Operation of SGT-600 (24 MW) DLE Gas Turbine With Over 60 % H2 in Natural Gas

Hydrogen is one of the leading options for storing energy from renewables and surplus electricity. Hydrogen is also a major constituent in various streams in the chemical industry and cannot always be used for better purposes than flaring or heat and power generation. Siemens has identified the 24MWe SGT-600 3rd generation DLE gas turbine as a candidate for having a high hydrogen capability. The burners for using hydrogen in the SGT-600 have been developed for and by Additive Manufacturing technology. The advantages of this technology have been integrated into the presented design and therefore allowing: • Rapid prototyping with possibilities for fast turnaround of tests and screening of various concepts • Manufacturing of complex geometries with smart gas passages, very innovative cooling and mixing concepts • Small series and minimum waste with reduced cost • Good repeatability and stability of product quality Burner development was carried out according to “the standard method within the industry”, meaning CFD-analysis, atmospheric single burner combustion testing followed by pressurized single burner combustion testing and finally a full-scale machine test at the SIEMENS Industrial Turbomachinery AB (SIT) test rig facility in Sweden. The rig is used for full scale testing of gas turbines in the power output range from 15MW to 62MW. It allows testing not only with standard natural gas but also gas mixtures with e.g. hydrogen or nitrogen can be run. The test facility has liquid fuel capability. During the burner development process, a project including two SGT-600 running on up to 60 volume % hydrogen was awarded to Siemens. This meant that a very definite target for the development was set and the results of these efforts are presented in this paper. An adapted 3rd gen. DLE burner design proved to be capable of using 100% hydrogen at SGT-600 full load conditions at the single burner high pressure tests giving only 35 ppm NOx@15%O2. This was a major step in the development of a hydrogen burner for the SGT-600. The following full engine test with the same burner type showed the possibility to run with 60 vol-% H2 at 0–100% load while keeping stable combustion and achieving emissions below 25 ppm NOx@15%O2 in the standard operating range of the SGT-600. At lower loads higher hydrogen contents were tested (95 vol-%) but the flow capacity of the fuel system limited the full exploration of hydrogen capability of the SGT-600 3rd gen. DLE gas turbine. The 3rd gen. DLE burner is also used in the 33MWe SGT-700 and the 62MWe SGT-800, which will also benefit from the development of the increased SGT-600 hydrogen capability. The results open the possibility of using H2 rich gas more widely in all gas turbine configurations using 3rd gen. DLE burner.