Turbo Green Burner
Lead Research Organisation:
CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY
Department Name: Sch of Aerospace, Transport & Manufact
Abstract
According to many recent reports, spending and manufacturing output are expected to grow rapidly in Africa by 2025 (McKinsey, Africa mapping new opportunities for sourcing). As a consequence, several market opportunities are expected to be available for different African industries. It is well known that electricity supply is considered one of the most important inputs for any type of industrial or manufacturing developments. The Turbo Green Burner project aims to offer a new product for bakery industries in Africa to produce 12kW of power and 200kW of heat simultaneously using a micro gas turbine engine. The main advantages of this project are the efficiency and flexibility of the proposed system, in addition to its independence from the national grid. Samad Power Ltd, the lead project partner, has developed wide experience in developing micro gas turbine systems for different industrial applications. Samad Power has mastered the Method of Combined Design and developed the world's most cost-effective micro gas turbine CHP system, the Turbo Green Boiler, for the domestic market (£4,000 installed cost). Samad power will utilise its previous experience, methodologies, and registered patents to successfully deliver the Turbo Green Burner system to the market. Cranfield University (CU) is a leading institution with strong experience and a track record in various cutting-edge industrial R&D collaborations on the subjects related to this project including; research, design, and development of gas turbines and turbomachinery equipment. CU will be involved as the academic partner in the Turbo Green Burner project to design and analyse a combustion chamber, which operates with different types of fuels. In particular, CU will support the project during work packages 1 and 2 to design and analyse an efficient combustion chamber that can operate with conventional and environmentally friendly fuels. The combustion chamber will also be designed to burn liquid and gas fuels. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and other numerical and analytical methods will be used to evaluate the combustion chamber performance and to establish its stability maps. To enable the selected engine to operate with different fuels, CU will design different components using inhouse analytical codes, in addition to advanced numerical methods and simulation techniques. Furthermore, the combustion chamber wall temperature will be assessed analytically and numerically to predict all the thermal loads and the appropriate cooling method. The novelty of this design lies on the possibility of the combustion chamber to operate efficiently and effectively using a wide range of fuels available in the market such as methane, diesel, and biofuels.
Planned Impact
This project is expected to have impacts on the academic, industrial, and public sectors. As an academic impact, the outcomes of this project will be published in international conferences such as Turbo Expo 2020, AIAA 2020, and high-quality journals such as ASME Turbomachinery and Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbine and Power. The publications will present advanced design and analysis approaches, which will enhance the scientific reputation of Cranfield University in gas turbines communities and will benefit many international academic institutions. Turbo Green Burner will improve bakery oven energy efficiency by 40% through utilising the heat demand to generate power (20% fuel saving and 20% on producing more power). The Turbo Green Burner system will also be a relatively cheap product with less than two years return on investment (ROI) time and 50% usage factor. The efficiency improvement of the Turbo Green Burner system, short ROI time, low capital and operation costs are expected to contribute towards offering cheaper baked goods for the general public, in addition to significant financial benefits for the bakery owners, investors, and bakery manufacturers. Turbo Green Burner will be enhanced with a battery pack to makes it grid independent and provide fast response capability to support the grid during peak time. An adaptive control system, which will have the capability to work in unidirectional mode, will be developed in order to simplify the integration into the oven control system. The additional output power from the system, adaptability, compactness, and the capability to run on different fuels (natural gas, diesel, LPG, biogas), make the system a practical option for the remote areas where there are limited electricity supplies and fuels. These specifications are also expected to have positive social and commercial impacts on the general public and business owners. In addition, the possibility of the Turbo Green Burner system to operate with environmentally friendly fuels such as biogas and thus has direct environmental impacts to reducing local pollution and annual CO2 emission. It could also influence the public sector by introducing new policies and legislation regarding the use of bakery systems in different areas such as developing countries. The developed knowledge will be disseminated via journal publications and conference papers, having an impact on industrial gas turbine designers and operators such as Siemens and General Electric.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Theoklis Nikolaidis (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Gamil A
