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.     

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.     

Investigation of reverse flow distributed combustion for gas turbine application

In this paper reverse flow modes of colorless distributed combustion (CDC) have been investigated for application to gas turbine combustors. 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 burned gases and faster turbulent mixing between the reactants. In the present investigation reverse flow modes consisting of three configurations at thermal intensity of 28 MW/m³-atm and five configurations at thermal intensity of 57 MW/m³-atm have been investigated and these high thermal loadings represent characteristic gas turbine combustion conditions. In all the configurations the air injection port is positioned at the combustor exit end, whereas the location of fuel injection ports is changed to give different configurations. The results are presented on the exhaust emissions and radical emissions using experiments, and evaluation of flowfield using numerical simulations. Ultra-low NO_x emissions were found for both the premixed and non-premixed combustion modes investigated here. Cross-flow configuration, wherein the fuel is injected at high velocity cross stream to the air jet resulted in characteristics closest to premixed combustion mode. Change in fuel injection location resulted in changing the combustion characteristics from closer to diffusion mode to distributed regime. This feature is beneficial for part load operation where higher stability limit is desirable.     

Investigation of forward flow distributed combustion for gas turbine application

New innovative advanced combustion design methodology for gas turbine applications is presented that is focused on the quest towards zero emissions. The new design methodology is called colorless distributed combustion (CDC) and is significantly different from the currently used methodology. In this paper forward flow modes of CDC have been investigated for application to gas turbine combustors. The CDC provides significant improvement in pattern factor, reduced NO_x emission and uniform thermal field in the entire combustion zone for it to be called as an isothermal reactor. Basic requirement for CDC is carefully tailored mixture preparation through good mixing between the combustion air and product gases prior to rapid mixing with fuel so that the reactants are at much higher temperature to result in hot and diluted oxidant stream at temperatures that are high enough to autoignite the fuel and oxidant mixture. With desirable conditions one can achieve spontaneous ignition of the fuel with distributed combustion reactions. Distributed reactions can also be achieved in premixed mode of operation with sufficient entrainment of burned gases and faster turbulent mixing between the reactants. In the present investigation forward flow modes consisting of two non-premixed combustion modes and one premixed combustion mode have been examined that provide potential for CDC. In all the configurations the air injection port is positioned at the opposite side of the combustor exit, whereas the location of fuel injection ports is changed to give different configurations. Two combustion geometries resulting in thermal intensity of 5 MW/m³-atm and 28 MW/m³-atm are investigated. Increase in thermal intensity (lower combustion volume) presents many challenges, such as, lower residence time, lower recirculation of gases and effect of confinement on jet characteristics. The results are presented on the global flame signatures, exhaust emissions, and radical emissions using experiments and flowfield using numerical simulations. Ultra-low NO_x emissions are found for both the premixed and non-premixed combustion modes at the two thermal intensities investigated here. Almost colorless flames (no visible flame signatures) have been observed for the premixed combustion mode. The reaction zone is observed to be significantly different in the two non-premixed modes. Higher thermal intensity case resulted in lower recirculation of gases within the combustion chamber and higher CO levels, possibly due to lower associated residence time. The characteristics at the two thermal intensity combustors investigated here were found to be similar.     

Hydrogen addition effects on methane-air colorless distributed combustion flames

In this investigation the role of hydrogen addition in a reverse flow configuration, consisting of both non-premixed and premixed combustion modes, have been examined for the CDC flames. In the non-premixed configuration the air injection port is positioned at combustor exit end while the fuel injection port is positioned on the side so that the fuel is injected in cross-flow with respect to air injection. The thermal intensity of the flames investigated is 85 MW/m³ atm to simulate high thermal intensity gas turbine combustion conditions. The results are presented on the global flame signatures, exhaust emissions, and radical emissions using experiments and flowfield using numerical simulations. Ultra low NO_x emissions are found for both the premixed and non-premixed combustion modes. Addition of hydrogen to methane fuel resulted in only a slight increase of NO emission, significant decrease of CO emission and extended the lean operational limit of the combustor.     

