Effect of hydrogen addition on combustion and emission characteristics of methane fuelled upward swirl can combustor

The present research aims to assess the potential of hydrogen in the form of a supplementary fuel to accelerate combustion chemistry and reduce CO emissions of methane fuelled upward swirl gas turbine combustor. Effects of hydrogen enrichment on flame characteristics and chemical kinetics are analysed using Large Eddy Simulations (LES). Flame visualization is performed and measurements of temperature and emissions at the exit of combustor are reported. For the same energy input, flames are relatively broader and shorter at higher hydrogen concentrations. Augmentation of hydrogen is advantageous in terms of flame velocity, temperature, rate of chemical reactions and CO emissions. Higher flame temperature favours NO_x emissions at higher hydrogen content. At a constant volumetric fuel flow, reduction in carbon-generated species is attributed to hydrocarbon substitution and chemical kinetic effects are less. Hydrogen addition increases flame temperature, decreases flame dimensions and reduces CO emissions with marginal increase in NO_x emissions.     

Numerical investigation of combustion characteristics for hydrogen mixed fuel in a can-type model of the gas turbine combustor

Numerical simulations are performed to analyze the combustion characteristics of propane fuel mixed with different amounts of hydrogen in a can-type combustor. The volume fraction of the hydrogen fuel varies from 0% to 100% in the fuel mixture. The results indicate that the hydrogen enrichment of the fuel significantly affects the flow structure, mixture fraction, and combustion characteristics. An increase in the volume fraction of hydrogen significantly affects the mean mixture fraction distribution, promotes combustion, and increases the flame temperature and the width of the flammable range within the combustor. Therefore, the degree of temperature uniformity at the outlet of the combustor increases with hydrogen enrichment, corresponding to an increase of 49.64% in the uniformity factor. The hydrogen enriched fuel can also reduce the emissions of CO and CO₂, owing to the reduced amount of carbonaceous fuel.     

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.     

Numerical study on supersonic combustion of hydrogen and its mixture with Ethylene and methane with strut injection

In this paper, supersonic combustion and flow field of hydrogen and its mixture with ethylene and methane from strut injections in a Mach 2 supersonic flow are studied numerically. The fuel mixture of hydrogen, methane and ethylene represents the major products of pyrolysis of hydrocarbon fuels with large molecules such as kerosene as it acts as coolant and flows through cooling channels and absorbs heat. Detached Eddy Simulation with a reduced kinetic mechanism and steady flamelet model are applied to simulate turbulent combustion. The calculated temperature profiles of hydrogen are compared to the experimental results of DLR supersonic combustor for validation of the present numerical method. The supersonic combustion flows associated with shock waves, turbulent vortices and flame structures are studied. With addition of methane and ethylene, the flame zone moves further downstream of the strut and the maximum flow temperature at chamber exit decreases by 200 K. With analysis of total temperature ratios, it is found that combustion efficiency for hydrogen combustion is 0.91 and it decreases to 0.78 for the fuel mixture. The calculation of ignition delay time and flame speed reveals that fuel mixture of hydrogen and hydrocarbons has considerably larger delay time and smaller flame speed, that contributes to the weakened flame zone and lower combustion efficiency.     

Design and numerical analysis of a 3 kWe flameless microturbine combustor for hydrogen fuel

In this work, a new 3 kWe flameless combustor for hydrogen fuel is designed and analyzed using CFD simulation. The strategy of the design is to provide a large volumetric combustion for hydrogen fuel without significant rise of the temperature. The combustor initial dimensions and specification were obtained from practical design procedures, and then optimized using CFD simulations. A three-dimensional model for the designed combustor is constructed to further analysis of flameless hydrogen combustion and consideration that leads to disappearance of flame-front and flameless combustion. The key design parameters including aerodynamic, temperature at walls and flame, NO_X, pressure drop, combustion efficiency for the hydrogen flame is analyzed in the designed combustor. To well demonstrate the combustor, the NO_X and entropy destruction and finally energy conversion efficiency, and overall operability in the microturbine cycle of hydrogen flameless combustor is compared with a 3 kWe design counterpart for natural gas. The findings demonstrate that hydrogen flameless combustion is superior to derive the microturbines with significantly lower NO_X, and improvements in energy efficiency, and cycle overall efficiency with low wall temperatures guaranteeing the long-term operation of combustor and microturbine parts.     

