Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2009

Power for Land, Sea and Air

June 8-12, 2009, Orlando, Florida, USA

GT2009-59221

FLUE GAS RECIRCULATION IN GAS TURBINE: INVESTIGATION OF

COMBUSTION REACTIVITY AND NOX EMISSION
Felix Guethe, Marta de la Cruz García, André Burdet
ALSTOM (Switzerland) Ltd

used as the next step in the goal to achieve minimal emissions

ABSTRACT at increasing power. In addition, NOx emission obtained in
Flue gas recirculation (FGR) is a promising technology for FGR combustion reduces even further when the engine
the optimization of post-combustion CO2 capture in natural gas pressure ratio increases, making the concept particularly well
combined cycle (NGCC) plants. In this work, the impact of suited for reheat engines.
FGR on lean gas turbine premix combustion is predicted by
analytical and numerical investigations as well as comparison 1. INTRODUCTION
to experiments. In particular the impact of vitiated air condition Fossil fuel based power plants substantially contribute to
and moderate increase of CO2 concentration into combustion the release of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere while providing
reactivity and NOx emission is studied. The influence of inlet the necessary amount of electricity and heat for industrial and
pressure, temperature and recirculated NOx are taken as civil use worldwide. This human-generated-CO2 is now
parameters of this study. Two different kinetic schemes are used recognized as having a significant influence to the so-called
to predict the impact that FGR has on the combustion process: climate change. To mitigate CO2 emission, Carbon Capture and
the GRI3.0 and the RDO6_NO, which is a newly compiled Storage (CCS) technologies are being investigated by
mechanism from the DLR Stuttgart. The effects of the FGR on developing these future energy technologies with concern in the
the NOx emissions are predicted using a chemical reactor reduction or even suppression of the pollutant emissions.
network including unmixedness as presumed probability To stack
density function (PDF) to account for real effects.
The magnitude and ratio of prompt to post-flame thermal CO2 CO2
NOx changes with the FGR-ratio producing less post flame NOx H2O removal
at reduced O2 content. For technical mixtures (i. e. an industrial
fuel injector), NOx emission can be expected to be lower with
the vitiation of the oxidizer. This is due to several effects: at Fuel Fuel
HRSG Steam
low O2 concentration, the highest possible adiabatic flame
temperatures for stoichiometric conditions decreases resulting
in lower NOx when averaged over all mixing fractions. Further
Air
EV SEV
effects result from lower post flame NOx production and the BFW
role of “reburn” chemistry, actually reducing NOx (recirculated
from the exhaust), which might become relevant for the high G
Gen.

recirculation ratios, where parts of the flame would operate at

rich stoichiometry at given unmixedness. Therefore in general Cooling air
for each combustor technical mixing could decrease NOx with Figure 1: Schematic of a generic flue gas recirculation system
respect to perfect mixing at high FGR-ratio assuming the on the example of ALSTOM’s GT24/GT26 reheat engine.
engine can still be operated. Although the findings are quite
general for gas turbines the advantage that reheat engines have The development of CO2-free Gas Turbines (GT) is of
in terms of operation are highlighted. For reheat engines this paramount importance for the Earth’s environment and one of
can be understood as an extension of the “reheat concept” and the main goals of our future energy technologies. The
© ALSTOM 2009. All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is provided without liability for information
purposes only and is subject to change without notice. No representation or warranty is given or to be implied as to the
completeness of information or fitness for any particular purpose.
1
recirculation of the flue gas through the engine (FGR) reveals Previous work in gas turbine combustion by ElKady et al.
to be an effective technique for post-combustion CO2 [5] addressed issues of pollutant emission and combustor
sequestration in natural gas power plants. stability. More fundamental studies show the influence of the
As an example a sketch of the Alstom reheat engine is CO2 dilution and the O2 depletion in the combustion chemistry
given in Figure 1: The gas flow is split after the HRSG and pollutant emissions. The analysis of the chemical effects of
according to the FGR ratio into a flow entering the CO2 the CO2 dilution presented by Liu et al. [6] and Le Cong et al.
removal section and a flow being recirculated. The latter is [7] show a reduction in the burning velocity as the diluent
cooled down to ambient condition (also removing part of the concentration increases via the active perturbation of the
produced water) resulting in 100% relative humidity and mixed equilibrium of the reaction CO + OH ú CO2 + H. In Roekke
with the incoming fresh air in the compressor intake of the GT, and Hustad [8], the lean premixed operation of a gas turbine
which has two combustors (EV and SEV) in a reheat engine type burner appears to be more advantageous for NOx
(shown here) or only one for the “non-reheat” engine. Since the emissions in comparison to the diffusion operation of the same
findings of this work are quite general in nature the extension burner when diluting with N2, CO2 and O2. The effects of the
to reheat engines does not limit the validity for “non-reheat” CO2 dilution at high pressure and high temperature conditions
engines. In addition, the particular differences and advantages in turbulent premixed flames have been summarised [8, 9] as
of the reheat engines are also addressed in this paper. follows: reduction of the turbulent burning velocity, increase of
In previous investigations, Griffin et al. [1] demonstrated the mean volume of the flame region and decrease of the local
that the FGR should be considered as a promising CCS mean fuel consumption rate in the flame region, as well as the
technology. FGR reduces the overall GT mass flow of exhaust prediction of the effective restriction of combustion oscillations
gas to be treated in the post-combustion CO2 capture unit. It of premixed gas turbine combustors type by the FGR.
also increases the CO2 concentration in this exhaust gas, as The present work consists of a numerical study using
referred by Bolland and Matthieu [2]. As a result the CO2 detailed chemistry. Apart from changes in the oxidizer
separation unit is fed with a reduced amount of flue gas of high composition, burner inlet pressure and temperature variation
CO2 concentration. The CO2 capture systems are energy are included in the study, representative of gas turbine
intensive in terms of heat and steam as well as electricity for operating conditions. In order to validate the results, available
auxiliaries and decrease plant efficiency. Therefore FGR is experimental data [10] are used. The effects on reactivity and
sought as a promising technology for minimizing NGCC plant heat release time scale as well as on NOx emissions are studied
efficiency penalty due to the CO2 capture at its tail. using either perfectly mixed conditions or modelling the mixing
For the implementation of the FGR technology in NGCC quality of a technical mixer as would be realised by an
several technological challenges are to be expected with respect industrial fuel injector design.
to plant integration, materials and others but foremost in the
combustion process, which will be a focus of this work. We NOMENCLATURE
present an overview of the new combustor operability and FGR Flue gas recirculation
expected emissions with the FGR. This implies a thorough FGR-ratio m& recirculat ion
study of the combustion process at low O2 and high CO2 m& exhaust
concentrations in the oxidizer. The maximum amount of flue EV (first) EnVironmental Burner
gas recirculated, the FGR ratio is determined by the lowest SEV Sequential EnVironmental Burner
technically acceptable O2 concentration defined mainly by the HRSG Heat Recovery Steam Generator
combustor. HP, LP High Pressure, Low Pressure
For internal combustion (IC), Diesel engines and also coal-
φ
AFR Air to fuel ratio (in kg/kg)
based boilers FGR is used mainly to reduce emissions [3, 4].
fuel – air equivalence ratio
This paper consequently analyses the effect of FGR on
Tflame adiabatic flame temperature
emissions in GT conditions investigating the potential to use it
TAT1 turbine outlet temperature ~ SEV inlet
as means to further reduce NOx at increasing firing
τign-
sL laminar flame speed
temperatures in future engines. To address the combustion
τ relative τign reactivity τign / τign _ref
auto-ignition time
related issues this paper first analyses the changes in
ign_reactivity
combustion reactivity while other challenges will be treated
further (in connection with more experimental work) in later tres combustor residence time
steps. These challenges can be classified as being (i) the tHR heat release time scale

