Fusina puts hydrogen gas turbine to the test

Enel has been running a demo plant under test on hydrogen-rich gas since August 2009 to quantify commercial and technical risks associated with IGCC plants and carbon capture.

By Junior Isles

nels Fusina demonstration plant is designed around a 12MW natural gas fired GE Energy Oil & Gas GE10 gas turbine modified to run on pure hydrogen fuel with steam injection for NOx reduction. Major plant features and performance:

Plant rating. Surplus steam generated by HRSG operation adds another 4MW that increases integrated plant output to 16MW at an overall 41.6% plant efficiency. NOx control. Early test results have demonstrated emissions well below 400 mg/Nm3 with low steam consumption, in reach of less than 100 mg as the targeted goal. Hot parts life. Related mission is to assess impact of long term hydrogen operation on service life of hot parts including turbine blades and combustor components. Commenting on the Fusina project, Mr Sauro Pasini, Executive Vice President of Enels Research Technical Area, said: The plant represents a landmark achievement on the way to using hydrogen in power generation. Fusina is the site where some of the European Union H2-IGCC projects scientific and technological achievements can be assessed at an industrial scale. The H2-IGCC project, co-funded by the European Unions 7th Frame-

work Programme for Research and Development, is based on the initiative outlined by the European Turbine Network (ETN) in 2007. The ETN is the EU H2-IGCC project coordinator, providing coordination and management during the four-year project. Fusina is a unique facility within the framework of the EU project, with real gas turbine components (i.e. turbine vanes and blades) operating under real conditions. The turbine is available for analysis and lab investigation, following several thousand hours of operation with hydrogen-rich gas mixtures. The challenge is to operate a stable and controllable gas turbine on hydrogen-rich syngas with emissions and processes similar to current state-ofthe-art technology with the ability to burn back-up fuels such as natural gas without adversely affecting reliability and availability. Basically, the technical issues being addressed by the H2-IGCC program can be divided into four subprojects: combustion; materials; turbomachinery and system analysis. Combustion: Safe and low emission combustion technology for undiluted, hydrogen-rich syngas will be developed and demonstrated. To achieve this, problems resulting from the differences in combustion properties of hydrogen and natural gas need to be addressed and solved. These are higher flame speed, higher adiabatic flame temperature, drastically

reduced auto-ignition delay times and the large increase in volumetric fuel flow rate of hydrogen compared to natural gas. Materials: Improved materials systems with advanced coatings to protect hot gas path component base materials from exhaust gases of varying temperatures and composition. Cost-effective materials and coating technologies will be developed to overcome problems that can limit component lifetime, e.g. overheating and hot corrosion resulting from the higher temperatures and residual contaminants in the syngas. This subproject will look at validation of ma-

Mr. Sauro Pasini, Executive Vice President of Enels Research Technical Area: Fusina is where H2-IGCC projects technological achievements can be assessed at an industrial scale.

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terials performance data, life prediction and monitoring methods. Simulation tools for estimating performance and lifetime of material systems will also be improved to suit the new operating environments. Turbomachinery: Modified compressor, turbine and turbine cooling designs will be delivered. Stable compressor operation should enable switching between fuels without compromising efficiency with the increased mass flow rate that could lead to compressor instability. Turbine design will have to cope with a different enthalpy drop, while the turbine cooling system will have to cope with the higher specific heat of the exhaust gases. This will result in increased operating temperatures of the components compared to gas turbines using natural gas. System analysis: This will evaluate optimized IGCC plant configurations and establish guidelines for full-scale integration providing a detailed analysis that generates realistic techno-economic results for future gas turbine-based IGCC plants with CCS. In particular, the compatibility of the combustion technology with the materials requirements will be optimized. Development program The main goal of the Fusina project is to develop an innovative hydrogenfuelled combustor with nitrogen oxide emissions below 100 mg/Nm3 to be jointly carried out with GE Energy Oil & Gas. Their work will include numerical modelling, laboratory and pilot scale testing, followed by tests at full scale and full pressure conditions in dedicated labs and, finally, validation of a low NOx hydrogen design at Fusina in 2013. The project is also aimed at assessing the operation of hydrogen-rich gas mixture combustion in a high efficiency combined cycle gas turbine with a specific focus on the impact of long term hydrogen-operation on the

turbines hot parts (i.e. turbine blades, combustor components). For this purpose, the Fusina plant will continue to operate with hydrogen-rich gas mixtures for several thousand hours in 2010 and 2011. Plant operation and components will be monitored through online diagnostic systems and off line inspections at varying operating hour intervals. The aim is to have a commercially available hydrogen-fuelled burner, based on premixing or alternative technologies, by the end of the project. Due to the use of pure hydrogen as fuel, the burner will reduce nitro-

gen emissions below 100mg/Nm3. The burner should be installed in Fusina in 2013, said Pasini. Early developments The first step of the development program, started in 2006, was to modify the existing natural gas diffusion combustor of a GE10 gas turbine, featuring steam injection for NOx reduction, to allow the original machine to run with pure hydrogen with only minor modifications. The GE10 gas turbine has a single vertical combustion chamber that makes for a very simple design. Tests

GT Exhaust Stack

Bypass Stack GE10 Gas Turbine Transformer

HRSG

Control Room

Fusina demo plant. Since its completion in the summer of 2009, preliminary operating experience has confirmed experimental results obtained at the Sesta combustor test rig facility. Enel says that it plans on operating the Fusina demonstration plant with hydrogen-rich gas mixtures for several thousand hours over the next two years to collect test data for follow-on design development of commercial plant projects.