Effects of hydrogen addition on the forced response of H2/CH4 flames in a dual-nozzle swirl-stabilized combustor

The effects of hydrogen addition on the forced response of H₂/CH₄ flames are analyzed in a dual-nozzle swirl-stabilized combustor. The hydrogen volumetric content in the fuel is varied from 0% to 40%. Flame transfer function (FTF) is used to compare the forced response of the flames. The FTF gain featuring the local maximum and minimum values, which occurred commonly in the FTFs under all hydrogen contents, is determined by two different mechanisms: the change in the flame angle and the flame roll-up phenomenon. Among two mechanisms, the flame roll-up phenomenon has a more important role in determining the FTF characteristics. In addition, hydrogen addition attenuates the local maximum gains and decreases the FTF phase slope. The change in the flame roll-up behavior, which is induced by a short and compact flame distribution at high hydrogen contents, is the primary reason of these differences in the FTF.     

The effects of hydrogen addition,inlet temperature and wall thermal conductivity on the flame-wall thermal coupling of premixed propane/air mixtures in meso-scale tubes

The effects of hydrogen addition, inlet temperature, wall thermal conductivity and wall thickness on the flame-wall coupling of the propane/air flames in a meso-scale tube are numerically investigated using a two dimensional model along with the detailed chemical mechanism. Higher wall thermal conductivity can result in preheating the fresh mixture uniformly in strongly flame-wall coupled system, which is vital to enhance the burning rate of fuel mixture. With the increase of wall thermal conductivity or hydrogen addition, the leading edge of the flame shifts from the wall to the axis, meanwhile the flame is more convex towards the unburned side near the leading edge. As the hydrogen addition and inlet temperature increase, the flame propagation speed increases significantly, while the maximum temperature and maximum total enthalpy decrease due to the reduced heat recirculation power. The flame propagation speed has a negative correlation with heat loss. The chemical reactions in preheat zone are enhanced at low wall thermal conductivity due to the higher inner wall temperature. Thinner combustor wall leads to higher flame speed and higher heat loss simultaneously. Results have implications on the choice of solid wall material and heat recirculation design in a stable meso-scale combustor for different fuels.     

贫预混火焰动力学及稳定性分析

本文在贫预混燃烧容易诱导热声不稳定产生的背景下,采用大涡模拟结合系统辨识的方法,对甲烷燃料掺氢以及不同火焰筒限制两种情况下的贫预混火焰动力学进行了相关分析。之后通过得出的火焰传递函数,采用低阶网络模型的方法对系统进行了稳定性分析。研究结果表明:加入氢气后,明显增大了火焰的频响,同时火焰相位差减小;在一定的频率范围内,火焰更容易捕捉到不同火焰筒限制对响应的影响;通过采用不同的火焰筒限制,可以修改系统的稳定性行为。     

Effects of hydrogen addition on the structure and pollutant emissions of a turbulent unconfined swirling flame

This article aims at investigating the effect of hydrogen addition on the temperature and pollutant emissions of turbulent unconfined swirling methane/air flame. A computational approach utilizing the steady laminar flamelet and the realizable k–ε combustion and turbulence models, respectively, has been used. The turbulence–combustion interaction has been modeled by a β-shaped presumed probability density function. The percentage of hydrogen in the fuel stream is modeled at a wide range from 0% to 50% of the fuel volume flow rate. Results show that with the increase of volumetric hydrogen percentage in the fuel stream the flame structure changes considerably. The size of maximum temperature region decreases significantly to a small region at flame tip and peak temperature rises which leads to increase in NO emission levels. The flame with 10% hydrogen is observed to be slightly of the general trend. This is deemed to be due to the change in flow field as a result of change in fuel density, while the amount of hydrogen is not effective enough to change the combustion characteristics of the flame.     