τ
increase of CO emission due to incomplete combustion, (ii) the tHR_reactivity relative t HR reactivity: tHR / tHR_ref

Da = turb
τ HR
shift of the lean blow out (LBO) margin limit, (iii) the changes Damköhler number
in the thermo acoustic response of the combustor, (iv) the
change of flame volume and location leading to variations of SENKIN~PFR Chemkin plug flow reactor module
wall heat load, and (v) the change of flame luminosity and flow PREMIX Chemkin laminar flame speed module
radiation properties.
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purposes only and is subject to change without notice. No representation or warranty is given or to be implied as to the
completeness of information or fitness for any particular purpose.
2
PDF probability density function (PDF) was computed using CHEMKIN II modules [15]. For the first

n=
m combustor (EV), also representing a single combustion engine,
mole number [mole], mass and molar mass the computational module PREMIX for laminar flame speed
M was used, whereas for the sequential combustor (SEV), the
ex in
n NOx , n NOx NOx mole number at exhaust, inlet SENKIN module (plug flow reactor for ignition times) was

χ NO =
ex employed. The study is therefore made both for a generic gas
ex nNO turbine lean premix burner and also for a reheat burner similar
exhaust mole fraction
n ex to the reheat burner used in the ALSTOM GT26 engines. The
network model used for the numerical study is shown in Figure
χ net combustor net NOx production
equivalence ratios φ according to a distribution that can also be
NOx 2. In this a number of similar reactors are run at different
χ fuel =
n fuel
n fuel + nair
molar fuel fraction
derived from CFD and water channel tests.

χ NOx
EV-flame SEV-flame
Air , d
seeding NOx content of recirculated air TAT1

SK
TSEV-flame
PR TEV-flame
PR SK
2. REPRESENTATIVE OXIDIZER COMPOSITION Air
Flame HP- SEV LP-
The inlet composition of the GT is determined by the FGR front SK SK
Turbine burner
Flame front SK Turbine
N Premix N Senkin
ratio and the overall O2 consumption of the engine. The latter is reactors
Post flame reactors
Post
flame
Fuel–EV parallel zone parallel
driven by the overall air to fuel Ratio (AFR). The practical limit reactors
serial
Fuel–EV zone

of the engine FGR ratio is determined by the technical limit of
combustor and the cooling within the GT. When the exhaust
gas is recirculated not only CO2, but also NOx is accumulated
in the flue gas leading also to altered inlet conditions. An
explicit analytical function giving the recirculated gas
composition (including NOx) directly as a function of AFR and
FGR ratio is used but not further described here. Note however
that the gas composition depends to high accuracy only on
these two parameters.
Adding NO to the air flow at the combustor inlet can result
in negative net emission values if more NOx is consumed than
produced in the combustor. This “reburn chemistry” is known
[11, 12] to play an important role near stoichiometric
conditions and intermediate temperatures. The effect on laminar
flame speed and NOx formation and destruction has recently
been addressed [13] highlighting the differences of lean and
rich combustion regimes.
The case of recirculating NOx is studied here in an analysis
of the reburn effect. To study the impact of recirculated NOx in
the combustion process and emissions in the GT a parametric
study using a high but still moderate value of 100 ppm (mole ~
volume) NOx [13] at the inlet was conducted for both
combustors of the reheat engine. This value is relatively high
but not too far from realistic values at high FGR ratio. The
comparison between the NOx-polluted-flue-gas and the non-
polluted-flue-gas results would explain the chemical effects of
the NOx-vitiation in the oxidizer. The influence of CO2 is also
investigated in order to verify its influence at realistic levels of
FGR conditions.
3. DESCRIPTION OF THE INVESTIGATION METHODS
3.1. Numerical methods
Following the study of the conventional operation of the
reheat engine [14], the kinetic model of the combustion process
PR SK
Figure 2. Schematic of the network reactor model using
parallel and serial reactors made of PREMIX (PR) and plug
flow (SK-SENKIN) modules.
The dependency of the NOx formation primarily on the
mixing rates has been shown by Vranos [16] to be of
importance in the pollutants formation for diffusion and
partially premixed flames. Further investigations made by
Biagioli and Güthe [17] show the sensitivity to fuel-oxidiser
unmixedness of the prompt and post flame contributions to the
NOx formation, with a strong effect of pressure. Therefore, it is
of primary importance for practical application to study the
NOx formation sensitivity to the unmixedness for FGR
combustion operation.
3.2. Probability Density Function (PDF) of fuel mixing
fraction
In the numerical tool descried above, fuel–air unmixedness
is addressed by running parts of the flame at different
equivalence ratios in several parallel reactors according to a
probability density function (PDF) as shown later in Figure 4.
The PDF models the distribution of fuel mixture fraction. The
flame is treated like a collection of single flamelets and is
simulated by running in parallel all the individual reactors
followed by a single PFR reactor to model the post flame
region. Each reactor has its individual mean equivalence ratio
and altered mixing temperature distribution according to the
individual fuel mole fraction xfuel given by the PDF. This means
that parts of the flame will actually sample fuel rich conditions
even at overall lean combustor settings. The PDF was chosen as
a Gaußian distribution calibrated with water channel and
computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations data obtained
at typical engine operation levels is chosen.

