Generation of energy facilities competent in efficiently using the traditional or contemporary fuels, while virtually eliminating the environmental concern.
This is what the potentially green world is looking towards, placing a stride forward in the direction – a unique clean burning combustion technology dubbed the low-swirl injector (LSI), using pure hydrogen as fuel has been successfully tested. The LSI technology is developed in collaboration by a team of scientists from the Lawrence Berkeley Lab and Solar Turbines Inc. based in San Diago, and is projected to eliminate millions of tons of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and achieve low emissions of carbon dioxide, from power plants each year.
The LSI significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions from gas-burning turbines, and holds a great promise to achieve near-zero emissions of nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide gases emitted during the combustions of fuels to produce electricity.
Working of the LSI
LSI is a very simple mechanical device – it imparts a mild spin to the gaseous fuel and air mixture in the gas turbine, causing it to spread out. The flame used for heating is stabilized, allowing the mixture to burn at lower temperatures. The production of nitrogen oxide is highly temperature-dependent, and the lower temperature of the flames reduces NOx emissions to a drastically low levels.
Another trait of the LSI technology is that, it burns a variety of other fuels including hydrogen and natural gas as well – being designed as a drop-in component for the gas turbines, the LSI can be easily fitted into the existing gas-burning turbines without much redesigning.
Future developments in the LSI technology
The LSI is a simple and cost-effective technology, owing to which, DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy – is anticipated to test the technology with its ability to burn a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, called syngas and hydrogen fuels – with the motive to see whether it’s compatible with world’s first near-zero emissions coal power plant, FutureGen. The LSI is also one amongst the several combustion technologies under evaluation for use in the plant’s 200+ MW utility-size hydrogen turbine.
Achievements of LSI
The LSI technology recently won a 2007 R&D 100 award from R&D magazine as one of the top 100 new technologies of the year. On testing, the LSI equipped natural gas turbines showed that the concerned burners emitted 2 parts per million of NOx, i.e. more than 5 times less the amount emitted by non-LSI equipped burners.
[Source: Treehugger]
