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Nox emission control in gas turbines for combined


cycle gas turbine plant
M J Moore
Consultant, Guildford, Surrey

Abstract: The increase, in recent years, in the size and efficiency of gas turbines burning natural gas in com-
bined cycle has occurred against a background of tightening environmental legislation on the emission of
nitrogen oxides. The higher turbine entry temperatures required for efficiency improvement tend to increase
NOx production. First-generation emission control systems involved water injection and catalytic reduction
and were relatively expensive to operate. Dry low-NOx combustion systems have therefore been developed
but demand more primary air for combustion. This gives added incentive to the reduction of air requirements
for cooling the combustor and turbine blading. This paper reviews the various approaches adopted by the
main gas turbine manufacturers which are achieving very low levels of NOx emission from natural gas com-
bustion. Further developments, however, are necessary for liquid fuels.

Keywords: gas turbines, combustion, combined cycles, environment, nitrogen oxides, BATNEEC

1 INTRODUCTION 2 ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION

It was a fortunate coincidence for the United Kingdom that Complex interactions of nitrogen oxides with reactive
tightening European Community regulations on sulphur hydrocarbons and sunlight produce low-level ozone, acid
emissions from power plant coincided with the increased rain and smog and legislation reflects the view that any
availability of natural gas at economic prices. Revised leg- emission of NOx is to be avoided or minimized. Emission
islation allowing the use of gas for electricity generation and limits imposed by power plant licensing authorities differ
the discouragement of oilfield exploitation without gas in different countries but loosely reflect the current level
recovery has led in the United Kingdom to the so-called of abatement technology—although it could be argued
‘dash for gas’. Natural gas contains very little sulphur and that the legislation drives the technology where, for exam-
what is present can be relatively easily removed. Corrosive ple, tough prescriptive limits are imposed. While some 95
alkali metal salts are also absent, making natural gas an per cent of the NOx emitted is in the form of nitric oxide
ideal fuel for high-temperature gas turbines. Incorporated (NO), emission limits are defined as the quantity of nitrogen
in combined cycle—the so-called combined cycle gas tur- dioxide equivalent, as the NO is ultimately converted to
bine (CCGT) plant—this new breed of industrial gas turbines NO2 in the atmosphere. Monitoring instruments generally
enables cycle thermal efficiencies approaching 60 per cent measure NO using chemiluminescent techniques and the
(LCV) to be obtained, well in excess of open cycle gas tur- equivalent NO2 is calculated. Emission is expressed in var-
bine or Rankine-based steam plant. Similarly, gas turbine ious units (mg/m3 , mg/MJ, ppm, ppmv) as the quantity of
unit size has increased remarkably from 20 to 250 MW NO2 in dry air at 1 atmosphere pressure (1.013 bar) and
over the past 20 years. However, higher turbine entry 0 ⬚C. It is also customary to refer the data to air containing
temperature, a prime factor in increased efficiency, tends 15 per cent oxygen. In this review emission limits are
to increase the rate of formation of oxides of nitrogen and expressed as ppm, at 15 per cent dry O2 .
special measures have been introduced by the gas turbine For new plant (or plant undergoing substantial upgrading)
designers to counteract this effect. This paper presents a permissible emissions of NOx have decreased significantly
brief history of such developments and the approaches in recent years. The current guidance in the United Kingdom
currently being adopted by the main engine manufacturers. (1) advises that emissions of NOx for gas turbines individu-
ally of 50 MW or more net rated thermal input should not
at any time exceed:

The MS was received on 4 April 1996 and was accepted for publication on Gaseous fuels: 60 mg/m3 (50 mg/MJ)—
27 August 1996. approximately 50 ppm
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44 M J MOORE

