DOE Pledges $130M for Turbine, Hydrogen R&D

September 30, 2005

DOE said the projects advance turbines and turbine subsystems for integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plants, and address using hydrogen in small-scale turbines for industrial applications. "Resulting technologies will operate cleanly and efficiently when fueled with coal-derived hydrogen or synthesis gas," DOE said.

Turbines generate electrical power both on a large scale (in 250 megawatts or larger central power stations) or on a small scale (in local, industrial power systems of 1 megawatt to 100 megawatts). Smaller systems also produce mechanical power for such applications as jet engines, compressors and heating systems.

Investing in research that applies new fuels to large- and small-scale turbines provides opportunities for developing a future hydrogen economy, in which hydrogen is the fuel of choice for transportation and power generation, said the DOE. It also maximizes the use of coal, America's most abundant fossil fuel.

A key focus of the DOE effort is the integration of hydrogen turbines and turbine subsystems into IGCC central power stations. The DOE noted that IGCC is today's environmentally preferred source of electricity from coal and the primary technology component of FutureGen, the department's planned near-zero-emissions power plant. The use of hydrogen fuels in IGCC systems will reduce emissions - particularly carbon dioxide (CO2), a leading greenhouse gas, and nitrogen oxides (NOx), a pollutant that contributes to ozone production and acid rain - and enable systems to be adapted to a variety of environments.

In addition to exploring the large-scale IGCC applications, several projects will develop 1 megawatt to 100 megawatts scale systems that can be fueled by either hydrogen or coal synthesis gas (syngas). Advanced technologies in this area will help industry adopt hydrogen as an everyday fuel, DOE said.

The Office of Fossil Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory will manage the new projects, which follow.

Hydrogen Turbines for FutureGen
Two projects will expand on natural gas turbine technologies by designing large-scale turbines that burn hydrogen fuels. Performance goals include the capability to integrate the new systems into the DOE's FutureGen power plant or similar IGCC power stations, fuel flexibility for operation on hydrogen and coal syngas, NOx emissions of less than 3 parts per million, and efficiencies of 45% to 50%.

• General Electric will advance combustion technologies for hydrogen fuels to achieve the same type of emissions improvement seen with natural gas-fueled turbines. Advances will include system materials and coatings able to withstand increased operating temperatures, and system designs that increase efficiency and power output. The project will produce an engineering design for full-scale testing of a large-frame turbine that achieves an efficiency increase of 3 to 5 percentage points over current coal-powered turbine technologies.
  (DOE award: $45.6 million; project duration: 75 months)
• Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp. will design an advanced coal-powered turbine system using newly designed system components to improve performance. The new components will include an enhanced cooling subsystem for controlling operating temperatures, increased front-end temperatures for more efficient fuel consumption, and advanced materials and coatings for component durability and reduced operating costs.
  (DOE award: $45.5 million; project duration: 56 months)

Turbines, Combustors for Oxy-Fuel Rankine Cycle Systems
Studies indicate that replacing air with nearly pure oxygen in a turbine's combustion chamber is a promising approach to achieving highly efficient, near-zero-emission, coal-based power systems. Two projects will develop turbine and combustor technologies that use pure oxygen in fuel combustion. These technologies will be conducive to 100% separation and capture of CO2, and will achieve long-term power system efficiencies of 50% to 60%.

• Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp. will combine current steam and gas turbine technologies to design an optimized turbine that uses oxygen with coal-derived hydrogen fuels in the combustion process. System studies will show how this new turbine can be integrated into a highly efficient, near-zero-emission power plant.
  (DOE award: $14.5 million; project duration: 56 months)
• Clean Energy Systems will develop and demonstrate a new combustor technology powered by coal syngas and oxygen. The project team will evaluate and redesign the combustion sequence to achieve an ideal ratio of oxygen to fuel, critical in achieving optimum combustion and reducing costs.
  (DOE award: $4.5 million; project duration: 39 months)

Development of Highly Efficient, Zero-Emission Hydrogen Combustion Technology for Megawatt-Scale Turbines
Two projects will develop hydrogen combustion systems for existing megawatt-scale turbines. Turbines using these combustion systems will maintain or exceed the levels of efficiency achieved by similar natural-gas-powered turbines, reduce emissions of NOx, virtually eliminate emissions of CO2, and operate on hydrogen and coal synthesis gas, according to the DOE. Systems will be sized at 100 megawatts or less, and be fit for mechanical power applications.

• Precision Combustion Inc. will build and demonstrate a full-scale, ultra-low NOx catalytic combustion system for fuel-flexible hydrogen combustors in megawatt-scale turbines. In a current DOE project, this technology has demonstrated single-digit NOx emissions in small-scale testing with syngas and hydrogen diluted with nitrogen.
  (DOE award: $4.9 million; project duration: 60 months)
• Parker Hannifin Corp. will adapt the designs and concepts of proven natural gas fuel-injector systems to hydrogen and coal syngas systems. Parker will build and test next-generation fuel burners in a range of sizes. The modularity of this approach will reduce system production costs, DOE said, by allowing the building of injectors to multiple scales from a basic building block.
  (DOE award: $1.2 million; project duration: 32 months)

Megawatt-Scale Turbines for Power and Hydrogen Co-production in Industrial Applications
One project will assess the potential for industrial, coal-fueled turbine systems to co-produce electricity, hydrogen and synthesis gas. The evaluation will be conducted with gasification systems in the 50 megawatt to 100 megawatt range, and will demonstrate high efficiency and ultra-low emissions at a reduced cost, DOE said.

• The Gas Technology Institute will assess in detail the feasibility, opportunities and challenges of using partial-oxidation gas turbines for the coal-based co-production of electricity, hydrogen and synthesis gas. In partial-oxidation turbines, part of the system's fuel is unspent during combustion, making it available for such post-system uses as hydrogen extraction. The technology is designed for use in the steel, forest, paper, oil refinery, food and similar industries.
  (DOE award: $999,992; project duration: 22 months)

New Concepts for the Compression of Large Volumes of Carbon Dioxide
Reduced-emission power plants lose efficiency while capturing and sequestrating carbon dioxide. Much of this loss occurs when the CO2 is compressed for storage. Two projects will examine more efficient and cost-effective compression concepts.

• Ramgen Power Systems will use supersonic shock wave technology to compress large quantities of CO2 for sequestration. Ramgen will design and fabricate a system of two stages (instead of the present six) that is expected to equal or surpass present compressor efficiency levels. It will cuts costs by simplifying system mechanics, DOE noted.
  (DOE award: $11 million; project duration: 60 months)
• Southwest Research Institute will improve the mechanics of compressing and liquefying carbon dioxide. The Institute will examine a total-system solution, which includes integrating CO2 compression technologies with other FutureGen plant subsystems.
  (DOE award: $175,033; project duration: 12 months)

Advanced Brayton Cycles for Highly Efficient, Zero-Emission Systems
The Brayton Cycle, the combustion power system most closely associated with gas turbines, can reach efficiencies of 58% to 60% in current advanced, combined-cycle turbine technologies. One project entails a system study to advance Brayton cycle efficiencies to 65% to 67% or higher in combined cycle applications.

• The University of California at Irvine will identify obstacles to integrating high-performance Brayton Cycle technology modules and subsystems into safe, reliable, environmentally friendly, and economically sound power plants, DOE said, adding that the project's results will help the department determine future research and development needs.
  (DOE award: $603,012; project duration: 24 months)

Source: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).