Session: 08-01 Hydrogen-Fired Gas Turbines

Paper Number: 102263

102263 - Hydrogen and Gas Turbines – a Rational Approach 

Hydrogen, as an energy vector, has been receiving significant attention as a prime actor in decarbonization of a wide variety of industry sectors including electricity, chemicals, steel, and cement.  Making use of hydrogen, which must be manufactured first and then stored and transported to be available for utilization, comes under several categories identified by colors such as green, blue, gray, and pink.  In order to be a true decarbonizing agent, H2 must be manufactured without concomitant generation of carbon dioxide (CO2).  Presently, this is only possible via energy-intensive water electrolysis (green H2) using zero-carbon resources such as wind, solar PV, and nuclear power (pink H2).  Worldwide, the bulk of H2 production for industrial use is via steam-methane reforming (SMR) with natural gas feedstock, which generates significant amount of CO2 (gray H2).  This can be alleviated by combining SMR with carbon capture utilization and sequestration (CCUS), which is labeled as blue H2.

In this paper, utilization of H2 in gas turbine power plants will be investigated for identification of the most promising combination of manufacturing, storage, transportation, and power generation.  Detailed process simulation and performance models will be used to identify the technology challenges as realistically as possible.  The objective is to provide a concise and comparative assessment of decarbonization opportunities free of over-optimistic assumptions to help facilitate a realistic understanding of the impact of hydrogen economy on the electricity sector.

Presenting Author: S. Can Gülen Bechtel Infrastructure & Power, Inc.

Presenting Author Biography: Dr. John Gülen, ASME Fellow, a senior engineer in Bechtel's Infrastructure & Power business unit, is an internationally recognized expert in steam and gas turbine combined cycle systems and thermal power plant engineering with numerous patents and publications to his credit. Dr. Gülen's contributions include development of heat balance software at Thermoflow, design, optimization, and testing of combined cycle systems with FB and H class gas turbines at General Electric and technical assessment of novel power generation technologies at Bechtel.
He was named a Bechtel Fellow in 2018.
Dr. Gülen received his PhD degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and is a licensed professional engineer.

Authors:

S. Can Gülen Bechtel Infrastructure & Power, Inc.
Raj Singh Bechtel India
Pritam Banerjee Bechtel India