Investigation of a Gas Turbine Process With Reheat Combustion at Flue Gas Recirculation and Oxyfuel-Conditions

Author(s):  
Florian Beenken ◽  
Franz Joos

In near future electrical power generation will still be supplied by fossil fuels. To reach the targets of the conference on climate change in Paris 2015 one method proposed is the CO2 sequestration and usage or alternatively storage. Compared to coal-fired power station the amount of CO2 in the exhaust gas of gas turbine power station is much less and therefore more difficult to remove. To enhance the efficiency of the CO2-sequestration process enrichment of the CO2 in the exhaust gas could be a solution. This can be achieved by exhaust gas recirculation or by burning with pure O2 instead of air avoiding a lot of N2 in the exhaust gas, called Oxyfuel process. The work concerns to investigations of a reheat gas turbine operating with flue gas recirculation as well as with Oxyfuel operation. The thermodynamic process has been modeled in detail considering the additional demand of cooling of the combustors and the turbines at Oxyfuel process. Additional combustion experiments have been carried out with flue gas recirculation as well as with Oxyfuel conditions burning Natural Gas with O2 in a CO2 environment to investigate the flame stability and extinction limit. The thermophysical properties, like specific heat capacity and sound velocity, are strongly altered by the high content of CO2 and H2O in the fluid of the turbine as well as of the compressor. For example during Oxyfuel conditions the pressure ratio is expected to decrease to about 78% of air operation. The influence of flue gas recirculation and Oxyfuel process to the gas composition as well as to the heat transfer and exit conditions are discussed.

Author(s):  
V. Prakash ◽  
J. Steimes ◽  
D. J. E. M. Roekaerts ◽  
S. A. Klein

The increasing amount of renewable energy and emission norms challenge gas turbine power plants to operate at part-load with high efficiency, while reducing NOx and CO emissions. A novel solution to this dilemma is external Flue Gas Recirculation (FGR), in which flue gases are recirculated to the gas turbine inlet, increasing compressor inlet temperature and enabling higher part load efficiencies. FGR also alters the oxidizer composition, potentially leading to reduced NOx levels. This paper presents a kinetic model using chemical reactor networks in a lean premixed combustor to study the impact of FGR on emissions. The flame zone is split in two perfectly stirred reactors modelling the flame front and the recirculation zone. The flame reactor is determined based on a chemical time scale approach, accounting for different reaction kinetics due to FGR oxidizers. The recirculation zone is determined through empirical correlations. It is followed by a plug flow reactor. This method requires less details of the flow field, has been validated with literature data and is generally applicable for modelling premixed flames. Results show that due to less O2 concentration, NOx formation is inhibited down to 10–40% and CO levels are escalated up to 50%, for identical flame temperatures. Increasing combustor pressure leads to a rise in NOx due to thermal effects beyond 1800 K, and a drop in CO levels, due to the reduced chemical dissociation of CO2. Wet FGR reduces NOx by 5–10% and increases CO by 10–20%.


2014 ◽  
Vol 137 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans E. Wettstein

The gas turbine combined cycle (GTCC) is the best currently available choice, if gaps in the renewable electric power supply need being filled with power from fossil fuels. The GTCC manufacturers are in a fierce competition responding to these needs, especially for the best part load efficiency, the fastest load ramp capability and for the lowest low load power parking at an acceptable NOx and CO emission level. But there is an option outperforming the GTCC technology for the above mentioned requirements, which is theoretically known since years but it has not yet been practically developed. It is the semiclosed recuperated cycle (SCRC). Wettstein (2013) has described this recently in “The Air Breathing Semiclosed Recuperated Cycle and Its Super Chargeable Predecessors,” Gas Turbine World 2013, March/April Issue, Vol. 42, No. 2). The SCRC does not require any component technology, which is not yet proven in operating large commercial GTCC or GT plants. But of course the cycle integration is a different one, requiring a specific design of the components. An inherent side feature of the SCRC is the exhaust gas composition, which corresponds to a near-stoichiometric combustion gas. This allows comparing the SCRC with a (CO2−) capture ready GTCC having exhaust gas recirculation. The above mentioned article, the thermodynamic performance analysis of a SCRC with an adiabatic compressor is described. But the cycle becomes even more attractive with an intercooling stage in each of the two compressors. Here, this is quantified with another detailed thermodynamic analysis. Additionally, also an ideal case with isothermal compression is analyzed. The latter is of course unrealistic for a practical realization. But it indicates the potential of using more than one intercooling stage per compressor. The aim of this paper is to quantitatively compare the three variants with adiabatic, intercooled and isothermal compressors. In all three cases the same turbine and recuperator temperature limitations are used while some other cycle data assumptions are adapted to the compressor technology in order to achieve an optimal performance level for each variant. The thermodynamic results have been cross-checked with a breakdown of the exergy losses in the three variants. The final results for base load operation indicate that the intercooled variant could become the best choice.


