The 'Retrofit H2' project, funded by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector, has resulted in the creation of a marketable concept for retrofitting existing micro gas turbines by Power Service Consulting GmbH (PSC) and the DLR Institute of Combustion Technology.
As gas turbines are generally in operation for many years, existing plants also need to be examined to see whether they can be converted or upgraded. The focus here should also be on flexible fuel utilisation. In addition to adjustments to technical components, such as the combustion chamber system and the distribution systems, this also requires adjustments to the infrastructure in compliance with special regulatory requirements.
In order to show the retrofit process on a demonstration plant, the institute has developed a fuel-flexible combustor system for a commercially available micro gas turbine (MGT), integrated it into the gas turbine and tested it in an extended trial run at the DLR site in Lampoldshausen. The project partner PSC carried out a process development for the hydrogen-capable infrastructure of the plant in accordance with the applicable European and international norms, guidelines and standards and developed the design for the construction of a fuel-flexible control, mixing and distribution system, integrated it into the gas turbine and tested it extensively.
Since it will take some time before green hydrogen is available in sufficient quantities, power plants will be operated with many different mixtures of natural gas and hydrogen up to pure hydrogen during this transition phase. Gas turbines must therefore run equally efficiently with all these mixtures or even pure hydrogen.
Credit:
Umweltministerium Baden-Württemberg
"The biggest challenge in developing the combustion chamber are the very different properties of natural gas and hydrogen, especially with regard to stable and low-emission combustion," says project manager Hohloch, "but we are drawing on our many years of experience in the field of combustion chamber development for a wide variety of fuels."The project achieved excellent results during the latest test runs in Lampoldshausen: when running on pure hydrogen, nitrogen oxide emissions remained below 15 parts per million over the entire operating range, well below the current emission limits for natural gas.
Retrofit H2
Retrofit concepts for existing power plants as an entry into hydrogen use
