Gas turbines emissions, NOX in particular, have negative impact on the environment. To limit the emissions gas turbine burners are constantly improved. In this work, a fourth generation SIT (Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery) burner is studied to gain information about the formation of NOX emissions. The gas mixtures for the full burner are limited to natural gas with different nitrogen dilutions. The dilutions vary from undiluted to Wobbe index 40 and 30 MJ/m3. In addition to the full burner, the central body (the RPL – Rich/Pilot/Lean) is investigated. Methane is used to characterize standard gas turbine operation, and a non-standard fuel is explored using a generic syngas (67.5 % Hydrogen, 22.5 % Carbon monoxide and 10 % Methane). Both these gases are also investigated after dilution with nitrogen to a Wobbe index of 15 MJ/m3. The experiments are performed in a high-pressure facility. The pressures for the central body burner are 3, 6 and 9 bar. For the full burner the pressures are 3, 4.5 and 6 bar. The combustion air is preheated to 650 K. The emission measurements are sampled with an emission probe at the end of the combustor liner, and analyzed in an emission rack. The results are compared with previous investigations made at atmospheric conditions.
The burner is modeled using a PSR and plug flow network to show which reaction paths are important in the formation of emissions for the burner under the experimental conditions.
The measurement results show that the NOX concentration increases with pressure and flame temperature. With increasing dilution the NOX concentration is decreased. For rich mixtures PSR calculations show that the NOX concentration decreases with pressure.
