Fuel Flexible Distributed Combustion for Gas Turbine Engines

Abstract

Distributed Combustion provides significant performance improvement of gas turbine combustors including uniform thermal field in the entire combustion chamber (improved pattern factor), ultra low emission of NOx and CO, low noise, enhanced stability and higher efficiency. Distributed combustion with swirl have been investigated to determine the beneficial aspects of such flows on clean and efficient combustion under simulated gas turbine combustion conditions with close focus on NOx emission. Near Zero emissions of NO and CO have been demonstrated using methane under distributed combustion conditions with heat release intensities commensurable to gas turbine applications. In this paper, distributed combustion is further investigated using both gaseous and liquid fuels with emphasis on pollutants emission and combustor performance with each fuel. Performance evaluation with the different fuels is established to outline the flexibility of the combustor in handling a wide range of fuels with different calorific values and phases with focus on ultra-low pollutants emission. Results obtained on pollutants emission and OH* chemiluminescence for the specific fuels examined at various equivalence ratios are presented. Near distributed combustion conditions with less than 5 PPM of NO emission were demonstrated under novel premixed conditions for the various fuels tested thus outlining the combustor ability to handle different fuels with high performance. Further reduction of NOx can be made with true distributed combustion condition.