Proceedings of the Second International Energy 2030 Conference,
November 4-5, 2008, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.

Active Control for Fuel-Flexible Volumetrically-Efficient Combustion

Ken H. Yu
University of Maryland, USA

Ashwani K. Gupta
University of Maryland, USA

Abstract
Air pollution is one of the key issues facing the combustion of fossil fuels. In gas turbine combustors, there is only a small range of air-fuel ratios where both NO_x and CO emission levels can be kept very low, i.e., concentrations below a single-digit ppm. One problem of operating the combustors at these air-fuel ratios is, however, that it also makes them susceptible to combustion instability. This problem is further complicated when different types of fuels are used as the occurrence of combustion instability becomes even more unpredictable. Active combustion control (ACC) could be an ideal solution for addressing this problem, as it allows the gas turbine combustors to operate at desired air-fuel ratios while actively suppressing combustion instabilities [1]. By actively controlling the combustion dynamics, ACC would make it possible to use different types of fuels without sacrificing reliability or emissions compliance. The objectives of this study are (i) to study various pollutant reduction mechanisms that can be used for in situ dynamic control strategy, (ii) to investigate various enabling technologies for environmentally-safe fuel-flexible combustor operation, and (iii) to develop a closed-loop active-combustion-control technique designed to minimize air pollution in fuel-flexible combustors.