Performance evaluation and emissions reduction of a micro gas turbine via the co-combustion of H2/CH4/CO2 fuel blends

Abstract

Worldwide energy supply is rapidly shifting towards more sustainable and cleaner power generation technologies including solar PV, wind turbines and natural gas. The co-combustion of fuel blends, consisting of renewably-generated H2 and CH4, offer numerous operational advantages of gas turbines, including reduced turbine CO and NOx emissions. In this study, the combustion of H2 and CH4 was investigated experimentally, in a combined heat and power micro turbine (1–3 kWe). Three fuel scenarios were considered: 100 vol% CH4, a 15 vol% H2/CH4 blend, and a 20 vol% H2/biogas blend. These blends were used to demonstrate the micro turbine’s flexibility, simulating the addition of renewable H2 to natural gas and biogas. For the 20 vol% H2/biogas blend, CO and NOx emissions showed respective energy-equivalent reductions of 29.8% and 47.1% (compared with the 100 vol% CH4 fuel). Our findings contribute to the operational knowledge of micro gas turbines, obtaining cleaner combustion characteristics via co-combustion, and ultimately provide a solution for off-grid power applications and emergency back-up power systems.