Effects of turbulator angle and hydrogen addition on a biogas turbulent diffusion flame

This study is concerned with combustion characteristics of a biogas under varying turbulator angle conditions and hydrogen addition in a combustor. Turbulator angles have been changed 15°–45° at intervals of 15°. Investigations have been performed by using a CFD code. PDF/Mixture Fraction combustion and k-? standard turbulence models were used during predictions. The predicted temperature and emission profiles of the biogas are compared with the existing experimental measurements under turbulator angle of 15°. These predictions are in good agreement with the measurements in terms of distributions and values. It has been determined that percentage differences between the measured and the predicted values vary from about 0% to 12%. Then, predictions have been performed under 30° and 45° of turbulator angle cases and compared with each other. The effect of the hydrogen addition to the biogas fuel on combustion performances of the biogas has also been studied in the present study. Findings show that changes in turbulator angles highly affect the temperature and emission profiles of the biogas throughout the combustion chamber. Especially, the flame temperature zones move to the downstream of the burner. It may be also said that the flame temperatures of the biogas increase as the turbulator angle is changed due to better fuel–air mixture. In addition to these findings, it is demonstrated that the axial temperature levels increase as the hydrogen is added into the biogas.     

Investigation of the effect of air turbulence intensity on NOx emission in non-premixed hydrogen and hydrogen-hydrocarbon composite fuel combustion

In this paper, the effect of air turbulence intensity on NO formation in the combustion of mixed hydrogen-hydrocarbon fuel is numerically studied. The fuels used in this study are 100% H₂, 70% H₂ + 30% CH₄, 10% H₂ + 90% CH₄ and 100% CH₄. Finite volume method is utilized to solve the governing equations. The obtained results using realizable k-ε and β-PDF models show good agreement with other numerical and experimental results. The results show that increasing air turbulence intensity decreases NO concentration in the flame zone and at the combustor outlet. With increasing air turbulence intensity, maximum decreasing of NO at the combustor outlet is for the case of pure hydrogen fuel. It is also found that adding hydrogen to methane rises the peak temperature of the flame.     

Optimization of flame stabilization methods in the premixed microcombustion of hydrogen–air mixture

The premixed combustion of a lean hydrogen–air mixture is analyzed in this study to examine various properties and flame stabilization. A two-dimensional (2D) analysis of a microscale combustor is performed with various shapes of bluff bodies (e.g., circular and triangular). Nine bluff bodies are placed at the entrance of the microscale combustor and solved with 2D governing equations. The analysis is performed with the three velocities of 10, 20, and 30 m/s, but the equivalence ratio is fixed in all cases. The various characteristics of the microscale combustor are studied such as the temperature of the wall, difference in peak temperature, the mean velocity at the outlet, and temperature of the exhaust gases. Flame stabilization depends on various factors such as bluff body shape and size, and the velocity of the fuel–air mixture at the inlet and recirculation zone. In comparison to all bluff body cases, we observe that the wall blade bluff body is the most efficient (low exhaust gas temperature, large recirculation zone, low mean velocity at the outlet of the microcombustor, and high wall temperature) compared with all eight other bluff body cases. Combustion efficiency is directly proportional to the wall temperature, meaning that the microcombustor with wall blade bluff bodies is more efficient with a stabilized flame. The simulation results are compared with published data on an L/D ratio of 15.     

燃气轮机燃料轴向分级燃烧室的数值分析

为改善燃气轮机燃烧室的火焰筒壁温较高以及污染物排放等问题,提出了在火焰筒的壁面增加二次燃料喷口的轴向分级燃烧模式。利用ANSYS CFX软件并根据化学反应机理计算和分析了燃气轮机轴向分级燃烧室的流场和温度场,并与非分级燃烧室的结果进行了比较。结果表明:增大二次燃料比例可以使火焰筒壁面温度降低、出口污染物质量分数及出口不均匀系数减小,但出口平均温度会随之降低,导致做功能力减小。过量空气系数会影响火焰筒壁温、出口平均温度与NO质量分数。合理的二次燃料比例区间取决于多个条件。     

Combustion performance of hydrogen in a small gas turbine combustor

Combustion characteristics of gaseous hydrogen fuel in a can type gas turbine combustor are presented. These are the results of a research program sponsored by CDND/DSS/NRCC^*. Combustion performance of hydrogen is compared with that of other (liquid) fuels using the same combustion hardware. Hydrogen combustion is characterized by high combustion efficiency, ease of ignition, and good flame stability; however it can also result in relatively high metal temperatures which can impact on liner durability, and high NO_x, emissions. Effects of two different hydrogen fuel injector designs on performance of the combustor are discussed. Impact of individual operating parameters on combustor performance with hydrogen is identified.     

