Innovative combustion analysis of a micro-gas turbine burner supplied with hydrogen-natural gas mixtures

The author discusses in this paper the potential of a micro gas turbine (MGT) combustor when operated under unconventional fuel supplied. The combustor of C30 gas turbine is a reverse flow annular combustor. The CFD analysis of the reacting flow is performed with the 3D ANSYS-FLUENT solver. Specific computational experiments refer to the use of hydrogen - natural gas mixtures in order to define the optimal conditions for pilot and main injections in terms of combustion stability and NOx production. The author's methodology relies on an advanced CFD approach that compares different schemes like eddy dissipation concept, together with the flamelet-PDF based approach coupled with an accurate study of the turbulent chemistry interaction. Extended kinetic mechanisms are also included in the combustion model. Some test cases are examined to make a comparison of combustion stability and efficiency and pollutant production with high hydrogen / natural gas ratios.