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purposes only and is subject to change without notice. No representation or warranty is given or to be implied as to the
completeness of information or fitness for any particular purpose.
3
a large portion of the equivalence ratios φ is covered. This
The width of that function is relatively broad to ensure that is determined by Equation 2 in terms of relative mole (volume)

− n NOx
fraction:

χ NOx ≡
approach has been developed and validated for lean conditions ex in
net n NOx
without recirculation and shown to predict NOx emission well.
n ex
to change with φ such approach will be useful enabling to
Especially for FGR cases where the NOx chemistry is expected
Equation 2

χ NOx
account for mixing and running the problem with detailed The doping is realised by adding a fixed amount of NO
chemistry. If other effects like turbulent mixing and flow fields Air , d
to the air flow resulting in the NOx mole fraction at
remain unchanged, the problem can be described with the same

χ NOx
unmixedness parameter and changes in chemistry are thereby in inlet of the flame after mixing with the fuel (Equation 3).

χ NOx = =
in Air , d

(1 + χ fuel )
focus. In extension to this approach also CO emissions could be in n NOx
modelled if some further refinements were done.
In a technical mixer for a given power the mixing quality is
n in
dependent on geometrical constraints only and not changing Equation 3
with other operating parameters. The width of unmixedness Combining these equations the net NOx production to be
distribution can also be related to experimental or modelling studied with respect to the reburn capability leads to Equation
results to be used as burner design criterion. The fuel mixture 4:

χ NOx = χ NOx − χ NOx ⋅ = χ NO − χ NO ⋅ ÷

fraction PDF is assumed to have very similar Gaußian n in m in m ex
net ex in ex in
distribution (and mean) over its mean value for all cases
investigated as sketched in Figure 4. n ex M in M ex
Equation 4
3.3. NOx-emissions and recirculated NOx and CO2
χ NO
Using the mass conservation yields Equation 5:

χ NOx = χ NOx − χ NOx ⋅ = χ NO − ⋅ in

Since the emissions for FGR applications are not as M ex Air .d
M ex

(1 + χ fuel ) M
net ex in ex
straightforward as for non-FGR cases and some alternative
definitions have been proposed [5] there seems to be some need M in
for clarification. In an actual FGR engine not only CO2, but Equation 5

= n ex and M in = M ex ). For an engine

also NOx are recirculated while O2 is depleted. The actual
amount of NOx accumulated therefore needs to be calibrated by
the O2 consumed (usually to 15% O2), the fuel burned
(emission index [gNO2/kg fuel] or the power produced. All of
the quantities are equivalent since more recirculation also refers
to more O2 and fuel consumption. However in FGR
simulations, may they be experimental or theoretical, where the
NO is not recirculated care has to be taken if normalising to O2
content, since the low O2 levels are not due to combustion but
arise from the simulations by vitiated air.
In this study we therefore limit to report absolute NOx
values modelling each combustor individually and keeping the
mass constant. The absolute NOx being the sum of NO and NO2
is reported in volumetric (molar) fraction (Equation 1):
Note that for pure methane combustion the mole number
does not change ( n
in
running with FGR at a given load and FGR ratio (at steady state
recirculation), the net production of NOx χ net
NO
is positive but
also dependent on the reburn capability of the combustor since
such a process would influence the resulting NOx production by
consuming part of the NOx from the exhaust.
3.4. Kinetic mechanisms
For the chemical mechanisms, the GRI 3.0 [18] was used
as the standard one and a mechanism developed and modified
by the German aerospace centre (DLR) Stuttgart, called
RD06_NO [19] was also used for comparison. The latter is an

χ NOx =
ex
ex n NOx outcome of a joint KW21 research project of DLR, Alstom and
EnBW (Energie Baden-Württemberg) and will be described in
n ex detail elsewhere. It contains a C2 chemistry including peroxide
Equation 1 chemistry and updated nitrogen chemistry starting from a

flames reactivity (flame speeds sl, ignition times τign and heat
The seeding of NOx at inlet can have an impact on a) the version of the work of Glarborg et al. [12] with some

release time scales τHR) with impact on CO emissions burnout

and thermo acoustics and b) the nitrogen chemistry with impact
on NOx emissions. Furthermore, secondary effects on
unmixedness via the altered reactivity and flame positions are
also not considered directly here.
In the seeding case the net combustor NOx production is
determined by subtracting the seeded value from the value after
the combustor. The net production of NOx at the exhaust χ netNOx
modifications validated on shock tube experiments. The
updates will be documented in an upcoming publication and
ensure a correct representation of the interaction of heat release
of the hydrocarbon-air flames with nitric oxides (NOx) present
from a first combustor or FGR applications respectively.
In addition, modified versions of the GRI 3.0 mechanism
were used in order to weight the influence of the Fenimore
[20], the Zeldovich [21] the nitric oxide “N2O” [22, 23] and the
“NNH” [24] mechanisms in NOx formation respectively. As