Combustion and emission characteristics of premixed biogas mixtures: An experimental study

In this study, effects of fuel composition, swirl number and hydrogen addition on combustion and emission characteristics of various biogas mixtures were experimentally investigated. To this end, a laboratory scale combustor and a swirl stabilized premixed burner were designed and manufactured. Later on, this combusting apparatus was equipped with flow, control, safety and measurement tools, hence entire test system was constituted. Combustion and emission characteristics of tested biogas mixtures were determined by measuring temperature and species (CO₂, CO, O₂ and NO) distributions throughout the combustion chamber. Additionally, flame structures of tested biogas mixtures were evaluated by examining flame luminosity, visible flame length and flame thickness from instantaneous flame images. Results of this study showed that both radial and axial temperature distribution variations of tested biogas mixtures differently alter with hydrogen addition based on the gas composition. Although flame temperature increases with swirl number at burner outlet, it presents a non-monotonous dependence on swirl number outside the flame region because of the modified flow characteristics. This is also the case for emissions of CO₂.     

Rapidly mixed combustion of hydrogen/oxygen diluted by N2 and CO2 in a tubular flame combustor

In this study hydrogen flames have been attempted in a rapidly mixed tubular flame combustor for the first time, in which fuel and oxidizer are individually and tangentially injected into a cylindrical combustor to avoid flame flash back. Three different cases were designed to examine the effects of fuel and oxidizer feeding method, diluent property, oxygen content and equivalence ratio on the characteristics of hydrogen flame, including the flame structure, lean extinction limit, flame stability and temperature. The results show that by enhancing mixing rate through feeding system, the range of equivalence ratio for steady tubular flame can be much expanded for the N₂ diluted mixture, however, at the oxygen content of 0.21 (hydrogen/air) the steady tubular flame is achieved only up to equivalence ratio of 0.5; by decreasing oxygen content, the lean extinction limit slightly increases, and the upper limit for steady tubular flame establishment increases significantly, resulting in an expanded tubular flame range. For CO₂ diluted mixture, the stoichiometric combustion has been achieved within oxygen content of 0.1 and 0.25, for which the burned gas temperature is uniformly distributed inside the flame front; as oxygen content is below 0.21, a steady tubular flame can be obtained from the lean to rich limits; and the lean extinction limit increases from 0.17 to 0.4 as oxygen content decreases from 0.21 to 0.1, resulting in a shrunk tubular flame range. Laminar burning velocity, temperature and Damköhler number are calculated to examine the differences between N₂ and CO₂ diluted combustion as well as the requirement for hydrogen-fueled tubular flame establishment.     

Investigation of impinging diffusion flames with inert gas

Experimental investigations on impinging diffusion flames mixing with inert gas were conducted. The combustion results and temperature measurements show that the non-reactive gas might dilute the local fuel concentration in the diffusion process. The shape of the column flame was symmetrical due to the flame stretch force. The results showed that a conical flame was changed by the addition of inert gas to the pure methane fuel. The weakening of the stretch boundary enhanced the mixing rate between the fuel and oxidizer, which would improve the fluctuation phenomenon. The impinging flame became shorter and bluer so the combustor size can be reduced. Nitrogen gas has the advantage that we can visualize the impinging mechanism with different gases in the impinging flame. The color in the mixing plane becomes blue and transparent. The penetration length is about 8 mm near the impinging point for Re=145.     