Liquid fuels: 125 mg/m3 (105 mg/MJ)— theoretically (4) and is described by
approximately 100 ppm
½NOÿ ¼ K1 expð¹K2 =TÞ½N2 ÿ½O2 ÿ0:5 t ð1Þ
and emissions under steady conditions should be colourless.
(If NO2 > 15 ppm in the exhaust gases, which can occur at The quantity of NO formed is an exponential function of
low exhaust gas temperatures, a yellow plume is produced.) temperature and is proportional to the concentration of N2 ,
Further examples of current limits [from reference (2)] the square root of O2 concentration and the residence
are listed in Table 1 for large plant (>100 MWth ). The time, t, at the high temperature. The reduction in tempera-
most severe limitations are in place in Southern California ture emerges as the main strategy for controlling thermal
and in certain areas of Germany and Japan. NOx emissions from gas turbines.
The other NOx -producing mechanisms are so-called Fuel-
NOx and Prompt-NOx . The former results from reactions
Table 1 Some national NOx emission limits (ppm, 15 per with nitrogen present in the fuel—a significant component
cent dry O2 Þ in coal and, to a small extent, in liquid fuels but not present
in natural gas. Prompt-NOx (5) is formed very briefly during
General
the combustion process by the interaction of CH radicals on
Gas Oil Local CO N2 , the quantity of NO produced in this manner being also
relatively small.
Germany 50 75 <50 80
Netherlands 37 37 — —
United States 75 75 9 8
Japan 73 73 9 8 4 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

4.1 Combustor arrangement

3 NOx FORMATION IN GAS TURBINES The gas turbine was developed primarily for aircraft propul-
sion where its light weight, inherent reliability and high
Combustion in gas turbines has traditionally employed a thrust are distinct advantages. The jet engine burns distillate
diffusion flame where fuel is sprayed into the centre of an fuels, the potential pollutants being CO, SO2 , NOx , UHCs
air stream. Fuel mixes with the air by turbulent diffusion (unburnt hydrocarbons) and even soot (as well as, of course,
and the flame front can be considered the locus of the CO2 ).
stoichiometric mixture where temperatures reach approxi- Diffusion flames are employed for stability and short
mately 2000 ⬚C. The hot combustion products are cooled combustion chambers are incorporated to minimize engine
by dilution with excess air to temperatures acceptable to weight and shaft length. Such engines tend to produce
the combustor walls and turbine blading. relatively large quantities of NOx and CO. Industrial gas tur-
The combustion process consists of three phases, the bines, relieved of weight restrictions, initially incorporated
endothermic dissociation of the fuel molecules, followed large external (silo) combustors in order to ensure efficient
by a fast, exothermic formation of CO and H2 O, and finally burn-out (e.g. see Fig. 1). Typically emission levels of CO <
the slower, exothermic oxidation of CO to CO2 . Some 80 10 ppm were achieved and UHC emission was undetectable.
per cent of the energy is released in the second phase during The initial use of diffusion burners, however, did little to
the formation of CO. The slower burn-out to CO2 can contain NOx production. While satisfactory at turbine entry
require 75 per cent of the combustion zone length. temperatures of around 1000 ⬚C, at the higher temperatures
Nitrogen oxides are formed at high temperature by the of modern machines the large silo combustors tended to
dissociation of the O2 molecule and the action of the O require too much cooling air and at part-load the large areas
radical on molecules of nitrogen. Zeldovich (3) showed of cool surface adversely affected burn-out. Long residence
that, at temperatures above 1500 ⬚C, NOx was formed times also increased NOx production. For this and for other
from nitrogen in the atmospheric air taking part in the structural reasons the trend has therefore been to adopt
combustion process, the product being denoted Thermal smaller multiple chambers in annular arrangement. (One
NOx . This product is approximately 95 per cent NO, with manufacturer, GE (see Section 5.3), has always incorporated
NO2 making up the balance plus a small amount of N2 O. this arrangement.)
The main reactions are

