Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The application
Extension of Fuel Flexibility in the for these types of gases as a renewable energy source, instead of
Siemens Dry Low Emissions releasing or flaring to the atmosphere, offers environmental bene-
fits. The reduction in methane as a greenhouse gas is important
SGT-300-1S to Cover a Wobbe Index since this is approximately 21 times more harmful to the atmos-
phere than CO2. The combustion of these LCV fuels using the
Rangeofl5to49MJ/Sm^ SITL DLE combustion system produces significantly lower emis-
sions and reduces the usage of fossil fuels.
Kexin The LCV fuels typically have a lower WI, which is an indicator
of the interchangeability of fuel gases and is defined as the ratio of
e-mail: kexin.liu@siemens.com the lower heating value (LHV) to the square root of the specific
gravity (SG) of the fuel (WI = UW/y/SG). The WI is used for
Varkey Alexander the comparison of the energy release from gaseous fuels with dif-
ferent compositions; for example, if two fuels have identical WIs
Victoria Sanderson then the energy release will also be identical, given the same volu-
metric flow rate. This is used as the primary factor in the evalua-
Ghenadie Bulat tion of the gas fuel flexibility on a gas turbine.
The SGT-300-IS SITL DLE combustion system was extended
Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery Limited, to allow a weak wellhead gas to be used, followed by the use of
Lincoln, LN5 7FD, United Kingdom PLG, the latter with a WI of 30 MJ/Sm^. Significant operational
experience has been achieved with the SITL DLE system across
the product range, including more than 3 x 10^ operating hours on
The extension of gas fuel flexibility in the Siemens SGT-300 single the SGT-300-IS. Maturity in the technology has enabled a lead
shaft (SGT-300-1S) is reported. A successful development program site to operate with an extended variable fuel range with high reli-
has increased the capability of the Siemens Industrial Turbomachi- ability and meets customer's emission guarantee requirements.
nery, Lincoln (STTL) diy low emissions (DLE) burner configuration This experience provided the justification to investigate a further
to a fuel range covering a Wobbe index (Wl)from 15 to 49MJISm^. extension of the range of fuels for the SGT-300-IS.
The WI reported in this paper is at a 15 °C fuel temperature. The The development work has successfully targeted extending
standard SGT-300-1S SITL DLE combustion hardware allows for the range of fuels for the SGT-300-IS to a WI between 15 and
gas and liquid fuels within a specified range typically associated 49 MJ/Sm^. The high pressure air facility (HPAE) used to demon-
with natural gas and diesel, respectively. The range of the WI associ- strate the capability of the combustion system is linked to a plant
ated with natural gas is 37^9 MJ/Sm^. Eietd operation of the stand- capable of mixing the representative gases. Euels with a defined
ard production SGT-300-1S has confinned the reliable operation WI were tested at actual engine conditions in a single SITL DLE
with an extension to the fuels range to include processed landfill gas combustion system. The standard engine hardware was capable of
(PLG) from 30 to 49MJISm^. The further extension of the fuel range covering the range to 23 MJ/Sm^ and the additional extension to
for the SGT-300-1S SITL DLE combustion system was achieved 15MJ/Sm^ was achieved by small modifications to the standard
through high pressure testing of a single combustion system at bumer. These were related to the internal bumer fuel supply since
engine operating conditions and representative fuels. The variations the reduction in the WI results in an increase in fuel mass flow.
in the fuel heating value were achieved by blending natural gas with The modifications were required to maintain a target pressure loss
diluent CO2 and/or N2. Various diagnostics were used to assess the through the bumer and to maintain a consistent level of mixing.
performance of the combustion system, including the measurement This paper provides the background for the fuel extension de-
of combustion dynamics, temperature, fuel supply pressure, and the velopment for the SGT-300-IS by presenting field experience on
emissions of N0„ CO, and unburned hydrocarbons (UHCs). The the reliability of the system in transient loading with standard gas
results of the testing showed that the standard production burner fuel, extended gas fuel ranges, and liquid fuel. This is achieved
can operate for a fuel with a WI as low as 23 MJISm^, which corre- with the SITL DLE combustion system consistently providing
sponds to 35% CO2 (by volume) in the fuel. This range can be low emissions. The results of an extensive test campaign in the
extended to l5MJISm^ (54.5% CO2 in the fuel) with only minor HPAE are then presented to prove the capabilities of the SITL
modification to control losses through the burner and to maintain DLE combustion system to operate with a range of fuels with a
similar fuel injection characteristics. The SITL DLE combustion sys- Wlof 15to49MJ/Sml
tem is able to cover a WI range of 15 to 49MJISm^ in two configura-
tions. The results of testing showed a lowering in the WI, by diluting
with CO2 and/or N2, so that a benefit in the NO,, reduction is The SITL DLE Combustion System
observed. This decrease in the WI may lead to an increased require- The SITL DLE combustion technology is applied across the
ment of the fuel supply pressure. [DOÍ: 10.1115/1.4007730] range of small-scale industrial gas turbines from 4MW to 15MW
(SGT-100 to SGT-400). The operational experience on these DLE
Introduction engines has accumulated more than 20 x 10* hr. The combustion
system consists of three main sections: the pilot bumer, the main
In order to tackle the issues associated with fuel security and bumer, and the combustor; for details refer to Refs. [1-3]. The main
environment, fuel flexibility must be considered for power genera- bumer is a radial swirler with fuel injection in the vane passage.
