Our Founder and CTO, Tim Lieuwen, wrote an op-ed for Power Engineering Magazine on the turbine failures and the grand experiment in resiliency from COVID-19.
The featured article can be found in Here.
Together with Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and ENMAX Energy, Turbine Logic published an article called “Advanced combustion-dynamics monitoring detects impending combustor failure, prevents forced outage” to Combined Cycle Journal (CCJ).
Editor’s note is provided here:
This article introduces a novel combustion-dynamics monitoring (CDM) algorithm and a case study to demonstrate its successful detection of a gas-turbine combustor fault which otherwise might have done extensive damage to both the combustor and hot-section components. Failures of this type often develop from small, insipient faults which produce subtle signatures in the dynamics data.
Fault signatures can be detected by advanced monitoring algorithms to identify them before parts fail and force the unit out of service. The CDM algorithm described here blends data analytics and combustion domain expertise with existing combustion monitoring data. It currently is fielded on a fleet of frame units and has successfully caught several faults at sufficiently early stages to plan repairs without a forced outage.
The full article is available in Here.
Europe has a big head start globally when it comes to generating power from offshore wind installations. The U.S. has lagged due to a variety of factors, including the need to work through regulatory issues. Industry insiders, though, agree the sector is poised for rapid growth off American shores.
Offshore wind installations already are delivering on their promise as a transformative technology for power generation, with projects off European coasts providing proving grounds for the industry. U.S. adoption of offshore wind has been slower, owing in part to regulatory issues and political will.
Darrel Procter, an associate editor for POWER Magazine, discusses several lag factors observed in wind installations in US shores, economic impacts of US offshore wind power, new technologies that drives growth in offshore wind, and potential growth in the field alongside with emerging trend of using hydrogen as an energy source. The full article can be found in here.
Onshore wind projects led all new electric power capacity added in the U.S. last year, according to a new report by the federal Energy Information Administration.
According to statistics complied in the EIA’s latest Monthly Electric Generator Inventory Report, the nation’s electric power sector installed nearly 23,000 MW of new generating capacity in 2019. Onshore wind was tops in new additions with 9,100 MW.
The full Power Magazine article can be found in here.
Utah took a step forward yesterday in switching a coal plant to 100% renewable hydrogen — a plan that would allow Los Angeles to be the first U.S. city powered by the fuel.
Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) announced a contract yesterday with Utah’s Intermountain Power Agency (IPA) for a gas turbine technology that will help a coal-fired power plant in central Utah gradually transition to using renewable hydrogen for electricity. Renewable hydrogen is created when renewable energy is harnessed to split water molecules.
You can read more about this article after registering for free access to E&E News in here.
*The header image is irrelevant to the article.
Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) has ordered for the first advanced-class gas turbine, which is designed to transition of Utah’s Intermountain Power Agency (IPA) to renewable hydrogen fuel. Purchase of MHPS’s advanced J-series gas turbines is a part of IPA’s Intermountain Power Project (IPP) to sequentially transition from coal to natural gas and ultimately to renewable hydrogen fuel by 2045.
The M501JAC gas turbine is the company’s latest J-series air-cooled (JAC) model, which applied steam cooling to the combustor and raised its turbine inlet temperature (TIT) to 1,600C and efficiency to 62%. It also features an optimized cooling structure for the blades and vanes to have 64% combined cycle efficiency, which makes it well-suited to an eventual conversion to 100% hydrogen.
According to MHPSA President and CEO Paul Browning, the M501JAC units will be guaranteed to be able to combust a mix of 30% hydrogen and 70% natural gas starting in 2025. Between 2025 and 2045, the fuel mixture will be systematically increased to 100% renewable hydrogen, while MHPS is still developing a combustion technology that will be capable of firing 100% hydrogen fuel.
Full article can be found in here by Sonal Patel from POWER Magazine.
This week’s blog post is the last series of reviewing ETN Global’s recently published a new report, entitled “ETN Hydrogen Gas Turbines – The Path Towards a Zero-Carbon Gas Turbine.” The main objectives of this report is to highlight potential benefits and challenges on the hydrogen uses in gas turbines. The report also assesses preconditions to the implementation of a hydrogen power plant, requirements for retrofit of existing gas turbines, and current capabilities of gas turbines burning hydrogen.