O2 → O þ O 4.2 Water or steam injection


N2 þ O → NO þ N
The first attempts to reduce NOx introduced a heat sink in
N þ O2 → NO þ O the flame by injecting water, with the aim of reducing aver-
age combustion temperature and hence thermal NOx pro-
The rate of formation of NO has been determined duction. This had the added advantage of boosting gas
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NOx EMISSION CONTROL IN GAS TURBINES FOR CCGT PLANT 45

Fig. 1 Example of silo combustor on ABB GT13E. (Courtesy of ABB Power Generation)

turbine output by increasing the mass flow of gas through Table 2 Approximate levels of NOx emission achieved by
the turbine, but gains were offset by the extra fuel required water or steam injection—diffusion flame (NOx
to heat the water to the temperature of the burning mixture. expressed as ppm on 15 per cent O2 , dry basis)
With water/fuel mass flow ratios in the range 1–2, the rate
of NOx formation could be reduced by an order of magni- With
tude (Fig. 2). However, the process required large quantities Without
injection Water Steam
of clean water—to at least boiler feedwater standard—to
avoid corrosion of the turbine blading or deposition and Distillate fuels 200 40 50
Natural gas 150 30 35
blocking of cooling air holes by impurities. Particularly
with water injection, there was also an increase in levels
of pressure fluctuations associated with combustion. Such
dynamic pressures can excite acoustic resonance which 4.3 Selective catalytic reduction
may shorten combustor can life. Steam injection, while
lacking the cooling effect of water evaporation, can never- Where local regulations required lower emission levels,
theless give better mixing and lower dynamic pressure selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems were installed.
levels than water injection and can be incorporated Ammonium hydroxide solution sprayed over a mesh con-
relatively simply in a gas and steam combined cycle. taining titanium and vanadium oxide catalysts reacts with
Steam/water injection is still offered by manufacturers for the NOx to form nitrogen and water. The reaction rate maxi-
liquid fuel or dual-fuel firing and, at modern turbine entry mizes at around 350 ⬚C, necessitating the positioning of the
temperatures and pressures, can achieve typical NOx out- SCR unit between the evaporator and economizer sections
puts as shown in Table 2. of the heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). Such systems
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46 M J MOORE

Fig. 2 Effect of water/steam injection on the rate of NOx production [from reference (2)]

were relatively expensive to install and maintain but, com- pre-mix flame, the combustion temperature, and therefore
bined with water injection, could reduce NOx emissions to the NOx formed, is a strong function of the fuel–air ratio,
less than 10 ppm. as shown diagrammatically in Fig. 3. By using a lean fuel/
air mixture the rate of NOx formation can be significantly
reduced.
4.4 The evolution of dry low-NOx systems In comparison, only at fuel-rich conditions does a diffu-
sion flame give low NOx . Fuel-rich combustion has atten-
The high costs of the above systems provided the incentive dant problems of cooling the combustor can without
to explore the use of non-stoichiometric mixtures to reduce diluting the fuel/air mixture and presents the possibility of
flame temperature in so-called dry low-NOx (DLN) systems. incomplete burn-out. Early attempts to reduce NOx
If fuel and air are mixed before combustion in a so-called employed fuel or air staging in which, following an initial

Fig. 3 NOx production from diffusion and pre-mix flames


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NOx EMISSION CONTROL IN GAS TURBINES FOR CCGT PLANT 47

In comparing gas turbine entry temperature (TET) it may


be noted that the manufacturers define TET in slightly
different ways. Japanese manufacturers tend to quote the
temperature at entry to the first fixed blades. US practice
is to use the temperature downstream of the first fixed blades
after mixing with readmitted cooling air. Siemens, on the
other hand, use the ISO 2314 value calculated from the com-
bustion of full-load fuel flow with the total compressor
flow. Thus, for the same engine, the above definitions
may, for example, give TETs of 1280, 1230 and 1130 ⬚C
respectively.