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purposes only and is subject to change without notice. No representation or warranty is given or to be implied as to the
completeness of information or fitness for any particular purpose.
4
first observed by Fenimore [20] some of these species are
strongly linked to chemistry occurring in the heat release zone
while others appear to depend on the temperature only. The
different chemical routes can be separated after the N2-reaction
partner into three contributions:
N 2 + O ↔ N + NO Reaction 1
N 2 + CH n=0−2 ↔ H n=0−2 CN + N Reaction 2
N 2 + O (+ M) ↔ N 2 O (+ M)
Reaction 3
N2 + H ↔ N 2H
Reaction 4
N 2 + H(+M) ↔ N 2 H (+ M)
Reaction 5
NOx formation is usually studied in terms of chemical
kinetics pathways. Rate determining is always the attack of the
very stable (due to its triple bond) but very abundant N2
molecule by other species. The stability of the N2 goes along
with high activation energies. It is therefore sufficient to
exclude just the N2 breaking reaction of the mechanisms to
study the effect of that particular route by setting the reactions
to 0. For the Fenimore mechanism (N2 + (C, CH,
CH2)~reaction 2) these are reaction numbers 238, 239 240, 241,
242, 142 and 261 of the GRI scheme [18]. For the Zeldovich
(Reaction 1) just reaction 179 (the original Zeldovich reaction:
(N2 + O)), for the “N2O” mechanism (Reaction 3) reactions 181
and 185 (N2 + O + M) and for the “NNH” mechanism
(Reaction 4 and 5) reactions 204 and 205 (N2 + H (+ M)) are
removed.
With this methodology the relative importance of the
different pathways (Reaction 1- 5) can be investigated at
different operating conditions. In particular, the role of prompt
and post-flame NOx can be studied as a function of air vitiation,
mild oxidizer CO2 dilution, different inlet temperature and
pressure conditions. In addition to the different mechanisms
mentioned above, the effect of the mixing was also tested in the
NOx emissions operating with CO2 diluted, vitiated oxidizer.
3.5. Experimental method
In Figure 3 a schematic drawing of the experimental setup
[10] used in our investigations is presented. It consists of a
single burner rig simulating similar operating conditions than in
the secondary combustor of a reheat engine.
The reheat operating conditions were chosen for these
experiments because of the importance of the O2 depletion in
this particular burner with FGR. In addition, this burner is
already designed for mild FGR condition in terms of oxidant
composition because it is located behind the first combustor. In
the experiment, the oxidizer was synthesised from a variable
mixture of N2, O2 and CO2. The oxygen content was varied
from 15% down to less than 6% mole fraction at the burner
inlet, with the corresponding variation of CO2. A catalytic
hydrogen burner was used to provide the desired temperature at
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purposes only and is subject to change without notice. No representation or warranty is given or to be implied as to the
completeness of information or fitness for any particular purpose.
the burner inlet from 850 to 1000°C. A wide range of flame
temperatures was tested at 8 and 16 bar pressure in the
combustion chamber. For the current experiments, no
pollutants, such as NO or CO, were added to the synthetic
oxidizer mixture.
H2 CH4
Exhaust
H2
CO Throttle
Electric Combustion
N2 Catalytic N2
O2
Preheater
Preheater
Chamber
CO2
View Port
Burner
Mixture of
N2 , O2 , CO2, H2 O Gas Probe
max 1000 °C
Figure 3: Schematic sketch of experimental test rig [10].
4. COMBUSTION REGIMES AND REACTIVITY IN
VITIATED AIR CONDITION
Results are presented in terms of burner inlet O2
concentration, which corresponds also to increasing CO2
concentrations. However the absolute the absolute level of CO2
stays relatively low (less than 10% maximum) also for the
highest FGR ratios.
4.1. Equivalence ratio Φ
The oxygen depletion with increasing FGR rate modifies
the range of possible operating conditions and achievable flame
temperatures in the gas turbine combustor as indicated in
Figure 4. The resulting equilibrium flame temperatures
the burner inlet oxygen content and the φ. For each O2-content
(normalised to the mean) are shown in contours as a function of
around φ = 1. The mean operating Tflame indicated by the black
the maximum temperature is at stoichiometric conditions
conditions. The FGR-ratio when this line approaches φ = 1
line is moving form very lean towards stoichiometric
defines a limit of operation since beyond that value combustion
cannot be completed. Note that the same mean Tflame for
φ- ratios as indicated by the solid line.
changed O2 content refers to similar fuel fractions but different
The Gaußian distributions, approximating a relative wide
distribution of fuel mixture fraction, have been referred to
earlier and are also plotted in Figure 4 indicating that the
unmixedness shifts parts of the flame into the rich regime. The
mixing function refers to the given position or residence time
neglecting the fact that with altered reactivity the flame position
and therefore the residence time might change. The non-vitiated
fresh air contains around 21% of O2 allowing to operate at a
relatively large range of flame temperatures within the lean
equivalence ratios corresponding to operation of the lean
premixed or partially premixed gas turbine combustors.
5

lean rich
Figure 4: Map of equivalence ratio φ as a function of non-
dimensionalized flame temperature Tf_cal=Tflame/Tref and O2
bar. Superimposed φ distributions for selected O2 inlet
concentration [% mol] at EV-burner inlet at inlet pressure ~ 16
conditions and mean temperature as solid line for varied FGR
ratio. All PDF belong to the almost identical fuel-air mixing
fraction distributions.
operation decrease in flame temperature as the φ increases. For
As the O2 content decreases, the margins for the lean
increasing FGR ratio the richer parts of the flame do not result
in higher Tflame as in the standard case
Since NOx production increases exponentially with
temperature for each flame-let the overall NOx production for
increasing FGR decreases due to reduced magnitude of the
local temperature peaks within the flame brush. This fact
already substantiates a first argument why in technical mixtures
FGR would produce less NOx compared to the standard case.
4.2. EV- Heat release time scale τHR
These changes in temperature and equivalence ratio have a
direct impact on the chemical time scale of the combustion
process, or combustion reactivity. This is represented by the
time of the inverse of heat release in Figure 5. Plotted is the
relative tHR reactivity: tHR / tHR_ref giving values around unity for
conditions comparable to the standard and much lower values
for less reactive conditions.
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purposes only and is subject to change without notice. No representation or warranty is given or to be implied as to the
completeness of information or fitness for any particular purpose.
lean rich
function of φ and O2 concentration [%mol] at EV-burner inlet at
Figure 5: Map of heat release time reactivity tHR reactivity as a
black line indicates the mean φ at given FGR and Tflame.
inlet pressure ~ 16 bar from PREMIX runs using GRI 30. The
The time of heat release tHR is estimated by the standard
deviation of the calculated total heat release time from the
temperature time profiles of a PREMIX simulation for EV
concentration and φ decrease, suggests a volumetric spread of
burner. The steep increase of the chemical time scale as the O2
the combustion zone with the FGR as well as the slow down of
the combustion process going along with a decrease of
reactivity as can be expressed by the Damköhler number Da.
Assuming the turbulence levels to be unchanged by the gas
inlet composition the decreased reactivity due to FGR defined
by the reaction time tHR leads to a decrease of Da. consequently
the flame-let approximation valid for Da>>1 [25] might
become less accurate and combustor designed on this
assumption might be problematic. Note the reactivity decrease
when following the mean operation line in Figure 5 and Figure
6. A similar argumentation supports this based on the sl directly
for the EV or for tHR in SEV combustion but are omitted here
for brevity.
4.3. SEV- Ignition delay time τign
As explained before [14] the main parameter controlling
delay time τign. It is an important marker of combustion
the SEV flame position and flame behaviour is the auto ignition
reactivity in auto-ignition flames like the SEV. The map of τign
(plotted as reactivity τign_reactivity) is given in Figure 6 for
representative engine conditions as function of normalized
flame temperature and FGR ratio expressed as O2 concentration
at the GT inlet (not the SEV combustor inlet!). In the
simulations a constant turbine outlet temperature TAT1 is
assumed. The inlet composition of the SEV has naturally lower
O2 levels than this and is obtained by modelling the EV
combustor analytically assuming complete combustion.
6

