Features of a gas turbine combustion chamber in operation with gaseous ammonia

Abstract

Achieving climate neutrality requires the use of alternative hydrogen carriers for energy purposes, with ammonia currently being considered. One potential application in the energy sector is gas turbine systems, for which combustion chambers need to be designed to efficiently combust ammonia within an airflow. This paper focuses on theoretical investigations of fuel combustion completeness and environmental cleanliness of a gas turbine combustion chamber with a thermal power output of 1.0 MW, operating on gaseous ammonia. A prospective scheme for organizing processes is proposed, based on pre-mixing ammonia with a portion of air in a special pre-chamber, the sequential introduction of the remaining air through a radial-axial swirler and a series of holes in the flame tube, ensuring stable fuel combustion. Two approaches were used for modeling combustion processes in such a combustion chamber: one based on chemical reactor theory and the other on three-dimensional hydrodynamic analysis. After conducting a detailed kinetic analysis, it was concluded that to maintain stable ammonia combustion while varying the air excess coefficient in the primary combustion zone from 1.4 to 2.0, the reactants need to remain in this zone for a duration exceeding 0.025 s. Based on these parameters, design schemes for two combustion chamber variants were developed, differing in combustion tube length and air distribution pattern, for operation with an ammonia flow rate of approximately 50 g/s and a pressure of 0.3 MPa, determining a gas outlet temperature of 1490 K. Three-dimensional calculations of aerodynamic flow structures, ammonia combustion, and formation of toxic components were conducted, revealing that the proposed process organization scheme ensures complete ammonia combustion and small nitrogen oxide emissions. These results have potential applications in the development of new gas turbine combustion chamber designs for decarbonized energy systems, including those integrated with solid oxide fuel cells.