Effects of injection strategies on thermal performance of a novel micro planar combustor fueled by hydrogen

As a high and uniform wall temperature is desired for thermophotovoltaic applications, a novel micro planar combustor with multi inlets and outlets is designed in this work. Effects of injection strategies on thermal performance of the novel micro planar combustor fueled by hydrogen are analyzed and discussed. It is found that there are two straight flames under Injection Strategy A (Coflow mode), while there are two curved flames under Injection Strategy B and C (Counterflow mode), which is negative to the flame stabilization. In addition, the flame interactions under Injection Strategy B and C are much stronger than that under Injection Strategy A which benefits flame stabilization. Moreover, favorable and unfavorable effects of flame interactions under Injection Strategy B and C on flame stabilization are analyzed. Furthermore, the effects of inlet velocity, hydrogen/air equivalence ratio and solid wall materials on the thermal performance of the micro planar combustor are numerically examined under different injection strategies, the application conditions of the injection strategies are determined. This work will provide us significant suggestions for micro-thermophotovoltaic applications.     

Modelling of the gas-turbine colorless distributed combustion: An application to hydrogen enriched – kerosene fuel

This study examines hydrogen-enriched kerosene combustion under distributed regime in a gas turbine combustion chamber. With hydrogen enrichment, it is aimed at increasing combustion performance of those fuels. However, in this circumstance, it is obvious to increase the flame temperature with taking place hydrogen enrichment. Thus colorless distributed combustion (CDC), which is one of the advanced combustion techniques, can be suggested to control flame temperature with slowing down the reaction rate, resulting in ultra-low NO_X emissions and more uniform temperature distribution with a broadened flame. For this purpose, the hydrogen-enriched kerosene fuels were examined by modeling a CFD code using the eddy dissipation concept, the radiation model (P-1) and the turbulence model (standard k-ε). In this way, the thermal fields and the NO_X distributions have been obtained. The results showed that hydrogen enrichment increased the flame temperatures from about 2490 K to 2605 K at air-combustion conditions until 30% H₂, resulting in the NO_X levels predicted increased in the combustor. With reducing oxygen percentage the flame started to be the broadened one. The flame temperatures decreased, for instance, from about 2605 K to 2230 K at 15% O₂ for the 30% H₂ containing fuel. As a result of this, the NO_X levels reduced from about 30 ppm to the values lower than 1 ppm in the combustor. It is concluded that increments in temperature and NO_X levels with hydrogen can be suppressed with distributed regime, which enables that gas turbines can be operated at wider flammability limits with hydrogen enrichment.     

Flame–vortex interaction driven combustion dynamics in a backward-facing step combustor

The combustion dynamics of propane–hydrogen mixtures are investigated in an atmospheric pressure, lean, premixed backward-facing step combustor. We systematically vary the equivalence ratio, inlet temperature and fuel composition to determine the stability map of the combustor. Simultaneous pressure, velocity, heat release rate and equivalence ratio measurements and high-speed video from the experiments are used to identify and characterize several distinct operating modes. When fuel is injected far upstream from the step, the equivalence ratio entering the flame is temporally and spatially uniform, and the combustion dynamics are governed only by flame–vortex interactions. Four distinct dynamic regimes are observed depending on the operating parameters. At high but lean equivalence ratios, the flame is unstable and oscillates strongly as it is wrapped around the large unsteady wake vortex. At intermediate equivalence ratios, weakly oscillating quasi-stable flames are observed. Near the lean blowout limit, long stable flames extending from the corner of the step are formed. At atmospheric inlet temperature, the unstable mode resonates at the 1/4 wavemode of the combustor. As the inlet temperature is increased, the 5/4 wavemode of the combustor is excited at high but lean equivalence ratios, forming the high-frequency unstable flames. Higher hydrogen concentration in the fuel and higher inlet temperatures reduce the equivalence ratios at which the transitions between regimes are observed. We plot combustion dynamics maps or the response curves, that is the overall sound pressure level as a function of the equivalence ratio, for different operating conditions. We demonstrate that numerical results of strained premixed flames can be used to collapse the response curves describing the transitions among the dynamic modes onto a function of the heat release rate parameter alone, rather than a function dependent on the equivalence ratio, inlet temperature and fuel composition separately. We formulate a theory for predicting the critical values of the heat release parameter at which quasi-stable to unstable and unstable to high-frequency unstable modes take place.