Programme Area: Carbon Capture and Storage

Project: Hydrogen Turbines Follow On

Title: Review of Gas Turbines and their Ability to use Hydrogen-Containing Fuel
Gas

Abstract:
Development aspects and assessments of Gas Turbines ( fired by methane and/or H2 ) are provided, including
contemporary OCGT GTs from GE. Additionally, potentially synergistic capture technologies are described.

Context:
Carbon capture is from GTs is relatively expensive, mostly because the lean burn technologies produce a flue gas very
dilute in CO2, needing a voracious solvent and very large equipment. This package is a collection of background
papers for exploring ways in which the capture technology could be assisted by GT choice , or configuration. One way
of concentrating the CO2 is in precombustion technologies, so use of H2 in GT is also included.

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A REVIEW OF GAS TURBINES AND
THEIR ABILITY TO USE HYDROGEN-
CONTAINING FUEL GAS

Report for
Energy Technologies Institute

September 2016

John Davison

Energy Consultant
Cheltenham, Glos., UK

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Disclaimer

The information in this report is provided "as-is," and all warranties, express or implied, are disclaimed
(including but not limited to the disclaimer of any implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a
particular purpose). The information may contain inaccuracies, errors, problems or other limitations. The
reader agrees that the author is not liable for any damages whether actual, direct, indirect, special, incidental,
consequential damages or any other damages (including damages for loss of business, loss of profits, litigation,
or the like), or whether based on breach of contract, breach of warranty, tort (including negligence), product
liability or otherwise, arising in any way from use of the information in this report even if advised of the
possibility of such damages. No representations, warranties or guarantees whatsoever are made as to the
accuracy, adequacy, reliability, currentness, completeness, suitability or applicability of the information to a
particular situation. References herein to any commercial product, process, service or trade name, trade mark
or manufacturer does not necessarily constitute or imply any endorsement, recommendation or any favouring
of such products.

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INDEX

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1
1. INTRODUCTION 3
2. OVERVIEW OF GAS TURBINES 4
2.1 Brayton cycle 4
2.2 Types of commercial gas turbine 5
2.3 Technical developments in commercial gas turbines 6
2.4 Alternative gas turbine features and novel cycles 8
2.4.1 Reheat combustion 8
2.4.2 Compressor air cooling 8
2.4.3 Combustor steam injection 10
2.4.4 Recuperative gas turbines 12
2.4.5 Recuperative humid air cycles 14
2.4.6 Other novel gas turbines 15
2.5 Gas turbine emission control techniques 15
2.5.1 Dry low NOx combustion 16
2.5.2 Dilution in the combustor 16
2.5.3 Removal of pollutants from turbine exhaust gas 17
2.6 Gas turbine operation 19
2.6.1 Start-up and ramping 19
2.6.2 Part load operation 20
3. GAS TURBINE PERFORMANCE DATABASE 21
3.1 Description of the database and data sources 21
3.2 Turbine manufacturers 22
3.3 Definition of parameters in the database 22
3.3.1 Power output and efficiency 22
3.3.2 Minimum load, start-up times and ramp rates 24
3.4 Summary of information in the database 24
3.4.1 Power output and efficiency at full load 24
3.4.2 Efficiencies at part load 25
3.4.3 Start-up times 27
3.4.4 Ramp rates 27
3.4.5 Minimum load 27
4. COSTS 27
4.1 Capital costs 27
4.1.1 Simple cycle gas turbines 28
4.1.2 Combined cycle plants 30
4.2 Operating cost 31
5. USE OF HYDROGEN-CONTAINING GASES IN GAS TURBINES 32
5.1 Hydrogen-rich gases used in gas turbines 32
5.2 Properties of H2, CH4 and CO 33
5.3 Impacts of on combustor design, operation and emissions 35

