Enhancement of ignition of a gas turbine by the addition of small amounts of H2O2

Abstract

A novel ignition system was studied experimentally, in which small volumes of hydrogen peroxide – of the order of µL/s – were injected at the site of ignition, during the firing of a focus discharge igniter. Experiments were made at an atmospheric testing facility using an industrial Rolls-Royce olympus combustion chamber with kerosene Jet A1 as the fuel and atmospheric air as the oxidizer. The study concentrated on the determination of the lean ignition limits of the Jet A1–air mixture at various air mass flowrates with and without the addition of H2O2. Notable improvements, from 6.5 per cent to 44 per cent, in the ignition limits of the kerosene–air mixture were attainable using only a small amount of H2O2 during the ignition process. The study suggests that these improvements are directly related to the increase in the ignition efficiency of the igniter.