A computational study on the combustion of hydrogen/methane blended fuels for a micro gas turbines

To understand the combustion performance of using hydrogen/methane blended fuels for a micro gas turbine that was originally designed as a natural gas fueled engine, the combustion characteristics of a can combustor has been modeled and the effects of hydrogen addition were investigated. The simulations were performed with three-dimensional compressible k-ε turbulent flow model and presumed probability density function for chemical reaction. The combustion and emission characteristics with a variable volumetric fraction of hydrogen from 0% to 90% were studied. As hydrogen is substituted for methane at a fixed fuel injection velocity, the flame temperatures become higher, but lower fuel flow rate and heat input at higher hydrogen substitution percentages cause a power shortage. To apply the blended fuels at a constant fuel flow rate, the flame temperatures are increased with increasing hydrogen percentages. This will benefit the performance of gas turbine, but the cooling and the NO_x emissions are the primary concerns. While fixing a certain heat input to the engine with blended fuels, wider but shorter flames at higher hydrogen percentages are found, but the substantial increase of CO emission indicates a decrease in combustion efficiency. Further modifications including fuel injection and cooling strategies are needed for the micro gas turbine engine with hydrogen/methane blended fuel as an alternative.     

Feasibility of pulse combustion in micro gas turbines

In gas turbines, a fast decrease of efficiency appears when the output decreases; the efficiency of a large gas turbine (20…30 MW) is in the order of 40 %, the efficiency of a 30 kW gas turbine with a recuperator is in the order of 25 %, but the efficiency of a very small gas turbine (2…6 kW) in the order of 4…6 % (or 8…12 % with an optimal recuperator). This is mainly a result of the efficiency decrease in kinetic compressors, due to the Reynolds number effect. Losses in decelerating flow in a flow passage are sensitive to the Reynolds number effects. In contrary to the compression, the efficiency of expansion in turbines is not so sensitive to the Reynolds number; very small turbines are made with rather good efficiency because the flow acceleration stabilizes the boundary layer. This study presents a system where the kinetic compressor of a gas turbine is replaced with a pulse combustor. The combustor is filled with a combustible gas mixture, ignited, and the generated high pressure gas is expanded in the turbine. The process is repeated frequently, thus producing a pulsating flow to the turbine; or almost a uniform flow, if several parallel combustors are used and triggered alternately in a proper way. Almost all the compression work is made by the temperature increase from the combustion. This gas turbine type is investigated theoretically and its combustor also experimentally with the conclusion that in a 2 kW power size, the pulse flow gas turbine is not as attractive as expected due to the big size and weight of parallel combustors and due to the efficiency being in the order of 8 % to 10 %. However, in special applications having a very low power demand, below 1000 W, this solution has better properties when compared to the conventional gas turbine and it could be worth of a more detailed investigation.     

燃气轮机催化燃烧室的实验研究

介绍了预混和催化燃烧相结合的燃烧室原理,对此种燃烧室进行实验研究,分析了影响催化燃烧的主要因素。预混与催化燃烧相结合能延长催化剂的使用寿命,改善燃烧室的可靠性,更经济地降低燃气轮机ＮＯｘ的排放。     

Part-load performance characteristics of a lean burn catalytic combustion gas turbine system

The purpose of this study is to compare the part-load performance of a lean burn catalytic combustion gas turbine (LBCCGT) system in three different control modes: varying fuel, bleeding off the fuel mixture flow after the compressor and varying rotational speed. The conversions of methane species for chemical process are considered. A 1D heterogeneous plug flow model was utilized to analyze the system performance. The actual turbomachinery components were designed and predicted performance maps were applied to system performance research. The part-load characteristics under three control strategies were numerically investigated. The main results show that: the combustor inlet temperature is a significant factor that can significantly affect the part-load characteristics of the LBCCGT system; the rotational speed control mode can provide the best performance characteristics for part-load operations; the operation range of the bleed off mode is narrower than that of the speed control mode and wider than that of the fuel only mode; with reduced power, methane does not achieve full conversion over the reactor at the fuel only control mode, which will not warrant stable operation of the turbine system; the thermal efficiency of the LBCCGT system at fuel only control strategy is higher than that at bleed off control strategy within the operation range.     