τign/τign_ref
lean rich
Figure 6: Map of ignition time reactivity τign_reactivity as a
function of φ and O2 concentration [%mol] at GT inlet for SEV
the RD06_NO. The black line indicates a mean φ at given FGR
conditions at inlet pressure ~ 16 bar from SENKIN runs using
and Tflame.
The decrease of reactivity with O2 depletion, as shown in
Figure 5 and Figure 6, states a significant challenge for the
combustor development, possibly even changing combustion
regime to a different Damköhler regime. One means of
increasing SEV reactivity is raising the SEV inlet temperature
(~turbine outlet temperature TAT1) by running the first
combustor at higher temperature following the reasoning
described earlier [14]. Raising TAT1 by increasing the firing
temperatures in the EV consequently also decreases the O2
inlet. The reactivity increase of the higher Tinlet
overcompensates the relatively small reactivity decrease of
having lower O2 content by far and therefore enables the
control of reactivity with TAT1 (at constant Thotgas_SEV)
therefore. More detailed investigation on this will be reported
elsewhere.
In this regard, the reheat concept for GT26 offers an
interesting flexibility. It offers the possibility to compensate the
effects of reduced reactivity in both combustors through the
increase of the firing temperature in the first one. This results in
a higher inlet temperature in the second combustor, which
The reactivity decreases (longer τign and τHR) with
eventually increases the reactivity in both combustors.
increasing FGR due to lower concentration of O2 as reactants
but also reduced contents of reactive intermediates like O
radicals. Another reason might be the increased CO2 content
In Figure 7 the relative ignition time τign is plotted as a
decreasing the reactivity [7, 9].
function of normalized flame temperature for a selection of
representative flamelets according to the discussed PDF, with
no FGR and high FGR ratio (referred to as 12.7% at the GT
inlet). Plotted are results for the GRI30 and the RD06
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purposes only and is subject to change without notice. No representation or warranty is given or to be implied as to the
completeness of information or fitness for any particular purpose.
(essentially the same data as Figure 6). It appears that τign has a
weak dependence on flame temperature in lean conditions.
SEV τign: RD06_NO vs. GRI
6 GRI:O2_GT_inlet=no FGR
GRI:O2_GT_inlet=high FGR
GRI:O2_GT_inlet+NO=no FGR
5 GRI:O2_GT_inlet+NO=high FGR
RD:O2_GT_inlet=no FGR
RD:O2_GT_inlet=high FGR
RD:O2_GT_inlet+NO=no FGR
4
RD:O2_GT_inlet+NO=high FGR
ΔNO
FGR
3
GRI
2
1
RD06_NO
no FGR
Figure 7: τign relative to standard vs. Tflame with (full
0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 Tflame /T
1.2flame_ref 1.3
symbols) and without NOx seeding (open symbols) using the
GRI (squares) and the RD06_NO mechanism (triangles) for
recirculation (green) and no recirculation (red)
occurs. τign is given relative to the standard value for each
The overall reactivity is clearly reduced when recirculation
mechanism. The absolute values are not identical but lie within
a factor of 2 with the RD06_NO being longer, which is larger
than expected from the error limits of the validation range. This
might be due to the rudimentary C2+ chemistry in the
RD06_NO, which is implemented into the GRI and might make
a difference for the natural gas used as fuel. An upgraded
version with more comprehensive C2+ model is available in the
meantime and can be used to mitigate this shortcoming. We
therefore restrict conclusions to relative effects by normalising
to reference conditions.
Interestingly the effect of NOx seeding leads to opposite
trends when comparing GRI and RD06_NO models. While in
the GRI the NO seeding decreases the reactivity, in the
RD06_NO the reactivity is increased due to a catalytic effect of
nitric oxides on the peroxide chemistry of the SEV flame. Since
the RD06_NO results are validated for this regime in shock
tube experiments the GRI is believed to yield less accurate
trends compared to the RD06_NO, calibrated for combustion
chemistry as studied here. Further validation of the model will
be shown in a subsequent publication. Furthermore one can
observe in Figure 7 that the magnitude of the effect of the
influence of the recirculation with the PDF φ variance and
recirculated NO is quite significant. Its impact is on the order of
should therefore not be neglected. In the GT26 engine, this
change in reactivity can be compensated with the tuning of the
inlet temperature of the second combustor [8]. Based on the
previous analysis, for SEV simulations the RD06_NO model is
preferred when presenting results with SEV for FGR
7
conditions. For the EV conditions the effects of NOx on tHR and
laminar flame speed sl are negligible for GRI and RD06_NO
(as also found in [13]) indicating that reactivity is determined
by the rate controlling chemistry in a different regime than for
the autoignition process. Therefore the GRI seems to be
sufficient for further EV-studies.
5. NOX EMISSION
The NOx emissions in the two combustors are modelled for
different burner inlet O2 concentrations (or FGR ratios) with
and without NO inlet seeding, as well as for the technical and
perfect mixing cases. The changes to the standard case are:
1. The difference in stoichiometric Tflame and the resulting
changes in Tflame distribution for the technical mixer.
2. The changed NOx formation terms for the discussed
pathways Reactions 1-5 reducing for example the post
flame NOx production for FGR.
3. The capability to reduce NOx entering the combustor with
the recirculated gas via the reburn chemistry.
4. The altered reactivity leading to changes in flame position
and shape results in different mixing quality in the heat
release zone.
Plotted are absolute NOx values normalised. Note that NOx
values need to be normalised (eg. to 15% O2) for comparison of
different technologies.
5.1. EV combustor
In Figure 8 the variation of relative NOx (normalised to the
value for “no FGR perfect mixing”) as a function of inlet O2
concentration, for the aforementioned cases in the EV
combustor is plotted. The NOx emissions decrease with
decreasing O2 content for a technical mixer (solid lines). For
NO seeding the net NOx production χ net following the
NOx
definition in Equation 5 becomes slightly negative for high
FGR ratios.
For the perfectly mixed case (dotted lines in Figure 8) the
NOx level with no FGR is much lower than the technical mixer.
The difference to the technical mixer diminishes however at
high FGR ratios. With seeding χ net is predicted lower
NOx
reaching slightly negative values for high FGR. For the
unseeded case the NOx formation in perfect mixing even
increases as will be explained later. For high FGR the NOx
emission obtained with the technical mixer can become lower
than for the perfect mixing.
The fact that the net NOx production is predicted lower
with NO seeding points towards some reburning activity in the
burner increasing with FGR ratio. From this it can be deduced
that recirculation even at lower seeding levels could play a role
in the in NOx formation and have beneficial impact for steady
state operation of an FGR engine (which is not modelled here)
in terms of NOx reduction by consuming the once formed NOx
passing though the combustor again.
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purposes only and is subject to change without notice. No representation or warranty is given or to be implied as to the
completeness of information or fitness for any particular purpose.
15 Overall NOx Production EV-combustor
NOx abs. normalised
13
EV tech mix cal no seed
11 EV tech mix cal seed
EV perf mix _cal no seed
9 EV perf mix cal seed
0
7
5
3
1
-1
-3
decreasing [O2]_inlet
Figure 8: Net EV-NOx emissions ( χ net
NOx
) on absolute scale
normalised to “no FGR perfect mixing” for technical mixer
(solid lines) and perfectly mixed case (dashed lines) with
(squares) and without (triangles) seeding of NO at p ~16 bar
using GRI3.0.
With NO seeding the individual NOx contributions of the
different PREMIX reactors of the EV-flame model can even
reach negative values when the fuel rich parts of the flame are
sampled. Reactors resembling parts of the flame with rich
chemistry are generally contributing very little to the NOx while
the lean and hot part produces NOx. In addition, as the O2 is
depleted, richer zone gets lower peak temperature. The cases
with NO seeding can produce negative sources at high FGR
especially if they have non-negligible probability to burn in
rich regimes.
5.2 SEV - secondary EV results
For the SEV the predicted NOx emission show a similar
effect as for the EV. Both GRI and RD06_NO mechanisms
seem to yield comparable results. The predicted SEV net
emissions χ net (Figure 9) exhibit similar trends with the
NOx
reburn activity slightly more pronounced than the EV having
negative NOx values at the highest FGR ratio. This makes the
SEV and reheat concept particularly well suited for benefiting
from reburn effect in terms of NOx emissions. In addition, the
results obtained for the perfectly mixed cases (not shown here)
are similar as those found for the EV combustor (c.f. Figure 8).
The predicted NOx emissions for SEV conditions are
plotted in Figure 10 from the described model (using the SEV
combustor model only) and from the experimental rig as
described previously and in [20] where perfect mixing is
assumed. Note that the simulations were not matched
quantitatively for the conditions of the experimental test rig but
for the SEV combustor, which differ slightly in terms of
temperature and residence time. The model was not adjusted to
reproduce exactly the small-scale, generic SEV conditions
However a qualitative comparison on the trends is obviously
striking.
8
 The NOx formation is best understood by investigating the
8 Overall NOx Production SEV NO profiles of the SEV flamelets of the different cases as
7
shown in Figure 11 and for the EV conditions in Figure 12. The
SEV tech mix cal no seed NO formation profile is determined by the reaction of the
6 SEV tech mix cal seed
SEV perf mix _cal no seed
reactants concentration (N2, O, CH, H, etc.) as well as the
NOx abs. normalised