Flame characteristics of hydrogen-enriched methane–air premixed swirling flames

The effect of hydrogen addition in methane–air premixed flames has been examined from a swirl-stabilized combustor under unconfined flame conditions. Different swirlers have been examined to investigate the effect of swirl intensity on enriching methane–air flame with hydrogen in a laboratory-scale premixed combustor operated at 5.81 kW. The hydrogen-enriched methane fuel and air were mixed in a pre-mixer and introduced into the burner having swirlers of different swirl vane angles that provided different swirl strengths. The combustion characteristics of hydrogen-enriched methane–air flames at fixed thermal load but different swirl strengths were examined using particle image velocimetry (PIV), OH chemiluminescence, gas analyzers, and micro-thermocouple diagnostics to provide information on flow field, combustion generated OH radical and gas species concentration, and temperature distribution, respectively. The results show that higher combustibility of hydrogen assists to promote faster chemical reaction, raises temperature in the reaction zone and reduces the recirculation flow in the reaction zone. The upstream of flame region is more dependent on the swirl strength than the effect of hydrogen addition to methane fuel. At lower swirl strength condition the NO concentration in the reaction zone reduces with increase in hydrogen content in the fuel mixture. Higher combustibility of hydrogen accelerates the flow to reduce the residence time of hot product gases in the high temperature reaction zone. At higher swirl strength the NO concentration increases with increase in hydrogen content in the fuel mixture. The effect of dynamic expansion of the gases with hydrogen addition appears to be more dominant to reduce the recirculation of relatively cooler gases into the reaction zone. NO concentration also increases with decrease in the swirl strength.     

外二次风旋流数对燃烧室内湍流燃烧与NOx生成的影响

建立了采用分级进风方式的旋流燃烧室实验装置。在此实验装置上分别对天然气进行了湍流旋流燃烧的实验研究。在保持过量空气系数不变的条件下,测量了在不同外二次风旋流数下,燃烧室内烟气的时均温度场,O2,CO2,CO和NO浓度场的分布。由实验结果分析讨论了二次风旋流数对旋流燃烧室内湍流燃烧及NOx生成的影响。     

旋流燃烧室内分级进风对燃烧污染物生成的影响

建立了采用分级进风方式的旋流燃烧室试验装置.在此试验装置上分别对天然气和煤粉进行了湍流旋流燃烧的试验研究.在保持过量空气系数和旋流数不变的条件下,采用不同分级进风比率时测量了燃烧室内烟气的时均温度场、O2、CO和NO浓度场的分布,并分析讨论了分级进风率对旋流燃烧室内湍流燃烧及污染物生成的影响.结果表明:在天然气燃烧过程中,加大二次旋流风率可减少NO的生成;在煤粉燃烧过程中,加大二次旋流风率会增加NO的生成.     

Hydrogen addition effects in a confined swirl-stabilized methane-air flame

The effect of hydrogen addition in methane-air premixed flames has been examined from a swirl-stabilized combustor under confined conditions. The effect of hydrogen addition in methane-air flame has been examined over a range of conditions using a laboratory-scale premixed combustor operated at 5.81 kW. Different swirlers have been investigated to identify the role of swirl strength to the incoming mixture. The flame stability was examined for the effect of amount of hydrogen addition, combustion air flow rates and swirl strengths. This was carried out by comparing adiabatic flame temperatures at the lean flame limit. The combustion characteristics of hydrogen-enriched methane flames at constant heat load but different swirl strengths have been examined using particle image velocimetry (PIV), micro-thermocouples and OH chemiluminescence diagnostics that provided information on velocity, thermal field, and combustion generated OH species concentration in the flame, respectively. Gas analyzer was used to obtain NO_x and CO concentration at the combustor exit. The results show that the lean stability limit is extended by hydrogen addition. The stability limit can reduce at higher swirl intensity to the fuel-air mixture operating at lower adiabatic flame temperatures. The addition of hydrogen increases the NO_x emission; however, this effect can be reduced by increasing either the excess air or swirl intensity. The emissions of NO_x and CO from the premixed flame were also compared with a diffusion flame type combustor. The NO_x emissions of hydrogen-enriched methane premixed flame were found to be lower than the corresponding diffusion flame under same operating conditions for the fuel-lean case.     

Combustion characteristics of a lean premixed LPG–air combustor

Fuel/air mixing effects in a premixer have been examined to investigate the combustion characteristics, such as the emission of NO_x and CO, under simulated lean premixed gas turbine combustor conditions at normal and elevated pressures of up to 3.5 bar with air preheat temperature of 450 K. The results obtained have been compared with a diffusion flame type gas turbine combustor for emission characteristics. The results show that the NO_x emission is profoundly affected by the mixing between fuel and air in the combustor. NO_x emission is lowered by supplying uniform fuel/air gas mixture to the combustor and the NO_x emission reduces with decrease in residence time of the hot gases in the combustor. The NO_x emission level of the lean premixed combustor is a strong function of equivalence ratio and the dependency is smaller for a traditional diffusion flame combustor under the examined experimental conditions. Furthermore, the recirculation flow, affected by dome angle of combustor, reduces the high temperature reaction zone or hot spot in the combustor, thus reducing the NO_x emission levels.     