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 5.3.1 Flasback and blowout 35
5.3.2 Autoignition 36
5.3.3 Flame temperature and emissions 36
5.3.4 Flammability limits 36
5.3.5 Combustion instability 37
5.4 Impacts on overall gas turbine design and operation 37
5.4.1 Compressor-turbine matching 37
5.4.2 Turbine heat transfer 38
5.4.3 Turbine materials 39
5.4.4 Hazards 39
5.5 Performance of hydrogen-fired gas turbines 39
5.6 Manufacturers’ experience of using hydrogen-containing fuel gases 44
5.6.1 GE 44
5.6.2 Siemens 45
5.6.3 Ansaldo 46
5.6.4 Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems 46
5.6.5 Solar Turbines 47
6. GAS ENGINES 47
6.1 Overview of gas engines used for grid-based power generation 47
6.2 Performance and gas engines 48
6.3 Capital costs of gas engines 48
6.4 Use of hydrogen-containing fuel gases in gas engines 48
7. REFERENCES 50
APPENDIX – Gas turbine database

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report reviews the performance and costs of existing commercial gas turbines and the capability
of gas turbines to operate using hydrogen-containing fuel gases. The report was commissioned by
ETI to provide background information for a project they will undertake on salt caverns for storage
of hydrogen for use in gas turbine power plants.
The efficiencies of gas turbine have increased in recent years to as high as 42% for simple cycle gas
turbines and 62% for combined cycle plants. Further increases are expected in future, for example a
major turbine manufacturer has suggested combined cycle efficiencies will increase toward 65% by
the early 2020s.
Along with the efficiency increases, the power outputs of the largest gas turbines have increased
substantially and the largest single unit combined cycle plant that has been operated has a power
output of over 600MW and a model with an output of over 780MW is being offered.
The efficiency of gas turbines decreases at part load and the rate of decrease is greater at lower
loads. Typical efficiencies at 50% load are around 80% of the full load value for simple cycle gas
turbines and 90% for combined cycle plants.
Gas turbine manufacturers are responding to the need for greater operating flexibility and
substantial improvements in start-up times have been achieved. Hot start up times of combined
cycle plants based on large frame gas turbines have approximately halved since the early plants, to
typically around 30-70 minutes. Cold start times to full output are typically around three times
longer than hot start times. Aero-derivative turbines have shorter start times than heavy frame gas
turbines, typically around 10 minutes for simple cycle plants. Ramp rates are highly turbine specific.
Aero-derivative turbines tend to have high ramp rates.
The minimum continuous operating load of gas turbines is usually constrained by increasing
environmental emissions, especially of CO which increases rapidly at low loads. Minimum loads are
typically around 30-50% for simple cycle frame gas turbines and 40-60% for combined cycle plants
but the minimum loads vary between different turbines. Some turbines have lower minimum loads,
the lowest being 10% for simple cycle and 15% for a combined cycle plant.
Most modern gas turbines use dry low-NOx combustors to limit emissions. Water injection is an
alternative that is used particularly in some aero-derivative turbines but it reduces the efficiency of
simple cycle gas turbines by around 0.5-2 percentage points. Steam injection is another alternative,
which has the advantage of boosting the power output. It typically increases the efficiency of a
simple cycle plant but reduces the efficiency of a combined cycle.
The efficiencies of simple cycle gas turbines can be increased by recuperation, i.e. using heat from
the turbine exhaust to heat the compressed air. This is used in one small commercial gas turbine and
one medium sized marine gas turbine but it is not common except in micro-turbines.
Capital costs of gas turbine power plants are highly site specific. Costs per kW decrease substantially
at larger sizes but costs almost level off at sizes greater than about 200MW for simple cycle plants
and 400MW for combined cycle plants.
Reciprocating gas engines have higher efficiencies than simple cycle gas turbines, typically 48-50%
for engines in the 2.5-20MW range but power plants consisting of multiple gas engines have higher
capital costs than plants based on smaller numbers of larger gas turbines, by around 10-15%.