5
SEV tech mix cal seed reaction rates k(T, p). The NO formed at a given residence time
4 0 therefore depend on the reactant species concentrations,
3 temperature and competition of the different chemical
2 pathways.
RD: no EGR
1 RD: EGR_case2
RD: EGR_case3
NO
0
RD: EGR_case4
-1 RD: EGR_case5
RD: EGR_case6
-2 RD: EGR_case5 phi=1.45
decreasing [O2]_inlet

NO abs
Figure 9: Net SEV-NOx emissions ( χ net NOx
) on absolute
scale normalised to “no FGR perfect mixing” for technical
mixer (solid lines) and perfectly mixed case (dashed lines) with
(squares) and without (triangles) seeding of NO at p ~16 bar
using RD06_NO.
In Figure 10, the fact that NOx can increase with the very
- 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 1.00
small amount O2 inlet concentration is at first sight puzzling time/ tres
since FGR is usually thought to decrease NOx emission. This
could be expected from the reduced concentration of O Figure 11: NO time profiles for reference Tflame and
radicals, reducing the formation of NOx via Reactions 1-2. different FGR ratios form SEV model with RD06_NO. For the
However the numerical finding in Figure 8 seem to be low O2 content of 12.7 % (at GT inlet) also profile at increased
confirmed by experimental data. The nature of this important xfuel (φ=1.45) is plotted. Cases 2 to 6 refer to the FGR ratios as
observation will further be analyzed in the next section. plotted in Figure 4, Figure 5 and Figure 8.
2.0 Overall NOx Production MHD vs. SEV- model

is a function of the ignition time τign for the SEV condition

It is interesting to note that the onset of the NO formation
NOx abs normalised

(Figure 11) whereas it seems insensitive for the EV case

(Figure 12) where the flame position is assumed to be burner-
1.0 stabilised and not to depend on its reactivity. Furthermore the
SEV-NOx:RD06_NO increase of prompt NOx correlates with the depletion of O2 in
SEV-NOx:GRI30 both cases, and corresponds to the increase of the short period
MHD-Experiment: 16 bar
of heat release.
0.0 The slope of the thermal NO formation in the post flame
0% [O2] outlet region is mainly due to the Zeldovich reaction and reduces with
decreasing
the FGR ratio due to the decrease of the O2 level, which is
Figure 10: Experimental NOx emissions (solid line)
coupled to the depletion of the O radicals in the hot gas, being
normalised to standard “no FGR” SEV inlet at p ~16 bar for
the main reaction partners according to reaction 1. It can also
perfectly mixed case at SEV-typical Tflame plotted vs. exhaust
be observed in Figure 11 and Figure 12 that NOx emission can
O2. The results form the perfectly mixed SEV model with the
be either higher or lower with FGR, depending at which
two mechanisms for the same Tflame are also plotted.
residence time or Tflame they are observed. This can explain the
presented experimental results. This finding is key when
making emission assessment under FGR combustion.
6. NOX FORMATION PATHWAYS - PROMPT VERSUS
at high FGR but running rich with excess fuel at φ > 1.45,
Figure 11 also plots predicted NOx profile of a PFR reactor
THERMAL
Following [20], [12], [26] and [27], the rates of key
corresponding to rich zone of the technical mixer. In this case
reactions directly related to the Fenimore, Zeldovich, N2O and
the prompt NOx formation is reduced to very low values while
NNH paths for NOx formation have been thoroughly studied
the post flame production is negative in absence of O2 and O.
here as a function of the O2 depletion and at the reference
adiabatic flame temperature.

