Impact of Fuel Interchangeability on dynamic Instabilities in Gas Turbine Engines

Conference · Thu Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 2007

OSTI ID:913267

Ferguson, D H; Straub, D L; Richards, G A; Robey, E H

Modern, low NOx emitting gas turbines typically utilize lean pre-mixed (LPM) combustion as a means of achieving target emissions goals. As stable combustion in LPM systems is somewhat intolerant to changes in operating conditions, precise engine tuning on a prescribed range of fuel properties is commonly performed to avoid dynamic instabilities. This has raised concerns regarding the use of imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) and natural gas liquids (NGL’s) to offset a reduction in the domestic natural gas supply, which when introduced into the pipeline could alter the fuel BTU content and subsequently exacerbate problems such as combustion instabilities. The intent of this study is to investigate the sensitivity of dynamically unstable test rigs to changes in fuel composition and heat content. Fuel Wobbe number was controlled by blending methane and natural gas with various amounts of ethane, propane and nitrogen. Changes in combustion instabilities were observed, in both atmospheric and pressurized test rigs, for fuels containing high concentrations of propane (> 62% by vol). However, pressure oscillations measured while operating on typical “LNG like” fuels did not appear to deviate significantly from natural gas and methane flame responses. Mechanisms thought to produce changes in the dynamic response are discussed.

• Research Organization: National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, Morgantown, WV, and Albany, OR (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE - Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
• OSTI ID: 913267
• Report Number(s): DOE/NETL-IR-2007-102
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

03 NATURAL GAS
CALORIFIC VALUE
COMBUSTION
ENGINES
ETHANE
GAS TURBINE ENGINES
GAS TURBINES
INTERCHANGEABILITY
LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS
METHANE
NATURAL GAS
NATURAL GAS LIQUIDS
NITROGEN
OSCILLATIONS
PIPELINES
PROPANE
TARGETS
TUNING
fuel composition
lean pre-mixed systems
liquified natural gas
methane
propane