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A wide range of gas turbines are reported by manufacturers to be suitable for fuel gases that contain
hydrogen. There is significant experience of using gases that contain mixtures of mainly hydrogen,
methane and other hydrocarbon gases, especially refinery off-gases and coke oven gas, which
typically contains 50-60%vol H2. Gases with H2 concentrations of up to 95% are reported to be used.
There is also experience of using syngas from gasification which typically contains 25-50%vol H2 but
the other main constituent is CO, which has substantially different properties to methane.
Use of fuel gas containing H2 presents some significant technical challenges for gas turbines but also
some potential benefits.
The biggest technical challenge is reported to be the high flame speed of H2, which can result in
flashback, although it reduces the risk of blowout. The properties of hydrogen-methane mixtures in
gas turbines combustors vary non-linearly with concentration. It is reported that only when
hydrogen becomes the main constituent is there a large variation in the laminar flame speed.
Lean premix dry low-NOx combustors, used in most modern gas turbines, are more prone to
combustion instabilities than diffusion combustors. Indications are that H2 can have a positive or
negative impact on instabilities, depending on factors such as combustor geometry and design.
The flammability limit is wider for hydrogen than for methane. Addition of modest amounts of
hydrogen to methane may enable dry low-NOx combustors to operate at leaner conditions, i.e. at
lower flame temperatures, without extinguishing the flame, which should reduce NOx production.
If high purity hydrogen was used, the absence of carbon-containing compounds would mean that
there would be no emission of CO, which is a significant constraint on gas turbine combustor design
and operation, particularly at low loads.
Gases with up to 30% H2 can be used in dry low-NOx combustors in some commercial turbines and
some tests with higher percentages of H2 have been carried out successfully. However, most
commercial gas turbines that use hydrogen-containing gases employ diffusion combustors.
The stoichiometric flame temperature of H2 is about 150K higher than that of methane. As the
production of NOx in a diffusion flame increases strongly with increasing temperature, this results in
higher NOx emissions unless a diluent (nitrogen, steam or water) is used to reduce the temperature.
Use of steam or nitrogen requires some changes to the operation or design of a gas turbine, to
accommodate the increased mass flow through the expansion turbine without causing problems in
the compressor and elsewhere in the turbine.
A hydrogen-fired combined cycle plant with dry low-NOx combustors would have an efficiency about
0.7 percentage points higher than that of a natural gas fired plant based on the same type of
turbine.
Hydrogen-fired combined cycle plants using nitrogen or steam to control NOx emissions would have
efficiencies around 0-0.4 and 1.0-1.3 percentage points respectively lower than a natural gas fired
combined cycle plant, depending on how the turbine is designed and operated. In a simple cycle
plant, the use of steam would result in a significantly higher efficiency but the need for a heat
recovery boiler may reduce the operating flexibility.

2
1. INTRODUCTION

The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) is focused on accelerating the deployment of affordable,
secure low-carbon energy systems for 2020 to 2050. The ETI has identified the potential of using salt
caverns to store hydrogen for use as a fuel for power generation during times of peak electricity
demand. A high level study has shown that the use of salt caverns would reduce the investment in
clean power station capacity and increase the average efficiency of a responsive power system in the
UK (ETI, 2015).
Following on from this study, the ETI has recently issued a request for proposals for a more detailed
project. Within that project the ETI wishes to identify existing salt caverns in three UK regions that
can be utilised in a transition mode from methane to full hydrogen operation. The end goal is to
understand the capabilities and costs to create and operate these stores on methane/hydrogen
mixtures up to pure hydrogen. The costings developed will include the creation and all
installation/plant items required to operate this energy store excluding the hydrogen production
plants. This will support a larger piece of work ETI intends undertaking to bring this whole system
together as a cost efficient design solution for operation in the UK electricity generation system.
In order to provide background information for the project that it is about to start, the ETI has
commissioned this review and database of existing gas turbines and the use of hydrogen-rich gases
in gas turbines.
This report consists of the flowing sections:

 An overview of gas turbines which describes the different types of gas turbine that are
commercially available, how the performance of turbines has improved over the years and
some alternative types of turbine that are used in relatively small numbers, are under
development or have been proposed. It also describes start-up and part load operation in
general and emission control technologies.
 A description of the gas turbine database and a discussion of the information contained
within it. The database includes a comprehensive summary of modern gas turbines from
major manufacturers with power outputs greater than 5MWe and combined cycle plants
with power outputs greater than 30MWe. For each turbine and combined cycle plant the
data base includes the manufacturer, model and type of gas turbine and its power output,
efficiency, mass flow, pressure ratio and exhaust temperature. Where available, start times,
minimum loads and ramp rates are also included. Part load efficiency data are also provided
for selected turbines and combined cycle plants.
 A summary of the capital and operating costs of gas turbines and combined cycle power
plants.
 A discussion of the impacts of using hydrogen on various aspects of the design and operation
of gas turbines. The capability of specific commercial gas turbines to use fuel gases
containing hydrogen is also presented.
 A brief overview of reciprocating engines that are suitable for grid-based gas fired power
generation, as an alternative to gas turbines.

