Concept for a combustion system in oxyfuel gas turbine combined cycles

A promising candidate for CO₂ neutral power production is semiclosed oxyfuel combustion combined cycles (SCOC-CC). Two alternative SCOC-CCs have been investigated both with recirculation of the working fluid (WF) (CO₂ and H₂O) but with different H₂O content due to different conditions for condensation of water from the working fluid. The alternative with low moisture content in the recirculated working fluid has shown the highest thermodynamic potential and has been selected for further study. The necessity to use recirculated exhaust gas as the working fluid will make the design of the gas turbine quite different from a conventional gas turbine. For a combined cycle using a steam Rankine cycle as a bottoming cycle, it is vital that the temperature of the exhaust gas from the Brayton cycle is well-suited for steam generation that fits steam turbine live steam conditions. For oxyfuel gas turbines with a combustor outlet temperature of the same magnitude as conventional gas turbines, a much higher pressure ratio is required (close to twice the ratio as for a conventional gas turbine) in order to achieve a turbine outlet temperature suitable for combined cycle. Based on input from the optimized cycle calculations, a conceptual combustion system has been developed, where three different combustor feed streams can be controlled independently: the natural gas fuel, the oxidizer consisting mainly of oxygen plus some impurities, and the recirculated working fluid. This gives more flexibility compared to air-based gas turbines, but also introduces some design challenges. A key issue is how to maintain high combustion efficiency over the entire load range using as little oxidizer as possible and with emissions (NO_x, CO, unburnt hydrocarbons (UHC)) within given constraints. Other important challenges are related to combustion stability, heat transfer and cooling, and material integrity, all of which are much affected when going from air-based to oxygen-based gas turbine combustion. Matching with existing air-based burner and combustor designs has been done in order to use as much as possible of what is proven technology today. The selected stabilization concept, heat transfer evaluation, burner, and combustion chamber layout will be described. As a next step, the pilot burner will be tested both at atmospheric and high pressure conditions. Copyright © 2014 by ASME.