Fuel reformer system for a turbomachine system
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsKihyung Kim, Hasan Karim, Abdul Rafey Khan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A turbomachine system includes a compressor portion having a compressor inlet and a compressor outlet, a turbine portion operatively connected to the compressor portion, a combustor having a combustor inlet fluidly connected to the compressor outlet and a combustor outlet fluidly connected to the turbine portion; and a reformer having a reformer inlet fluidly connected to the compressor outlet and a reformer outlet fluidly connected to the combustor inlet. The reformer partially combusts air from the compressor portion and a fuel to form a hydrogen-rich syngas.
Claims14
A turbomachine system comprising:
- a compressor portion having a compressor inlet and a compressor outlet;
- a turbine portion operatively connected to the compressor portion;
- a combustor having a combustor inlet fluidly connected to the compressor outlet and a combustor outlet fluidly connected to the turbine portion;
- a reformer having a reformer inlet fluidly connected to the compressor outlet and a reformer outlet fluidly connected to the combustor inlet, the reformer partially combusting air from the compressor portion and a fuel to form a hydrogen-rich syngas;
- a fuel system having a first fuel circuit fluidly connected to the reformer inlet and a second fuel circuit fluidly connected to the combustor inlet, wherein the second fuel circuit is in a thermally conductive heat exchange relationship with the reformer;
- a compressor member having a compressor member inlet fluidly connected to the compressor outlet and a compressor member outlet fluidly connected to the reformer inlet;
- and
- a first heat exchange member fluidly connected between the compressor outlet and compressor member inlet, and the compressor member outlet and the reformer inlet.
A method of reforming fuel for a turbomachine system, the method comprising:
- passing compressed air from a compressor portion to a reformer;
- passing fuel in a first fuel circuit to the reformer;
- reforming the fuel by partially combusting the compressed air and fuel to form a hydrogen-rich syngas;
- passing fuel in a second fuel circuit in a thermally conductive heat exchange relationship with the reformer;
- guiding the hydrogen-rich syngas to a combustor fluidly connecting the compressor portion and a turbine portion;
- extracting heat from one of the compressed air passing to the reformer and the syngas passing to the combustor into a heat exchange member;
- and
- passing a fluid in thermally conductive heat exchange relationship with the heat exchange member to a heat recovery steam generator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.