Assessment of Rich-Burn, Quick-Mix, Lean-Burn Trapped Vortex Combustor for Stationary Gas Turbines
This paper describes the evaluation of an alternative combustion approach to achieve low emissions for a wide range of fuel types. This approach combines the potential advantages of a staged rich-burn, quick-mix, lean-burn (RQL) combustor with the revolutionary trapped vortex combustor (TVC) concept. Although RQL combustors have been proposed for low-Btu fuels, this paper considers the application of an RQL combustor for high-Btu natural gas applications. This paper will describe the RQL/TVC concept and experimental results conducted at 10 atm (1013 kPa or 147 psia) and an inlet-air temperature of 644 K (700°F). The results from a simple network reactor model using detailed kinetics are compared to the experimental observations. Neglecting mixing limitations, the simplified model suggests that NOx and CO performance below 10 parts per million could be achieved in an RQL approach. The CO levels predicted by the model are reasonably close to the experimental results over a wide range of operating conditions. The predicted NOx levels are reasonably close for some operating conditions; however, as the rich-stage equivalence ratio increases, the discrepancy between the experiment and the model increases. Mixing limitations are critical in any RQL combustor, and the mixing limitations for this RQL/TVC design are discussed.
- Research Organization:
- National Energy Technology Lab. (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, and Morgantown, WV (United States). In-house Research
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy (FE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- XX0000000
- OSTI ID:
- 1015358
- Report Number(s):
- NETL-TPR-0629; TRN: US201111%%563
- Journal Information:
- ASME JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING FOR GAS TURBINES AND POWER, Conference: International Gas Turbine and Aeroengine Congress and Exhibition, Atlanta, GA, June 16–19; 2003
- Publisher:
- ASME
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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