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Love, Norman

Publications and source records attributed to Love, Norman.

8 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Technology Demonstration of a High-Pressure Swirl Oxy-Coal Combustor

This technical report presents the exploration of the design and prototyping of a High-Pressure Swirl Oxy-coal Combustor. Pressurized oxy-coal combustion systems have the potential to improve efficiency along with an increased carbon capture rate. Reduction of flue gas at higher pressure, smaller system size, and capital cost reductions render high-pressure oxy-coal systems particularly attractive as next-generation energy-producing systems. High-pressure oxy-coal combustion systems are a recent concept, and thus operability issues of combustor designs for such systems are not fully understood. Significant challenges exist to maintain oxy-coal combustion stability at elevated pressure and a high CO 2 diluent environment. Although a body of knowledge exists for high-pressure oxygen combustion in rocket engines (or similar applications), it is yet to be strategized how these fundamental concepts can be translated to low-temperature CO 2 diluent combustion regimes. The realization of the pressurized oxy-coal based systems requires combustor components to be designed and demonstrated for an operating pressure over 10 bar. However, pressurized oxy-coal combustor design information at this pressure range and scale relevant to validate those proposed systems is currently limited. Experimental data from MWth scale oxy-coal combustors are needed to identify the optimal trade-off between net efficiency and systems size. The proposed effort is aimed at demonstrating a 1 MWth down-fired swirl Oxy-Coal combustor and investigate the interrelation between combustor operating conditions (pressure; flame stability; flue gas recirculation ratio) and conversion efficiencies to minimize oxygen requirements. One of the key challenges is to configure burner design (i.e., swirl number and injector) and operating conditions for high-pressure oxy-coal combustion systems. These experiments differ from current systems partly due to the high theoretical flame temperature and related burner operability issues associated with oxy-combustion. An ASPEN PLUS® model study for 550 MWe TIPS and ENEL pressurized oxy-coal systems with CO 2 recirculation was performed to evaluate system design, subsystems sizing, and operating condition determination. The system analysis effort included TRL and technology gap determination of subsystems and critical components. This information was scaled to develop design requirements (design pressure and flue gas recirculation: RR Flue Gas = $\frac{m_{flue}}{m_{total}}$) for the 1 MWth combustor. The effects of a wide range of carbon dioxide recirculation ratios on the thermal efficiency of ENEL and TIPS cycles are studied. The pressure of 10 bar and 80 bar are used for ENEL and TIPS cycles, respectively. The thermal efficiency of ENEL is significantly higher than the efficiency of TIPS at a pressure of less than 10 bar. The insights from system analysis were then used to design a 1 MWth swirl oxy-coal combustor. Flame temperature analysis and material strength analysis was performed to determine the combustor thickness. The structural integrity of the combustor was validated by finite element analysis using Abacus® and Hypermesh®. Feasibility of igniters and secondary burners are investigated in successful high-pressure oxy-methane combustion. The secondary burners are designed in such a way that it can operate between 100 to 500 kW firing input. Three generations of the pintle injector were designed based on swirl numbers (S=0, 0.9, and 1.2). Key pintle injector parameters such as pintle size, pintle orifice size, spray pattern were investigated by cold flow tests. Information from these tests was used to modify injector design for smooth and successful operation. A 5 mm pintle orifice size was decided upon as the optimum size for oxy-coal operation for the combustor. Shadow sizing experiments were performed to identify the atomization rate of each injector. Different coal water slurry mixtures (30 – 50% coal by wt% in the mixture) at various total momentum ratios (TMR) were investigated for this purpose. These experiments provided decisive information to choose the best design of the injector. The injector with 1.2 swirl provided higher atomization in all cases than other designs. The mean equivalent droplet size of the jet was similar at different TMR and mixture ratios using this injector, thus making it suitable for use in most cases. Therefore, the 1.2 swirl-pintle injector was chosen for the shakedown test. The combustor and other sub-systems, including feed systems and control and data acquisition, have been manufactured, assembled, and integrated. The total system integration and installation began on July 1, 2020. The shake-down tests and initial operational capability demonstration are expected to be completed by September 30, 2020.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2019

Effect of Carbon Dioxide Recirculation and Pressure on Efficiency of the TIPS and ENEL Oxy-Coal Power Cycles

This paper presents the results of thermal efficiency of two coal based oxy-combustion thermodynamic cycles that are modeled using aspen plus. The objective of the present study is to perform a parametric analysis, investigating the effect of different recirculation ratios at different pressures on the efficiencies of the cycle named for the company, ENEL, and the thermo energy power system, TIPS, cycles using aspen plus® software. Variables include the flue gas recycle flow rate, the combustor temperature, and the operational pressure. Five recirculation ratios were investigated, ranging from 20% to 75%. It was determined that as the amount of recycled gas into the combustor increased, the thermal efficiency increased for both the TIPS and ENEL cycles. Here, the highest thermal efficiency for TIPS is 37% and for ENEL is 38%, both occurring at a 75% recirculation ratio. After investigation, since combustion temperature and specific heat capacity decreases at higher recirculation ratios, the mass flow rate was the dominant factor that contributes to the increase in thermal efficiency of the cycle. At each recirculation ratio, the effect of pressure is also determined. For ENEL, the increase in cycle efficiency is 10% over the pressure range of 1–12 bar at a recirculation ratio of 20%, while the increase in cycle efficiency is only 1.5% at a higher recirculation ratio of 75%. For TIPS, the cycle efficiency increases by 4% at the recirculation ratio of 20% and increases by 3% at the recirculation ratio of 75% for a pressure range of 50–80 bar.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2017