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carried out in Sesta in 2007 and 2009 demonstrated that an increase in primary air flow and an improved solution for steam injection can produce a positive effect on NOx emissions. Enel therefore decided to upgrade the capabilities of its Sesta experimental station in Tuscany. Once upgrading was completed, in early 2007, the facility was able to perform fullscale tests, firing both pure hydrogen and gas mixtures up to 0.36 kg/sec at 15.5 bar[a] pressure conditions. Fusina project overview Successful tests allowed construction of the Fusina demo plant to begin in December 2007 with completion during the summer of 2009. Hydrogen fuel for test operation is supplied as a byproduct of the nearby petrochemical plant at a typical purity of 96% by volume, with a maximum value of 100%, delivered to the power plant by a 2.5 km long pipeline at 27 bar [g] supply pressure. During demo plant operation, surplus steam from an auxiliary heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) used to generate steam for gas turbine NOx reduction, is supplied to an existing Fusina 320MW coal fired power plant to augment steam turbine output. The main purpose of the HRSG is to produce steam for the hydrogen fuelled gas turbine combustion system to suppress NOx formation and increase cycle efficiency. Residual steam is sent to the coal fired power station to increase its thermal efficiency. In the second part of the HRSG, condensate from the power station is heated before being returned to the plant. A considerable amount of heat is recovered from the wet gas due to the condensation of most of the water present, which is re-injected after treatment into the cycle of the coal fired plant. The net effect of this integration allows an additional 4MW to be generated from the coal fired plant. This means that the hydrogen cycle de-

Hydrogen combustor. Enel project engineers collaborated with GE Energy Oil & Gas engineering on the design development of a low NOx hydrogen fuel combustor for the modified GE10 gas turbine that powers the Fusina demo plant.

Steam NG H2 Burner tip Primary combustion zone

Flame detector

spark plug Primary combustion air

Liner

Dilution air Air from compressor Hot gases

Modified combustor. The hydrogen-fuelled GE10 gas turbine is equipped with a silotype single can combustor design modified for dual fuel operation on hydrogen-rich gas mixtures with HRSG steam injection to abate nitrogen oxide emissions without compromising demo plant efficiency.

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livers 16MW (12MW from the gas turbine and an extra 4 MW from the coal plant) for an overall 41.6% plant efficiency. Commercial operation The first preliminary operating experience at Fusina has confirmed the results of the experimental test campaign in the combustor test rig at the Sesta facility. The strategy selected for the reduction of nitrogen oxide emissions has proven its effectiveness, allowing NOx emissions well below 400 mg/ Nm3 with low steam consumption. Pasini says additional operating experience will be needed in order to draw a final conclusion. Both internal and external integration challenges were considered and implemented in the original design phase to maintain high plant efficiency. HRSG steam production for NOx reduction. This can be achieved without compromising the demo plants efficiency, Pasini notes, thanks to the plants innovative, condensing-type steam generator, which is able to recover most of the latent heat from water vapour in the flue gas. The integration of the heat recovery steam generation within the thermal cycle of the existing pulverized coal power plant (located close to the demo hydrogen plant in Fusina) is expected to further increase the efficiency of the demo plant close to 42%, a significant achievement considering the relatively small scale of the demo plant. According to Enel, the commissioning phase and the early operation have passed smoothly and, so far, no teething problems have been observed. The future As a power company, Enel has decided to focus its research on the power island of the IGCC cycle using the ongoing trials at Fusina to further develop the IGCC gas turbine design. The company plans on operating

the Fusina plant with hydrogen-rich gas mixtures for several more thousand hours over the next two years in order to gain further insights into the implementation of this innovative technology prior to its full commercial operation.

Enel expects that, in the future, the Fusina hydrogen project, which also includes research activities on hydrogen storage and utilization, will play a crucial role in the development of hydrogen applications in sectors other than power generation.

Long standing interest in H2-IGCC technology

Enel has had a long-standing interest in hydrogen-IGCC technology. Back in 2004, it joined forces with a consortium known as Hydrogen Park founded in 2003 by a group of public and private companies. A new associated company, keeping the name of Hydrogen Park, was formed in 2005 with Enel holding a 51% controlling stake and interest in the potential application of hydrogen technology for power generation. A strategic decision was made to build a medium size, hydrogen fed gas turbine demonstration plant for the production of electricity at Enels coal fired Fusina power plant. With this in mind, work on a preliminary plant design was completed by December 2005 and executive approval for construction granted in June 2006. That demo plant is a launching pad for new technology. It addresses both technical and commercial risks that need to be quantified and minimized, in particular those associated with the gas turbine, for the economic development of next generation integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plants with CO2 capture, At this stage, the most important goal is to enable the combustion of undiluted syngas derived from coal by advanced gas turbines to enhance conversion efficiency which, in turn, will help compensate for the efficiency loss caused by the CO2 capture process.

European Union project support

The H2-IGCC project, co-funded by the European Unions 7th Framework Program for Research and Development, is based on the initiative outlined by the European Turbine Network (ETN) in 2007. The European Network serves as project coordinator for the H2-IGCC, providing coordination and management during the four-year project. ETN plays a key role in technology transfer and integration between the industrial and scientific partners involved in the project, such as utilities, suppliers and research institutes. The project kicked off in November 2009 with 24 partners representing industry and academia from 10 countries and a total budget of 17.8 million. The common goal of all partners is to increase gas turbine efficiency and fuel flexibility of IGCC plants operating with pre-combustion carbon capture and storage, without affecting reliability and availability. A successful outcome of this project will be an important step towards opening up the market for commercial implementation of IGCC with CCS technology. The objective is to provide and demonstrate technical solutions that will allow the use of state-of-the-art, highly efficient, reliable gas turbines in next generation IGCC plants.

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