01. Advantages of Hydrogen Gas Turbines
02. Pre-Conditions of a Hydrogen Power Plant
03. Hydrogen Combustion
04. Retrofit of Existing Gas Turbines
05. Current Capabilities of Gas Turbines Burning Hydrogen
05. Current Capabilities of Gas Turbines Burning Hydrogen
In this chapter, ETN provides an overview of the currently acceptable share of hydrogen contents that can be burned in gas turbines. ETN discusses that major work still remains to be done in order to qualify gas turbines for high hydrogen content gaseous fuels, even though considerable efforts have been put by all gas turbine manufacturers. Major experience with high hydrogen content fuels has been accumulated with gas turbine products developed for the combustion of syngas with a H2 concentration rangebetween 30 to 60% vol. of H2.
Majority of gas turbines OEMs developed for syngas applications can be adapted to run on natural gas and hydrogen mixtures with significantly high hydrogen content (60% to 100%). Though these gas turbine engines require special combustion technology such as diffusion burner, dilution with N2 and/or steam, and water inject, in order to cope with challenges of hydrogen combustion, often still does not meet lower NOx emission levels.
Thus, ETN emphasizes the ultimate research and development target is the achievement of state-of-the-art low NOx emissions, less than 25ppm, with fuel gas mixtures contents by increasing amounts of hydrogen from electrolysis up to 100% H2.
The current dry low emission (DLE) combustion techniques are the main R&D subject to base new and modified combustion technologies. With such adapted DLE combustion systems OEMs successfully tested gas turbine products operated with fuel gas mixtures with up to 20% to 30% vol. of hydrogen.
More detailed overview per OEM is given in ETN’s full report on Hydrogen Gas Turbines. This report can be found in Here.
This week’s blog continues to cover ETN Global’s recently published a new report, entitled “ETN Hydrogen Gas Turbines – The Path Towards a Zero-Carbon Gas Turbine.” The main objectives of this report is to highlight potential benefits and challenges on the hydrogen uses in gas turbines. The report also assesses pre-conditions to the implementation of a hydrogen power plant, requirements for retrofit of existing gas turbines, and current capabilities of gas turbines burning hydrogen. We will take a detailed look into Chapter 4:
01. Advantages of Hydrogen Gas Turbines
02. Pre-Conditions of a Hydrogen Power Plant
03. Hydrogen Combustion
04. Retrofit of Existing Gas Turbines
05. Current Capabilities of Gas Turbines Burning Hydrogen
04. Retrofit of Existing Gas Turbines
In this chapter, ETN discusses a requirements for research on safe and economically effective transition of existing gas turbines to a hydrogen contained fuel system. Detailed considerations are additionally addressed in terms of fuel flexibility, plant performance and operation flexibility, lifetime of hot gas path parts, and other requirements for retrofit packages.
ETN provides a general guideline to consider based on cases with different levels of hydrogen:
- Low levels of hydrogen mixed with natural gas, in the range of 0-10% vol., does not require any modifications to materials, design and control, and protection.
- Medium levels of hydrogen mixed with natural gas, in the range of 10-30% vol., does not require major changes to materials, design and control, and protection.
- High levels of hydrogen, in the range of 30-100% vol., suggest the maximum hydrogen fuel capability with fuel delivery, combustion module, control and protection retrofit.
General Fuel Preparation Considerations
When using hydrogen as fuel, it is of utmost importance to take into consideration the delivery pressure and temperature in order to avoid embrittlement in the pipelines and other auxiliaries.
Existing piping and gas turbine valves shall be subject to retrofit when a gas turbine manifold running with natural gas is forecasted to run with H2. Changes may include new valves design with a different sealing arrangement, and potentially new piping material.
In oil & gas application, fuel gas pressure and temperature would normally be delivered respectively at a maximum of 725 psi and 212°F.
Power generation applications in optimized CCGTs, the fuel may be pre-heated up to 600°F, which can cause hydrogen embrittlement. It is worth noting that hydrogen embrittlement is not only related to high temperatures, but also to the stress endured by the materials.