3
2. OVERVIEW OF GAS TURBINES
2.1 Brayton cycle
Gas turbines employ the Brayton cycle which is shown in an idealised form in Figure 1. Gas is
compressed at constant entropy (1-2 in the figure), it is heated at constant pressure (2-3), expanded
at constant entropy (3-4) and cooled at constant pressure (4-5). This is an example of a “closed
cycle” in which the same material flows around the cycle and heat is added and withdrawn through
heat exchangers. The commercially dominant gas turbines are however “open cycle” in which the
fluid that is compressed is air from the atmosphere, the heating is carried out by combustion of fuel
gas in the compressed air and the expanded gas is exhausted to the atmosphere (either directly or
after passing through a heat recovery steam generator) rather than being cooled and reused within
the cycle. In “semi closed” cycles, which are discussed in section 2.4.6, some of the expanded gas is
cooled and recycled to the compressor and some is withdrawn from the cycle.

Figure 1 Idealised Brayton cycle

In the idealised Figure 1, compression and expansion are at constant entropy. In practice the entropy
increases in both the compression and expansion due to inefficiencies. A further inefficiency arises
because some of the compressed air has to be used to cool the hot turbine components, including
the high temperature turbine blades, rather than being heated in the combustor.
Gas turbines can be employed as a “simple cycle” consisting of just a Brayton cycle or they can be
combined with a steam Rankine cycle to create a “combined cycle”. The exhaust gas of modern gas
turbines is typically at a temperature in the range of 400-650C. In a combined cycle energy is
recovered from this gas in a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) which generates steam which is
expanded in a steam turbine to generate additional power. In order to maximise the power output
and thermal efficiency, steam is usually generated at either two or three different pressures. Older
and smaller gas turbines tend to have steam systems in which steam is generated at two different
pressures. Larger, more modern gas turbines tend to have three pressure steam systems. Three
pressure steam systems normally include reheat, in which the high pressure superheated steam is
partly expanded in a high pressure steam turbine, returned to the HRSG where it is reheated, and
then it is sent back to complete its expansion in the medium and low pressure section of the steam
turbine.
The temperature and quantity of steam produced can be increased by using in-duct firing of the
HRSG, in which some additional fuel is combusted. This can be a useful feature for combined heat

4
and power plants where there is a need to vary the amount of steam generation but it usually
reduces the overall efficiency of a power-only plant. It can also be a useful technique for generating
peak power.
Each gas turbine is normally connected to its own HRSG but the steam generated in more than one
HRSG can be combined and fed to a common steam turbine. This usually results in a marginal
increase in the overall efficiency of a combined cycle plant, as shown in the database.

