fuTure hydRogen Assisted gas turbiNeS for effective carbon capTure IntegratiON

Project Information

TRANSITION

Grant agreement ID: 101069665

DOI

10.3030/101069665

EC signature date 18 May 2022

Start date 1 September 2022

End date 31 August 2026

Funded under

• Climate, Energy and Mobility

Total cost

€ 2 922 218,50

EU contribution

€ 2 922 217,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI FIRENZE
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - TRANSITION (fuTure hydRogen Assisted gas turbiNeS for effective carbon capTure IntegratiON)

Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2025-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

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.
The project has the main ambition to develop advanced combustion technologies for natural gas fired Gas Turbines to permit engine operations with high EGR rates leading to an increase of the CO2 content in the exhaust gases and a drastic reduction of the CCS costs and units' size. The main objectives can be summarized in the following concrete GOALS: 1) Development and validation at full scale engine conditions of EGR advanced GT burners with multifuel capabilities; 2) Development and assessment of high EGR rate GT burners with multifuel capabilities; 3) Assessment of developed GT-EGR advanced burners on real engine configuration for retrofit validation; 4) Assessment of CCS-GT integration and overall system performance; 5) Assessment of global sustainability with environmental/social/economic impact.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The technical research activities of the project are arranged into 4 technical work packages (WP 2, 3, 4 and 6) which are expected to contribute to overall main goals.
In the reference period most part of the work was carried out in WP3, WP6 and partly in WP2 and WP4, according to the original workplan.
WP2 (UNIFI, BH): The main outcome of wP2 in the RP2 was the completion of the atmospheric tests at the THT lab of UNIFI. In particular in the final part of the work it was investigated the effect of mimicking EGR with pure N2 or pure CO2. An example of the achieved results in terms of OH* chemiluminescence is reported in Figure 1.
WP3 (DLR, CERFACS, BH and UNIFI): CFD investigations planned in T3.4 by UNIFI and CERFACS were completed. In figure 2 it can be observed an example of the validation of LES calculation carried ut by UNIFI with hydrogen piloting. Concerning T3.2 where high-pressure tests are planned, preliminary results were obtained: Figure 3 shows OH* maps at 10 bar pressure.
WP4 (SINTEF, TotalEnergies, BH): SINTEF has continued the development the investigation aimed at the slection of the best capture technology for the case study of the project, to be used for the detailed technical and economical evaluations planned in the subsequent task. In Figure 4 a schematic representation of the absorption-based carbon capture technology is reported. T4.5 in charge to SINTEF OCEAN is just started with the set up of the baseline scenario and the development of a format for data collection for the carbon capture scenarios.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The TRANSITION project will address its objectives by carrying out research activities on 2 main technological areas
1. EGR applied to gas turbine engines
2. integration of CCS units with gas turbines, adopting two main investigation methods
The researches will be carried out by the following 2 main investigation methodology:
3. CFD turbulent combustion modelling
4. optical and laser-based combustion diagnostics.
For each of these 4 pillars a contribution beyond the state-of-the-art will be achieved when reaching the final objectives of the project. In particular the following main achievements could be considered a relevant step beyond state of the art:
• Experimental validation of high EGR rates operations, also with multi-fuel configuration and up to full scale conditions
• LES CFD modelling of complex multi-fuel and/or multi-oxidizer flame configurations
• Dedicated optimized reduced chemical kinetic schemes for EGR multi-fuel operations
TRANSITION will primarily focus on activities from TRL1 to TRL3/4, carrying out studies mainly in laboratory environment to reach the single nozzle flame tube proof of concept for GT-EGR integration. Validation of the proposed solutions at full engine scale in a single sector test rig will represent a significant step towards market.

Time-averaged normalized OH* chemiluminescence maps at Pamb

a) Numerical LoS of HRR (left) vs Experimental OH* LoS (rigth) b) flame index map

OH* chemiluminescence maps at P=10bar

Absorption-based carbon capture technology