66 Design: Theory and Practice

The Dry Low Emission Combustors

The DLE approach is to burn most (at least 75%) of the fuel at cool and fuel-lean
conditions to avoid any significant production of NOx . The principal features of such
a combustion system is the premixing of the fuel and air before the mixture enters
the combustion chamber and leanness of the mixture strength in order to lower the
flame temperature and reduce NOx emission. This action brings the full-load operating
point down on the flame temperature curve as seen in Figure 1-68 and closer to the
lean limit. Controlling CO emissions thus can be difficult and rapid engine off-loads
bring the problem of avoiding flame extinction, which if it occurs, cannot be safely re-
established without bringing the engine to rest and going through the restart procedure.
Figure 1-69 shows a schematic comparison of a typical dry low emission NOx
combustor and a conventional combustor. In both cases, a swirler is used to create
the required flow conditions in the combustion chamber to stabilize the flame. The
DLE fuel injector is much larger because it contains the fuel/air premixing chamber
and the quantity of air being mixed is large, approximately 50–60% of the combustion
air flow.
The DLE injector has two fuel circuits: main fuel and pilot fuel. The main fuel,
approximately 97% of the total, is injected into the air stream immediately downstream
of the swirler at the inlet to the premixing chamber. The pilot fuel is injected directly
into the combustion chamber with little if any premixing. With the flame temperature
being much closer to the lean limit than in a conventional combustion system, some
action has to be taken when the engine load is reduced to prevent flame out. If no
action was taken, flame out would occur since the mixture strength would become too
lean to burn. A small proportion of the fuel is always burned richer to provide a stable

Conventional
combustor
Flame temperature

NOx emissions

Lean limit

Lean
premixed
Ultra-lean
premixed
Catalytic
Lean Rich

Fuel/air ratio

Figure 1-68 Effect of fuel/air ratio on flame temperature and NOx emissions.
An Overview of Gas Turbines 67

Dry low emission combustor

Premix
zone
LP stage 2 Lean, cool
LP stage 1 low nox
Rich Lean, cool
Pilot
stable low nox

Main fuel
Swirlers

Conventional combustor

Main
fuel

Figure 1-69 A schematic comparison of a typical DLE NOx combustor and a conventional
combustor.

“piloting” zone, while the remainder is burned lean. In both cases, a swirler is used to
create the required flow conditions in the combustion chamber to stabilize the flame.
The LP fuel injector is much larger because it contains the fuel/air premixing chamber
and the quantity of air being mixed is large, approximately 50 –60% of the combustion
air flow.
Figure 1-70 shows a schematic representation of an actual dry low emission NOx
combustor in an aero-engine; note the three concentric rings of swirlers and fuel noz-
zles. Figure 1-71 shows a frame-type gas turbine with DLE combustors; note the
amount of fuel nozzles per can. Figure 1-72 shows a set of five fuel nozzles and a pilot
nozzle in the center, for a single can of a frame type gas turbine; there are 14 such cans
in annular arrangement on single turbine.
With the flame temperature being much closer to the lean limit than in a conven-
tional combustion system, some action has to be taken when the engine load is reduced
to prevent flame out. If no action were taken flame out would occur since the mixture
strength would become too lean to burn.
One method is to close the compressor inlet guide vanes progressively as the load
is lowered. This reduces the engine airflow and hence reduces the change in mixture
strength that occurs in the combustion chamber. This method, on a single shaft engine,
68 Design: Theory and Practice

Combustion liner

Heat shield

Premixer

Three rings of
fuel nozzles

First-stage
turbine nozzles

Figure 1-70 An actual dry low emission.

Figure 1-71 A frame-type gas turbine with DLE combustors.

generally provides sufficient control to allow low emission operation to be maintained

down to 50% engine load. Another method is to deliberately dump air overboard prior
to or directly from the combustion section of the engine. This reduces the airflow
An Overview of Gas Turbines 69

Figure 1-72 A set of five nozzles; pilot nozzle in the center.

and also increases the fuel flow required (for any given load) and hence the combus-
tion fuel/air ratio can be held approximately constant at the full load value. The latter
method causes the part load thermal efficiency of the engine to fall off by as much as
20%. Even with these air management systems, lack of combustion stability range can
be encountered particularly when load is rapidly reduced.
If the combustor does not feature variable geometry then it is necessary to turn
on the fuel in stages, as the engine power is increased. The expected operating range
of the engine will determine the number of stages, but typically at least two or three
stages are used as seen in Figure 1-73. Some units have very complex staging as the
units are started or operated at off-design conditions.
Gas turbines often experience problems with these DLE combustors, some of the
common problems experienced are as follows:
l auto-ignition and flashback
l combustion instability.
These problems can result in sudden loss of power because a fault is sensed by the
engine control system and the engine is shutdown.
Auto-ignition is the spontaneous self-ignition of a combustible mixture. For a
given fuel mixture at a particular temperature and pressure, there is a finite time
before self-ignition will occur. Diesel engines (knocking) rely on it to work, but spark-
ignition engines must avoid it.
DLE combustors have premix modules on the head of the combustor to mix the
fuel uniformly with air. To avoid auto-ignition, the residence time of the fuel in the
70 Design: Theory and Practice

Rich
Pilot

Main
fuel
Lean

Stage1 Stages1 + 2

Power

Figure 1-73 The staging of DLE combustor as the turbine is brought to full power.

premix tube must be less than the auto-ignition delay time of the fuel. If auto-ignition
does occur in the premix module then it is probable that the resulting damage will
require repair and/or replacement of parts before the engine is run again at full load.
Some operators are experiencing engine shutdowns because of auto-ignition
problems. The response of the engine suppliers to rectify the situation has not been
encouraging, but the operators feel that the reduced reliability cannot be accepted as
the “norm.” If auto-ignitions occur, then the design does not have sufficient safety
margin between the auto-ignition delay time for the fuel and the residence time of the
fuel in the premix duct. Auto-ignition delay times for fuels do exist, but a literature
search will reveal that there is considerable variability for a given fuel. Reasons for
auto-ignition could be classified as follows:
l long fuel auto-ignition delay time assumed
l variations in fuel composition reducing auto-ignition delay time
l fuel residence time incorrectly calculated
l autoignition triggered “early” by ingestion of combustible particles.
Flashback into a premix duct occurs when the local flame speed is faster than the
velocity of the fuel/air mixture leaving the duct. Flashback usually happens during
unexpected engine transients, e.g. compressor surge. The resultant change of air veloc-
ity would almost certainly result in flashback. Unfortunately, as soon as the flame-front
approaches the exit of the premix duct, the flame-front pressure drop will cause a
reduction in the velocity of the mixture through the duct. This amplifies the effect of
the original disturbance, thus prolonging the occurrence of the flashback.
Advanced cooling techniques could be offered to provide some degree of protection
during a flashback event caused by engine surge. Flame detection systems coupled
with fast-acting fuel control valves could also be designed to minimize the impact of
a flashback. The new combustors also have steam cooling.
High-pressure burners for gas turbines use premixing to enable the combustion
of lean mixtures. The stoichiometric mixture of air and fuel varies between 1.4 and
3.0 for gas turbines. The flames become unstable when the mixture exceeds a factor
of 3.0, and below 1.4, the flame is too hot and NOx emissions will increase rapidly.