A Numerical Study on the Reactivity of Biogas/Reformed-Gas/Air and Methane/Reformed-Gas/Air Mixtures at Gas Turbine Relevant Conditions

Author(s):  
Pablo Diaz Gomez Maqueo ◽  
Philippe Versailles ◽  
Gilles Bourque ◽  
Jeffrey M. Bergthorson

This study investigates the increase in methane and biogas flame reactivity enabled by the addition of syngas produced through fuel reforming. To isolate thermodynamic and chemical effects on the reactivity of the mixture, the burner simulations are performed with a constant adiabatic flame temperature of 1800 K. Compositions and temperatures are calculated with the chemical equilibrium solver of CANTERA® and the reactivity of the mixture is quantified using the adiabatic, freely-propagating premixed flame, and perfectly-stirred reactors of the CHEMKIN-Pro® software package. The results show that the produced syngas has a content of up to 30 % H2 with a temperature up to 950 K. When added to the fuel, it increases the laminar flame speed while maintaining a burning temperature of 1800 K. Even when cooled to 300 K, the laminar flame speed increases up to 30 % from the baseline of pure biogas. Hence, a system can be developed that controls and improves biogas flame stability under low reactivity conditions by varying the fraction of added syngas to the mixture. This motivates future experimental work on reforming technologies coupled with gas turbine exhausts to validate this numerical work.

Author(s):  
Jon Runyon ◽  
Daniel Pugh ◽  
Anthony Giles ◽  
Burak Goktepe ◽  
Philip Bowen ◽  
...  

Abstract A study has been undertaken to experimentally and numerically evaluate the use of carbon dioxide or steam as premixed fuel additive in hydrogen-air flames to aid in the development of lean premixed (LPM) swirl burner technology for low NOx operation. Chemical kinetics modelling indicates that the use of CO2 or steam in the premixed reactants reduces H2-air laminar flame speed and adiabatic flame temperature within the well-characterized range of preheated LPM methane-air flames, albeit in markedly different proportions; for example, nearly 65 %vol CO2 as a proportion of the fuel is required for a reduction in laminar flame speed to equivalent CH4-air values, while approximately 30 %vol CO2 in the fuel is required for an equivalent reduction in adiabatic flame temperature, significantly impacted by the increased heat capacity of CO2. The 2nd generation high-pressure generic swirl burner, designed for use with LPM CH4-air, was therefore utilized to experimentally investigate the influence of CO2 and steam dilution on pressurized (up to 250 kW/MPa), preheated (up to 573 K), LPM H2-air flame stability using high-speed OH* chemiluminescence. In addition, exhaust gas emissions, such as NOx and CO, have been measured in comparison with equivalent thermal power conditions for CH4-air flames, showing that low NOx operation can be achieved. Furthermore, pure LPM H2-air flames are characterized for the first time in this burner, stabilized at low equivalence ratio (approximately 0.24) and increased Reynolds number at atmospheric pressure compared to the stable CH4-air flame (equivalence ratio of 0.55). The influence of extinction strain rate is suggested to characterize, both experimentally and numerically, the observed lean flame behavior, in particular as extinction strain rate has been shown to be non-monotonic with pressure for highly-reactive and diffuse fuels such as hydrogen.


Author(s):  
Daniel Pugh ◽  
Philip Bowen ◽  
Andrew Crayford ◽  
Richard Marsh ◽  
Jon Runyon ◽  
...  