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purposes only and is subject to change without notice. No representation or warranty is given or to be implied as to the
completeness of information or fitness for any particular purpose.
9
 GRI: no EGR
The profiles of NO and intermediates for the EV and SEV
x_mole

GRI: EGR_case7 NO model appear to be similar and are displayed for the EV case
GRI: EGR_case8
GRI: EGR_case9 using the RD06_NO in Figure 12. The cases 7 to 10 refer to the
GRI: EGR_case10

GRI: EGR_case5phi1.72
FGR ratios as plotted in Figure 6, Figure 9 and Figure 13.
The NO profile is plotted over the full reactor residence
time while the intermediates are plotted just around the heat
release time scale showing the super-equilibrium concentration
close to the heat release to explain the radical (O, CH, H)
overshoot responsible for the prompt NOx formation.
With increasing FGR the O radical peak becomes less
-10% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
time /100%
tres importnat resulting in less importance for the reaction 1 and 2
x_mole

1.E-08 by removing O radical as reaction partner while the CH and H

CH GRI: no EGR
peak are growing indicating increasing relevance of reactions 3,
1.E-08
GRI: EGR_case7
4 and 5 supported by the rise of HCN; the product of reaction 3
GRI: EGR_case8
8.E-09 For a detailed study on the role of HCN for prompt NOx
GRI: EGR_case9

GRI: EGR_case10
formation consider the work of Dagaut et al. [28]. While it is
6.E-09
reasonable to separate [17] the NOx formation into a part
4.E-09 coupled to heat release (prompt, or fast) and a part occurring in
post flame regions (thermal, or slow), the chemical reaction
2.E-09 paths (in terms of intermediates and reaction steps) can be
studied by the following simulations. Since the NOx formation
0.E+00
1.E-04 chemistry is described well in the GRI this mechanism
x_mole

O GRI: no EGR (compared to the RD06_NO) can serve as base for the
1.E-04
GRI: EGR_case7 following study on the NOx formation pathways- at least for the
1.E-04 GRI: EGR_case8 EV case studied here: Each of the reactions has been turned off
8.E-05 GRI: EGR_case9 in the GRI mechanism as described earlier. For the SEV
6.E-05
GRI: EGR_case10 simulations analogue modification can be done.
Turning off the N2O reactions (reaction 2) reduces most of
4.E-05
the NO formed promptly in both cases having little impact on
2.E-05 the post flame slope for thermal NOx, which is changed only if
0.E+00
the Zeldovich path (reaction 1) is turned off. The thermal NOx
3.E-07 GRI: no EGR rate depends strongly on temperature and pressure while the
x_mole

HCN GRI: EGR_case7 N2O (also from N2 and O) has little dependency on temperature
GRI: EGR_case8 and pressure and is more sensitive to reactant concentration [O]
2.E-07 GRI: EGR_case9 at super equilibrium. In the FGR case, the thermal NOx rate is
GRI: EGR_case10 clearly reduced due to reduced reactant concentration of [O]
with prompt formation playing the bigger role. Clearly at richer
1.E-07 conditions also the Fenimore (via CHn species) and NNH paths
play a role complementing the N2O path.
Assuming that the coupling is not large, each path can be
0.E+00 assigned a relative value of relevance for the NOx contribution
1.E-04
x_mole

GRI: no EGR
H GRI: EGR_case7
for different selected O2 conditions, as shown in Figure 13. The
8.E-05
individual contribution of a reaction path is given as the
GRI: EGR_case8
difference obtained using the truncated mechanisms and the full
6.E-05
GRI: EGR_case9
GRI. Summing up all contributions leaves a remaining portion
GRI: EGR_case10 of less than 18 %. These relative contributions are plotted
4.E-05 stacked-up to sum up to 100% for the full SEV model in Figure
13. Note that the absolute NOx formation is at the same time
2.E-05
reduced as displayed by the full line and circles. The remaining
18% probably result from other paths not resolved in this study
0.E+00
-1% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% time
9%/ tres or from coupling between the mechanisms. Within the GRI this
Figure 12: Profiles of key intermediates and trace species include the reactions of N2 with OH, HO2, H, H2, H2O, CO,
from EV model (PREMIX runs using GRI30) at different FGR. CO2, HCO. The degree of decoupling is however remarkable
which is prerequisite for a display as stack-up plot.

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purposes only and is subject to change without notice. No representation or warranty is given or to be implied as to the
completeness of information or fitness for any particular purpose.
10
 SEV Tref: technical mixer
NOx_abs/ppm
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
NOx [%]
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
no EGR EGR 1 EGR 2 EGR 3 EGR 4
decreasing O2 _inlet [mol]
Figure 13: Relative contribution displayed as stack-up for
SEV model with versions of GRI as described in the text for the
technical mixer.
With increasing FGR the overall NOx reduces as
previously observed. The relative portion of the Zeldovich path
is reduced while the three paths responsible for prompt NOx
start to dominate, especially for the rich chemistry paths, i.e.
Fenimore and NNH. This can lead even to an increase of NOx
for perfect mixers as described above and shown in Figure 8.
The decrease in the technical mixer with FGR is explained by
• For the “non FGR” case unmixedness leads to much higher
the unmixedness and the effect that they have on NOx.
NOx because higher Tflame are sampled with exponential
NOx increase even for flamelets that have low probability.
With decreasing O2 content the maximum stoichiometric
temperature is lowered reducing the effect of unmixedness
• The resulting rate for thermal NOx formation is lower and
and leading to lower NOx .
• The prompt reaction paths (Fenimore and NNH) are
the main contributors shift to the prompt formation.
becoming more relevant in the richer reaction zones
complementing the N2O path, which is most important for
• Recirculated NOx additionally helps NOx reduction in the
lean conditions.
combustor through the reburn pathways that open in slightly
rich conditions.
7. EFFECT OF CO2 REACTIVITY
For a better understanding of these changes in the chemical
kinetics of the combustion process the key reactions in the
combustion of hydrocarbon fuels are studied. The effect that
CO2 has on the combustor reactivity is analysed by running the
same problem with the GRI at the calculated inlet composition
and the same composition with CO2 replaced by N2 for the
FGR cases.
The laminar flame speeds sL are shown in Figure 14 as a
function of O2 concentration. When O2 is the lowest, sL is
reduced to about 58% compared to its original value. Possible
explanations can be the depletion of O2 and O radicals and their
© ALSTOM 2009. All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is provided without liability for information
purposes only and is subject to change without notice. No representation or warranty is given or to be implied as to the
completeness of information or fitness for any particular purpose.
participation in further heat release driving reactions.
Furthermore, the role of CO2 is observed in Figure 14. CO2 is
in fact acting through the removal of the highly reactive
radicals like H via reactions such as OH + CO ú H + CO2 [6]
revealing that CO2 cannot be treated as a fully inert diluent. The
influence of CO2 is turned off by replacing the CO2 by a less
Fenimore reactive inert, namely N2, and leaving all other effects of FGR
HNN turned on. It is found that when reaching the lowest O2
N2O concentration level, the decrease of laminar flame speed is 27%
Zeldovich lower when CO2 is not considered (64.7 % of the reference
Else case). Thus, CO2 has a significant share in the overall decrease
Absolute Nox of reactivity, keeping in mind that in engine operation such
effect would have to be compensated by other operating
conditions. The main effect however seems to be due to the
reduced O2 and O radicals content.
110%
CO2 effect on reactivity
s l /s l_ref ~rel. flame speed
100%
90%
ref
80%
CO2->N2
70%
60%
50%
decreasing O2 inlet
Figure 14: Laminar flame speed relative to reference
condition vs. O2 inlet for FGR content and CO2 replaced by N2.
8. EFFECT OF PRESSURE
The effect of different pressure levels is briefly studied
here and is presented in Figure 15. Only the case for perfect
mixing is presented.
The highest NOx at the combustor end are obtained at the
high pressure without FGR mainly due to the high thermal NOx
production. Interestingly the prompt NOx is lowest for this case
since prompt NOx is reducing at higher pressures. With lower
pressure the thermal rate decreases as well as with FGR while
the prompt is highest at low pressure and high FGR. The lowest
combustor NOx is achieved at higher FGR and higher pressure
starting from the lowest prompt value with moderate thermal
contribution due to lowered O2.
These findings have interesting implications for the GT26
reheat engines, which run at high EV pressure levels and at
lower pressure levels for the SEV. In connection to the reheat
concept [14] this allows to take the full benefit at the first
combustor at higher pressure level where the O2 content is
lowered but still leaves enough O2 for the SEV.
In this way the operation of the EV is less affected by CO
and LBO problems when it is part of a reheat engine than a
single combustor While the limit of operations is expected for
the SEV. The reactivity in the SEV however can be controlled
by the firing temperature of the EV increasing the SEV inlet
temperature as mentioned before [14]. In terms of emission,
11
reheat GT engines, with inherently higher pressure ratios than
single combustion GT engines and an additional degree of
freedom for the EV/ SEV load split, are particularly well suited
for FGR combustion.
5E-06
21%O2in, P
21%O2in, 2P
4E-06 12%O2in, P
12%O2in, 2P
NOx [mol]
3E-06
2E-06
1E-06
0E+00
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6
non-dim. residence time [-]
Figure 15: NO time profiles for perfectly mixed cases non
FGR (green curves) and FGR (brown curves) at p = ~16 bar
(solid lines) and at 2p = ~32 bar (dashed lines).
CONCLUSION
The investigations presented in this paper point to the use
of the FGR not only as a way of cost reduction and efficiency
rise in a combined cycle plant with a CO2 capture unit, but also
as an effective technique for pollutant emissions reduction. A
reactor network model described for the first time has been
applied to predict the effect on NOx emission for FGR for real
engines and technical mixers using detailed chemistry. An
extension to predict CO emission using this approach is also
possible. The two different kinetic schemes used (the GRI and
RD06_NO) show different trends for reactivities especially in
presence of NO, while their NOx predictions seem to agree. The
• The impact of the FGR was observed in the reduction of the
following conclusions are drawn from this investigation:
combustion reactivity, as a consequence of the oxygen
depletion as well as the increase in the CO2 content. O2 and
consequently O radical reduction play the largest role in
FGR combustion followed by the impact of CO2 which is
• The effect of FGR on NOx formation has been studied
not completely inert and to some extent also NO.
analysing the contribution of the different reaction pathways
as a function of FGR ratio. The main NOx pathway for
“non-FGR” gas turbines is the thermal NOx following the
Zeldovich path. The N2O pathway is most important for
prompt NOx in the lean regime. The NNH and Fenimore via
CHn are becoming important only for prompt formation
under rich conditions or in unmixed region for FGR. The
residence time where NOx are analyzed plays a major role
• While NOx formation for perfect mixers may in some case
in the results.
be increased at FGR conditions, for technical mixers it
© ALSTOM 2009. All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is provided without liability for information
purposes only and is subject to change without notice. No representation or warranty is given or to be implied as to the
completeness of information or fitness for any particular purpose.
becomes more advantageous due to the minimization of
local temperature peaks (from pilot flame also), eventually
even producing less NOx with worse mixing, unlike the
• Further benefits arise from reburning the recirculated NOx
common lean premix combustion trend in gas turbines.
and the lowered reactivity enabling to control the flame
position to achieve good mixing in the range of operation.
The main challenge in FGR combustion is therefore the
control of the altered reactivity and the maintenance of
stable conditions as well as CO emissions.
As a conclusion, the FGR reveals a new energy technology
beneficial not only for CO2 capture but also the reduction of
pollutant emissions in the combustion process. The benefits for
FGR can be utilised at all existing ALSTOM GTs but especially
the prospect for the reheat engines GT24 and GT26 look
promising:
0.8 1.0 1. Higher AFR requires less recirculation rate to reach low
O2 and high CO2.
2. The increased operational flexibility to compensate
reactivity variations with temperature of the first
combustor at minimal impact on power according to the
reheat concept allows flexible operation over the full
range of reactivities.
3. Technically the SEV combustion range at FGR conditions
is ideal to utilize the benefit of reburn chemistry effects to
achieve low NOx emissions.
4. Running the first combustor at FGR condition the main
benefit is obtained at high engine pressure ratio in the first
combustor where the post flame NOx is reduced without
altering the EV reactivity too much, while the second
combustor runs at low O2 content.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Dieter Winkler, Tim Griffin University of Applied Sciences
Northwestern Switzerland are acknowledged for providing first
results of their pressure tests.
Clemens Naumann, Jürgen Herzler from the German
aerospace center (DLR) in Stuttgart for providing the
RD06_NO kinetic scheme developed within a KW21
(Kraftwerk 21) funded project.
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© ALSTOM 2009. All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is provided without liability for information
purposes only and is subject to change without notice. No representation or warranty is given or to be implied as to the
completeness of information or fitness for any particular purpose.
14