Performance evaluation and emissions reduction of a micro gas turbine via the co-combustion of H2/CH4/CO2 fuel blends

Worldwide energy supply is rapidly shifting towards more sustainable and cleaner power generation technologies including solar PV, wind turbines and natural gas. The co-combustion of fuel blends, consisting of renewably-generated H-2 and CH4, offer numerous operational advantages of gas turbines, including reduced turbine CO and NOx emissions. In this study, the combustion of H-2 and CH4 was investigated experimentally, in a combined heat and power micro turbine (1-3 kW e). Three fuel scenarios were considered: 100 vol% CH4, a 15 vol% H-2/CH4 blend, and a 20 vol% H-2/biogas blend. These blends were used to demonstrate the micro turbine's flexibility, simulating the addition of renewable H-2 to natural gas and biogas. For the 20 vol% H-2/ biogas blend, CO and NOx emissions showed respective energy-equivalent reductions of 29.8% and 47.1% (compared with the 100 vol% CH4 fuel). Our findings contribute to the operational knowledge of micro gas turbines, obtaining cleaner combustion characteristics via co-combustion, and ultimately provide a solution for off-grid power applications and emergency back-up power systems.