Hydrogen Fueled Gas Turbines: A Brief Analysis

Concerns about the use of traditional fuels such as oil and coal have prompted the development of several cleaner alternatives in recent years. Hydrogen energy is one of the most appealing alternatives to currently used fossil fuels, with several advantages, including zero-emission and high energy content. Because hydrogen has numerous advantages over conventional fuels, it has recently been used in gas turbines.

The main advantage of using hydrogen in power generation with the gas turbine is that greenhouse gas emissions are significantly reduced. Several factors influence the performance of hydrogen-powered gas turbines, including component performance, operating conditions, ambient conditions, and so on. Several scholars and scientists in this field have looked into these factors. The results of studies on hydrogen-fired gas turbines are discussed in this article.

Introduction

Gas turbines are widely used for electricity generation due to characteristics such as their ability to produce high power in a small space, quick start-up, and integration with other power generation units such as Rankine cycles. gas turbines are primarily used in Brayton cycles to generate power. The compressor, combustor, and gas turbine are the three main components of the Brayton cycles. The specifications of the combustion process have an impact on the overall performance of the cycles with gas turbines. One of the most important factors influencing combustion efficiency and emissions is the fuel used in the combustor.

Until now, fossil fuels such as oil and gas have been the primary fuels used in these cycles’ combustors. Despite the benefits and attractiveness of gas turbines for power generation, their main disadvantage is the release of greenhouse gases as a result of the use of fossil fuels. Alternative clean fuels such as biofuels and hydrogen have been proposed for use in gas turbines to address this issue. On a mass basis, hydrogen has an energy content of 120 Mj/kg, which is significantly higher than that of other conventional fuels such as gasoline (44 Mj/kg); this makes hydrogen more appealing in some cases.

Companies like GE provide turbine control systems that monitor and protect gas turbine performance in hazardous situations. DS200TCQCG1A and DS200TCQEG2A are some examples of such system components.

Hydrogen Fired Gas Turbine System

The primary fuels used in gas turbine power generation are coal, natural gas, and oil products. The use of these fuels in the power generation sector results in significant emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, NOx, and other pollutants. Several approaches have been used to resolve or mitigate the environmental issues associated with fossil fuel-fired gas turbines.

Among these methods is the use of renewable energy sources such as solar energy for preheating and heat recovery from exhaust gases. In addition to the techniques mentioned above, fuel type modification or alteration can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Biofuel is one of the alternatives to current fuels for reducing emissions; however, one of the most significant disadvantages is its low energy content. In this regard, hydrogen would be preferred as a fuel with a high energy content based on mass.

Furthermore, by adding hydrogen to the fuel, the reactivity of the mixture can be increased, which is useful in some cases, such as turbines with flue gas recirculation. To make them more environmentally friendly, hydrogen-powered vehicles can be integrated with other systems such as CO2 capture technologies.

Hydrogen Gas Turbine Future Analysis

Most studies on hydrogen gas turbines have focused on emissions and flame stability, but more research on these turbines would be beneficial. The use of novel analyses, such as exergoeconomics, would provide a better understanding of these cycles. Furthermore, current analysis tools, such as exergy, can be applied by taking into account additional factors. In this regard, the effects of turbine inlet temperature, pressure ratio, and so on can be used in exergy analysis to gain a better understanding. It would also be beneficial to optimize the cycles that use hydrogen as a fuel.

Furthermore, the components of these systems can be optimized to find the best geometry and operating conditions. In addition to simple and recuperative Brayton cycles, future work should look into hydrogen-fired gas turbines in more complex cycles such as Rankine-Brayton. In addition to simple and recuperative Brayton cycles, future work should look into hydrogen-fired gas turbines in more complex cycles such as Rankine-Brayton.

Conclusion

Given the issue of gas emissions from fossil-fuel-fired gas turbines, the use of hydrogen as a fuel in these turbines has recently been proposed. This article reviews studies on hydrogen-powered gas turbines. The following are the key points:

• By adding hydrogen to the conventional fuels used in the combustors, the emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon monoxide from gas turbines can be significantly reduced.
• Flame stability when using hydrogen is affected by a number of factors, including equivalence ratio and hydrogen enrichment.
• Hydrogen dilution is an effective method for reducing NOx emissions from hydrogen-fired gas turbines.
• Some methods, such as steam injection, may be used to improve combustion regularity. The energy efficiency of hydrogen-fired gas turbines, like that of conventional fossil-fuelled gas turbines, is affected by system configuration and operating conditions.
• The addition of hydrogen to the base fuel of the gas turbines has an effect on the system’s exergy efficiency.
• The fuel/air mixture could be changed to reduce NOx emissions even further.
• Hydrogen-fired gas turbines can be combined with other forms of energy generation, such as solar PV cells. Different factors can have an impact on the performance of these systems.

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