Development of a catalytic combustor for a heavy-duty utility gas turbine

Journal Article · Wed Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1997 · Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2817063· OSTI ID:566204

Dalla Betta, R A; Schlatter, J C; Nickolas, S G ^[1]; Cutrone, M B; Beebe, K W ^[2]; Furuse, Y; Tsuchiya, T ^[3]

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1. Catalytica Inc., Mountain View, CA (United States)
2. General Electric Co., Schenectady, NY (United States)
3. Tokyo Electric Power Co., Yokohama (Japan)

The most effective technologies currently available for controlling NOx emissions from heavy-duty industrial gas turbines are diluent injection in the combustor reaction zone, and lean premixed Dry Low NOx (DLN) combustion. For ultralow emissions requirements, these must be combined with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) DeNOx systems in the gas turbine exhaust. An alternative technology for achieving comparable emissions levels with the potential for lower capital investment and operating cost is catalytic combustion of lean premixed fuel and air within the gas turbine. The design of a catalytic combustion system using natural gas fuel has been prepared for the GE model MS9OOIE gas turbine. This machine has a turbine inlet temperature to the first rotating stage of over 1,100 C and produces approximately 105 MW electrical output in simple cycle operation. The 508-mm-dia catalytic combustor designed for this gas turbine demonstrated very low NOx emissions. The total exhaust NOx level was approximately 12--15 ppmv and was produced almost entirely in the preburner ahead of the reactor. A small quantity of steam injected into the preburner reduced the NOx emissions to 5--6 ppmv. Development of the combustion system has continued with the objectives of reducing CO and UHC emissions, understanding the parameters affecting reactor stability and spatial nonuniformities that were observed at low inlet temperature, and improving the structural integrity of the reactor system to a level required for commercial operation of gas turbines. Design modifications were completed and combustion hardware was fabricated for additional full-scale tests of the catalytic combustion system in March 1995 and January 1996. This paper presents a discussion of the combustor design, the catalytic reactor design, and the results of full-scale testing of the improved combustor. CO and UHC emissions of 10 ppmv and 0 ppmv at baseload conditions were achieved.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 566204
• Report Number(s): CONF-960608--
• Journal Information: Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, Journal Name: Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 119; ISSN 0742-4795; ISSN JETPEZ
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

03 NATURAL GAS
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
AIR POLLUTION ABATEMENT
CARBON MONOXIDE
CATALYTIC COMBUSTORS
DESIGN
GAS TURBINES
HYDROCARBONS
NITROGEN OXIDES
PERFORMANCE TESTING