Bioethanol Combustion in an Industrial Gas Turbine Combustor: Simulations and Experiments

Author(s):  
Joost L. H. P. Sallevelt ◽  
Artur K. Pozarlik ◽  
Martin Beran ◽  
Lars-Uno Axelsson ◽  
Gerrit Brem

Combustion tests with bioethanol and diesel as a reference have been performed in OPRA's 2 MWe class OP16 gas turbine combustor. The main purposes of this work are to investigate the combustion quality of ethanol with respect to diesel and to validate the developed CFD model for ethanol spray combustion. The experimental investigation has been conducted in a modified OP16 gas turbine combustor, which is a reverse-flow tubular combustor of the diffusion type. Bioethanol and diesel burning experiments have been performed at atmospheric pressure with a thermal input ranging from 29 to 59 kW. Exhaust gas temperature and emissions (CO, CO2, O2, NOx) were measured at various fuel flow rates while keeping the air flow rate and air temperature constant. In addition, the temperature profile of the combustor liner has been determined by applying thermochromic paint. CFD simulations have been performed with ethanol for five different operating conditions using ANSYS FLUENT. The simulations are based on a 3D RANS code. Fuel droplets representing the fuel spray are tracked throughout the domain while they interact with the gas phase. A liner temperature measurement has been used to account for heat transfer through the flame tube wall. Detailed combustion chemistry is included by using the steady laminar flamelet model. Comparison between diesel and bioethanol burning tests show similar CO emissions, but NOx concentrations are lower for bioethanol. The CFD results for CO2 and O2 are in good agreement, proving the overall integrity of the model. NOx concentrations were found to be in fair agreement, but the model failed to predict CO levels in the exhaust gas. Simulations of the fuel spray suggest that some liner wetting might have occurred. However, this finding could not be clearly confirmed by the test data.

Author(s):  
Joost L. H. P. Sallevelt ◽  
Artur K. Pozarlik ◽  
Gerrit Brem ◽  
Martin Beran ◽  
Lars-Uno Axelsson

The application of ethanol as a biomass-derived fuel in OPRA’s 2 MWe class OP16 radial gas turbine has been studied both numerically and experimentally. The main purpose of this work is to validate the numerical model for future work on biofuel combustion. For the experimental investigation a modified OP16 gas turbine combustor has been used. This reverse-flow tubular combustor is a diffusion type combustor that has been adjusted to be suitable for numerical validation. Two series of ethanol burning experiments have been conducted at atmospheric pressure with a thermal input ranging from 16 to 72 kW. Exhaust gas temperature and emissions (CO, CO2, O2, NOx) were measured at various fuel flow rates while keeping the air flow rate and air temperature constant. In addition, the temperature profile of the combustor liner has been determined by applying thermochromic paint. CFD simulations have been performed in Ansys Fluent for four different operating conditions considered in the experiments. The simulations are based on a 3D RANS code. Fuel droplets representing the fuel spray are tracked throughout the domain while they interact with the gas phase. A temperature profile based on measurements has been prescribed on the liner to account for heat transfer through the flame tube wall. Detailed combustion chemistry is included by using the steady laminar flamelet model. The predicted levels of CO2 and O2 in the exhaust gas are in good agreement with the experimental results. The calculated and measured exhaust gas temperatures show a close match for the low power condition, but more significant deviations are observed in the higher load cases. Also, the comparison pointed out that the CFD model needs to be improved regarding the prediction of the pollutants CO and NOx. Chemiluminescence of CH radicals in the flame front indicated that the flame extends up to the liner, suggesting the presence of fuel near the surface. However, this result was not confirmed by liner temperature measurements using thermochromic paint.


Author(s):  
Jiao Liu ◽  
Jinfu Liu ◽  
Daren Yu ◽  
Zhongqi Wang ◽  
Weizhong Yan ◽  
...  

Failure of hot components in gas turbines often causes catastrophic results. Early fault detection can prevent serious incidents and improve the availability. A novel early fault detection method of hot components is proposed in this article. Exhaust gas temperature is usually used as the indicator to detect the fault in the hot components, which is measured by several exhaust thermocouples with uniform distribution at the turbine exhaust section. The healthy hot components cause uniform exhaust gas temperature (EGT) profile, whereas the hot component faults could cause the uneven EGT profile. However, the temperature differences between different thermocouple readings are also affected by different ambient and operating conditions, and it sometimes has a greater influence on EGT than the faults. In this article, an accurate EGT model is presented to eliminate the influence of different ambient and operating conditions on EGT. Especially, the EGT profile swirl under different ambient and operating conditions is also included by considering the information of the thermocouples’ spatial correlations and the EGT profile swirl angle. Based on the developed EGT model, the detection performance of early fault detection of hot components in gas turbine is improved. The accuracy and effectiveness of the developed early fault detection method are evaluated by the real-world gas turbine data.