9F型燃机多通道燃烧动态压力监测系统研究

干式低NOx燃烧技术(DLN)能降低燃气轮机NOx排放.燃烧稳定性监测是进行干式低NOx燃烧调整的基础,而燃烧压力脉动则是反映燃烧稳定性的重要参数.研制了适用于GE公司9F型燃机的多通道燃烧动态压力监测系统,包括动态压力传感器、数据采集卡以及分析软件.现场试验显示,该系统能在线采集燃机燃烧室内多通道的压力脉动,与电厂安装的便携式动态压力监测系统(CDMS)数据进行对比,两者都在频率94、138、217、302 Hz附近存在峰值.该系统为9F型燃机进行DLN燃烧调整提供了真实、可靠的数据支持.     

Effects of spray characteristics on combustion performance of a liquid fuel spray in a gas turbine combustor

Spray characteristics like mean drop diameter and spray cone angle play an important role in the process of combustion within a gas turbine combustor. In order to study their effects on wall and exit temperature distributions and combustion efficiency in the combustor, a numerical model of a typical diffusion controlled spray combustion in a can‐type gas turbine combustion chamber has been made. A simple k–ϵ model with wall function treatment for near‐wall region has been adopted for the solution of conservation equations in carrier phase. The initial spray parameters are specified by a suitable PDF for size distribution and a given spray cone angle. A radiation model for the gas phase, based on modified first order moment method, and in consideration of the gas phase as a grey absorbing–emitting medium, has been adopted in the analysis. It has been recognized that an increase in mean drop diameter improves the pattern factor. However, the combustion efficiency attains its maximum at an optimum value of the mean diameter. Higher spray cone angle increases the combustion efficiency and improves the pattern factor, but at the same time, increases the wall temperature. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

贫燃催化燃烧燃气轮机的研究进展

超低热值燃气(ULHVF)种类繁多,总量非常巨大。ULHVF甲烷浓度1%～5%,很难点火燃烧,直接排放到大气中,造成环境污染。催化燃烧是处理ULHVF最有效的燃烧方法。对催化燃烧机理及其燃气轮机催化燃烧的研究现状进行了综述,总结了燃气轮机催化燃烧和燃气轮机贫燃催化燃烧的技术关键点,介绍了燃气轮机贫燃催化燃烧系统、部件工作特性等方面的研究成果,指出了燃气轮机催化燃烧、燃气轮机贫燃催化燃烧的不足以及解决方案,提出了后续工作的发展方向。燃气轮机贫燃催化燃烧的研究进展包括:贫燃催化燃烧特性的数值模拟与试验验证;系统中叶轮机械部件的设计及性能分析;催化燃烧对系统特性影响的分析。     

Distributed swirl combustion for gas turbine application

Colorless distributed combustion (CDC) has been shown to provide significant improvement in gas turbine combustor performance. Colorless distributed combustion with swirl is investigated here to develop ultra-low emissions of NO and CO, and significantly improved pattern factor. Experimental investigations have been performed using a cylindrical geometry combustor with swirling air injection and axial hot gas exit stream from the combustor. Air was injected tangentially to impart swirl to the flow inside the combustor. The results obtained from the combustor have demonstrated very low levels of NO (∼3 PPM) and CO (∼70 PPM) emissions at an equivalence ratio of 0.7 and a high heat release intensity of 36 MW/m³-atm under non-premixed combustion. To further simulate gas turbine operating conditions, inlet air to the combustor was preheated to 600 K temperature and the combustor operated at 2 atm pressure. Results showed very low levels of CO (∼10 PPM) but the NO increased somewhat to ∼10 PPM at an equivalence ratio of 0.5 and heat release intensity of 22.5 MW/m³-atm under non-premixed combustion conditions. For premixed combustion, the combustor demonstrated low levels of both NO (5 PPM) and CO (8 PPM) at an equivalence ratio of 0.6 and a heat release intensity of 27 MW/m³-atm. Results are reported at different equivalence ratios on the emission of NO and CO, lean stability limit and OH^* chemiluminescence. These results suggest that further performance improvement can be achieved with improved fuel mixture preparation prior to the ignition of fuel at higher operational pressures using swirling combustor design for our quest to develop ultra low emission high intensity combustor for gas turbine application.     

