The GE rich-quench-lean gas turbine combustor
- GE Corporate Research and Development, Niskayuna, NY (United States)
The General Electric Company has developed and successfully tested a full-scale, F-class (2,550 F combustor exit temperature), rich-quench-lean (RQL) gas turbine combustor, designated RQL2, for low heating value (LHV) fuel and integrated gasification combined cycle applications. Although the primary objective of this effort was to develop an RQL combustor with lower conversion of fuel bound nitrogen to NO{sub x} than a conventional gas turbine combustor, the RQL2 design can be readily adapted to natural gas and liquid fuel combustion. RQL2 is the culmination of a 5 year research and development effort that began with natural gas tests of a 2 in. diameter converging rich stage liner, an impingement cooled 7 in. diameter radially-stratified-quench stage, and a backward facing step at the entrance to a 10 in. diameter film cooled lean stage. The rich stage combustor liner has a novel double-walled structure with narrow circumferential cooling channels to maintain metal wall temperatures within design limits. Provisions were made to allow independent control of the air supplied to the rich and quench/lean stages. RQL2 has been fired for almost 100 hours with LHV fuel supplied by a pilot scale coal gasification and high temperature desulfurization system. At the optimum rich stage equivalence ratio NO{sub x} emissions were about 50 ppmv NH{sub 3} in the LHV fuel, this corresponds to a conversion of NH{sub 3} to NO{sub x} of about 5%. As conditions were shifted away from the optimum, RQL2 NO{sub x} emissions gradually increased until they were comparable to a standard combustor. A chemical kinetic model of RQL2, constructed from a series of ideal chemical reactors, matched the measured NO{sub x} emissions fairly well. The CO emissions were between 5 and 30 ppmv (on a dry, 15% O{sub 2} basis) under all conditions.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Morgantown Energy Technology Center, WV (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC21-87MC23170
- OSTI ID:
- 665374
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-970604-; ISSN 0742-4795; TRN: IM9830%%222
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, Vol. 120, Issue 3; Conference: 42. international gas turbine and aeroengine congress and exhibition, Orlando, FL (United States), 2-5 Jun 1997; Other Information: PBD: Jul 1998
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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