5 THE STATE OF THE ART

5.1 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI)

According to reference (6), MHI introduced the world’s first


Fig. 4 Operating range of pre-mix flames. (Courtesy of operational DLN combustor in their 1450 K Class gas tur-
Siemens AG) bine at Tohoku Electric Company’s Higashi Niigata Power
Station in 1984. Denoted DLN1, the combustor used a
combustion, further air and/or fuel is added, followed by hybrid burner with an air bypass arrangement for part load-
dilution air. Such systems could be rich/lean or lean/lean ing. NOx levels at gas turbine exit were some 75 ppm, redu-
in sequence. cing to less than 10 ppm after the SCR system was installed
For natural gas fuel the commonly adopted strategy is to in the HRSG.
employ DLN burners incorporating lean, pre-mix flames. The DLN1 combustor incorporated a double chamber
The main problems associated with lean pre-mix flames for pilot and main burners in an annular arrangement. The
are their stability, their fuel inflexibility and the limited combustor liner had a conventional film cooling system.
turn-down range. To minimize flame temperature and hence However, for higher temperature engines, the air require-
NOx production the fuel/air mixture is weakened to as near ment for lean pre-mix burners and film cooling is excessive.
the extinction point as can safely be realized. Thorough The next development, DLN2, in 1992, therefore employed
mixing is also essential to avoid unsteady combustion and a single chamber to reduce cooled surface area (Fig. 5). It
even flashback with subsequent burner damage. To stabilize also incorporated advanced types of liner cooling, known
the flame, it is common practice to use a hybrid system in as PLATEFIN and MTFIN (Fig. 6). DLN2 also has a multi-
which the bulk of the fuel is burned in a pre-mix burner, nozzle system allowing dual-fuel operation. NOx levels of
the remainder being supplied to a small pilot diffusion flame 25 ppm have been achieved on the MHI 1600 K Class ‘F’
embedded in the flow. Even so, operation is limited to a engine using DLN2 (Fig. 7).
narrow range of fuel/air mixtures between the production The incentive to reduce the quantity of cooling air has led
of excessive NOx and excessive CO (Fig. 4). Careful devel- to the development of the DLN3 combustor incorporating
opment of combustor geometry and control system is there- the MTFIN liner cooling system. Target NOx levels are
fore required. 9 ppm for the F engine and 25 ppm for the 1750 K G engine.
Stable turn-down is generally achieved by incorporating Liner cooling is by air in the F engine but by steam in the G
multiple burners in the combustor which can be turned off engine. The latter acts as a superheater in the CCGT steam
systematically, maintaining a uniform temperature profile bottoming cycle. DLN3 is at present undergoing laboratory
into the turbine. In CCGT plant the compressor air flowrate tests.
is reduced at part load using variable inlet guide vanes, The next development, DLN4, has a target of 9 ppm for
enabling the gas temperature at entry to the HRSG to be the G engine. Areas receiving attention are the achievement
maintained down to typically 50 per cent load. of complete pre-mixing and minimization of boundary layers
The current development problem for DLN burners as to reduce the potential flashback path and to minimize
turbine entry temperatures increase is to provide the neces- unsteady combustion.
sarily large quantity of air for lean pre-mix combustion
while maintaining adequate cooling of engine hot parts
without reducing efficiency by extracting too much cooling 5.2 ABB Power Generation
air from the compressor. The next section summarizes
briefly the range of designs of the world’s main industrial Early ABB industrial gas turbines incorporated a single,
GT (gas turbine) manufacturers and their claimed diffusion burner in a silo combustor, suitable for oil or
performance. gas firing and using water injection where NOx limiting
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48 M J MOORE

Fig. 5 MHI DLN2 combustor

legislation dictated. However, the perceived advantages of many as 36 burners were mounted in the single silo combus-
DLN systems led to the development of a first-generation, tor and achieved NOx emissions of 40–60 ppm.
lean, pre-mix burner which entered commercial operation To meet tighter emission standards, in 1987 ABB began
in 1984 in a type GT13 machine. Burner design consisted research on their second-generation system and produced
of a long mixing tube in which air and gaseous fuel were the environmental (EV) burner. The burner consists of an
pre-mixed, followed by a swirler and diffusion flame nozzle axially split diffusing cone, the two halves offset to form
to stabilize the flame. By using multiple small burners, tangential slots (see Fig. 8). Combustion air is fed through
flame length—and hence residence time—was reduced the slots forming a powerful vortex in the cone. Gas is injected
and part-load performance achieved by burner staging. As into the vortex via small holes at the edges of the slots.

