Current Gas Turbine Combustion and Fuels Research and Development

1987 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. Peters
Keyword(s):  
Research And Development ◽  
Computer Modeling ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Fuel Injection ◽  
Industrial Applications ◽  
Particulate Emissions ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Gas Turbine Combustion ◽  
Boundary Fitting

This paper is a review of current research and development work in gas turbine combustion and fuels based on publications in the open literature and papers and reports supplied to the author by various gas turbine manufacturers on their current combustor research and development programs. Both aircraft and industrial applications are considered for the two major topics that are covered in the paper, alternative fuels and computer modeling, and for the illustration of two combustor component research and development activities. For aircraft applications, alternative fuel studies have centered on “heavier” fuels and have shown physical properties of the fuels which influence atomization and vaporization to be of primary concern regarding ignition and flame stability while chemical properties are more important to particulate emissions, heat transfer and liner durability considerations. For industrial applications, the use of medium to low heating value fuels and coal slurries have received much attention with particular emphasis on fuel delivery and mixing modifications within the combustor to accommodate these fuels. Computer modeling continues to play an increasingly important role in combustor development; currently the so-called “TEACH” based codes and their offspring are used for the majority of the computational fluid dynamics applications for gas turbine combustors. However, much work is being directed towards advanced differencing schemes, complex boundary fitting programs and proper treatment of inlet and boundary conditions in addition to studies devoted to advancing the physical submodels that are incorporated in the codes. Finally, two examples of research and development for specific design considerations are illustrated with a discussion of recent efforts on staged combustion for NOx control and on fuel injection.

Development of the Hybrid Gas Turbine: 1st Year Summary — Research and Development on Practical Industrial Cogeneration Technology in Japan

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryozo Tanaka ◽  
Testuo Tastumi ◽  
Yoshihiro Ichikawa ◽  
Koji Sanbonsugi
Keyword(s):  
Research And Development ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Industrial Applications ◽  
Medium Size ◽  
Test Plant ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Term Operation ◽  
Generation Technology

Based on the successful results of the Japanese national project for 300 kW ceramic gas turbine(CGT302) development (this project was finished in March 1999), the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) started “Research and Development on Practical Industrial Co-generation Technology” project in August 1999. The objective of this project is to encourage prompt industrial applications of co-generation technology that employs hybrid gas turbines (HGT; using both metal and ceramic parts in its high-temperature section) by confirming its soundness and reliability. The development activities are performed through material evaluation tests and long-term operation tests for the HGT of the medium size (8,000-kW class). It is expected that the development can realize low pollution and reducing the emission of CO2 with highly efficient use of energy. The HGT will be developed by applying ceramic components to an existing commercial 7,000-kW class gas turbine. The development targets are thermal efficiency of 34% or higher, output of 8,000-kW class, inlet temperature of 1250deg-C, and 4,000hrs of operation period for confirmation of reliability. The HGT for long-term evaluation tests and the test plant are under development. This paper gives the summary of last year’s developments in the HGT project.

Spray Flame Characteristics of Bio-Derived Fuels in a Simulated Gas Turbine Burner

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heena Panchasara ◽  
Pankaj S. Kolhe ◽  
Ajay K. Agrawal
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Axial Velocity ◽  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Dynamic Models ◽  
Fuel Injection ◽  
Fluid Dynamic ◽  
Droplet Diameter ◽  
Distribution Functions ◽  
Turbulent Dispersion ◽  
Radial Profiles

Abstract Fuel injection plays an important role in liquid fueled gas turbine combustion. The strong interdependence of liquid breakup and atomization, turbulent dispersion of these droplets, droplet evaporation, and fuel-air mixing make the spray modeling an extremely challenging task. The physical processes are even more difficult to predict for alternative fuels with different thermophysical properties. In this study, spray flames of unheated and preheated vegetable oil (VO) produced by an air-blast atomizer in a swirl stabilized combustor are investigated experimentally. Phase Doppler particle analyzer (PDPA) is used to measure the instantaneous diameter and axial velocity of droplets at different axial and radial locations in both flames. Experiments are conducted at an equivalence ratio of 0.79 and atomizing air to liquid ratio (ALR) by mass of 2.5 to obtain stable VO flames. Radial profiles of mean axial velocity and Sauter mean diameter are presented to show the effect of fuel preheating. Joint Probability Density Functions (joint PDF) are presented to show the correlation between droplet diameter and axial velocity. Results are analyzed to show that both sprays exhibit self-similar droplet diameter distributions at different axial and radial locations when normalized properly. Thus, the vast amount of PDPA data in the spray can be reduced to simple distribution functions. A method to reconstruct the joint PDF from experimentally determined distribution functions is presented. We envision that the joint PDF approach outlined in this study could be implemented in high-fidelity computational fluid dynamic models to improve spray predictions in future studies.

