The Thermal Impact of Using Syngas as Fuel in the Regenerator of Regenerative Gas Turbine Engine

Abstract

Environment and energy are driven forces of human survival and development. Nowadays the use of primary energy comprises mostly mineral fuels, which have limited reserves and whose utilization may cause serious environmental impacts. Attention has been paid to discover clean and renewable resources such as syngas, which is an important renewable source of energy and is environment friendly. The use of syngas from biomass gasification process as fuel in regenerative gas turbine causes an increase in turbine exhaust mass flow and a change in the gas composition due to a low heat value. As a result, the regenerator changes its size, thermal characteristics, weight, and cost compared with the use of natural gas as fuel. The aim of this work is to assess the thermal performance, the size, and the cost of the recuperator of a 600 kW regenerative gas turbine engine when designed for syngas and natural gas. Two different types of surfaces, cross-corrugated and undulated-corrugated, are used for analysis. The results are shown, comparing heat-transfer coefficient, effectiveness, pressure loss, size, and cost for syngas and natural gas.