tion. This presents a design challenge for industrial gas turbines to The swirler number is sufficiently high to create a vortex breakdown
ensure reliability with varying fuels across an operational range. reverse flow feature along the axis of the combustor [1,3]. This flow
In this paper, the extension to the standard gas fuel range is con- feature is called an intemal reverse flow zone or central recircula-
sidered, with lower calorific values (LCVs) than natural gas, and tion zone. In the DLE concept, this reverse flow zone remains
the fuels primarily consist of natural gas diluted with CO2 and/or attached to the pilot surface of the combustor, thereby establishing a
N2. firm aerodynamic base for flame stabilization. Due to the sudden
expansion of the combustor, an extemal reverse flow zone is estab-
'Corresponding author. lished. The flame is stabilized in the aerodynamically generated
Contributed by the Combustion and Fuels Committee for publication in the shear layers around the intemal and extemal reverse flow regions.
JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING FOR GAS TURBINES AND POWER. Manuscript received June 18,
2012; final manuscript received August 16, 2012; published online January 8, 2013. Euel is introduced in two stages with gas and liquid. Eirst, with
Editor; Dilip R. Ballal. the main injection, which has a high degree of premixing and.
Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power FEBRUARY2013, Vol. 135 / 024502-1
Copyright © 2013 by ASME
hence, low NOx emissions and second, with the pilot, which is
steadily increased as the load demand decreases, in order to ensure
flame stability [1,3].
ig
2S--
1 0 0 « load K)%toad
-t-
)^25% & 5% loacfe
s
Wl 27, standmd plot
%lc
• 00
1.4
0 10 20 30 40 SO 60 70 80 90 100 110
Load (%)
Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power FEBRUARY2013, Vol. 135 / 024502-3
to a requirement for higher supply pressures. This could have costly higher pilot split required at a low Wl disguises the expected
plant implications if large gas compressors were required to supply reduction in emissions. However, at part loads of 50% and 75%, a
the fuel. A further extension to the fuels capability has therefore significant reduction in NOx can be seen as the WI decreases. This
been achieved with minor modifications to the burner in order to gradient of NOx is also observed at 25% load although the gradi-
maintain the burner supply pressure at an acceptable level. ent is not so steep.
. The CO emissions for part loads greater than 50% are pre-
sented. Full load CO emissions are not included since they were
Development of Burner for WI 15 to 45 insignificant across the range of WIs. The trend observed in the
The increase in the pressure as the WI is reduced is required standard burner is replicated with higher CO emissions as the WI
due to the constant geometry of the burner with the increasing is reduced. For a WI of less than 25 MJ/Sm', 10 ppmv CO cannot
fuel mass flow. An analysis of the losses in the burner allowed a be achieved even at 90% load. As previously discussed, the reduc-
minimum of modifications of the burner to be made in order to tion in the fiame temperature and shorter resident time contribute
maintain lower supply pressures. The modifications were primar- towards the uncompleted conversion from CO to CO2, thus
ily made to the fuel injection holes with the effective area increasing emissions. This will need to be considered during the
increased based on maintaining a pressure drop comparable to nat- project/application technical review.
ural gas. A secondary consideration was to maintain a similar The burner temperature reduces with the reducing WI, which
level of mixing in the burner, indicating fuel jet penetration is to again correlates to the findings on the standard burner shown in
be considered as a design parameter. Fig. 3. The combined effect of the flame moving downstream and
A further test campaign with a modified burner was performed the change in the fiame temperature are believed to cause the
in the HPAF and the range of fuels considered varied between a reduction in temperature with the WI.
WI of 15 MJ/Sm^^ (54.5% CO2 with 45.5% natural gas by volume) The fuel pressure drops across the main burner at full load
and UK natural gas at 45 Ml/Sm"*. In common with the standard APf = {Pf -Pa)/Pa X 100%, which is the normalized pressure
burner, it was found that the normal engine pilot split schedule difference between the fuel supply pressure Pf and the combus-
could be used for a WI of 27 MJ/Sm' and above. Below this value, tion air pressure P„ in the burner. The practical impact of the
the pilot split had to be increased in order to maintain the combus- design change is shown in the supply pressure requirement, which
tion dynamics at the same low level observed with natural gas. is reduced significantly with the modified burner.
The HPAF testing results for the modified burner are shown in
Fig. 4. At full load, the NOx is low and is consistently less than 10 Summary
ppmv for all WIs considered. A gradient is not observed in the Figure 5 is the summary for the standard and modified burners
NOx with a WI at full load due to the effect of the pilot split: the on emissions and burner metal temperatures for the different WI
fuels with only CO2 as a diluent in the natural gas to provide a
more fundamental insight. The metal temperature was normalized
to the standard burner temperature at full load natural gas
condition.
O 75% load
A S0% load 8 A ~~--star»Ùwdbutt«r75%toad
~ modified bumef 75% load
O 25% toad
X 5% toad
0 5 10 IS 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
10 15 20 30 35 40 45 50
Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power FEBRUARY2013, Vol. 135 / 024502-5
Copyright of Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines & Power is the property of American Society of
Mechanical Engineers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv
without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email
articles for individual use.