(2020)
Assessment of numerical radiation models on the heat transfer of an aero-engine combustion chamber
in Case Studies in Thermal Engineering
Hosseini S
(2023)
Design Optimisation and Manufacturing Challenges of Micro Turbine Wheel
Liu Y
(2022)
Multi-Fidelity Combustor Design and Experimental Test for a Micro Gas Turbine System
in Energies
| Description | The project is almost completed. A micro gas turbine prototype has been manufactured and tested. Based on this, the test results demonstrated the impact of the method, which enables the application of a multi-fidelity design and modelling approach. Practically, that means that in the design process different parameters, requirements and constrains were taken into account. These include the geometry, multi-fuel capability, aerodynamics for minimum pressure loss, performance, engine life, emissions, manufacturability, low cost adapted for a micro gas turbine engine. The impact of the design factors on the system performance were exclusively explored by using the developed state-of-the-art design and modelling tool. For example, the impact of combustor geometry (i.e., chamber diameter, length /volume) on the combustion stability was assessed at the preliminary design phase. The developed physics-based emission prediction tool was refined to be able to capture the emission characteristics for the developed micro gas turbine combustion system. The developed emission algorithm was refined to incorporate the more sensible and reliable parameters that derived from the high-fidelity modelling. Comparing the simulated and test results, it was found that the established emission reactor approach is capable to model the flow mixing behaviour and emission formation characteristics on the typical micro gas turbine combustion system. |
| Exploitation Route | The developed method has been published in open source journals. |
| Sectors | Energy Environment |
| Description | The project has been completed. A prototype has been manufactured and the design has been optimized. We have tested micro gas turbine operation with natural gas and biodiesel. We have made considerable progress towards the overall objective of the project, which is the production of a low cost, compactness and capability to run on different types of fuel Turbo Green Burner. The burner will be a highly adaptive solution for industrial systems that require heat and power to operate and improve their total energy efficiency by at least 30% in developing countries. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
| Sector | Energy,Environment |
| Impact Types | Societal Economic |
| Description | SolarTurbo-CHP, Semi-renewable, grid independent micro combined heat and power system |
| Amount | £998,854 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 105920 |
| Organisation | Innovate UK |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2020 |
| End | 03/2022 |
| Title | Micro gas turbine combustor design tool |
| Description | Design of a micro gas turbine combustor is a challenging task as it demands knowledge of complex three-dimensional flow, liquid droplet evaporation, chemical kinetics, heat and mass transfer, etc. Many of research activities heavily replies on prior knowledge and 'trial and error' that significantly adds the expense of the time and cost in the development process. In this project, a state-of-the-art multi-fidelity design and modelling research tool and method were developed to provide a systematic assessment of a micro gas turbine combustion system. In particular, the developed research tool/method provides design, analysis, and optimisation towards the development for a multi-fuel, reliable, high efficiency, cost-effective, and low emissions micro gas turbine combustion system. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The key features of the developed state-of-the-art design tool are as follows: 1) Rapid design strategy and design space exploration -A dedicated state-of-the-art was developed to allow researchers quickly identify and derive the design strategy/solutions in order to achieve the design goals based on various of design inputs involving combustor inlet and outlet aerothermal and geometrical information; type of micro gas turbine cycle (i.e., simple or recuperated), fuel types (i.e., gas or liquid), engine operating conditions, design requirements (i.e. efficiency, cost, low emissions, reliability, etc.) 2) Aerodynamic design for a multi-fuel combustor- The detailed design and development on a multi-fuel combustor for micro-gas turbines are not yet fully explored. The current developed state-of-the-art provides a dedicated aerodynamic design for a multi-fuel burner. In particular, the method to estimate the airflow splits, the method to conceive a multi-fuel injector arrangement, the method to investigate the effect of different fuels on combustor performance, etc. are incorporated in the developed framework. 