It has become increasingly cost-effective for the steel industry to invest in the capture of heavily carbonaceous BOF (Basic Oxygen Furnace) or converter gas, and use it to support the intensive energy demands of the integrated facility, or for surplus energy conversion in power plants. As industry strives for greater efficiency via ever more complex technologies, increased attention is being paid to investigate the complex behavior of by-product syngases. Recent studies have described and evidenced the enhancement of fundamental combustion parameters such as laminar flame speed due to the catalytic influence of H2O on heavily carbonaceous syngas mixtures. Direct formation of CO2 from CO is slow due to its high activation energy, and the presence of disassociated radical hydrogen facilitates chain branching species (such as OH), changing the dominant path for oxidation. The observed catalytic effect is non-monotonic, with the reduction in flame temperature eventually prevailing, and overall reaction rate quenched. The potential benefits of changes in water loading are explored in terms of delayed lean blowoff, and primary emission reduction in a premixed turbulent swirling flame, scaled for practical relevance at conditions of elevated temperature (423 K) and pressure (0.1–0.3 MPa). Chemical kinetic models are used initially to characterize the influence that H2O has on the burning characteristics of the fuel blend employed, modelling laminar flame speed and extinction strain rate across an experimental range with H2O vapor fraction increased to eventually diminish the catalytic effect. These modelled predictions are used as a foundation to investigate the experimental flame. OH* chemiluminescence and OH planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF) are employed as optical diagnostic techniques to analyze changes in heat release structure resulting from the experimental variation in water loading. A comparison is made with a CH4/air flame and changes in lean blow off stability limits are quantified, measuring the incremental increase in air flow and again compared against chemical models. The compound benefit of CO and NOx reduction is quantified also, with production first decreasing due to the thermal effect of H2O addition from a reduction in flame temperature, coupled with the potential for further reduction from the change in lean stability limit. Power law correlations have been derived for change in pressure, and equivalent water loading. Hence, the catalytic effect of H2O on reaction pathways and reaction rate predicted and observed for laminar flames, are compared against the challenging environment of turbulent, swirl-stabilized flames at elevated temperature and pressure, characteristic of piratical systems.


Author(s):  
Marissa Brower ◽  
Eric Petersen ◽  
Wayne Metcalfe ◽  
Henry J. Curran ◽  
Marc Füri ◽  
...  

Applications of natural gas and hydrogen co-firing have received increased attention in the gas turbine market, which aims at higher flexibility due to concerns over the availability of fuels. While much work has been done in the development of a fuels database and corresponding chemical kinetics mechanism for natural gas mixtures, there are nonetheless few if any data for mixtures with high levels of hydrogen at conditions of interest to gas turbines. The focus of the present paper is on gas turbine engines with primary and secondary reaction zones as represented in the Alstom and Rolls Royce product portfolio. The present effort includes a parametric study, a gas turbine model study, and turbulent flame speed predictions. Using a highly optimized chemical kinetics mechanism, ignition delay times and laminar burning velocities were calculated for fuels from pure methane to pure hydrogen and with natural gas/hydrogen mixtures. A wide range of engine-relevant conditions were studied: pressures from 1 to 30 atm, flame temperatures from 1600 to 2200 K, primary combustor inlet temperature from 300 to 900 K, and secondary combustor inlet temperatures from 900 to 1400 K. Hydrogen addition was found to increase the reactivity of hydrocarbon fuels at all conditions by increasing the laminar flame speed and decreasing the ignition delay time. Predictions of turbulent flame speeds from the laminar flame speeds show that hydrogen addition affects the reactivity more when turbulence is considered. This combined effort of industrial and university partners brings together the know-how of applied, as well as experimental and theoretical disciplines.


2019 ◽  
pp. 220-227
Author(s):  
Ahmad Sakhrieh

This paper studies the influence of equivalence ratio, pressure and initial temperature on adiabatic flame temperature and laminar flame speed of methane-air mixture. The results indicate that adiabatic flame temperature is weakly correlated with pressure. The adiabatic flame temperature increases only by about 50?C as a result of 30 bar pressure increase. The flame speed is inversely proportional to pressure. The maximum adiabatic flame temperature and flame speed occur at the stoichiometric ratio, ?=1. The percent increase in the flame speed was about 400% when the initial temperature of the mixture is increased from 25?C to 425?C.


Author(s):  
Daniel Pugh ◽  
Philip Bowen ◽  
Andrew Crayford ◽  
Richard Marsh ◽  
Jon Runyon ◽  
...  

