Project description
Supporting energy transition with hydrogen assited gas-turbines for carbon-capture systems
The dangers posed by climate change have pushed institutions to fund novel solutions to help achieve a carbon-neutral green energy sector. Renewable energy sources will replace conventional fossil fuel-based systems, but the energy transition process will see gas turbines play a significant role especially in the hard-to-abate sectors where Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) solutions will permit to significantly reduce carbon footprint when using fossil fuels. The TRANSITION project aims to offer a solution by developing novel gas turbines for natural-gas-fired power plants that can efficiently utilise CCS technologies. The solution proposed is to revise gas-turbines combustors with the use of hydrogen-assisted flames that will allow to stably operate with high levels of Exhaust Gas Recirculation enabling highly efficient CCS solutions.
Objective
The achievement of the EU targets established for 2030 for a more sustainable, cost-effective and environmentally-neutral energy production will not only require increasing the penetration of renewable energy sources (RES) into the actual mix, but necessarily point to reduce the carbon footprint of the conventional technologies based on the use of natural gas which is required to complement and compensate intermittent availability of RES.
TRANSITION objective is to pave the way for carbon-neutral energy generation from natural gas-fired power plants using gas turbines (GT), by enabling a highly efficient Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) process in the post-combustion phase. This will be achieved by the development of advanced hydrogen assisted combustion technologies capable to permit stable engine operations with high Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) rates leading to high CO2 content in the exhaust gas sent to the CCS unit. Two distinct scenarios will be considered, by i) validating up to TRL4 retrofit hydrogen-based burners targeting 50% EGR rate and ii) proving up to TRL 3 more aggressive technologies adopting hydrogen/oxygen flame piloting to reach 60% EGR.
Experimental tests (from atmospheric up to full-engine pressure) will support the technology assessment and the validation of high-fidelity numerical CFD models. Overall CCS-GT system integration will be also carried out with technical and economic analysis. The global sustainability of the proposed technologies will also be investigated to assess environmental/social/economic impacts.
TRANSITION outcomes will enable the decarbonisation of GT-based power plants, which are among the most efficient energy thermal generators adopted in several energy-intensive applications. The multi-fuel capabilities and the retrofit opportunity of the developed systems will allow targeting hard-to-decarbonize sectors enabling an efficient transition to a net greenhouse gas neutral EU economy.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
50121 Florence
Italy