This year's University Turbines Systems Research Program Workshop will be held October 25-27, 2011; Columbus OH (Ohio State University campus). Click here for more information.

This October, a distinguished group of researchers, university students, manufacturers, and industry professionals, will meet to discuss revolutionary ideas that could change the way we power our daily lives. What will they be talking about? Turbines. And the discussions at this event-the 2011 University Turbine Systems Research Workshop-will be as intrepid and dynamic as the turbine itself.

The Workhorse of Power Generation

The horsepower in today's electric generating systems comes from turbines, which are promoting delivery of reliable, affordable, diverse, and environmentally sound energy.

When you think of a turbine, perhaps you consider the churning blades of a windmill. Or maybe you think of the turbines that propel the waters of hydroelectric dams. Perhaps the persistent, assuring whir of the turbine aircraft engine comes to mind. There are many possibilities, but all are sources of energy, power, and work. Turbines may have been around since the Dark Ages, but today's turbines are anything but antiquated. Turbines keep things moving-they fuel our transportation, and they are at the heart of our nation's power plants. In short, the diversity and economy of turbines power our daily energy needs. NETL's Advanced Turbines Program is researching key technologies needed to develop turbines that will operate cleanly and efficiently when fueled with coal-derived synthesis gas (syngas) and hydrogen fuels, since turbine technologies that operate on these fuels will be critical to minimizing emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂).

Research under the Advanced Turbines Program is working to prove the old adage wrong: perhaps we can have our cake and eat it too, or in this case, efficiently use our country's most abundant energy resource-coal-cheaply and cleanly. Current power plant technologies release CO₂ into the atmosphere, triggering concerns about climate change and the negative impact of such emissions on the environment. NETL is deploying promising mitigation strategies including carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), which will enable CO₂ to be captured in the plant and either injected permanently underground or put to use in beneficial applications such as enhanced oil recovery. A major step in CCUS is capturing CO₂ from the power plant. This is where the research of the Advanced Turbines Program comes into play: the program is targeting integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) systems, and turbines will play a critical role.

IGCC systems transform coal into syngas-a mixture of hydrogen and carbon moNO_xide-which is then cleanly burned in a heavy-duty gas turbine. Impurities, including CO₂, are removed prior to combustion, and the resulting fuel is hydrogen. The hydrogen fuel is combusted in a gas turbine to produce power, and the CO₂ is permanently stored in deep underground formations or put to beneficial use. Although CCUS technologies are costly, NETL research is making great strides to overcome this hurdle. In fact, recent models from the Advanced Turbines Program have recovered the cost and performance penalties associated with carbon capture, proving that this clean technology can also be affordable.

Charting a Better Course

NETL's Advanced Turbines Program is researching advanced turbines that will be fuel flexible, enabling electric power generation in IGCC applications with CO₂ capture. Materials research is one area of investigation, as shown above. (Image courtesy of Ohio State University.)

Transitioning to IGCC will require low-emission turbine combustion technologies for high-hydrogen content fuels, improved aerodynamics and heat transfer methods, and durable low-cost materials for the high-temperature environment. In the near-term, NETL's Advanced Turbines Program aims to develop a hydrogen-fueled turbine that can be integrated into coal-based IGCC power plants with CCUS; demonstrate turbines that can operate on conventional syngas or 100 percent hydrogen; develop the technology needed to reduce NO_x emissions to near zero; and develop oxy-fuel turbine and combustor technologies for highly efficient, near-zero-emissions, coal-based power systems. To accomplish these goals, the Advanced Turbines Program relies on its three teams:

• The Hydrogen Turbines team is focused on reducing nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emissions and demonstrating turbines that can either operate on conventional syngas or hydrogen. To meet these goals, hydrogen turbine investigators research combustor technology, materials, enhanced cooling technology, and coatings. These are technologies that researchers have identified as key components of advanced coal-based IGCC power plants that will produce affordable electricity and hydrogen from coal while capturing CO₂. [Image 3 here]
  