2.2 Types of commercial gas turbine

Power generation gas turbines are often classified as “heavy frame” or “aero-derivative”. Frame gas
turbines are designed specifically for land-based power generation or mechanical drives. They are
usually built in a similar way to large steam turbines and the casing is split horizontally, which
enables the turbine to be opened up for on-site maintenance. Aero-derivative gas turbines are
derived from aircraft jet engines and hence they employ lighter weight construction. They consist of
a core compressor/combustor/turbine section of an aero engine combined with further stages of
low pressure expansion turbine for power generation. Aero-derivative gas turbines are designed for
variable operation, which is an essential requirement for aero engines and they are designed for
quick replacement of the entire engine when significant maintenance is required.
The pressure ratios of most frame gas turbines are in the range of around 12-24. Aero-derivative
power generation turbines typically have relatively higher pressure ratios, up to 42. The high
pressure ratios of aero-derivative turbines makes them particularly well suited to simple cycle power
plants because the optimum pressure ratio to achieve high thermal efficiency is greater for simple
cycles than combined cycles. As a consequence of the higher pressure ratios, the turbine exhaust
temperatures of aero-derivative turbines are relatively low, typically around 450C, compared to
around 630C for the latest large frame turbines, The temperature of steam that can be generated is
therefore lower and the overall efficiencies of combined cycles based on aero-derivative gas
turbines are usually lower than those of large frame gas turbines.
Gas turbines can be classified according how many separate shafts they have. The largest frame gas
turbine are all single shaft machines, i.e. the compressor, expansion turbine and electrical generator
are all connected to one shaft which rotates at a speed which depends on the frequency of the
electricity system. For those countries or regions which have a 50Hz electricity system, which
includes the UK, the rotational speed is 3000rpm and for 60Hz systems the speed is 3600rpm.
Different models of gas turbines are manufactured to operate at these two speeds, although in
many cases they are aerodynamically scaled versions of the same basic design. 50Hz turbines have
larger power outputs, typically by a factor of around 1.4-1.5. Most aero-derivative gas turbines and
some smaller frame turbines are two shaft machines, consisting of a compressor-turbine core which
usually operates at a higher rotational speed, unconstrained by the frequency of the electricity
system, and a power turbine and generator on a separate shaft which operates at a different speed.
This means that the same core can be used for 50 and 60Hz turbines. Having two shafts can be
beneficial for operation and efficiency at part load, because the speed of the core compressor can be
reduced, which enables it to operate more efficiently at part load.
Some small and medium sized turbines use a gearbox, which enables the power turbine to operate
at an optimum rotational speed unconstrained by the speed required by the generator but these

5
benefits have to be offset against the extra cost, mechanical losses and maintenance requirements
of the gearbox.
2.3 Technical developments in commercial gas turbines
Basic thermodynamics dictates that increasing the top temperature of a power generation cycle
results in a higher efficiency. Much of the development work on gas turbines has therefore focussed
on increasing the turbine inlet temperature. Simply increasing the inlet temperature of a gas turbine
however does not necessarily increase the efficiency because the amount of gas needed to cool the
hot components can because excessive and offset the benefits of the higher inlet temperature.
Various techniques are therefore being used to enable turbine inlet temperatures to be increased
while avoiding the need for excessive turbine cooling gas requirements:

 Metals capable of operating at higher temperatures

 Thermal barrier coatings
 More efficient turbine cooling techniques
 Ceramic based components, such as ceramic matrix composites (CMCs)
The ways in which these improvements have and are continuing to enable increases in turbine inlet
temperatures are illustrated in Figure 2 (University of Virginia, 2016).

Figure 2 Evolution of gas turbine materials and turbine inlet temperatures

Source: Wadley Research Group, University of Virginia

Another significant contribution to higher efficiencies of gas turbines is improvements to the

aerodynamic design of compressor and turbine blades. The availability of increasingly detailed and
sophisticated aerodynamic modelling has been a major contributing factor to these improvements.
As an illustration of how the efficiencies of turbines have increased, Figure 3 shows information from
one of the major manufacturers, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (Ai, 2015). The M701D turbine
with an inlet temperature of 1100C, which was introduced in 1984, had a combined cycle efficiency
of less than 50%. Their latest J class turbines with an inlet temperature of 1600C have a combined

6
cycle efficiency of over 61%. Broadly similar improvements have been achieved by other vendors.
Further improvements should enable combined cycles to reach higher efficiencies in future, for
example GE’s president and CEO of gas power systems has suggested the efficiency could increase
towards 65% by the early 2020s (Larson, 2016).