High temperature high velocity direct power extraction using an open-cycle oxy-combustion system

The implementation of oxy-fuel technology in fossil-fuel power plants may contribute to increased system efficiencies and a reduction of pollutant emissions. One technology that has potential to utilize the temperature of undiluted oxy-combustion flames is open-cycle magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) power generators. These systems can be configured as a topping cycle and provide high enthalpy, electrically conductive flows for direct conversion of electricity. This report presents the design and modeling strategies of a MHD combustor operating at temperatures exceeding 3000 K. Throughout the study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models were extensively used as a design and optimization tool. A lab-scale 60 kWth model was designed, manufactured and tested as part of this project. A fully-coupled numerical method was developed in ANSYS FLUENT to characterize the heat transfer in the system. This study revealed that nozzle heat transfer may be predicted through a 40% reduction of the semi-empirical Bartz correlation. Experimental results showed good agreement with the numerical evaluation, with the combustor exhibiting a favorable performance when tested during extended time periods. A transient numerical method was employed to analyze fuel injector geometries for the 60-kW combustor. The ANSYS FLUENT study revealed that counter-swirl inlets achieve a uniform pressure and velocity ratio when the ports of the injector length to diameter ratio (L/D) is 4. An angle of 115 degrees was found to increase distribution efficiency. The findings show that this oxy-combustion concept is capable of providing a high-enthalpy environment for seeding, in order to render the flow to be conductive. Based on previous findings, temperatures in the range of 2800-3000 K may enable magnetohydrodynamic power extraction. The heat loss fraction in this oxy-combustion system, based on CFD and analytical calculations, at optimal operating conditions, was estimated to be less than 10 percent. Furthermore, the heat transfer design removed approximately 7 MW/m2. The results observed in the lab-scale system were employed to develop a 1-MW scaled prototype. Scaling methods were based on critical design criteria found in similar systems, aimed at replicating combustion flow fields and reducing possible instabilities. A numerical simulation of the combustor wall was developed for a combined thermal steady model and static structural model. This combined model was developed predict combined stress parameters within the wall during testing conditions. Both models were developed within ANSYS FEA software package. The relative accuracy presented as well major performance parameters are discussed to assess the design's validity and ensure safety. The scaled prototype was manufactured through selective laser melting (SLM)-based additive manufacturing to reduce lead times and increase geometrical complexity. Additional CFD models were developed to optimize coolant manifold system parameters and perform a parametric study on channel geometry. An investigation on coolant manifold geometry demonstrated improvements in channel flow distribution when enlarging manifold lengths and increasing the number of tubes feeding into the flow. A three-dimensional model based on a single channel was developed to capture the effect of variable properties and thermal stratification. All cases in the simulation exhibited higher wall temperatures and lower convective coefficients than those determined through 1-D analytical equations. This implies that pressure and velocity safety factors must be implemented during system operation. Overall, the findings made in this investigation are thought to be of value to researchers and industrial practitioners when designing oxy-fuel direct power extraction systems operating at temperatures exceeding 3000 K. In addition to this, the implementation of the developed technology at pilot and commercial scales could result in a significant improvement in the efficiencies of heritage and next-generation power cycles.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Characterization of the pyroelectric coefficient of a high-temperature sensor

Temperature is one of the most important thermodynamic properties measured and controlled in energy generation systems. To operate the energy system at optimum operating conditions for lower emission and higher efficiency, it is important to measure real-time temperatures. Furthermore, temperature sensing in intense environments is necessary since most sensors in energy systems get exposed to elevated temperatures, corrosive environments, and elevated pressures. One of the solutions for developing harsh environment sensors is to use ceramic materials, especially functional ceramics such as pyroelectrics. Pyroelectric ceramics could be used to develop active sensors for both temperature and pressure due to their capabilities in coupling energy among mechanical, thermal, and electrical domains. In this study, Lithium niobate (LiNbO 3 ) pyroelectric ceramic material was used to develop a temperature sensor for high-temperature applications. LiNbO 3 has high Curie temperature (1210°C) compared to other pyroelectric ceramic materials. A high Curie temperature material is important since the polarization properties of the material break down above the Curie temperature. Hence, the use of a material with a higher Curie temperature, such as LiNbO 3 , makes it promising to be used as a sensing material for high-temperature applications. A study was performed to actively measure the temperature up to 500°C using a pyroelectric ceramic lithium niobate (LiNbO 3 ) as a sensor material. Due to the non-linear pyroelectric response of LiNbO 3 , the temperature-dependent pyroelectric coefficient of LiNbO 3 was measured with a dynamic pyroelectric coefficient technique in temperature ranges up to 500°C. Temperature-dependent pyroelectric coefficient of LiNbO 3 was found to increase from −0.5 × 10 −5 to −3.70 × 10 −5 C/m 2 °C from room temperature to 500°C. The LiNbO 3 sensor was then tested for higher temperature sensing at 220°C, 280°C, 410°C, and 500°C and has shown 4.31%, 2.1%, 0.4%, and 0.6% deviation, respectively, compared with thermocouple measurements.

Sarker, Md Rashedul H.↗