  
• Key goals for the Oxy-Fuel Turbines team include developing oxy-fuel turbine and combustor technologies for highly efficient, near-zero emission, coal-based power systems. What is “oxy-fuel” technology? Oxy-fuel simply means the technology burns fuel with pure oxygen, rather than air. Oxy-fuel combustion produces less flue gas than combustion with air, and the exhaust contains only water and CO₂, which can be easily captured for CCUS. Researchers expect that plants using oxy-fuel systems will be highly efficient with near-zero emissions, while capturing nearly 100 percent of the systems' CO₂.
  
  

• The University Turbine Systems Research (UTSR) Program complements the research of the other two Advanced Turbines teams with research aimed at their The UTSR's Gas Turbine Industrial Fellowship program brings highly trained student researchers from universities into industrial gas turbine manufacturing environments. The UTSR Fellowship experience often results in the employment of highly trained professionals in the gas turbine industry working to continue the advancement of gas turbine technology. common goal: developing and transitioning advanced turbines and turbine-based systems that will operate cleanly and efficiently when fueled with coal-derived syngas and hydrogen fuels. UTSR researchers investigate combustion, aerodynamics, heat transfer, and materials systems-all areas that support the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy's Advanced Turbine Program goals. UTSR takes a special approach via close interaction between participating universities, gas turbine manufacturers, and gas turbine users. UTSR also offers a Gas Turbine Industrial Fellowship program to recruit qualified university research students.

Destination: Success

IGCC is a rapidly developing technology, and the Advanced Turbines Program is making constant progress toward employing this technology for clean, cheap energy. Recently, the program successfully developed prototypes for reducing emissions. Working with GE Energy and Siemens Energy, NETL turbine researchers are making advancements that will offset much of the costs associated with CCUS, while simultaneously reducing the emissions of coal-based power. NETL researchers have also overcome many of the challenges associated with hydrogen combustion. Notably, three independent power plant simulations (system models)-one by NETL, one by GE Energy, and one by Siemens Energy-confirmed that the most recent model for IGCC with hydrogen gas would recover all the cost and performance penalties incurred from carbon capture.

Combustion research is another area pursued by the UTSR Program to develop and transition advanced turbines that will operate on syngas and hydrogen fuels. (Image courtesy of University of California-Irvine.) Aerodynamics and heat transfer are two key areas of research for the UTSR Program. Shown here, data from a UTSR aero-heat transfer project with the University of Texas. (Image courtesy of University of Texas.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In another series of successes, NETL and its research partners lowered by nearly 25 percent the NO_x levels produced by advanced gas turbines operating on high-hydrogen fuel. For their 2012 prototype machine, the team lowered NO_x levels to those approaching the program's target of 2 parts per million. At the same time, bench tests with high-hydrogen fuels are showing improved operability.

And that's not all. NETL and its partners have developed new manufacturing methods that allow turbines to operate in the high-temperature, high-pressure environment required for low emissions and optimal efficiency. Combustion research is focused on high-pressure testing and refined computational fluid dynamics calculations. Intermediate goals have been met in materials research with the development of a high-temperature-capable thermal barrier coating to protect system components. Oxy-fuel turbine developments recently scored an early milestone when Clean Energy Systems Inc. of Rancho Cordova, CA, signed a purchase order for a used Siemens SGT-900 B12 gas turbine. The machine will be refurbished and converted for oxy-fuel application, then tested in 2014 at the CES Kimberlina Power Plant facility.

These are all advancements that represent significant progress.

Just as turbines keeps things moving, NETL's Advanced Turbines Program keeps an eye on the future and perpetuating the good works of its researchers. From annual UTSR workshops to spirited collaboration and a constant eye on the future, the program is accelerating the technologies that will help provide Americans with secure, affordable energy that is also environmentally responsible. Clean, affordable coal-based power-an invaluable benefit being realized through NETL research.