Catalytic Combustor for Ultra-Low NOx Advanced Industrial Gas Turbines March 12-14, 2002 Microturbine & Industrial Gas Turbines Peer Review Meeting Fairfax, VA Solicitation No:DE-SC02-00CH11000 Dr. Shahrokh Etemad Precision Combustion, Inc. North Haven, CT Clean Power Solutions for the 21st Century
Presentation Outline Motivation RCL TM Concept Test Results: Performance Emission Durability Summary Commercialization
Motivation Develop a catalytic combustion technology.. capable of high-firing-temperature operation with well-controlled catalyst temperatures, over a wide operating range tolerant to wide variations in inlet temperature and F/A ratio of compact size & low pressure loss (no preburner, relaxed mixing requirements) fuel flexibility operation. that addresses the limitations of previous catalytic combustion technology.
Relevance to Overall Program Objectives Category DOE Goals Emission Fuel Flexibility NOx<5 Acceptable CO Consideration for back up & alternate fuel RCL TM Goal NOx<3, CO<10 50%-100%Load Nat. gas, Low Btu, Gasoline, Diesel vaporized Durability At least 8000 hrs 12000 hrs w/ 8000 hrs market entry
Milestones Full-scale ultra-low NOx demonstration Fuel flexibility demonstration Complete 1000 hours durability Targeted Engine Application Solar Taurus T70
Solar Turbines Inc. Team: Dr. Ken Smith, Dr. Vivek Khanna DOE Contract Monitor: Mr. Steve Waslo
Technical Approach - RCL TM Technology Air Exhaust ~ Compressor Catalyst Cooling Combustion Turbine Generator Fuel Premixer Catalytic Reactor Stage 1 Post-Catalyst Mixing Stage 2 Rich- Catalytic / Lean-burn (RCL TM ) system: Stage 1. Fuel-rich catalytic partial oxidation Stage 2. Fuel-lean gas phase premixed combustion
RCL TM System Scalability Subscale Reactor MW = 0.03-0.12 Module MW = 0.6-1.7 Combustor MW 10 RCL TM system is scalable for ease of implementation RCL TM system is readily retrofitable for different applications
Full-Scale RCL TM System Module Compact system with no pre-burner & integrated premixer. Modular hardware fabricated for development purposes.
Reactor Temperature (C) No Preburner Required 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 P = 15 atm; phi = 0.55 Lightoff Temp 300 320 340 360 380 400 420 440 Air Temperature (C) Entering Rig Reactor design and catalyst formulation provides low lightoff. Catalyst lightoff 300-350 C / 570-670F (15 atm) No pre-burner required: Cost, space, durability & NO x benefit
RCL TM System Performance CO (ppm, 15% O2 dry) 20.00 18.00 16.00 14.00 12.00 10.00 8.00 6.00 4.00 2.00 CO NOx P = 16 atm T inlet=810f P=16 atm 5.00 4.50 4.00 3.50 3.00 2.50 2.00 1.50 1.00 0.50 NOx (ppm, 15% O2 dry) 0.00 2600 2650 2700 2750 2800 2850 2900 2950 Adiabatic Flame Temperature (F) 0.00 Low emission NOx<3ppm, CO<10ppm with large turndown (200F). Capable of high firing temperature operation. Pressure drop 4 % Saturn Engine test targeted April 2002.
Moderate Reactor Temperatures 800 1470 F 750 1380 F Temperature (C) 700 650 P =15-16 atm Maximum Catalyst Surface Temperature 1290 F 600 T inlet = 440C/820F 550 2600 2700 2800 2900 3000 3100 3200 Adiabatic Flame Temperature (F) at Catalyst Module Exit Catalyst surface at moderate material temperature (durability) Catalyst temperature insensitive to firing temperature Catalyst output (gas temp. out) insensitive to operating condition
Quiet Operation during Module Tests Combustion-Driven Pressure Oscillations (CDPO) CDPO (psida, max discrete) 0.4 0.35 0.3 0.25 0.2 0.15 0.1 17 atm Peak Frequencies @ 295-320 Hz 0.160 0.140 0.120 0.100 0.080 0.060 0.040 CDPO (pk-pk %, max discrete) 0.05 0.020 0 2550 2600 2650 2700 2750 2800 2850 Adiabatic Flame Temperature (F) at Catalyst Module Exit 0.000 Extremely quiet operation achieved, over wide operating range. Low Dynamics < 0.3 psida at baseload.
RCL TM Alternate Fuel Operation 900 800 Temperature (C) 700 600 500 400 300 Diesel CH4 P=6 atm 200 100 Tgas Inlet Reactor Surface Temp Axial TC Position Same reactor successfully tested for different H/C fuels: Natural gas, gasoline, Land fill gas, Diesel fuel DF-2 (prevaporized)
RCL TM Reactor Durability Temperature, C 1000 900 800 700 600 500 Tsurf P = 9 atm, phi=0.5 1470 F 1290 F 400 0 200 400 600 800 1000 Time, hours 1000 hour durability test successfully completed. No measurable performance degradation - moderate temp, fuel-rich environment over catalyst. Initiating 2000 hours durability test.
RCL TM Cyclic Durability Testing Thermal Cycle Tester - cycled from furnace to quenched air blast cooling at 200-300C/sec 8000 hours durability prediction based on cyclic testing of substrate and washcoat under stress conditions: >600 thermal cycles simulating engine trips at 200-300 C/sec with no washcoat failures 1000 hours in wet air @ 100 C above design point with negligible substrate oxidation
Accomplishments Category DOE Goals RCL TM Performance Performance & Emissions Fuel Flexibility NOx<5 Acceptable CO Consideration for back up & alternate fuel NOx=0.7-2.3, CO=0.7-7.2ppm for Tadb=2660-2840F 50%-100%Load P=10-16atm, Tin=820F/440C dp =4%, T lightoff=565f/295c Dynamics<0.4psida Operated same reactor on Nat. gas, Low Btu, Gasoline, Diesel No. 2, (pre-vaporized) Durability >8000 hrs Completed 1000 hrs durability. Completed >600 trip cycles. Low reactor surface temperature.
Summary Robust operation at high pressure with wide range of fuel flow rates (high firing - temperature capability) Low NO x and CO emissions Wide turndown achieved: Ultra lean to high firing temperature Low overall combustion acoustic operation No pre-burner required Compact design, radially and axially to fit into existing envelope Moderate reactor surface temperatures to assure long term durability
RCL TM Commercialization Air Exhaust Compressor Fuel Catalyst Cooling Premixer Catalytic Post-Catalyst Reactor Mixing Combustion Turbine ~ Generator RCL TM Patented Concept Scale Up & Sys Integration (16 atm) Component. Dev. (9 atm) Transient Operation (6 atm) Engine & Field Testing (16 atm) - Industrial Engine - Micro-turbine - Utility Engine
Acknowledgements DOE/DER- Funding support. Mr. Steve Waslo - Encouragement on RCL TM development Solar Turbines: High Pressure air time. Dr. Ken Smith: Technical Support Dr. Vivek Khanna: Technical Support