An electric utility grid connected test facility has been established at Silicon Valley Power (SVP) in Santa Clara, California to validate the reliability, availability, maintainability, and durability (RAMD) of a commercial-ready catalytic combustor system (XONON). Installed in the Silicon Valley Test Facility (SVTF) is a 1.5MW Kawasaki MIA-13A gas turbine fitted with a catalytic combustor. The gas turbine package is controlled by a Woodward MicroNet control system. The combustor utilizes a two stage lean premix preburner system to obtain the required catalyst inlet temperatures and low NOx over the operating load range. The fuel-air mixer incorporates counter rotating swirlers to mix the catalyst fuel and air to achieve the desired uniformity. The patented catalyst design is composed of specially coated metal foils. Overall engine performance was measured and the emissions were continuously monitored. As of Dec. 1999, emissions of NOx<2.5 ppmv and CO and UHC<6 ppmv have been maintained at 100 percent load for over 3700 hours of operation on the utility grid. The turbine continues to operated 24 hours a day, 7 days per week with commercial levels of unit availability.

Combustor hardware employing catalytic combustion technology has been developed for a 1.5 MW gas turbine. This system, combined with state of the art catalyst technology, was used to demonstrate ultra-low emissions on the engine. The demonstrator combustor utilizes a two stage lean premix preburner system to obtain the required catalyst inlet temperatures and low NOx over the operating load range. The performance of the preburner system was characterized during engine tests by measuring temperature rise and emissions just downstream of the preburner. A fuel schedule for the primary and secondary stages was selected to give NOx emissions below 2 ppmv at the engine exhaust. Overall engine performance was measured over the full load range. Emissions of NOx < 3 ppmv and CO and UHC < 5 ppmv were obtained at 72% to 100% load. Combustor dynamics were shown to be less than 0.3 psi(rms). This combustor operated for 1000 hours on a dynamometer test facility and showed low emissions performance over this period.

An electric utility grid connected test facility has been established at Silicon Valley Power (SVP) in Santa Clara, California to validate the reliability, availability, maintainability and durability (RAMD) of a commercial-ready catalytic combustor system (XONON). Installed in the Silicon Valley Test Facility (SVTF) is a 1.5MW Kawasaki M1A-13A gas turbine fitted with a catalytic combustor. The gas turbine package is controlled by a Woodward MicroNet control system. The combustor utilizes a two stage lean premix preburner system to obtain the required catalyst inlet temperatures and low NOx over the operating load range. The fuel-air mixer incorporates counter rotating swirlers to mix the catalyst fuel and air to achieve the desired uniformity. The patented catalyst design is composed of specially coated metal foils. Overall engine performance was measured and the emissions were continuously monitored. As of December 1999, emissions of NOx < 2.5 ppmv and CO and UHC < 6 ppmv have been maintained at 100% load for over 3700 hours of operation on the utility grid. The turbine continues to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days per week with commercial levels of unit availability.

Page 2-1Hg porosimeter pore volume distributions for DK-1 and DK-2 zirconia powders 13 2-2Interior of a high-pressure test cell containing two high-pressure aging reactors… 14 2-3 Schematic diagram of the High Pressure Aging Reactor (HPAR) system ………. 15 2-4Schematic diagram of a subscale (2-in) catalyst module test reactor ……………. 16 2-5Typical MCSR temperature data acquisition image (monolith #7) ……………… 18 2-6Schematic diagram of the microreactor vessel and catalyst bed …………………. 26 2-7Typical microreactor mass spectrometer data for a catalyst activity test ………… 27 2-8 PI catalyst materials show significantly lower sintering rates relative to original Xonon catalysts and the PB materials …………………………………………… 28 2-9Subscale LPR pre-heat step-down test results for PS candidate catalyst materials 29 2-10a/b Tad step-up test results for MCSR #5 at 450ºC and 500ºC inlet gas temperature and 1050ºC and 1200ºC Tad …………………………………………………… 30 2-11a/b Relative temperature rise for ceria-based NPGM catalyst materials in MCSR#5vs. interstage gas temperature with 1250°C adiabatic temperature and 500°C inlet gas temperature ……………………………………………………………… 31 2-12Relative temperature rise for hematite-based NPGM catalyst materials in MCSR#6 vs. interstage gas temperature with 1250°C adiabatic temperature and 500°C inlet gas temperature, highlighting those materials with superior performance (>80%) ……………………………………………………………. 32 2-13Relative temperature rise for both ceria-based and hematite-based NPGM catalyst materials in MCSR#7 vs. interstage gas temperature with 1250°C adiabatic temperature and 500°C inlet gas temperature ………………………… 33 2-14Comparison of channel-cluster peak outlet temperature vs. interstage gas temperature for ceria-based NPGM catalyst materials with Aa and Ee promoter components ……………………………………………………………………… 34 2-15Relative temperature rise for promoted hematite-based NPGM catalyst materials in MCSR#9 vs. interstage gas temperature with 1250°C adiabatic temperature and 500°C inlet gas temperature, highlighting those materials with superior performance (>80%) ……………………………………………………………. AbstractCatalytica Energy Systems, Inc. (formerly known as Catalytica Combustion Systems, Inc.) is commercializing catalytic combustion technology for gas turbines to achieve nitrogen oxides (NOx) concentrations in the turbine exhaust of 2.5 ppm or lower. This technology, incorporated in the Xonon Combustion System, is operating in a 1.5 MW industrial gas turbine engine connected to the electric power grid at Silicon Valley Power in Santa Clara, California. Achieving NOx emissions at these levels in the combustion system (rather than through cleanup of the exhaust gas), without compromising gas turbine performance, will reduce the cost and potential environmental impact of ultra-low emissions in gas turbine installations and make ultralow emissions performance available in more gas turbine applications.In view of the value of catalytic combustion in gas turbines, the current DOE-sponsored program is directed at overcoming the remaining risks an...