Fig. 6 MHI combustor cooling systems


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NOx EMISSION CONTROL IN GAS TURBINES FOR CCGT PLANT 49

Fig. 7 NOx emissions from MHI DLN2 combustor

(Liquid fuel can be sprayed into the burner via a nozzle at introduced sequential combustion. The first combustion pro-
the cone apex.) Pre-mixing in the cone is followed by com- cess is performed using multiple EV burners in an annular
bustion at exit where the vortex breaks down, allowing arrangement, the hot gases passing to the HP turbine stage.
recirculation and flame stabilization. As the flame is outside A further, spontaneous combustion downstream of this
the burner, the burner structure remains relatively cool. The stage is achieved by injecting fuel into a sequential EV
burner is guaranteed by ABB to give less than 25 ppm NOx burner also designed on the vortex breakdown principle.
with natural gas and 42 ppm with oil firing and water injec- Vortices are produced by delta ‘wings’ on the sides of the
tion (7). The EV burner was first used commercially in 1987 combustor segments and secondary air maintains a lean
in the Midlands power plant in the United States. mixture. ABB claim that the uniformity of temperature of
As many as 54 EV burners were initially introduced into the lean mixture results in practically no NOx being pro-
each silo combustor. However, as with other GT manufac- duced in the second combustion. The first GT24 was
turers, ABB have moved away from silo arrangements fired-up in September 1995 at Gilbert Power Station, New
and have developed an annular combustor, shown diagram- Jersey.
matically in Fig. 9. In the GT13E2, 72 EV burners are Also noted is the claim that the EV burner system enables
arranged in rings around the annulus, enabling the opera- surrounding metalwork to be cooled by conventional con-
tional load range to be achieved by burner group staging. vection cooling. The introduction of more sophisticated
In the latest GT design, the GT24/GT26, ABB have film cooling systems is therefore avoided.

Fig. 8 ABB EV cone burner


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50 M J MOORE

Fig. 9 Annular combustor of ABB GT 13E2

5.3 GE power systems efficient combustion, a pilot flame and various geometric
arrangements are employed to maintain ignition of the
The first DLN system developed by GE was tested at Hous- main mixture. The combustor can be dual fuelled but, for
ton Lighting and Power in 1980 and met the EPA emission liquid fuel, a diffusion flame is employed with water injec-
goals at that time of 75 ppmv NOx . Subsequent develop- tion. On natural gas GE claim full-load emissions of as low
ments have led to the present combustor designs, designated as 9 ppm NOx (at 25 ppm CO) for ‘E’ technology engines
DLN-1 and DLN-2. Both are based on the lean pre-mix (TET ¼ 1100 ⬚C) and for ‘F’ engines (TET ¼ 1316 ⬚C)
principle but differ in detailed geometry. between 30 and 60 ppm NOx (8).
The DLN-1 design incorporates a complex fuel-staging At the higher temperatures of the ‘F’ engines and sub-
process to reach full load as shown in Fig. 10. At full load sequent technologies it was realized that a combustor
the primary nozzles provide a lean pre-mixed gas/air mix- requiring less cooling air was required if engine efficiency
ture to the flame burning at the outlet to the secondary noz- was not to be compromised. The new design, DLN-2
zle. Recirculation after a venturi stabilizes the flame and (Fig. 11), was developed without the centre body and
dilution air is added downstream. For low NOx production venturi of DLN-1, so saving the cooling air needed for these
the primary fuel/air mixture is very lean so, for stable and components. DLN-2 is a single-stage, dual-fuelled design

