Gas turbine combustion system with rich premixed fuel reforming and methods of use thereof
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsStanley Kevin Widener, Mark Allan Hadley
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A gas turbine engine system, comprising a compressor, a combustor, and a turbine; a fuel system comprising one or more fuel circuits configured to provide fuel to the combustor; a non-catalytic fuel reformer in fluid communication with the one or more fuel circuits, wherein the non-catalytic fuel reformer is configured to receive an oxidant and a fraction of the fuel in the one or more fuel circuits in a fuel-rich ratio and reform the fraction of the fuel to produce a reformate; and a control system configured to regulate at least one of fuel flow and oxidizer flow to the non-catalytic fuel reformer to control a Modified Wobbe Index of the fuel entering the combustor.
Claims20
A gas turbine engine system, comprising:
- a compressor, a combustor, and a turbine;
- a fuel system comprising one or more fuel circuits configured to provide fuel from a fuel flow to the combustor;
- a non-catalytic fuel reformer in fluid communication with the one or more fuel circuits, wherein the non-catalytic fuel reformer is configured to receive an oxidant from an oxidant flow and a fraction of fuel in the one or more fuel circuits in a predetermined ratio and reform the fraction of the fuel to produce a reformate;
- and
- a control system configured to regulate at least one of fuel flow and oxidant flow to the non-catalytic fuel reformer to control a Modified Wobbe Index of the fuel entering the combustor.
A method for providing a fuel supplied to one or more combustors in a gas turbine engine system, comprising:
- partially oxidizing a fraction of fuel in one or more fuel circuits of the gas turbine engine system, in the absence of a catalyst, with a non-catalytic fuel reformer to form a reformate, wherein the fraction of fuel and an oxidant are present in a predetermined ratio in the non-catalytic fuel reformer;
- mixing the reformate with a remaining fraction of fuel to produce a mixed fuel stream and supplying the mixed fuel stream to the one or more combustors;
- and
- controlling at least one of fuel flow and oxidant flow to the non-catalytic fuel reformer with an active feedback control system.
A method of controlling a Modified Wobbe Index of a fuel from a fuel flow supplied to one or more combustors in a gas turbine engine system, comprising:
- premixing an oxidant from an oxidant flow and a fraction of fuel to a predetermined oxygen-to-fuel mass ratio in a non-catalytic fuel reformer;
- reforming the fraction of fuel in the absence of a catalyst to produce a reformate comprising hydrogen, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide;
- mixing the reformate with a remaining fraction of fuel to produce a mixed fuel stream and supplying the mixed fuel stream to the one or more combustors;
- and
- controlling at least one of fuel flow and oxidant flow to the non-catalytic fuel reformer with an active feedback control system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.