It has become increasingly cost-effective for the steel industry to invest in the capture of heavily carbonaceous basic oxygen furnace or converter gas, and use it to support the intensive energy demands of the integrated facility, or for surplus energy conversion in power plants. As industry strives for greater efficiency via ever more complex technologies, increased attention is being paid to investigate the complex behavior of by-product syngases. Recent studies have described and evidenced the enhancement of fundamental combustion parameters such as laminar flame speed due to the catalytic influence of H2O on heavily carbonaceous syngas mixtures. Direct formation of CO2 from CO is slow due to its high activation energy, and the presence of disassociated radical hydrogen facilitates chain branching species (such as OH), changing the dominant path for oxidation. The observed catalytic effect is nonmonotonic, with the reduction in flame temperature eventually prevailing, and overall reaction rate quenched. The potential benefits of changes in water loading are explored in terms of delayed lean blow-off (LBO), and primary emission reduction in a premixed turbulent swirling flame, scaled for practical relevance at conditions of elevated temperature (423 K) and pressure (0.1–0.3 MPa). Chemical kinetic models are used initially to characterize the influence that H2O has on the burning characteristics of the fuel blend employed, modeling laminar flame speed and extinction strain rate across an experimental range with H2O vapor fraction increased to eventually diminish the catalytic effect. These modeled predictions are used as a foundation to investigate the experimental flame. OH* chemiluminescence and OH planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) are employed as optical diagnostic techniques to analyze changes in heat release structure resulting from the experimental variation in water loading. A comparison is made with a CH4/air flame and changes in LBO stability limits are quantified, measuring the incremental increase in air flow and again compared against chemical models. The compound benefit of CO and NOx reduction is quantified also, with production first decreasing due to the thermal effect of H2O addition from a reduction in flame temperature, coupled with the potential for further reduction from the change in lean stability limit. Power law correlations have been derived for change in pressure, and equivalent water loading. Hence, the catalytic effect of H2O on reaction pathways and reaction rate predicted and observed for laminar flames are appraised within the challenging environment of turbulent, swirl-stabilized flames at elevated temperature and pressure, characteristic of practical systems.


Author(s):  
Brendan Shaffer ◽  
Zhixuan Duan ◽  
Vincent McDonell

Flashback is the main operability issue associated with converting lean, premixed combustion systems from operation on natural gas to operation on high hydrogen content fuels. Most syngas fuels contain some amount of hydrogen (15–100%) depending on the fuel processing scheme. With this variability in the composition of syngas, the question of how fuel composition impacts flashback propensity arises. To address this question, a jet burner configuration was used to develop systematic data for a wide range of compositions under turbulent flow conditions. The burner consisted of a quartz burner tube confined by a larger quartz tube. The use of quartz allowed visualization of the flashback processes occurring. Various fuel compositions of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and natural gas were premixed with air at equivalence ratios corresponding to constant adiabatic flame temperatures (AFT) of 1700 K and 1900 K. Once a flame was stabilized on the burner, the air flow rate would be gradually reduced while holding the AFT constant via the equivalence ratio until flashback occurred. Schlieren and intensified OH* images captured at high speeds during flashback allowed some additional understanding of what is occurring during the highly dynamic process of flashback. Confined and unconfined flashback data were analyzed by comparing data collected in the present study with existing data in the literature. A statistically designed test matrix was used which allows analysis of variance of the results to be carried out, leading to correlation between fuel composition and flame temperature with (1) critical flashback velocity gradient and (2) burner tip temperature. Using the burner tip temperature as the unburned temperature in the laminar flame speed calculations showed increased correlation of the flashback data and laminar flame speed as opposed to when the actual unburned gas temperature was used.


Author(s):  
Ivan R. Sigfrid ◽  
Ronald Whiddon ◽  
Robert Collin ◽  
Jens Klingmann

It is expected that, in the future, gas turbines will be operated on gaseous fuels currently unutilized. The ability to predict the range of feasible fuels, and the extent to which existing turbines must be modified to accommodate these fuels, rests on the nature of these fuels in the combustion environment. Understanding the combustion behavior is aided by investigation of syngases of similar composition. As part of an ongoing project at the Lund University Departments of Thermal Power Engineering and Combustion Physics, to investigate syngases in gas turbine combustion, the laminar flame speed of five syngases (see table) have been measured. The syngases examined are of two groups. The first gas group (A), contains blends of H2, CO and CH4, with high hydrogen content. The group A gases exhibit a maximum flame speed at an equivalence ratio of approximately 1.4, and a flame speed roughly four times that of methane. The second gas group (B) contains mixtures of CH4 and H2 diluted with CO2. Group B gases exhibit maximum flame speed at an equivalence ratio of 1, and flame speeds about 3/4 that of methane. A long tube Bunsen-type burner was used and the conical flame was visualized by Schlieren imaging. The flame speeds were measured for a range of equivalence ratios using a constrained cone half-angle method. The equivalence ratio for measurements ranged from stable lean combustion to rich combustion for room temperature (25°C) and an elevated temperature representative of a gas turbine at full load (270°C). The experimental procedure was verified by methane laminar flame speed measurement; and, experimental results were compared against numerical simulations based on GRI 3.0, Hoyerman and San Diego chemical kinetic mechanisms using the DARS v2.02 combustion modeler. On examination, all measured laminar flame speeds at room temperature were higher than values predicted by the aforementioned chemical kinetic mechanisms, with the exception of group A gases, which were lower than predicted.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document