燃气轮机环形燃烧室内燃烧流动的数值模拟

对一个复杂的GE—F101型工业燃气轮机环形燃烧室，采用Reynolds应力湍流模型(RSM)、EBU—Arrhenius湍流燃烧模型和六通量热辐射模型描述其燃烧流动，应用FLUENT软件进行了三维化学反应流场的数值模拟研究。研究结果表明：旋流和燃料进口射流对燃烧室流内温度和流场分布有着重要的影响；利用数值手段得到燃烧室出口的温度分布以判断其能否满足透平叶片进口温度的要求是可行的；燃烧室工作压强对出口的NO分布有着重要影响。在燃用气体燃料时，燃气轮机的NO排放主要来自于热NO，瞬时NO只占很小一部分。图11参6     

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.     

Measurement of gas species,temperatures, char burnout,and wall heat fluxes in a 200-MWe lignite-fired boiler at different loads

We measured various operational parameters of a 200-MW_e, wall-fired, lignite utility boiler under different loads. The parameters measured were gas temperature, gas species concentration, char burnout, component release rates (C, H and N), furnace temperature, heat flux, and boiler efficiency. Cold air experiments of a single burner were conducted in the laboratory. A double swirl flow pulverized-coal burner has two ring recirculation zones that start in the secondary air region of the burner. With increasing secondary air flow, the air flow axial velocity increases, the maximum values for the radial velocity, tangential velocity, and turbulence intensity all increase, and there are slight increases in the air flow swirl intensity and the recirculation zone size. With increasing load gas, the temperature and CO concentration in the central region of burner decrease, while O₂ concentration, NO_x concentration, char burnout, and component release rates of C, H, and N increase. Pulverized-coal ignites farther into the burner, in the secondary air region. Gas temperature, O₂ concentration, NO_x concentration, char burnout and component release rates of C, H, and N all increase. Furthermore, CO concentration varies slightly and pulverized-coal ignites closer. In the side wall region, gas temperature, O₂ concentration, and NO_x concentration all increase, but CO concentration varies only slightly. In the bottom row burner region the furnace temperature and heat flux increase appreciably, but the increase become more obvious in the middle and top row burner regions and in the burnout region. Compared with a 120-MW_e load, the mean NO_x emission at the air preheater exits for 190-MW_e load increases from 589.5 mg/m³ (O₂ = 6%) to 794.6 mg/m³ (O₂ = 6%), and the boiler efficiency increases from 90.73% to 92.45%.     

Numerical investigation into the structural characteristics of a hydrogen dual-swirl combustor with slight temperature rise combustion

For decades, hydrogen has been identified as the most promising potential fuel to replace fossil fuels. In order to fully implement it and to promote the rationality of the design of hydrogen combustion chamber structure, it is very essential to understand the hydrogen/air combustion mechanism based on structural variations. The structural characteristics of a novel dual-swirl burner for hydrogen-air non-premixed combustion was studied numerically in this study. The influences of air distributions, swirling directions and nozzle configurations of the dual-swirl burner were studied, and the combustion performance was evaluated from various aspects. The numerical results showed that there was a trade-off between lower total pressure loss and the risk of fusing when considering air distribution strategies. The co-rotating swirl burner exhibited better uniformity of temperature distribution at the downstream of the combustor. The multi jet orifices showed superior penetration depth than the circular seam. Efficient and stable combustion could be achieved, which was beneficial to improve gas turbine efficiency and stable operation.     

某型燃气轮机燃烧室燃烧流场数值研究

燃气轮机燃烧室的燃烧特性受到旋流强度、雾化特性等因素的强烈影响,旋流强度和雾化特性分析对燃烧室的设计和优化具有非常重要的作用。对燃气轮机燃烧室的燃烧流场,应用商用程序FLUENT进行了数值模拟,并分析了空气过量系数α和燃油雾化粒径对燃烧室内燃烧特性的影响。模拟结果表明,控制空气过量系数和燃油雾化粒径对提高燃烧室工作性能和降低污染物排放具有重要意义。     

燃气轮机燃烧室内NOx生成影响因素的数值研究

低NOx燃气轮机燃烧室的燃烧特性受到旋流的强烈影响，旋流特性的分析对燃烧室的设计和优化具有非常重要的作用。本文对燃气轮机燃烧室的旋流燃烧流动，应用商用程序FLUENT进行了数值模拟，并分析了旋流数、压强、湍流度对燃烧室内燃烧特性和NOx生成特性的影响。模拟结果表明，随着压强的增加，NOx排放逐渐增加，随着燃料入口湍流度的增加，NOx排放将减少，而随着旋流数的增加，NOx排放先是增加而后减小，同时，NOx随压强变化呈指数规律变化，但不同的燃烧组织形式对指数值有较大的影响。     

重型燃气轮机先进低NOx燃烧技术分析

对重型燃气轮机领域中的低NOx燃烧技术进行介绍与说明,首先简要论述了重型燃气轮机燃烧室中氮氧化物的产生机理及抑制方法,其次,介绍了贫预混多喷嘴分级燃烧技术、富油/烽熄/贫油燃烧技术和贫预混低旋流燃烧技术等7种可用于重型燃气轮机燃烧室的先进低NOx燃烧技术,并详细论述了这7种低NOx燃烧技术的作用原理及应用进展,可为国内重型燃气轮机低污染燃烧室的设计与研制提供技术参考.     