Author(s):  
Robin C. Payne ◽  
Manuel Arias ◽  
Vassilis Stefanis

For the next generation of combined cycles, it is essential to not only improve the performance of a gas turbine combined cycle power plant, but also reduce its environmental impact. Flue Gas Recirculation is a useful method to increase CO2 concentration in the exhaust stream, allowing a smaller and lower cost carbon capture plant than would be required without FGR. Conventional FGR methodology requires a complex mixer with long mixing section to achieve acceptable inlet conditions for the GT compressor. A novel approach is presented, where the method of introducing the flue gas to the compressor has been substantially rethought to provide a low cost and robust FGR solution for carbon capture and sequestration applications. In this paper, CFD analysis of the flow in the intake section is used to demonstrate the operating principle of such a method, and cycle modelling calculations to compare its performance with a more conventional approach.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 4333
Author(s):  
Joon Ahn ◽  
Hyouck-Ju Kim

A 0.5 MW class oxy-fuel boiler was developed to capture CO2 from exhaust gas. We adopted natural gas as the fuel for industrial boilers and identified characteristics different from those of pulverized coal, which has been studied for power plants. We also examined oxy-fuel combustion without flue gas recirculation (FGR), which is not commonly adopted in power plant boilers. Oxy-fuel combustion involves a stretched flame that uniformly heats the combustion chamber. In oxy-natural-gas FGR combustion, water vapor was included in the recirculated gas and the flame was stabilized when the oxygen concentration of the oxidizer was 32% or more. While flame delay was observed at a partial load for oxy-natural-gas FGR combustion, it was not observed for other combustion modes. In oxy-fuel combustion, the flow rate and flame fullness decrease but, except for the upstream region, the temperature near the wall is distributed not lower than that for air combustion because of the effect of gas radiation. For this combustion, while the heat flux is lower than other modes in the upstream region, it is more than 60% larger in the downstream region. When oxy-fuel and FGR combustion were employed in industrial boilers, more than 90% of CO2 was obtained, enabling capture, sequestration, and boiler performance while satisfying exhaust gas regulations.


Author(s):  
Stefan Fischer ◽  
David Kluß ◽  
Franz Joos

Flue gas recirculation in combined cycle power plants using hydrocarbon fuels is a promising technology for increasing the efficiency of the post combustion carbon capture and storage process. However, the operation with flue gas recirculation significantly changes the combustion behavior within the gas turbine. In this paper the effects of external flue gas recirculation on the combustion behavior of a generic gas turbine combustor was experimentally investigated. While prior studies have been performed with natural gas, the focus of this paper lies on the investigation of the combustion behavior of alternative fuel gases at atmospheric conditions, namely typical biogas mixtures and syngas. The flue gas recirculation ratio and the fuel mass flow were varied to establish the operating region of stable flammability. In addition to the experimental investigations, a numerical study of the combustive reactivity under flue gas recirculation conditions was performed. Finally, a prediction of blowout limits was performed using a perfectly stirred reactor approach and the experimental natural gas lean extinction data as a reference. The extinction limits under normal (non-vitiated) and flue gas recirculation conditions can be predicted well for all the fuels investigated.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Cemal Benim ◽  
Sohail Iqbal ◽  
Franz Joos ◽  
Alexander Wiedermann