Modelling NOx emissions during staged combustion

Staged combustion has been accepted as an effective way to reduce NO_x emission. Based on the comparison of calculated results using Miller and Bowman's (1989, Progr. Energy Combust. Sci. 15 , 287) detailed elementary reaction model with experimental data, it is found effective to apply this model in the simulation of NO formation and destruction during staged combustion. Sensitivity analysis shows that C, CH, CH₂ and HCCO play an important role in NO destruction and reduction under fuel staging. NO generated in the primary zone can be reduced greatly by staged combustion. Besides the air–fuel ratio in the primary combustion zone, the combustion temperature in the reburning zone and the mass factor of the reburning fuel in the overall fuel, the main factors which affect NO destruction and reduction are the position where reburning is introduced and the types of reburning fuel. It is found that reburning cannot be introduced too close to the primary combustion zone. The reburning fuels that can effectively stimulate NO to HCN are H₂ and C₂H₄. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

微型燃气轮机燃烧室性能影响因素的探讨

针对微型燃气轮机燃烧室性能的各种影响因素(进气条件、燃料热值、燃烧室结构等)对燃烧稳定性和燃烧效率的影响,介绍了国内外相关实验和数值模拟研究现状,分析了燃烧室主要污染物的生成机理和影响因素,以及降低氮氧化物排放浓度的技术措施。     

Development of high intensity CDC combustor for gas turbine engines

Colorless distributed combustion (CDC) has been demonstrated to provide ultra-low emission of NOx and CO, improved pattern factor and reduced combustion noise in high intensity gas turbine combustors. The key feature to achieve CDC is the controlled flow distribution, reduce ignition delay, and high speed injection of air and fuel jets and their controlled mixing to promote distributed reaction zone in the entire combustion volume without any flame stabilizer. Large gas recirculation and high turbulent mixing rates are desirable to achieve distributed reactions thus avoiding hot spot zones in the flame. The high temperature air combustion (HiTAC) technology has been successfully demonstrated in industrial furnaces which inherently possess low heat release intensity. However, gas turbine combustors operate at high heat release intensity and this result in many challenges for combustor design, which include lower residence time, high flow velocity and difficulty to contain the flame within a given volume. The focus here is on colorless distributed combustion for stationary gas turbine applications. In the first part of investigation effect of fuel injection diameter and air injection diameter is investigated in detail to elucidate the effect fuel/air mixing and gas recirculation on characteristics of CDC at relatively lower heat release intensity of 5 MW/m³ atm. Based on favorable conditions at lower heat release intensity the effect of confinement size (reduction in combustor volume at same heat load) is investigated to examine heat release intensity up to 40 MW/m³ atm. Three confinement sizes with same length and different diameters resulting in heat release intensity of 20 MW/m³ atm, 30 MW/m³ atm and 40 MW/m³ atm have been investigated. Both non-premixed and premixed modes were examined for the range of heat release intensities. The heat load for the combustor was 25 kW with methane fuel. The air and fuel injection temperature was at normal 300 K. The combustor was operated at 1 atm pressure. The results were evaluated for flow field, fuel/air mixing and gas recirculation from numerical simulations and global flame images, and emissions of NO, CO from experiments. It was observed that the larger air injection diameter resulted in significantly higher levels of NO and CO whereas increase in fuel injection diameter had minimal effect on the NO and resulted in small increase of CO emissions. Increase in heat release intensity had minimal effect on NO emissions, however it resulted in significantly higher CO emissions. The premixed combustion mode resulted in ultra-low NO levels (<1 ppm) and NO emission as low as 5 ppm was obtained with the non-premixed flame mode.     