Author(s):  
Paul O. Hedman ◽  
Daniel V. Flores ◽  
Thomas H. Fletcher

This objective of this study was to obtain instantaneous gas temperature measurements using a coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectrometer (CARS) in a laboratory-scale, gas-turbine combustor (LSGTC) with a pre-mixed, swirl-stabilized, natural gas flame. These measurements complement PLIF measurements of OH radical, and LDA measurements of velocity which are presented in companion papers [1,2]. Gas temperature measurements were obtained at each of four operating conditions (high swirl and medium swirl at fuel equivalence ratios of 0.80 and 0.65). Results of mean and standard deviation measurements are included in this paper for all four test cases. Additionally, example probably density functions (PDF) for the gas temperature at the 40 mm, 60 mm, and 80 mm axial locations are presented for the for the high swirl (HS) φ = 0.80 case (most stable flame) and the medium swirl (MS) φ = 0.65 case (least stable flame).


Author(s):  
Masato Hiramatsu ◽  
Yoshifumi Nakashima ◽  
Sadamasa Adachi ◽  
Yudai Yamasaki ◽  
Shigehiko Kaneko

One approach to achieving 99% combustion efficiency (C.E.) and 10 ppmV or lower NOx (at 15%O2) in a micro gas turbine (MGT) combustor fueled by biomass gas at a variety of operating conditions is with the use of flameless combustion (FLC). This paper compares experimentally obtained results and CHEMKIN analysis conducted for the developed combustor. As a result, increase the number of stage of FLC combustion enlarges the MGT operation range with low-NOx emissions and high-C.E. The composition of fuel has a small effect on the characteristics of ignition in FLC. In addition, NOx in the engine exhaust is reduced by higher levels of CO2 in the fuel.


Author(s):  
S. James ◽  
M. S. Anand ◽  
B. Sekar

The paper presents an assessment of large eddy simulation (LES) and conventional Reynolds averaged methods (RANS) for predicting aero-engine gas turbine combustor performance. The performance characteristic that is examined in detail is the radial burner outlet temperature (BOT) or fuel-air ratio profile. Several different combustor configurations, with variations in airflows, geometries, hole patterns and operating conditions are analyzed with both LES and RANS methods. It is seen that LES consistently produces a better match to radial profile as compared to RANS. To assess the predictive capability of LES as a design tool, pretest predictions of radial profile for a combustor configuration are also presented. Overall, the work presented indicates that LES is a more accurate tool and can be used with confidence to guide combustor design. This work is the first systematic assessment of LES versus RANS on industry-relevant aero-engine gas turbine combustors.


Author(s):  
Sungjun Yoon ◽  
Hongsuk Kim ◽  
Daesik Kim ◽  
Sungwook Park

Stringent emission regulations (e.g., Euro-6) force automotive manufacturers to equip DPF (diesel particulate filter) on diesel cars. Generally, post injection is used as a method to regenerate DPF. However, it is known that post injection deteriorates specific fuel consumption and causes oil dilution for some operating conditions. Thus, an injection strategy for regeneration becomes one of key technologies for diesel powertrain equipped with a DPF. This paper presents correlations between fuel injection strategy and exhaust gas temperature for DPF regeneration. Experimental apparatus consists of a single cylinder diesel engine, a DC dynamometer, an emission test bench, and an engine control system. In the present study, post injection timing covers from 40 deg aTDC to 110 deg aTDC and double post injection was considered. In addition, effects of injection pressures were investigated. The engine load was varied from low-load to mid-load and fuel amount of post injection was increased up to 10mg/stk. Oil dilution during fuel injection and combustion processes were estimated by diesel loss measured by comparing two global equivalences ratios; one is measured from Lambda sensor installed at exhaust port, the other one is estimated from intake air mass and injected fuel mass. In the present study, the differences in global equivalence ratios were mainly caused from oil dilution during post injection. The experimental results of the present study suggest an optimal engine operating conditions including fuel injection strategy to get appropriate exhaust gas temperature for DPF regeneration. Experimental results of exhaust gas temperature distributions for various engine operating conditions were summarized. In addition, it was revealed that amounts of oil dilution were reduced by splitting post injection (i.e., double post injection). Effects of injection pressure on exhaust gas temperature were dependent on combustion phasing and injection strategies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vedant Dwivedi ◽  
Srikanth Hari ◽  
S. M. Kumaran ◽  
B. V. S. S. S. Prasad ◽  
Vasudevan Raghavan