Turbulent reacting flows in a generic swirl gas turbine combustor are investigated numerically. Turbulence is modelled by a URANS formulation in combination with the SST turbulence model, as the basic modelling approach. For comparison, URANS is applied also in combination with the RSM turbulence model to one of the investigated cases. For this case, LES is also used for turbulence modelling. For modelling turbulence-chemistry interaction, a laminar flamelet model is used, which is based on the mixture fraction and the reaction progress variable. This model is implemented in the open source CFD code OpenFOAM, which has been used as the basis for the present investigation. For validation purposes, predictions are compared with the measurements for a natural gas flame with external flue gas recirculation. A good agreement with the experimental data is observed. Subsequently, the numerical study is extended to syngas, for comparing its combustion behavior with that of natural gas. Here, the analysis is carried out for cases without external flue gas recirculation. The computational model is observed to provide a fair prediction of the experimental data and predict the increased flashback propensity of syngas.


Author(s):  
Dieter Winkler ◽  
Pascal Mu¨ller ◽  
Simon Reimer ◽  
Timothy Griffin ◽  
Andre´ Burdet ◽  
...  

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) solutions are currently being assessed in order to address appropriately the climate change challenge. Post-combustion CO2 capture is one of the technologies proposed for both coal-fired and gas-fired power plants. In Natural Gas Combined Cycle (NGCC), the flue gas is treated after the Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG) in a so-called post-combustion CO2 capture module through use of solvents. The size of systems envisaged for the capture of CO2 scales with volumetric flow to be treated together with the CO2 concentration contained in the flue gas. Flue Gas Recirculation (FGR) is proposed as a means to increase CO2 concentration in the flue gas together with a net reduction of volumetric flow to be treated by the CO2 capture module. One of the limiting factors of this technology is the vitiation of air within gas turbine combustor and the associated reduction in oxygen concentration. This paper analyses the influence of air vitiation upon combustion in a generic premix lean industrial burner. Tests are carried out under representative inlet pressure and temperature levels. Variation of inlet oxidizer composition is simulated with the addition of nitrogen and carbon dioxide to the inlet air. It is observed that CO emission increases with oxygen depletion at a fixed residence time, signaling a reduction of combustion reactivity. In addition, NOx emission is shown to be sensitive to oxygen depletion. In order to mitigate reduction of combustion reactivity, hydrogen is added to the fuel, up to 20% in volume. As another alternative, a Catalytic Partial Oxidation (CPO) reactor is used in-situ in order to reform the fuel to different syngas blends. These syngas is then used as fuel, which enables the enhancement of the combustion reactivity counter-acting the impact of FGR conditions. The hydrogen addition appears to help improving the reactivity of the flame, making this concept relevant for operation under vitiated air condition.


Author(s):  
Felix Guethe ◽  
Marta de la Cruz Garci´a ◽  
Andre´ Burdet

Flue gas recirculation (FGR) is a promising technology for the optimization of post-combustion CO2 capture in natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) plants. In this work, the impact of FGR on lean gas turbine premix combustion is predicted by analytical and numerical investigations as well as comparison to experiments. In particular the impact of vitiated air condition and moderate increase of CO2 concentration into combustion reactivity and NOx emission is studied. The influence of inlet pressure, temperature and recirculated NOx are taken as parameters of this study. Two different kinetic schemes are used to predict the impact that FGR has on the combustion process: the GRI3.0 and the RDO6_NO, which is a newly compiled mechanism from the DLR Stuttgart. The effects of the FGR on the NOx emissions are predicted using a chemical reactor network including unmixedness as presumed probability density function (PDF) to account for real effects. The magnitude and ratio of prompt to post-flame thermal NOx changes with the FGR-ratio producing less post flame NOx at reduced O2 content. For technical mixtures (i. e. an industrial fuel injector), NOx emission can be expected to be lower with the vitiation of the oxidizer. This is due to several effects: at low O2 concentration, the highest possible adiabatic flame temperatures for stoichiometric conditions decreases resulting in lower NOx when averaged over all mixing fractions. Further effects result from lower post flame NOx production and the role of “reburn” chemistry, actually reducing NOx (recirculated from the exhaust), which might become relevant for the high recirculation ratios, where parts of the flame would operate at rich stoichiometry at given unmixedness. Therefore in general for each combustor technical mixing could decrease NOx with respect to perfect mixing at high FGR-ratio assuming the engine can still be operated. Although the findings are quite general for gas turbines the advantage that reheat engines have in terms of operation are highlighted. For reheat engines this can be understood as an extension of the “reheat concept” and used as the next step in the goal to achieve minimal emissions at increasing power. In addition, NOx emission obtained in FGR combustion reduces even further when the engine pressure ratio increases, making the concept particularly well suited for reheat engines.


