Lean premixed combustion stabilized by radiation feedback and heterogeneous catalysis

Gas-turbine based systems are becoming the preferred approach to electric power generation from gaseous and liquid fossil-fuels and from biomass. As coal gasification becomes more prevalent, gas turbines will also become important in the generation of electricity from coal. In smaller, distributed installations, gas turbines offer the prospect of cogeneration of electricity and heat, with increased efficiency and reduced pollutant emissions. One of the most important problems facing combustion-based power generation is the control of air pollutants, primarily nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide. Catalytic combustion over noble-metal catalysts offers a method for controlling NO{sub x} emissions. This report describes tests on a gas-fired catalytic combustor and the development of a mathematical model to describe the process. The authors anticipate that the models they develop under this research program will be useful by industry and researchers alike in the design of both experiments and practical gas turbine catalytic combustors. The model--which includes transport codes, mechanisms, and postprocessing routines--is portable and can be run on UNIX workstations. Intelligent design of experiments, guided by this model, can reduce unnecessary expenditures of time and money spent in the laboratory. Likewise, the development of low-NO{sub x} gas turbine systems can be accelerated by using these models to test the effectiveness of combustor designs prior to engaging in time-consuming prototyping.

[1]  Timothy Griffin,et al.  Catalytic stabilization of lean premixed combustion: Method for improving NOx emissions , 1996 .

[2]  James A. Miller,et al.  Mechanism and modeling of nitrogen chemistry in combustion , 1989 .

[3]  Frank Behrendt,et al.  Modelling and simulation of heterogeneous oxidation of methane on a platinum foil , 1994 .

[4]  Patrick Briot,et al.  Effect of particle size on the reactivity of oxygen-adsorbed platinum supported on alumina , 1990 .

[5]  Craig T. Bowman,et al.  Control of Combustion-Generated Nitrogen Oxide Emissions , 1992 .

[6]  Daniel A. Hickman,et al.  Steps in CH4 oxidation on Pt and Rh surfaces: High‐temperature reactor simulations , 1993 .

[7]  David L. Trimm,et al.  The combustion of methane on platinum—alumina fibre catalysts—I: Kinetics and mechanism , 1980 .

[8]  Kenneth Winston Beebe,et al.  Design and Test of a Catalytic Combustor for a Heavy Duty Industrial Gas Turbine , 1995 .

[9]  Duane A. Smith,et al.  Application of Catalytic Combustion Technology to Industrial Gas Turbines for Ultra-Low NOx Emissions , 1995 .

[10]  R. Burch,et al.  Investigation of Pt/Al2O3 and Pd/Al2O3 catalysts for the combustion of methane at low concentrations , 1994 .

[11]  Henning Bockhorn,et al.  NOx formation in lean premixed noncatalytic andcatalytically stabilized combustion of propane , 1994 .

[12]  Robert W. Dibble,et al.  Experimental and numerical comparison of extractive and in situ laser measurements of non-equilibrium carbon monoxide in lean-premixed natural gas combustion , 1995 .

[13]  Ulrich Maas,et al.  Simulation and sensitivity analysis of the heterogeneous oxidation of methane on a platinum foil , 1995 .

[14]  David K. Yee,et al.  New Catalytic Combustion Technology for Very Low Emissions Gas Turbines , 1994 .

[15]  K. Otto,et al.  Methane oxidation over Pt on .gamma.-alumina: kinetics and structure sensitivity , 1989 .

[16]  Toshio Matsuhisa,et al.  Development of a high-temperature combustion catalyst system and prototype catalytic combustor turbine test results , 1995 .

[17]  Yung-Fang Yu Yao,et al.  Oxidation of Alkanes over Noble Metal Catalysts , 1980 .