G6-P18-Poster.

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Gas Turbines of the Future

Providing Cleaner Power for Europe and the World
(www.came-gt.com)
Objectives
The Thematic Network Cleaner and More Efficient Gas Turbines (CAME-GT) brings together research projects in gas turbine technology from Framework IV, Framework V and national programmes. The objectives are to increase the efficiency of gas turbine plant whilst at the same time reducing green house gas emissions. Achieving these objectives will help preserve the eco-system and assist the EU to achieve its commitment to the Kyoto target of 8% reduction in CO2 emissions whilst maintaining the quality of life of its citizens through the supply of adequate amounts of power. Bringing together researchers from across the EU and pre-Accession Countries will enable the gas turbine sector in the EU to remain competitive in world markets helping to secure employment and promoting social cohesion with less favoured regions. The Network will operate through Workshops and Conferences and will disseminate information through its web site www.came-gt.com

In the Combustion Cluster: Flame Sensors for gas turbine engine cycles (FLAMESEEK) The Project aims to improve combustion systems for mixed air-steam combustion Prediction and control of Combustion instabilities in tubular and annular gas turbine combustion systems (PRECCINSTA) The objective is to understand, control and predict the causes of instability in lean-mix combustion Low NOx Combustor for high efficiency gas turbines (FLOXCOM) The objective is to develop an innovative multiple fuel combustor for small-scale gas turbines, suitable for operation at high temperature with low NOx levels. New Combustion systems for gas turbines (FLAMME) The project aims to validate the performance of new pre-mix combustion systems. In the Systems Cluster: Research and development of high efficiency components for an intercooled, recuperated CHP gas turbine for combined heat and power (CHEP) The aim of the project is to design and test critical and innovative components for an ICR machine in the range 200-350kW. Thermo-economic optimisation of whole gas turbine plant (GT-POM) The object is to develop a computational tool to allow the concurrent integration and optimisation of gas turbine system performance, lifecycle costs and environmental impact Combined cycle power plant with integrated low temperature heat (LOTHECO) The aim is to develop a system, which makes use of low temperature waste heat for the evaporation of water droplets in wet gas turbine cycles.

Problems to be solved
In the last 15 years there has been an enormous increase in the power and efficiency of gas turbine plant. Before 1990, gas turbine/steam turbine combined cycles rarely exceeded 100MW output and struggled to reach 45% efficiency. With the increasing availability of natural gas in the 1990s, gas turbine technology has progressed rapidly and an order has recently been announced for a combined cycle plant with 60% efficiency. Sizes have also increased and 450MW from a gas turbine and a steam turbine on a single shaft are now common. As gas turbines increase in efficiency and reduce their emissions there are numerous technical problems to be solved to maintain progress. Advances in thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, materials, structural analysis, control, instrumentation, risk assessment, cost reduction and design are all vital to achieve the targets set by the Framework programme for gas turbines. The FPV Targets for gas turbines are:

Progress to date
The Thematic Network held its first Combined Cluster Workshop in Brussels in February 2001. All the projects in the Network (except FLAMME, which has only recently started) made presentations of their objectives and programmes. The workshop was attended by representatives from 12 of the 15 member states of the EU and national programmes from Germany, Sweden, UK, Italy and the Netherlands were presented. A web site has been set up (www.camegt.com) and a report of the meeting and the presentations are available on the site. The Second Combined Cluster Workshop is scheduled for 4th October 2001 in Brussels. Representatives from all member states have been invited together with a small number of researchers from the pre-Accession Countries. The draft Agenda is published on the Web site and information will be added,

Type of Gas Turbine

Combined Cycle/ Advanced Cycle

Advanced Open Cycle

Small Gas Turbine

as it becomes available.

Efficiency Medium Term % Efficiency Long Term % Availability % Reliability Medium Term % Reliability Longer Term % NOx Emissions (ppmv) Fuels LHV %

>60 >65

50 >90 95 97 <25 <25 of natural gas

35

The future for gas turbines

All projections for energy use, predict a sound future for gas turbine plant so long as the plant continues to use fewer resources by becoming more efficient and reducing emissions by becoming cleaner. This sets major challenges for gas turbine researchers and designers. Future gas turbines will need to reach 50% efficiency in single cycle and over 65% in combined cycle. There will be a trend towards Zero Emission Plant (ZEP), with no emissions to atmosphere and any output (e.g.CO2) disposed of in an environmentally benign way. Even higher efficiencies will be achieved by combining gas turbines with fuels cells, once the latter have reached suitable scale, cost and reliability, and gas turbines will continue to contribute to renewable energy through the increasing use of bio-fuels from waste and dedicated crops. All these developments will not happen by accident and their achievement will set major challenges to gas turbine researchers and designers. Future gas turbine RTD in Europe will develop within a European Research Area, which will bring together EU and national programmes within member states of the EU and extend to researcher from pre-Accession countries.

Targets for the reduction in cost of electricity for gas turbine plant have been set at between 1-2%/annum. At the same time as progress was being made on the largest gas turbines, deregulation of the electricity market in a number of countries has started a trend towards distributed power, and has increased emphasis on small (5-30MW) and medium sized gas turbine plant (30-150MW) A further development relates to small machines, where ceramic components and complex cycles, including regenerators, have been used to reach efficiencies of over 40%. Gas turbines are now also penetrating the renewables market using biomass fuels from waste and crops such as willow coppice.

A Strong Partnership
The Network is led by major European gas turbine companies, ALSTOM Power, Siemens, MGB, Rolls Royce and Ansaldo. They are supported by DLR of Germany, Vrije Universiteit of Brussels, Gastec NV of the Netherlands. Just recently the Network has been joined by the Ljubljana Turboinstitut of Slovenia to begin the introduction of pre-Accession Country researchers into the Network. The Technology Clusters are led by ALSTOM Power, Siemens and MGB. Gastec and RR are responsible for a Workpackage covering exploitation and dissemination of research results; VUB is running the Workpackage on Training of gas turbine researchers and Ansaldo a Workpackage covering prenormative research for gas turbines. The Network is co-ordinated by ALSTOM Power who are also responsible for the RTD Strategy Workpackage.

Top Research Projects

CAME-GT co-ordinates RTD projects from the Framework V EESD programme covering gas turbine technology. The projects are grouped in Four Clusters as follows:

In the Turbomachinery Cluster: Design and off-design optimisation of highly loaded industrial gas turbine stages (DAIGTS) The objective is to improve turbine efficiency by 4%, to help move smallmedium gas turbines into the 35% efficiency target Development of innovative techniques for compressor aero-mechanical design (DITCAD) The project aims to enhance the characteristics of heavy-duty gas turbines by the introduction of advanced axial compressor designs. In the Materials Cluster: CMC Integration and demonstration for gas turbine engines (CINDERS) The objective is to develop technology to allow use of CMC combustors with an internal wall temperature of 1450C Advanced long life blade coatings (ALLBATROS) The aim is to increase the efficiency, reliability and maintainability of gas turbine blades and vanes by developing and evaluating new high-resistant coatings.

Programme : FPV Energie References : ENK5-CT-2000-20062 Title : Thematic Network Cleaner and More Efficient Gas Turbines (CAME-GT)

Partners : ALSTOM Power (Co-ordinator) Rolls Royce - MGB - DLR - VUB - Gastec - Siemens Ansaldo Ljubljana Turboinstitut