Fig. 10 GE DLN-1 combustor operating sequence


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NOx EMISSION CONTROL IN GAS TURBINES FOR CCGT PLANT 51

Fig. 11 GE DLN-2 combustor

incorporating five mixer nozzles. The lean mixture from


the nozzles is swirled into the combustion chamber where
vortex breakdown and recirculation stabilizes the flame.
The first DLN-2 combustor was operated commercially in
Florida P&L Martin Station in 1994 and achieved
< 25 ppm NOx and 15 ppm CO.

5.4 Siemens AG

Multiple-burner systems have been employed by Siemens


in their silo combustors and in the annular combustor
designs introduced in 1994. Typically six or eight burners
are fitted to silos for V84 and V94 engines and 24 to the
V84 annular combustor. The burners are based on the
‘hybrid’ arrangement developed in the mid-1980s and
shown schematically in Fig. 12. Diffusion flames are
used for start-up and low load, switching to lean, pre-
mix flames at higher loads, giving the NOx emission per-
formance shown in Fig. 13 for the V84.3A currently under
full-size testing in Berlin.
Improvements have been made to the pre-mix swirler
and gas injection system to improve mixing. With the lat- Fig. 12 Siemens hybrid burner
est version of the hybrid burner, HR-3, Siemens guarantee
less than 25 ppm NOx at full load with natural gas (9).
The combustors also burn liquid fuels by diffusion flame
with water injection, reducing NOx to 50 ppm. A dry pre-
mix version for liquid fuels was tested in a V94.2 engine
at Halmstad in 1993 and gave NOx < 90 ppm and CO < 10
ppm at a TET of 1060 ⬚C ISO.
Cooling air requirements are claimed to be reduced by the
Siemens practice of lining the combustion chamber with
ceramic tiles.

5.5 Aero-derivatives

Aero-engine manufacturers have traditionally produced Fig. 13 NOx emissions from Siemens V84.3A engine
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52 M J MOORE

selected versions of jet engines modified for peak-power gen- to as near turbine entry temperature as possible by burning
eration. The longer operating life and higher temperatures a pre-mixed lean mixture of gas and air. Refinement of DLN
available from natural gas combustion has reawakened inter- combustor designs should enable NOx emissions of < 9 ppm
est in this niche market, the large aero-derivatives even being to be achieved at the current TETs of 1260 ⬚C.
considered for combined cycle application. Notable exam- However, pre-mix flames require large quantities of
ples are the GE LM6000 and the Rolls-Royce RB211 and combustion air, making less air available for cooling of
Trent gas turbines. Low NOx combustors for natural gas combustion chamber walls, turbine blading, etc. Manufac-
have been designed for these engines based on the pre-mix turers are therefore developing alternative approaches
lean flame principle for reducing flame temperature. such as improved cooling heat transfer systems, steam
The LM6000 employs an annual combustor fed by three cooling or sequential combustion to achieve increased
rings of pre-mixing nozzles and an enlarged reaction cham- CCGT efficiency.
ber to increase residence time for improved burn-out. On Achievement of low NOx with liquid fuels has proved
test, emissions were less than 15 ppm NOx , 10 ppm CO more difficult and currently relies upon relatively expensive
and 2 ppm UHC at a turbine entry temperature at 1288 ⬚C. water injection to achieve emissions of < 50 ppm. Dual fuel-
Guarantee figures are 25 ppm NOx with natural gas and ling is an important requirement for many operators and the
42 ppm with liquid fuel plus water injection (10). DLN combustor for liquid fuels is a development goal for
The Trent DLN combustor consists of a series of ‘pots’ gas turbine designers.
around the machine periphery. The emission guarantee is
25 ppmv NOx , but development targets are 9 ppm NOx on
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