Evaluation of Combustion and Emissions Using Biodiesel and Blends With Kerosene in a Low NOx Gas Turbine Combustor

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hu Li ◽  
Mohamed Altaher ◽  
Gordon E. Andrews
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Equivalence Ratio ◽  
Fuel Injection ◽  
Waste Cooking Oil ◽  
Industrial Applications ◽  
Liquid Fuels ◽  
Gaseous Emissions ◽  
Gas Turbine Combustor ◽  
Industrial Gas Turbines

Biofuels offer reduced CO2 emissions for both industrial and aero gas turbines. Industrial applications are more practical due to low temperature waxing problems at altitude. Any use of biofuels in industrial gas turbines must also achieve low NOx and this paper investigates the use of biofuels in a low NOx radial swirler, as used in some industrial low NOx gas turbines. A waste cooking oil derived methyl ester biodiesel (WME) has been tested on a radial swirler industrial low NOx gas turbine combustor under atmospheric pressure and 600K. The pure WME and its blends with kerosene, B20 and B50 (WME:kerosene = 20:80 and 50:50 respectively), and pure kerosene were tested for gaseous emissions and lean extinction as a function of equivalence ratio. The co-firing with natural gas (NG) was tested for kerosene/biofuel blends B20 and B50. The central fuel injection was used for liquid fuels and wall injection was used for NG. The experiments were carried out at a reference Mach number of 0.017. The inlet air to the combustor was heated to 600K. The results show that B20 produced similar NOx at an equivalence ratio of ∼0.5 and a significant low NOx when the equivalence ratio was increased comparing with kerosene. B50 and B100 produced higher NOx compared to kerosene, which indicates deteriorated mixing due to the poor volatility of the biofuel component. The biodiesel lower hydrocarbon and CO emissions than kerosene in the lean combustion range. The lean extinction limit was lower for B50 and B100 than kerosene. It is demonstrated that B20 has the lowest overall emissions. The co-firing with NG using B20 and B50 significantly reduced NOx and CO emissions.

Fuel Influence on Targeted Gas Turbine Combustion Properties: Part II — Detailed Results

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Burger ◽  
Andy Yates ◽  
Thomas Mosbach ◽  
Barani Gunasekaran
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Synthetic Jet ◽  
Main Reaction ◽  
Fuel Temperature ◽  
Combustion Properties ◽  
Gas Turbine Combustion ◽  
Inlet Conditions ◽  
Formed Part

The paper presents the results from a study that formed part of a bilateral project between DLR-VT and Sasol Technology Fuels Research aimed at investigating the potential influence of physical and chemical fuel properties on ignition and extinction limits within heterogeneous gas turbine combustion. The threshold of flame extinction and re-ignition behaviour of a range of alternative fuels was investigated in a representative aero-combustor sector to determine the relative influence of physical properties and chemical reaction timescales. A matrix of eight test fuels was selected for use during the study and included conventional crude-derived Jet A-1, synthetic paraffinic kerosene, linear paraffinic solvents, aromatic solvents and pure compounds. All test fuels were characterised through full specification analyses, distillation profiles and two-dimensional gas chromatography. The ignition and extinction behaviour of the test fuel matrix was evaluated under simulated altitude conditions at the Rolls-Royce Strategic Research Centre’s sub-atmospheric altitude ignition facility in Derby, UK. A twin sector segment of a Rich Quench Lean (RQL) combustor was employed with fuel supplied to a single burner. Combustor air inlet conditions were controlled to 41.4 kPa and 265 K. Fuel temperature was controlled to 288 K. In addition to the standard extinction and ignition detection systems, optical diagnostics were applied during the test programme. Simultaneous high-speed imaging of the OH* chemiluminescence, and broadband flame luminosity was employed to capture the main reaction zones, the global heat release and distribution of radiative soot particles respectively. Lean extinction points were determined using both a photodiode as well as from the OH* chemiluminescence data. The position of extinction and overall combustor ignition and extinction timescales were determined. The diagnostic methodology that was used to obtain the results reported in this paper is discussed in greater detail in a separate complementary paper. All eight fuels, including the fully synthetic Jet A-1 fuels that formed part of the test matrix, yielded performance that was comparable to that obtained with conventional crude-derived Jet A-1.

