Reforming technologies to improve the performance of combustion systems

Abstract

A large number of theoretical and experimental studies have shown that the performance of kerosene combustion increases significantly if combustion is being assisted by the addition of hydrogen to the fuel/air mixture during the combustion process. It reduces the amount of CO, CO2 and NOx emissions, while increasing the flame stability limits. It also helps in bruning fuel/air mixtures at much leaner equivalence ratios. The same principle could be applied to gain benefits in gas turbine combustors. Hydrogen for this purpose could be produced by the reforming of hydrocarbon fuels using a reformer module. This paper presents key hydrogen reforming technologies which, by implementation in gas turbine combustors, hold potential for improving both their performance and service life.