Development of a Fuel Flexible H2-Natural Gas Gas Turbine Combustion Technology Platform

Abstract

Siemens Energy is developing the required technologies to operate its gas turbines on up to 100% H2 by 2030 to support the target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. A focused effort has been undertaken to develop a technology platform for the Siemens Energy GT portfolio which will enable GT operation across the entire range H2/natural gas blends within emissions compliance. A first engine demonstration of these technologies in an industrial application will be conducted in an SGT-400 engine in 2023 as part of HYFLEXPOWER, an EU Horizon 2020 funded consortium project. This paper will present the results of numerical and experimental investigations of several candidate dry low NOx technologies. The candidate technologies are all lean, premixed designs and include: a swirled flame primary stage, a jet-based flame primary stage and an axial stage. The experimental results are conducted at elevated pressure and temperature conditions representative of the Siemens Energy gas turbine fleet. Additionally, a comparison of different kinetics mechanisms which offer the potential to accurately model flames burning H2, natural gases, and combinations of these fuels will be presented. The mechanisms include GRI 3.0 as well as three mechanisms which have been previously developed to improve the accuracy with high H2 content fuels.