Analysis of the Fuel Injection in Gas Turbine Premixing Systems by Experimental Correlations and Numerical Simulations

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Riccio ◽  
L. Schoepflin ◽  
P. Adami ◽  
F. Martelli
Keyword(s):  
Combustion Chamber ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Fuel Injection ◽  
Cross Flow ◽  
Navier Stokes ◽  
Air Stream ◽  
Fuel Jet ◽  
Fuel Mixing ◽  
Gas Turbine Combustion ◽  
The Cross

This paper presents the aerodynamic study of two premixing systems for gas turbine combustion chamber based on detailed CFD 3-D simulations. The work was carried out with the aim to describe the aerodynamic and the mixing process in two different premixing system schemes, typical for DLE gas turbine combustion chamber. Results from different numerical tools (CFD 3-D and 0/1-D) for the estimation of the fuel jet pathway were compared. Both the premixer configurations analysed are related to the cross-flow injection scheme. The first one considers the fuel injection orthogonal to a low swirled air stream while the second one considers the fuel injection directly from hole rows drilled on the suction and pressure side of the swirler blades. The aerodynamic analysis of the premixing devices was focused on the fuel injection in terms of the jets pathway and air/fuel mixing in steady-state conditions. The aerodynamic investigations were performed by CFD 3-D “full Navier-Stokes” codes. Calculations were repeated, on the same mesh, by an in-house developed code (HybFlow) and by commercial codes also. Some previous experimental results were exploited to tune and validate the calculations. Results of the simulation were post-processed in order to allow a quantitative evaluation of the air/fuel mixing. Moreover the calculations were used to verify the accuracy of 0/1-D models, taken from the literature, for the estimation of the maximum penetration and the trajectory for the cross-flow of gaseous fuel jet, considering typical working conditions for gas turbine premixing system. Finally, preliminary considerations related to the fuel injection schemes and to the influence of the main injection conditions on the mixing were carried out.

Improved CFD Predictions of Pyrolysis Oil Combustion Using Advanced Spray Measurements and Numerical Models

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva van Beurden ◽  
Artur Pozarlik ◽  
Bima Putra ◽  
Gerrit Brem ◽  
Thijs Bouten ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Combustion Chamber ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Cone Angle ◽  
Fast Pyrolysis ◽  
Combustion Model ◽  
Pyrolysis Oil ◽  
Cfd Simulations ◽  
Gas Turbine Combustion

Abstract In search of an economical and environmentally friendly manner of power generation the industry is forced to find fuels which can replace conventional fossil fuels. During the last years this has led to significant developments in the production of alternative fuels, whereby these fuels became a more reliable and more efficient source of energy. Fast pyrolysis oil (FPO) is considered as a promising example of one of the alternative fuels. This research focuses on the application of FPO in a gas turbine combustion chamber. For the OPRA OP16 gas turbine, a numerical approach using advanced CFD simulations has been applied to a real scale gas turbine combustor. The simulations are supported by full-scale combustor tests and atomizer spray experiments. Hereby it has been shown numerically and experimentally that the gas turbine combustion chamber can operate on FPO in the 30–100% load range. The droplet Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD) has been investigated by means of a Particle Droplet Image Analysis to visualize the sprays in the near field of the atomizer. The effects of the spray pattern are of key importance to the flame structure in the gas turbine combustion chamber. Therefore the results from this dedicated test experiment have been used as input for dedicated CFD simulations. A dedicated combustion model of fast pyrolysis oil has been developed for the OpenFOAM code, considering both the evaporation of the oil and the burnout of the char. In the simulations the gas turbine electrical load, the cone angle and the droplet SMD of the spray were varied. These simulations provide a detailed insight and description on the evaporation of the pyrolysis oil and the flame characteristics in the low calorific fuel combustor of OPRA’s OP16.

Insertion of Electrostatically Charged Fuel Atomization Technology Into a U.S. Navy Shipboard Gas Turbine Engine

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
David P. Guimond ◽  
Matthew E. Thomas ◽  
Roberto DiSalvo ◽  
Adam Elliot ◽  
D. Scott Crocker
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Modeling ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
System Integration ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Fuel Injection ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Injection System ◽  
Particulate Emissions ◽  
Fuel Injector ◽  
Electrostatic Charging

Recent breakthroughs in the field of hydrocarbon fuel electrostatic charging techniques have now permitted the opportunity for the Navy to consider implementing this technology into shipboard gas turbines. This research effort is focused toward electrostatic atomization insertion into a U.S. Navy Shipboard Rolls Royce Corporation 501-K research engine at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division (NSWCCD). Specific milestones achieved thus far include: (a) Spray demonstration of an electrostatically boosted 501-K gas turbine fuel injector prototype at fuel flows from 40 PPH to 250 PPH. (b) Electrostatic charging effect measurements on the droplet size and patternation of a 501-K simplex atomizer configuration. (c) Numerical modeling of the influence electrostatic charging has on secondary atomization breakup and predicted particulate emissions. This paper documents results associated with injector conceptual design, electrode integration, atomization measurements, numerical modeling and fuel injection system integration. Preliminary results indicate electrostatic boosting may be capable of reducing particulate emissions up to 80% by inserting the appropriate fuel injector.

