Session: 03-01 Hydrogen

Paper Number: 80886

80886 - An Innovative Concept for the Complete and Low-NOx Combustion of Non-Carbon Eco-Fuels Using a Thermo-Acoustically-Driven, Hydrogen-Powered Pilot Stage 

The problem of climate change, triggered by a high concentration of pollutants in the atmosphere, and the scarcity of fossil resources, increases the need of low emission thermal utilisation of novel, non-carbon eco-fuels such as hydrogen, ammonia (both for energy and propulsion) or hydrogen sulphide (sulphur acid production and regeneration). While all of these listed eco-fuels have the potential to decarbonise industry and the energy sector, they also pose demanding challenges regarding combustion. To address these challenges the consortium consisting in Combustion Bay One e.U., FH JOANNEUM GmbH and P&P Industries AG is working on a safe, reliable, highly digitalised and low emission thermal utilisation of these eco-fuels in the framework of the project called “BLUETIFUEL”. The idea of the project is to develop a completely digitalised combustion technology, featuring a megawatt-scaled burner design with multi eco-fuel capacities, a reliable safety concept and a fully automatic control loop for combustion. A description of the project is given in detail in this contribution.

This applied concept led to a further development of previous siren works [GT2011-45071][GT2020-16015] towards application in industrial use. A siren is a robust pulsation apparatus that generates powerful noise levels and effective flow pulsations under elevated pressure and temperature conditions. By scanning through a certain frequency range during combustion, one is able to detect eigenfrequencies of the flame which increases flame turbulences when excited. The effective flow control of the siren can guarantee a complete burnout of the partially toxic eco-fuels. In addition, gaseous pollutants such as NOx can be reduced to a minimum since the flame pulsation process provides the opportunity to run reliably a mixture with an otherwise unstable combustion process. The so-called “Siren E” with new features is introduced in this paper in detail and in the following. The siren E is designed to meet pressure levels up to 80 bar at high-pressure side with a maximum pressure drop of 40 bar over the nozzle for continuous flow machine applications including gas turbines. Besides the higher robustness, the performance of the device was improved to achieve frequencies up to 6000 Hz with a pulsation level beyond 160 dB SPL. 

To verify the method for eigenfrequency detection by using siren E, initial combustion tests are first carried out with propane on the so-called “MethaNull” test rig. There, the main aspect is to meet the same operating points and eigenfrequencies as in a previous work [GT2015-42377]. Then, initial combustion tests with premixed hydrogen are performed up to a thermal power of 10kW. The combustion air is provided with a continuous swirl, the hydrogen is introduced with and without additional swirl and a different number of hydrogen injection jets are tested. All different setups result in a detached, swirl-stabilised, premixed hydrogen flame, whereby the response to thermo-acoustic excitation of these is investigated. All experimental results are presented in detail in this paper.

Presenting Author: Nina Paulitsch Combustion Bay One e.U.

Presenting Author Biography: Nina Paulitsch was born 1995 in Wolfsberg, Carinthia, where she successfully attended the school for higher technical education (HTL Wolfsberg) with focus on automation technology. She then began her studies in the field of industrial energy technology at the University of Leoben, Styria. Since 2016, Nina Paulitsch has been a member of the research team at the company Combustion Bay One e.U.. <br/>Taking advantage of the parallels between her profession and her studies, she successfully completed the lecture and exercise &quot;Gas Turbine Combustion&quot; at TU Graz and additionally participated in the lecture series &quot;Turbulent Combustion&quot; presented by the Von Karman Institute. <br/>In the company she is responsible for project management and project leading, design and construction for thermal purpose, development of control and measurement techniques and data acquisition and data processing. In the following the most important projects are listed:<br/><br/>Project: Bluetifuel (since 2020)<br/>- Full title: Blue flames for low emission combustion using non-carbon eco-fuels<br/>- Tasks: Project leader<br/><br/>Project: MOeBIUS (since 2019)<br/>- Full title: Recursive sequential combustion of momentum-enhanced blend of fresh reactants with recirculated burnt gases for low-emission aircraft engines<br/>- Tasks: Responsible for the additive manufactured design<br/><br/>Project: Emootion (2017-2020)<br/>- Full title: Engine health monitoring and refined combustion control based on optical diagnostic techniques embedded in the combustor<br/>- Tasks: Responsible for further development towards application under elevated pressure and temperature and testing

Authors:

Nina Paulitsch Combustion Bay One e.U.
Fabrice Giuliani Combustion Bay One e.U.
Johannes Hofer PP Industries AG
Andrea Hofer Combustion Bay One e.U.
Lukas Andracher FH JOANNEUM GmbH