舰用燃气轮机的热经济性分析

阐述了热经济学的思路,针对舰用燃气轮机的热力学模型,建立了燃气轮机的热经济学模型,并讨论了燃气轮机购置费用的估算方法。实例计算结果表明,舰用燃气轮机的总费用率存在一个最小值,且燃料的市场价格、动力装置的年运行时数对装置的总费用率影响较大。     

Swirling distributed combustion for clean energy conversion in gas turbine applications

Distributed combustion provides significant performance improvement of gas turbine combustors. Key features of distributed combustion includes uniform thermal field in the entire combustion chamber, thus avoiding hot-spot regions that promote NO_x emissions (from thermal NO_x) and significantly improved pattern factor. Rapid mixing between the injected fuel and hot oxidizer has been carefully explored for spontaneous ignition of the mixture to achieve distributed combustion reactions. Distributed reactions can be achieved in premixed, partially premixed or non-premixed modes of combustor operation with sufficient entrainment of hot and active species present in the flame and their rapid turbulent mixing with the reactants. Distributed combustion with swirl is investigated here for our quest to explore the beneficial aspects of such flows on clean combustion in simulated gas turbine combustion conditions. The goal is to develop high intensity combustor with ultra low emissions of NO and CO, and much improved pattern factor. Experimental results are reported from a cylindrical geometry combustor with different modes of fuel injection and gas exit stream location in the combustor. In all the configurations, air was injected tangentially to impart swirl to the flow inside the combustor. Ultra-low NO_x emissions were found for both the premixed and non-premixed combustion modes for the geometries investigated here. Swirling flow configuration, wherein the product gas exits axially resulted in characteristics closest to premixed combustion mode. Change in fuel injection location resulted in changing the combustion characteristics from traditional diffusion mode to distributed combustion regime. Results showed very low levels of NO (∼3 PPM) and CO (∼70 PPM) emissions even at rather high equivalence ratio of 0.7 at a high heat release intensity of 36 MW/m³-atm with non-premixed mode of combustion. Results are also reported on lean stability limit and OH^* chemiluminescence under both premixed and non-premixed conditions for determining the extent of distribution combustion conditions.     

Catalytic combustion of hydrogen for residential heat supply application

Hydrogen can be converted to thermal energy by combustion or to electricity energy by fuel cells. Considering the stringent requirements for safety from fire hazards and elimination of pollutants, the flameless catalytic combustion of hydrogen is favorable over conventional flame combustion for residential heat supply application. This paper reported an industrial‐scale heat acquisition system based on hydrogen catalytic combustion. The 1 wt% Pt‐loaded glass fiber felts prepared by an impregnation process were used as the combustion catalyst, and a catalytic combustion burner with a capacity of 1 kW was designed. It was found that 100% hydrogen conversion rate could be obtained during the stable combustion stage, and the stable combustion could be achieved by adjusting hydrogen flow rate. The change in H₂/air ratio would influence the initial combustion stage but has little impact on the stable combustion stage. A heat efficiency of 80% for hot water supply was obtained based on the present catalytic hydrogen combustion burner. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Low NOx emission characteristics of refuse-recovered low BTU gases as fuel for high efficiency gas turbines

This paper discusses the problems of using refuse-recovered low Btu gases as fuel of high-temperature regenerative gas turbines. First, it is briefly described that the system using refuse-recovered fuels has a great possibility of being superior both in energy conservation and in solving refuse disposal problems in urban areas. Next, by taking a fermentation gas of the sewage sludge and a pyrolysis gas of the municipal refuse as examples, it is confirmed that a combustion gas with the high flame temperature required for a high efficiency gas turbine can sufficiently be obtained. Finally, through a case study in which no special condition is assumed, the system using these refuse-recovered low Btu gases whose flame temperatures are low is shown to be excellent in the thermal NO_x formation characteristics as compared to that using the conventional fuel with a high calorific value.     