Effect of Fuel Injection Angle on Combustion and Emissions Characteristics in Taper Can Gas Turbine Combustion Chamber

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. R. Srinivasan ◽  
Pandurangadu Vootukuri ◽  
A. V. S. S. K. S. Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Nitric Oxide ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Combustion Chamber ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Liquid Fuel ◽  
Fuel Injection ◽  
Injection Angle ◽  
Fuel Droplets ◽  
Contour Plots ◽  
Gas Turbine Combustion

The rate of volatility of liquid fuel droplets sprayed in a stream of turbulent swirling air flow inside the taper can gas turbine combustion chamber had greatly affected the combustion and emission performance of the combustor. There had been extensive investigation that was carried out earlier which are both experimental and numerical in nature to improve the fuel volatility. In this paper, a novel method was proposed to predict the influence of fuel injection angle on combustion and emission characteristics in the taper can type combustion chamber. A detailed numerical investigation was carried out by modelling a sector of combustion chamber with an angle of 51.42° and simulated using commercial CFD code by varying the fuel injection angle of liquid fuel droplets sprayed in the gas turbine combustion chamber starting from a minimum angle to the maximum angle where fuel droplets strike the combustor wall. The turbulence model adopted was k–ε model with high Reynolds number and also with standard wall treatment. The combustion in the combustion chamber occurs by non-premixed type of combustion and correspondingly Magnussen’s eddy break-up (EBU) model was selected. The fuel droplets were tracked by using Lagrangian multiphase model due to presence of two phases i.e. air and liquid fuel droplets that were injected in combustion chamber. The droplet breakup model selected was Reitz Diwakar model and for the interactions of fuel droplets with the wall Bai’s model was used. The droplet diameters and probability density functions were defined by using Rosin-Rammler method. All peripheral boundaries were considered as adiabatic in nature. Symmetry boundary conditions were imposed on the sector walls that were separated by 51.42°. The combustion reaction involving liquid fuel and oxidiser with products of combustion as carbon dioxide and water vapour had been defined as a three step reaction. The model was meshed for different cell sizes from 3mm to 8mm with step size of 1mm and checked for grid independency. It was found that results obtained for 3mm and 4mm cell sizes were almost identical. Hence 4mm cell size was considered for investigation due to less computational time. The cases were run for different fuel injection angles. The results obtained were presented in the form of contour plots taken at mid-section in axial direction along the length of the combustor. The graphical values were obtained as the average values at the outlet of combustor. Some of the contour plots that were discussed are plots of carbon dioxide, nitric oxide and soot. It was concluded from the above analysis that variation of fuel injection angle had played a pivotal role which had resulted in better combustion with lower emissions on Nitric Oxide and Soot thereby producing maximum power for minimum amount of fuel burnt.

scholarly journals The effect of alternative fuels on gaseous and particulate matter (PM) emission performance in an auxiliary power unit (APU)

2019 ◽  
Vol 123 (1263) ◽  
pp. 617-634 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Khandelwal ◽  
J. Cronly ◽  
I.S. Ahmed ◽  
C.J. Wijesinghe ◽  
C. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Power Unit ◽  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Particulate Emissions ◽  
Gaseous Emissions ◽  
Auxiliary Power Unit ◽  
Auxiliary Power ◽  
Reduce Emissions

ABSTRACTThere is a growing interest in the use of alternative fuels in gas turbine engines to reduce emissions. Testing of alternative fuels is expensive when done on a large-scale gas turbine engine. In this study, a re-commissioned small gas turbine auxiliary power unit (APU) has been used to test various blends of Jet A-1, synthetic paraffinic kerosene (SPK) and diesel with as well as eight other novel fuels. A detailed analysis of performance, gaseous emissions and particulate emissions has been presented in this study. It is observed that aromatic content in general as well as the particular chemical composition of the aromatic compound plays a vital role in particulate emissions generation. SPK fuel shows substantially lower particulate emissions with respect to Jet A. However, not all the species of aromatics negatively impact particulate emissions. Gaseous emissions measured are comparable for all the fuels tested in this study.

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