Performance characteristics of methanol and kerosene fuelled meso-scale heat-recirculating combustors

A meso-scale heat recirculating combustor has been developed for the combustion of methanol and kerosene fuels with oxygen enriched superheated steam as an oxidizer. The steam oxygen mixture is a surrogate for the decomposition products of hydrogen peroxide, and as such the combustor development is toward meso-scale bi-propellant propulsion. Both the extinction behavior and thermal performances have been examined under partially-premixed and non-premixed configurations of a unique design incorporating heat recirculation. Stable combustion with thermal efficiencies of ∼90% has been demonstrated with both methanol and kerosene. Global flame behavior is investigated through direct image photography of the flame that revealed different flame modes at various equivalence ratios (Φ), including “flameless” combustion of kerosene. Density impulse values calculated based on exhaust temperatures and simulated equilibrium gas properties and assuming 1 atm chamber pressure and expansion to vacuum show that the maximum density impulse of kerosene/steam/oxygen combustion to be within 6% of the adiabatic density impulse of hydrazine/nitrogen tetroxide.     

Modal dynamics of self-excited azimuthal instabilities in an annular combustion chamber

In this paper we describe the time-varying amplitude and its relation to the global heat release rate of self-excited azimuthal instabilities in a simple annular combustor operating under atmospheric conditions. The combustor was modular in construction consisting of either 12, 15 or 18 equally spaced premixed bluff-body flames around a fixed circumference, enabling the effect of large-scale interactions between adjacent flames to be investigated. High-speed OH^∗ chemiluminescence imaged from above the annulus and pressure measurements obtained at multiple locations around the annulus revealed that the limit cycles of the modes are degenerate in so much as they undergo continuous transitions between standing and spinning modes in both clockwise (CW) and anti-clockwise (ACW) directions but with the same resonant frequency. Similar behaviour has been observed in LES simulations which suggests that degenerate modes may be a characteristic feature of self-excited azimuthal instabilities in annular combustion chambers. By modelling the instabilities as two acoustic waves of time-varying amplitude travelling in opposite directions we demonstrate that there is a statistical prevalence for either standing m = 1 or spinning m = ±1 modes depending on flame spacing, equivalence ratio, and swirl configuration. Phase-averaged OH^∗ chemiluminescence revealed a possible mechanism that drives the direction of the spinning modes under limit-cycle conditions for configurations with uniform swirl. By dividing the annulus into inner and outer annular regions it was found that the spin direction coincided with changes in the spatial distribution of the peak heat release rate relative to the direction of the bulk swirl induced along the annular walls. For standing wave modes it is shown that the globally integrated fluctuations in heat release rate vary in magnitude along the acoustic mode shape with negligible contributions at the pressure nodes and maximum contributions at the pressure anti-nodes.     

Techno-economic evaluation of the evaporative gas turbine cycle with different CO2 capture options

The techno-economic evaluation of the evaporative gas turbine (EvGT) cycle with two different CO₂ capture options has been carried out. Three studied systems include a reference system: the EvGT system without CO₂ capture (System I), the EvGT system with chemical absorption capture (System II), and the EvGT system with oxyfuel combustion capture (System III). The cycle simulation results show that the system with chemical absorption has a higher electrical efficiency (41.6% of NG LHV) and a lower efficiency penalty caused by CO₂ capture (10.5% of NG LHV) compared with the system with oxyfuel combustion capture. Based on a gas turbine of 13.78 MW, the estimated costs of electricity are 46.1 $/MW h for System I, while 70.1 $/MW h and 74.1 $/MW h for Systems II and III, respectively. It shows that the cost of electricity increment of chemical absorption is 8.7% points lower than that of the option of oxyfuel combustion. In addition, the cost of CO₂ avoidance of System II which is 71.8 $/tonne CO₂ is also lower than that of System III, which is 73.2 $/tonne CO₂. The impacts of plant size have been analyzed as well. Results show that cost of CO₂ avoidance of System III may be less than that of System II when a plant size is larger than 60 MW.