Fuel Flexibility
The rate of change of natural gas and hydrogen mix will be a key requirement to the future power plants which will mostly consist of retrofit units from the existing installed asset base. A natural gas-dominant or liquid fuel start-up fuel feed is often the basis on which these units will be safely managed on start-up and maybe also on shut-down.
Impact on Plant Performance and Flexibility
The research conducted so far suggests that gas turbine power output should stay similar for natural gas-fired units subject to a combustion system replacement and high hydrogen firing rates. The increased reactivity and higher flame speeds of hydrogen force new combustion and fuel injection designs to be adopted for high rate hydrogen fueling.
Impact on Hot Gas Path Parts Lifetime
It is likely that hot gas path temperature profiles will be altered with the retrofit to a hydrogen-flexible combustion system.
Requirements for Retrofit Packages
Any hydrogen fuel retrofit will be either the purchase of a highly qualified and defined option or module for a mainstream gas turbine model or it will be a pilot program purchase of such a product. A retrofit package is likely to include:
- Core gas turbine combustion module replacement
- Instrumentation and fuel control system modification
- Plant fuel delivery system modification, including modified purge, metering, gas composition monitoring, safety systems, and the provision of a start-up fuel supply
- It is likely that the economics of such a retrofit assume re-use of existing hot gas path designs of components
Section summaries are adopted from ETN’s full report on Hydrogen Gas Turbines. This report can be found in Here.
This blog continues to summarize ETN Global’s recently published a new report, entitled “ETN Hydrogen Gas Turbines – The Path Towards a Zero-Carbon Gas Turbine.” The main objectives of this report is to highlight potential benefits and challenges on the hydrogen uses in gas turbines. The report also assesses pre-conditions to the implementation of a hydrogen power plant, requirements for retrofit of existing gas turbines, and current capabilities of gas turbines burning hydrogen. For this week, we will take a deep dive into Chapter 3:
01. Advantages of Hydrogen Gas Turbines
02. Pre-Conditions of a Hydrogen Power Plant
03. Hydrogen Combustion
04. Retrofit of Existing Gas Turbines
05. Current Capabilities of Gas Turbines Burning Hydrogen
03. Hydrogen Combustion
ETN outlines the current state of the art in diffusion flames with nitrogen or steam dilution and combustions of pure hydrogen and lean premixed systems. This chapter also discusses challenges and future research needs in hydrogen combustion.
State-of-the-Art
Diffusion flames with nitrogen and water or steam dilution
Combustion systems with diffusion flames and nitrogen or steam dilution can handle up to 100% volume of hydrogen. However, these systems have several disadvantages, including efficient penalty, higher NOx emission, and higher operational costs. To increase fuel flow rate, significant hardware modifications in the auxiliary system are needed.
Lean premixed systems
The lean-premixed combustor technology has much higher potential, yet not sufficiently developed with respect to operation on fuels with high hydrogen contents. The maximum allowable hydrogen concentraion in lean premixed combustors varies significantly across the gas turbine fleet of different original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Typical values of hydrogen content currently tolerated by different gas turbine classes reach up to 30-50% vol. for heavy duty engines, 50-70% vol. for smaller engines (IGT), 20% vol. for micro gas turbines.
Challenges and Research Needs in Hydrogen Combustion
In the transition to a hydrogen based energy system, fuel flexible gas turbines are needed to utilize blends of hydrogen and natural gas. The Dry Low Emission (DLN) technology has the potential to enable fuel flexible operation at 0-100% hydrogen with low emissions. However, further development effort is required to derive technical solutions with respect to the following challenges:
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Autoignition: Higher autoignition risk due to lower ignition delay time
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Flashback: Higher flashback risk due to higher flame speed or lower ignition delay time
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Modified thermo-acoustic amplitude level and frequencies
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Increased NOx emissions
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Other combustion related challenges:
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Higher pressure drop due to lower Wobbe Index
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Reduced lifetime / need for more cooling of hot gas path components due to increased heat transfer.
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Section summaries are adopted from ETN’s full report on Hydrogen Gas Turbines. This report can be found in Here.