贫燃催化燃烧燃气轮机压气机的设计及其性能分析

分析了贫燃催化燃烧燃气轮机系统中压气机的结构特点,设计了低出口宽径比、高比转速的压气机叶轮,并采用数值计算和试验2种方法预测了其工作性能.结果表明:数值计算与试验结果基本吻合,该压气机在全工况下达到设计要求,且2种结果的高压比区域、高效率区域均远离喘振线;低宽径比、高比转速压气机的设计点在高效区;随着转速的提高,此压气机的压比特性曲线在小流量区增长的趋势明显;采用低宽径比、高比转速设计的负面作用是增大了叶尖相对马赫数.     

Flame stability and emission characteristics of propane-fueled flat-flame miniature combustor for ultra-micro gas turbines

An engineering model of a propane-fueled miniature combustor was developed for ultra-micro gas turbines. The combustion chamber had a diameter of 20 mm, height of 4 mm, and volume of 1.26 cm³. The flat-flame burning method was applied for lean-premixed propane–air combustion. To create the stagnation flow field for a specific flat-flame formation, a flat plate was set over the porous plate in the combustion chamber. A burning experiment was performed to evaluate the combustion characteristics. The flame stability limit was sufficiently wide to include the design operation conditions of an equivalence ratio of 0.55 and air mass flow rate of 0.15 g/s, and the dominant factors affecting the limit were clarified as the heat loss and velocity balance between the burning velocity and the premixture flow velocity at the porous plate. CO, total hydrocarbons (THC), and NO_x emission characteristics were established based on the burned gas temperatures in the combustion chamber and the temperature distribution in the combustor. At an air mass flow rate of less than 0.10 g/s, CO and THC emissions were more than 1000 ppm due to large heat loss. As the air mass flow rate increased, the heat loss decreased, but CO emissions remained large due to the short residence time in the combustion chamber. NO_x emission depended mainly on the burned gas temperature in the combustion chamber as well as on the residence time. To reduce emissions despite the short residence time, a platinum mesh was placed after the combustion chamber, which drastically decreased the CO emissions. The combustor performance was compared with that of other miniature combustors, and the results verified that the present combustor has suitable combustion characteristics for a UMGT, although the overall combustor size and heat loss need to be reduced.     

燃气轮机燃烧室三维冷态流场数值模拟

本文针对某燃气轮机环管型燃烧室三维冷态流场的数值模拟问题进行了研究。根据该型燃气轮机燃烧室的设计图纸建立真实的三维计算几何模型;在计算中采用SIMPLE算法,k-ε双方程湍流模型,对其进行了冷态空气流场的数值模拟;通过对各处流场分布的分析,特别是对主要区域各关键截面的流动分析,可以判断出燃烧室设计的合理性,为进一步优化燃烧室的结构设计、改善流场结构,并为开展燃烧室热态流场的数值模拟奠定了基础。     

天然气预混催化燃烧的特性

制备了1%(质量比)Pd/Al_2O_3陶瓷蜂窝催化剂,并用钡、镧、铈等氧化物对其进行改性,然后负载在堇青石载体上,并进行天然气预混催化燃烧实验。研究了空燃比、功率对催化燃烧尾气排放的影响,结果表明,催化燃烧温度在500～900℃时,空燃比、气体流速都会对催化燃烧效果产生影响;当空燃比在8.3～19时,可实现稳定催化燃烧;空燃比在11～19时催化燃烧效果较好,尾气中CO几乎为零,HC低于10~(-5),NO_x低于5×10~(-6)。     

烟煤焦催化还原NO_x实验研究

研究了烟煤焦在催化剂的作用下对 NOx 的还原过程。实验发现 ,烟煤焦中廉价催化剂的存在对煤焦异相还原 NOx 有很大的影响 ,在合适的反应温度和化学当量比 ( SR)条件下 ,煤焦中的催化剂能降低 NOx 还原反应的活化能 ,加快 NOx 还原反应的速度 ,提高 NOx 的还原率。实验使用两种催化剂后 ,NOx 的还原率可超过 5 0 % ,几乎达到与褐煤及气体再燃燃料相同的再燃效果