Session: 04-53 High Hydrogen IV

Paper Number: 128826

128826 - Combustion System Development and Test for Stoichiometric H2/O2 Combustion in Steam Atmosphere 

Novel energy conversion technologies are required to cover volatile electricity and heat demands by green fuels. A promising approach is the close to stoichiometric H2/O2 combustion to produce peak power in steam cycles (e.g. increase mass flow and temperature). Emission of H2 and O2 is of concern for the steam cycle for various reasons (esp. materials embrittlement and efficiency), therefore, combustion is performed at almost stoichiometric conditions. However, H2/O2 combustion comes along with very high flame temperatures (> 3000°C) which can very quickly damage combustion system components and therefore steam is used to moderate flame temperature.

H2/O2 combustion systems for spinning reserve were investigated already in the 80’s and 90’s by several projects, for example the HYDROSS project, in Germany. The concept of the HYDROSS project was a H2/O2 combustion system with the injection of liquid water for steam temperature conditioning. The project had large issues with damaged burners after very short operation times. Also, the emission targets could not be demonstrated. TU Berlin investigated swirl stabilized H2/O2 burners operating in a steam flow at atmospheric conditions and were able to obtain low H2 and O2 emissions. TU Berlin investigated different steam dilution rates and different swirl numbers in their work.

Siemens Energy is working since a couple of years on the H2/O2 combustion technology in steam atmosphere. The combustion system design consists of a burner, a steam cooled liner and a pressure vessel. The thermal power of the laboratory configuration is ~300kW at 15 bar. Steam is the fluid to all burner concepts primarily defining the aerodynamic characteristics of the burners. Swirl and jet style burners were designed and built by additive manufacturing methods. Also, different combustor liner designs were designed and built. Aero design, chemical kinetics, CFD, FEA and thermoacoustic analyses were conducted. The chemical kinetics analyses investigated the required residence times in the configuration.

For the test of the designs a combustion rig was developed, in order to operate at up to 15 bar pressure. The rig setup is equipped with thermocouples, static and dynamic pressure measurements, a flame scanner and an emission system. The emission system is an inhouse development, which enables the measurement of low levels of H2 and O2 in the steam exhaust flow with standard measurement techniques. The steam for the rig was provided by an external steam generator. The H2 and O2 came from bottle bundles.

Two high pressure combustion test campaigns were conducted to verify the developed designs with respect to emissions, operation range, ignition window, combustion dynamics, pressure loss and metal temperatures. All configurations showed a high robustness against high burner temperatures. The H2 and O2 emission targets (taken over from HYDROSS) were met by some of the configurations. The full operation pressure of 15 bar was reached. Ignition could be demonstrated at elevated pressures.

The paper presents detailed test and analyses results. Different configurations will be compared with respect to their performance. Also, the test setup will be described in detail.

Presenting Author: Matthias Hase Siemens Energy

Presenting Author Biography: PhD at Stuttgart University - Institute of Aerospace Thermodynamics
Since 2004 at Siemens/Siemens Energy in Large Gas Turbine Combustion Development

Authors:

Matthias Hase Siemens Energy
Juergen Meisl Siemens Energy
Bernd Prade Siemens Energy