Effects of Propane/Natural Gas Blended Fuels on Gas Turbine Pollutant Emissions

Conference · Wed Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 2006

OSTI ID:1015368

Straub, D; Ferguson, D; Casleton, K; Richards, G

U.S. natural gas composition is expected to be more variable in the future. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports to the U.S. are expected to grow significantly over the next 10-15 years. Unconventional gas supplies, like coal-bed methane, are also expected to grow. As a result of these anticipated changes, the composition of fuel sources may vary significantly from existing domestic natural gas supplies. To allow the greatest use of gas supplies, end-use equipment should be able to accommodate the widest possible gas composition. For this reason, the effect of gas composition on combustion behavior is of interest. This paper will examine the effects of fuel variability on pollutant emissions for premixed gas turbine conditions. The experimental data presented in this paper have been collected from a pressurized single injector combustion test rig at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). The tests are conducted at 7.5 atm with a 589K air preheat. A propane blending facility is used to vary the Wobbe Index of the site natural gas. The results indicate that propane addition of about five (vol.) percent does not lead to a significant change in the observed NOx emissions. These results vary from data reported in the literature for some engine applications and potential reasons for these differences are discussed.

• Research Organization: National Energy Technology Laboratory - In-house Research
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy (FE)
• OSTI ID: 1015368
• Report Number(s): NETL-TPR-1654
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

03 NATURAL GAS
AIR
COMBUSTION
ENGINES
GAS TURBINES
IMPORTS
LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS
METHANE
NATURAL GAS
POLLUTANTS
PROPANE