Calculations of Fuel NO Formation in a Gas Turbine Combustor

Abstract

PCGC-2, a two-dimensional combustion code for pulverized coal gasification and combustion, and PHOENICS, a general purpose fluid dynamics code, were adapted for use in simulating the conversion of fuel nitrogen to nitric oxide, NO, in a gas turbine combustor using low-Btu fuel. A two-reaction global mechanism was used to describe the oxidation of fuel nitrogen. PCGC-2 is limited to two-dimensional, axisymmetric calculations. Both two- and three-dimensional simulations were made with PHOENICS. A parametric study was conducted to determine the variation of fuel nitrogen conversion with changes in the input variables including the inlet fuel nitrogen concentration and swirl numbers. The fuel nitrogen conversion predicted with both codes is similar to those reported in experimental studies on gaseous fuels. The conversion decreased with increasing fuel nitrogen inputs as shown in experimental data. The fuel conversion predicted in three-dimensional simulations for an industrial gas turbine was slightly higher than those in simplified two-dimensional simulations.

Numerical Simulations of Low-Btu Coal Gas Combustion in a Gas Turbine Combustor

“…Only the combustion models and corresponding results are presented in this paper. The pollutant model is described in a companion paper [Overcamp et al, 1991]. Bench-mark experimental data in an axisymmetric geometry was used to illustrate validity of the model and computational procedure.…”