Author(s):  
Dieter Winkler ◽  
Simon Reimer ◽  
Pascal Mu¨ller ◽  
Timothy Griffin

The efficiency and economics of carbon dioxide capture in gas turbine combined cycle power plants can be significantly improved by introducing Flue Gas Recirculation (FGR) to increase the CO2 concentration in the flue gas and reduce the volume of the flue gas treated in the CO2 capture plant [1], [2]. The maximum possible level of FGR is limited to that corresponding to stoichiometric conditions in the combustor. Reduced excess oxygen, however, leads to negative effects on overall fuel reactivity and thus increased CO emissions. Combustion tests have been carried out in a generic burner under typical gas turbine conditions with methane, synthetic natural gas (mixtures of methane and ethane) and natural gas from the Swiss net to investigate the effect of different C2+ contents in the fuel on CO burnout. To locate the flame front and to measure emissions for different residence times a traversable gas probe was designed and employed. Increasing the FGR ratio led to lower reactivity indicated by a movement of the flame front downstream. Thus, sufficient flame burnout—indicated by low emissions of unburned components (CO, UHC)—required a longer residence time in the combustion chamber. Adding C2+ or H2 to the fuel moved the flame zone back upstream and reduced the burnout time. Tests were performed for the various fuel compositions at different FGR ratios and oxidant preheat temperatures. For all conditions the addition of ethane (6 and 16% vol.) or hydrogen (20% vol.) to methane shows comparable trends. Addition of hydrogen to (synthetic) natural gas which already contains C2+ has less of a beneficial effect on reactivity and CO burnout than the addition of hydrogen to pure methane. A simple ideal reactor network based on plug flow reactors with internal hot gas recirculation was used to model combustion in the generic combustor. The purpose of such a simple model is to generate a design basis for future tests with varying operating conditions. The model was able to reproduce the trends found in the experimental investigation, for example the level of H2 required to offset the effect of oxygen depletion due to simulated FGR.


Author(s):  
Felix Guethe ◽  
Dragan Stankovic ◽  
Franklin Genin ◽  
Khawar Syed ◽  
Dieter Winkler

Concerning the efforts in reducing the impact of fossil fuel combustion on climate change for power production utilizing gas turbine engines Flue Gas Recirculation (FGR) in combination with post combustion carbon capture and storage (CCS) is one promising approach. In this technique part of the flue gas is recirculated and introduced back into the compressor inlet reducing the flue gas flow (to the CCS) and increasing CO2 concentrations. Therefore FGR has a direct impact on the efficiency and size of the CO2 capture plant, with significant impact on the total cost. However, operating a GT under depleted O2 and increased CO2 conditions extends the range of normal combustor experience into a new regime. High pressure combustion tests were performed on a full scale single burner reheat combustor high-pressure test rig. The impact of FGR on NOx and CO emissions is analyzed and discussed in this paper. While NOx emissions are reduced by FGR, CO emissions increase due to decreasing O2 content although the SEV reheat combustor could be operated without problem over a wide range of operating conditions and FGR. A mechanism uncommon for GTs is identified whereby CO emissions increase at very high FGR ratios as stoichiometric conditions are approached. The feasibility to operate Alstom’s reheat engine (GT24/GT26) under FGR conditions up to high FGR ratios is demonstrated. FGR can be seen as continuation of the sequential combustion system which already uses a combustor operating in vitiated air conditions. Particularly promising is the increased flexibility of the sequential combustion system allowing to address the limiting factors for FGR operation (stability and CO emissions) through separated combustion chambers.


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