Combustor efficiency for burning ammonia and hydrogen in marine gas turbine systems

The study focuses on investigating the potential for co-combustion of ammonia and hydrogen in a gas turbine combustion chamber with steam injection, which can be used in decarbonized hybrid power systems of floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) units for oil products. The object of the study is the working processes in a gas turbine combustor of 32 MW capacity, operating on an ammonia-hydrogen fuel mixture. To evaluate the parameters of the fuel-burning device, a method was applied that represents the gas turbine combustor as a network of chemical reactors. A mathematical model of the combustor was developed, where individual reactors represent processes in the primary zone (taking into account steam injection), the mixing of steam with combustion products, and the mixing of secondary air with the main flow. A detailed kinetic mechanism comprising 160 reactions among 27 components was used to model the oxidation reactions of the ammonia-hydrogen mixture. The simulation resulted in new insights into flame propagation characteristics, temperature distribution, and the concentrations of major pollutants in the exhaust gases. Calculations were carried out under a pressure of 2.634 MPa. The obtained results may be useful for the engineering design of ship-based hybrid energy systems with zero carbon emissions.