High Pressure Test Results of a Catalytic Combustor for Gas Turbine

Abstract

Recently, the use of gas turbine systems, such as combined cycle and cogeneration systems, has gradually increased in the world. But even when a clean fuel such as LNG (liquefied natural gas) is used, thermal NOx is generated in the high temperature gas turbine combustion process. The NOx emission from gas turbines is controlled through selective catalytic reduction processes (SCR) in the Japanese electric industry. If catalytic combustion could be applied to the combustor of the gas turbine, it is expected to lower NOx emission more economically. Under such high temperature and high pressure conditions, as in the gas turbine, however, the durability of the catalyst is still insufficient. So it prevents the realization of a high temperature catalytic combustor. To overcome this difficulty, a catalytic combustor combined with premixed combustion for a 1300°C class gas turbine was developed. In this method, catalyst temperature is kept below 1000°C, and a lean premixed gas is injected into the catalytic combustion gas. As a result, the load on the catalyst is reduced and it is possible to prevent the catalyst deactivation. After a preliminary atmospheric test, the design of the combustort was modified and a high pressure combustion test was conducted. As a result, it was confirmed that NOx emission was below 10 ppm (at 16 percent O2) at a combustor outlet gas temperature of 1300°C and that the combustion efficiency was almost 100 percent. This paper presents the design features and test results of the combustor.