this had only a small effect on the combustion efficiency and flame stability. A practical range of simulated power turndown was demonstrated with little NOx penalty. This was achieved with no wall between the staged shear layer regions and hence leads to very compact combustor designs.


2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (2) ◽  
pp. 369-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Fukuizumi ◽  
J. Masada ◽  
V. Kallianpur ◽  
Y. Iwasaki

Mitsubishi completed design development and verification load testing of a steam-cooled M501H gas turbine at a combined cycle power plant at Takasago, Japan in 2001. Several advanced technologies were specifically developed in addition to the steam-cooled components consisting of the combustor, turbine blades, vanes, and the rotor. Some of the other key technologies consisted of an advanced compressor with a pressure ratio of 25:1, active clearance control, and advanced seal technology. Prior to the M501H, Mitsubishi introduced cooling-steam in “G series” gas turbines in 1997 to cool combustor liners. Recently, some of the advanced design technologies from the M501H gas turbine were applied to the G series gas turbine resulting in significant improvement in output and thermal efficiency. A noteworthy aspect of the technology transfer is that the upgraded G series M701G2 gas turbine has an almost equivalent output and thermal efficiency as H class gas turbines while continuing to rely on conventional air cooling of turbine blades and vanes, and time-proven materials from industrial gas turbine experience. In this paper we describe the key design features of the M701G2 gas turbine that make this possible such as the advanced 21:1 compressor with 14 stages, an advanced premix DLN combustor, etc., as well as shop load test results that were completed in 2002 at Mitsubishi’s in-house facility.


1992 ◽  
Vol 114 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. F. Ali Al-Shaikhly ◽  
G. E. Andrews ◽  
C. O. Aniagolu

Direct fueling of each shear layer generated by an array of holes in a grid plate was shown to have ultralow NOx emissions combined with a good flame stability, compared with a premixed system. Two methods of fuel injection were investigated that had opposite NOx/stability characteristics. Four shear layers in a 76-mm combustor were used at gas turbine primary zone operating conditions with 60 percent simulated primary zone air at one bar pressure. The fuels used were propane and natural gas and a minimum NOx emission of 2.5 ppm at 15 percent oxygen, compatible with a 0.1 percent inefficiency, was demonstrated for natural gas with a reasonable stability margin. These designs have the potential for a dry NOx solution to any current or proposed gas turbine NOx regulation for natural gas.


Author(s):  
F. J. Cunha

A numerical analysis methodology has been created to predict the heat transfer within the air cooling passages of gas turbine blades. In this paper, the turbulent flow heat convection with developed velocity and temperature fields is studied for cavities with turbulators. The influence of Coriolis forces and rotational buoyancy effects were also included. The k-equation turbulence model was employed over most of the cross section while a modified Van Driest’s version of the mixing length hypothesis is used in the near-wall sublayer. This methodology was successfully benchmarked against experimental results for air cooling passages of turbine blades. Analytical results are presented in terms of the Reynolds, Rossby and rotational Rayleigh numbers for realistic operating conditions.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waleed El-Damaty ◽  
Mohamed Gadalla

With the current increase in electricity consumption and energy demand, most of the research focus is shifted towards the means of increasing the power plants efficiency in order to produce more electricity by using as less fuel as possible. Gas turbine power plants specifically have been under the study in the recent years due to its feasibility, low capital cost, simple design, compact size and higher efficiency compared to steam turbine power plants. There are a lot of operating conditions that affect the performance of the gas turbine which includes the inlet air climatic conditions, mass flow rate and the turbine inlet temperature. Many improvements and enhancements became applicable through the advancement in the material and cooling technologies. Cooling techniques could be used to cool the inlet air entering the compressor by utilizing evaporative coolers and mechanical chillers, and to cool the turbine blades in order to avoid a decline in the life of turbine blades due to unwanted exposure to thermal stresses and oxidation. Internal convection cooling, film cooling and transpiration cooling are the three main techniques that can be used in the process of turbine blades cooling. The main objective of this proposal is to improve the durability and performance of gas turbine power plants by proposing the usage of integrated system of solid desiccant with Maisotsenko cooler in the turbine blade cooling and inlet air cooling processes. Four configurations were presented and the results were an increase in the efficiency of the gas turbine cycle for all the cases specially the two stage Maisotsenko desiccant cooling system where the efficiency increased from 33.33% to 34.17% as well as maintaining the turbine inlet temperature at a desired level of 1500°K.


Author(s):  
Roberto Meloni ◽  
Matteo Cerutti ◽  
Alessandro Zucca ◽  
Maurizio Mazzoni

Abstract Main objective of this paper is to assess the capability of numerical models in predicting NOx emissions and flame stabilization mechanisms of a heavy-duty gas turbine burner when operated with hydrogen and hydrogen-methane blends. Effort focused on the selection of the proper input to pre-tabulated Flamelet Generation Manifold combustion model. A dedicated sensitivity to laminar flame speed formulation has been performed as well, since it primarily affects flame stabilization through the closure term of the progress variable transport equation. Available NOx emissions data from full scale annular combustor rig test with hydrogen-air mixtures are presented first in this paper: test results have been used to validate the numerical setup for the reference geometry. Then, the model has been used to predict NOx emissions of alternative geometries in case of pure hydrogen, allowing screening of viable options to reduce the scope of a dedicated test campaign. Concerning flame stabilization mechanisms, simulations have been carried out for a reference geometry first: data from dedicated tests have been used to specialize the tool. Results of modified geometries are shown, to explore the effect of different fuel injection patterns or internal channel modifications. Based on the analysis outcomes, a discussion is provided regarding advantages and drawbacks of each proposed solution, as well as the ability of modelling setup in catching varied flame stabilization mechanisms.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Ramón Quiñonez Arce ◽  
Gordon E. Andrews ◽  
Alan D. Burns ◽  
Naman Al-Dabbagh

Abstract Grid plate flame stabilizers for low NOx emissions have renewed interest in recent years due to their use in low NOx hydrogen gas turbine combustors. For non-premixed grid plate combustion, the difference in flame stabilizer design is in how the grid plate air flow is fueled. In the present work a simple four hole grid plate is investigated using CFD with three methods of fueling the air holes: radially inward fuel injection using 8 fuel nozzles per air hole (Grid Mix, GM 1 and Micromix); central fuel injection (FLOX method); and through a fuel annulus around each air hole (GM2). ANSYS FLUENT CFD predictions for GM2 are compared with axial gas composition traverses inside the combustor and with the mean combustor exit plane emissions. The three methods of fuel injection are also compared using isothermal CFD to determine which of the three methods offer the best mixing quality, which controls the relative NOx emissions. The predictions were for an equivalence ratio of 0.624 for the combustion stage and 0.5 for the isothermal study, using industrial propane. CFD modelling used RANS simulation with Realizable k-epsilon turbulence model, non-premixed combustion with the Steady Laminar Flamelet model. The temperature and mixing profiles obtained for GM2 were in reasonable agreement with the experiments and the other two fuel injection methods were then compared with GM2.


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