Environmentally friendly and efficiently produced energy from sustainable and renewable resources is of great importance. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitric oxides (NOx) are the main emissions of air-breathing gas turbines in power plants. Gas turbines of the power generation industry are normally fueled with liquid fuels, natural gas or syngas in changing qualities. Syngas can be produced by gasification processes in IGCC power plants and consist of varying percentages of the main fractions hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO). CO2 emissions can be reduced by a decrease of the CO-share and an increase of the hydrogen-share in the syngas fuel, and by using pre-combustion carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology. For low NOx, current gas turbine combustion chamber technologies require diluents, a rather low H2 content and modifications of the combustor hardware. A feasible solution for low NOx hydrogen and syngas combustion in gas turbines is the Micromix principle developed at Aachen University of Applied Sciences. The goal of this doctoral thesis is the research on a Micromix combustor with increased power densities fueled with hydrogen-rich syngas with about 90% by volume hydrogen, and going up to 100% hydrogen in the fuel. Test burner experiments are used to characterize the combustion and emission properties of a multitude of key drivers. Based on this optimization with a variety of scaled model test burners, a prototype dual-fuel hydrogen/syngas Micromix combustor is designed and integrated into the annular combustion chamber of an industrial gas turbine. In the gas turbine, the performance characteristics of the prototype-combustor are investigated under real operational conditions with hydrogen-rich syngas and pure hydrogen. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur et technologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

A lot of research effort is spent worldwide in order to reduce the environmental impact of the transportation and power generation sector. To minimize the environmental pollution the role of hydrogen fuelled gas turbines is intensively discussed in several research scenarios, like the IGCC-technology or the application of hydrogen as large scale storage for renewable energy sources. The adaptation of the applied gas turbine combustion chamber technology and control technology is mandatory for a stable and secure low NOx operation of a hydrogen fuelled gas turbine.<p>The micromix combustion principle was invented at Aachen University of Applied Sciences and achieves a significant reduction of the NOx-emissions by the application of multi miniaturized diffusion-type flamelets. Based on the research experiences, gained during the two European hydrogen research programs EQHHPP and Cryoplane at Aachen University of Applied Sciences, the intention of this thesis was to continue the scientific research work on low NOx hydrogen fuelled gas turbines. This included the experimental characterization of the micromix combustion principle, the design of an improved combustion chamber, based on the micromix combustion principle, for industrial gas turbine applications and the improvement of the gas turbine’s control and metering technology.<p>The experimental characterization of the micromix combustion principle investigated the impact of several key parameters, which influence the formation of the NOx-emissions, and allows therefore the definition of boundary conditions and design laws, in which a low NOx operation of the micromix combustion principle is practicable. In addition the ability of the micromix combustion principle to operate at elevated energy densities up to 15 MW/(m2bar) was successfully demonstrated. The improved combustion chamber design concept includes the experiences gained during the experimental characterization and covers the industrial needs regarding scalability and manufacturability.<p>The optimization and testing is done with an Auxiliary Power Unit GTCP 36-300. The original kerosene fuelled gas turbine was modified for the hydrogen application. Therefore several hardware and software modifications were realized. The improved gas turbine’s control and metering technology enables stable and comparable operational characteristics as in kerosene reference. An improved hydrogen metering unit, which is controlled by the industrial Versatile Engine Control Box, was successfully implemented. <p>The combination of the micromix combustion technology and of the optimized control and metering technology allows a stable, secure and low NOx hydrogen fuelled gas turbine operation.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The growing need of mobile power sources with high energy density and the robustness to operate also in the harshest environmental surroundings lead to the idea of downscaling gas turbines to ì-scale. Classified as PowerMEMS devices, a couple of design attempts have emerged in the last decade. One of these attempts was the Belgian “PowerMEMS” design started back in 2003 and aiming towards a ì-scale gas turbine rated at 1 kW of electrical power output.<p>This PhD thesis presents the scientific evaluation and development history of different combustion chamber designs based upon the “PowerMEMS” design parameters. With hydrogen as chosen fuel, the non-premixed diffusive “micromix” concept was selected as combustion principle. Originally designed for full scale gas turbine applications in two different variants, consequently the microcombustor development had to start with the downscaling of these two principles towards ì-scale. Both principles have the advantage to be inherently safe against flashback, due to the non-premixed concept, which is an important issue even in this small scale application when burning hydrogen. By means of water analogy and CFD simulations the hydrogen injection system and the chamber geometry could be validated and optimized. Besides the specific design topics that emerged during the downscaling process of the chosen combustion concepts, the general difficulties of microcombustor design like e.g. high power density, low Reynolds numbers, short residence time, and manufacturing restrictions had to be tackled as well.<p>As full scale experimental test campaigns are still mandatory in the field of combustion research, extensive experimental testing of the different prototypes was performed. All test campaigns were conducted with a newly designed test rig in a combustion lab modified for microcombustion investigations, allowing testing of miniaturized combustors according to full engine requirements with regard to mass flow, inlet temperature, and chamber pressure. The main results regarding efficiency, equivalence ratio, and combustion temperature were obtained by evaluating the measured exhaust gas composition. Together with the performed ignition and extinction trials, the evaluation and analysis of the obtained test results leads to a full characterization of each tested prototype and delivered vital information about the possible operating regime in a later UMGT application. In addition to the stability and efficiency characteristics, another critical parameter in combustor research, the NOx emissions, was investigated and analyzed for the different combustor prototypes.<p>As an advancement of the initial downscaled micromix prototypes, the following microcombustor prototype was not only a combustion demonstrator any more, but already aimed for easy module integration into the real UMGT. With a further optimized combustion efficiency, it also featured an innovative recuperative cooling of the chamber walls and thus allowing an cost effective all stainless steel design.<p>Finally, a statement about the pros and cons of the different micromix combustion concepts and their correspondent combustor designs towards a possible ì-scale application could be given. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished