The current work explores the operation of an industrial gas turbine (24MWe) unit running with a fuel composition with more than 60 volume percent hydrogen, H2 mixed in natural gas, (NG, 89%vol methane). It is worth to mention that H2 today is used mostly in oil refining and to produce fertilizers. H2 can be used much more widely and help to decarbonize the world in a range of sectors including power generation because of its versatile capability. Hydrogen is one of the leading options for storing energy from renewables and looks promising to be a lowest-cost option for storing electricity.

Siemens has faced this challenge by using an SGT-600 3^rd^ generation DLE unit (24MWe) and with help of 3-D printing technology of the fuel injectors. Its complex geometry with swirler cone and inner air and fuel manifolds made the additive manufacturing a technique well suited for realizing this. By using this method, the pilot feed is integrated in the structure. This reduces the risk of external influence on the feed system, which before could have led to leakage. Other important benefits gained by the change of manufacturing technique are the shortened lead times, and reduction of both weight, and by lowering the operating temperature with its innovative cooling, it gives advantages in terms of the component´s lifespan.

The full-scale machine test was performed at SIEMENS Industrial Turbomachinery AB, in the test rig facility for Siemens Industrial Gas Turbines (TRIFS). TRIFS is used for full scale testing of all gas turbines in the power output range from 15MW to 60MW. It allows gas turbine testing on natural gas, gas mixtures or liquid fuel. It uses an arrangement of electrical resistors to absorb the electrical power produced by the turbine giving flexibility in the load frequency. Furthermore, TRIFS is equipped with a standard measuring system that is used for mechanical running tests. During prototype testing the instrumentation is extended to the needs of R&D. The test showed the possibility to run more than 60 volume % H2 at 0-100% load while keeping combustion under stable conditions and emissions below 25 ppm NOx in an industrial gas turbine with DLE combustion system.

The capability of the gas turbine to operate steadily under dynamic and a mixture of more than 60 volume % H2 in a DLE combustion system while meeting emission targets has been proven. This opens the possibility of using H2 rich gas more widely in a gas turbine, streams that otherwise will be burnt and therefore emitting orders of magnitude higher emissions (e.g. NOx, CO, CO2, VOC) without further use or the possibility to produce H2 from green sources.


Operation of SGT-600 (24 MW) DLE Gas Turbine With Over 60 % H2 in Natural Gas

Division / Sponsor:
International Gas Turbine Institute (IGTI)

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/GT/GT2020/volume/84058

Turbo Expo - Virtual Conference

Supporting the need among researchers worldwide for additional online and multimedia content, ASME now offers the ASME Conference Video Collection. This platform will collect and provide long-term access to conference presentation videos, encompassing all technology areas within ASME's technical conference and events program. About 30,000-40,000 engineers across all mechanical engineering and related disciplines participate in ASME conferences each year. This includes authors of approximately 6,000 to 8,000 technical papers published by ASME, the majority of whom also submit video presentations for our virtual conferences. The video collection will be available as an add-on to existing product packages or as a separate subscription.