3) Improved first-order accuracy of the preliminary design method/tool: For preliminary design and sizing of a micro gas turbine combustion system, the currently developed state-of-the-art comprises inter-related design elements including aerodynamics, heat transfer analysis, performance and emissions that are coupled in the preliminary design phase. Furthermore, the data generated from the high-fidelity studies were used to refined methods for the combustor component design and allow more design factors to be taken into account. In particular, the effects of combustor liner geometry, the effects of fuel nozzle geometry and arrangement, the effects of dome front shape, the effect of other source of renewable and alternative fuels, etc. 4) Multi-fidelity design and modelling approach specific to micro gas turbine system - A dedicated multi-fidelity state-of-the-art was developed to improve the fundamental understanding of the design process and numerical simulations specific to micro gas turbine combustion system. For combustor chamber development, the state-of-the-art provided evaluation for design approaches and assessed the robustness and applicability for the typical micro gas turbine system. For combustor modelling, analytical, empirical, and numerical methods are incorporated in the state-of-the-art to allow wider examination on combustor performance predictions. |
| Title | Micro gas turbine combustion database |
| Description | New databases were created in the development of a micro gas turbine combustor. These include: 1. The flame temperature database for different fuels at wide range of fuel-air stoichiometry and engine operating conditions. The fuels include natural gas, LPG, propane, kerosene, diesel and biodiesel. 2. The developed flame temperature calculation model 3. The combustor geometry database that generated for a micro gas turbine that produces 12kW of power and 200KW of heat simultaneously. 4. The airflow split database for the developed combustor geometry. 5. The physics-based model that assesses the micro gas turbine emissions (NOx, CO, UHC) 6. The developed micro gas turbine combustor emissions database 7. The non-reacting flow CFD database (pressure, velocity, mass flow) of the developed micro gas turbine combustor 8. The reacting flow CFD database (temperature, species, key pollutants, pressure, mass, velocity) of the developed micro gas turbine combustor |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The database may be used to design or modify an existing micro gas turbine combustor to meet specific requirements (e.g. emissions and performance as a result of geometry, size, flow conditions) |
| Title | Micro gas turbine combustor design tool |
| Description | A state-of-the-art design space exploration software was developed in the project. This allowed to the researchers to quickly identify and derive the design strategy/solutions in order to achieve the design goals based on a variety of design inputs: inlet and outlet aerothermal and geometrical information; type of micro gas turbine cycle (i.e., simple or recuperated), fuel types (i.e., gas or liquid), engine operating conditions, design requirements (i.e. efficiency, cost, low emissions, reliability, etc.). |
| Type Of Technology | Webtool/Application |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Impact | The software models the design solutions with regards to the design strategies and the detailed combustor geometry which should meet the geometrical and manufacturing constraints. Additionally, optimisation methods are integrated and utilized to allow the designers to optimise the design solutions according to specific design tasks (e.g., minimum emissions, improvement of the combustion efficiency, improvement of the liner durability). Furthermore, an emission prediction model is integrated to the tool to allow the estimation of emissions from different fuels, which are used to micro gas turbine combustors. |
| Description | Learning activity (lecture & workshop) on micro gas turbine engines performance and operation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | 45 students attended a 2-hours lecture on micro gas turbines architecture, design, performance and operation. The audience was post-graduate MSc students who are specialised on gas turbine applications. A workshop was included in this activity, where the students simulated engine's performance in a variety of conditions. The students were able to achieve the learning objective and understand deeply micro gas turbine operation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Thermal Power MSc - micro gas turbine technology |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | A presentation is delivered to the Thermal Power MSc students as part of their postgraduate education. The presentation includes the research objectives, the method and plan and the impact of the research outcome. It is demonstrated how the CFD analysis can capture the combustion physics and how the engineering science can have an impact on industrial products. One of the most interesting outcome is the validation between computational and test lab data. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020,2021 |