Transitioning to hydrogen based power generation through a novel, fuel-flex, gas turbine injector concept

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There is great urgency in mitigating the climate forcing emissions from the power generation sector in the quest to prevent the impending climate catastrophe. Transitioning to green hydrogen in place of natural gas as the fuel of choice for gas turbine-based power plants is fast emerging as a feasible solution, especially in Canada where abundant hydroelectricity enables minimal carbon footprint in the entire energy cycle. To enable this transition, there is great interest at Siemens Energy Canada and the National Research Council Canada to develop fuel flexible nozzles that can allow seamless operation anywhere on and between 100% hydrogen to 100% natural gas as the gas turbine fuel while ensuring strict operability envelope in terms of emissions, and safe and stable operation. Given the vastly different fuel physical and chemical properties, this is a stiff challenge. A combination of fuel injection techniques: one primary stream injected from the swirler and another novel micromixing based injection just upstream of the primary combustion zone has emerged as a possible concept among scientists from Siemens Energy Canada and NRC. To bring this idea to fruition, a team of academics from McGill University, Polytechnique Montréal, and University of Toronto will perform detailed laser-based measurements and high-fidelity simulations on this concept to identify and understand the operability envelopes achievable. This will be enabled by a combination of work-packages led by the academic institutes and by NRC in close collaboration with Siemens Energy Canada. These include but are not limited to determining the near field mixing characteristics of the micromixing jets, combustion efficiency and emissions, static and dynamic stability envelopes, mechanisms of flame stabilization, and flame-wall interaction. The outcomes will allow systematic development of the fuel-flex, micromix-premix nozzle with well defined operation envelope. The nozzle could emerge as a centerpiece technology in transitioning the highly efficient natural gas powered, Canadian power plants to hydrogen, thereby significantly reducing their overall carbon footprint and retaining their techno-economic leadership in the power-generation sector.