Syngas Combustion Application in a Gas Turbine Engine

The aim of this study is to construct a computational model of three-dimensional full scale can combustor which utilizes the laminar flamelet model coupling with detailed chemical kinetics (GRI3.0) for the investigation of the combustion characteristics of methane/syngas blended fuels applied in a micro gas turbine. In previous modeling studies with methane as the fuel, the analysis indicated the cooling may be the primary concerns as several hot spots were found at combustor exit. In addition, the flames would be pushed back or to the sides when methane/syngas blended fuels were applied, which deteriorated the cooling issue of the compact combustor. The designs of the fuel injection and cooling strategies are modified, and consequently the simulation of the modified combustor is conducted by the computational model constructed by Anasys Fluent. The modeling results for the methane combustion show that the high temperature flames are stabilized in the center of the primary zone. The average exit temperature of the combustor are then close to the target design temperature, and the exit temperatures exhibit a more uniform distribution while the pattern factor is lower due to the film cooling. When methane/syngas blended fuels are applied, the high temperature flames could be stabilized in the core region of the primary zone by radially injecting the fuels inward instead of outward. The cooling issues are also resolved through altering the air holes and the film cooling. Since the exit temperature is lower, the NOx emission is also decreased. The combustion characteristics were then investigated and discussed for future application of methane/syngas fuels in the micro gas turbine.

Project ID:PB10408-5711
External Project ID:MOST104-2221-E182-056