Abstract Experimental and numerical study of flame and emission characteristics in a tubular micro gas turbine combustor is reported. Micro gas turbines are used for distributed power (DP) generation using alternative fuels in rural areas. The combustion and emission characteristics from the combustor have to be studied for proper design using different fuel types. In this study methane, representing fossil natural gas, and biogas, a renewable fuel that is a mixture of methane and carbon-dioxide, are used. Primary air flow (with swirl component) and secondary aeration have been varied. Experiments have been conducted to measure the exit temperatures. Turbulent reactive flow model is used to simulate the methane and biogas flames. Numerical results are validated against the experimental data. Parametric studies to reveal the effects of primary flow, secondary flow and swirl have been conducted and results are systematically presented. An analysis of nitric-oxides emission for different fuels and operating conditions has been presented subsequently.


Author(s):  
Adamos Adamou ◽  
Colin Copeland

Abstract Augmented backside cooling refers to the enhancement of the backside convection of a combustor liner using extended heat transfer surfaces to fully utilise the cooling air by maximising the heat transfer to pumping ratio characteristic. Although film cooling has and still is widely used in the gas turbine industry, augmented backside cooling has been in development for decades now. The reason for this, is to reduce the amount of air used for liner cooling and to also reduce the emissions caused by using film cooling in the primary zones. In the case of micro gas turbines, emissions are of even greater importance, since the regulations for such engines will most likely become stricter in the following years due to a global effort to reduce emission. Furthermore, the liners investigated in this paper are for a 10 kWe micro turbine, destine for various potential markets, such as combine heat and power for houses, EV hybrids and even small UAVs. The majority of these markets require long service intervals, which in turn requires the combustor liners to be under the least amount of thermal stress possible. The desire to also increase combustor inlet temperatures with the use of recuperated exhaust gases, which in turn increase the overall system efficiency, limits the cooling effectiveness of the inlet air. Due to all these reasons, an advanced form of augmented backside cooling would be of substantial significance in such a system. Currently some very simple designs are used in the form of straight plain fins, transverse strips or other similar geometries, but the creation of high heat transfer efficiency surfaces in such small sizes becomes very difficult with traditional subtractive manufacturing methods. When using additive manufacturing though these types of surfaces are not an issue. This paper covers the comparison of experimental results with conjugate heat transfer CFD models and empirical heat balance models for two different AM liner cooling geometries and an AM blank liner. The two cooling fin geometries include a rotating plain fin and an offset strip fin. The liners were tested in an AM built reverse flow radial swirl stabilised combustion chamber at a variety of operating conditions. During the experiments the surfaces were compared using a thermal camera to record the outer liner temperature which was viewed through a quartz outer casing. The experimental results showed that the cooling surfaces were effective at reducing the liner temperatures with minimal pressure losses for multiple operating points. Those results were then compared against the conjugate heat transfer CFD models and the empirical calculations used to design the surfaces initially. From this comparison, it was noticed both the CFD and empirical calculations under predicted the wall temperatures. This is thought to be due to inaccuracies in the predicted flame temperatures and the assumed emissivity values used to calibrate the thermal imaging camera. Further uncertainties arise from the assumption of a constant air and hot gas temperature and mass flow along the cooling surfaces and the lack of data for the surface roughness of the parts.


Author(s):  
K. O. Smith ◽  
A. Fahme

Three subscale, cylindrical combustors were rig tested on natural gas at typical industrial gas turbine operating conditions. The intent of the testing was to determine the effect of combustor liner cooling on NOx and CO emissions. In order of decreasing liner cooling, a metal louvre-cooled combustor, a metal effusion-cooled combustor, and a backside-cooled ceramic (CFCC) combustor were evaluated. The three combustors were tested using the same lean-premixed fuel injector. Testing showed that reduced liner cooling produced lower CO emissions as reaction quenching near the liner wall was reduced. A reduction in CO emissions allows a reoptimization of the combustor air flow distribution to yield lower NOx emissions.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document