Figure 3 Increases in gas turbine inlet temperatures and efficiencies

Source: Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems

The optimum pressure ratio of a gas turbine increases as the turbine inlet temperature increases.
For this reason the pressure ratios of commercial gas turbines have also increased, for example from
around 13 in a typical E class frame gas turbine to around 23 in a typical H class turbine.
The power outputs of the largest frame gas turbines have also increased substantially over the years,
partly due to greater mass flow and partly because of the higher specific power (MW/kg/s of mass
flow) that results from higher inlet temperatures and efficiencies. For example, the largest current
gas turbine, the GE9HA.02, has a mass flow that is 2.35 times greater than that of GE’s 9E gas
turbine from the early 1990s and the specific power is 1.65 times greater, resulting in a power
output that is almost four times greater.
When gas turbines started to be used for large scale power generation they were focussed mainly on
base load power generation in combined cycle plants, so efficiency was the most important
criterion. More recently gas turbine combined cycle plants have increasingly been called upon to
operate flexibly and at lower annual load factors, in order to meet the variability in consumer power
demand. In addition, variable renewable power generation technologies such as wind and solar
power are being introduced on a large scale in many countries, which is resulting in the need for gas
turbine power plants to operate with even greater flexibility, with more frequent start-ups and shut-
down, faster ramping and the ability to operate at low loads with high efficiencies and low
emissions. The impact of the need for greater flexibility is illustrated by the large high efficiency gas
turbines developed by GE and Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems. GE’s first H class gas turbine, which
entered service in 2002 at a plant at Baglan Bay in Wales, employed closed circuit steam cooling to
maximise efficiency. Steam from the exhaust of the high pressure steam turbine is used to cool hot
components in the gas turbine and the heated steam is returned to the intermediate pressure steam

7
turbine. In contrast, GE’s latest 9HA turbine, the first commercial example of which started up in
2016 in France, uses air cooling of the turbine. The lower degree of integration between the gas
turbine and steam system increases operating flexibility. Similarly, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems’
701J gas turbine employs steam cooling but an air cooled variant, the 701JAC, was introduced later,
particularly to meet the requirement of regions where there is a need high flexibility.

2.4 Alternative gas turbine features and novel cycles

2.4.1 Reheat combustion
Almost all commercial gas turbine designs employ a single stage of combustion. This corresponds to
the Brayton cycle shown in Figure 1. The only exception is the Ansaldo GT26 (and its 60Hz
equivalent, the GT24) which is a reheat gas turbine with two sequential stages of combustion
separated by a high pressure turbine expansion stage. This is analogous to the reheat steam turbines
that are used in most large modern coal fired power plants to maximise efficiency. For the same
turbine inlet temperature and component efficiencies a reheat gas turbine should have a higher
efficiency than a single combustor turbine. The optimum pressure ratio of a reheat gas turbine is
substantially higher than that of a single combustor turbine. The pressure ratio of the GT26 is 35,
which is around twice that of single combustor turbines with comparable inlet temperatures. The
benefits of reheat need to be balanced against the extra complexity, although reheat may have
some flexibility advantages, as discussed in section 3.
2.4.2 Compressor air cooling
A large fraction (typically 50-70%) of the power generated by the expansion stage of a gas turbine is
consumed by the compressor. The power consumption of the compressor is roughly proportional to
the volume of air passing through it, which in turn is proportional to its absolute temperature. A way
to reduce the power consumption of the compressor is by cooling the air, either at the inlet to the
compressor or part way through it (inter-cooling). Air cooling also has the advantage of reducing the
compressor exit temperature, which may reduce the need for more expensive materials of
construction. It also increases the mass flow rate of the compressor, which increases the power
output of the overall gas turbine. A downside of the lower compressor exit temperature is that the
fuel consumption of the combustor increases, so there is a trade off between reduced air
compressor power consumption and increased fuel consumption. Another downside of compressor
air cooling is increased complexity and, in some cases, the need for a cooling system.
Figure 4 shows an example of how the power output, exhaust flow rate and heat rate (inverse of
efficiency) of a large F class frame turbine (the Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems 701F series) varies
according to the compressor inlet temperature. Reducing the air inlet temperature results in
substantial increases in flow rate and power output and a small reduction in heat rate (i.e. an
increase in the thermal efficiency). The sensitivity to inlet temperature is different for each model of
gas turbine. Manufacturers’ information on the sensitivity of gas turbine performance to air
temperature and pressure is available in the public domain for many commercial gas turbines.
Reducing the compressor inlet air temperature tends to be more advantageous for aero-derivative
turbines than for frame turbines, because they typically have higher pressure ratios (GTW, 2010).

8
Figure 4 Sensitivity of gas turbine performance to compressor inlet temperature
Source: MHPS, 2014©

The temperature of gas turbine compressor air can be reduced by chilling or water injection.
Inlet air chilling
The compressor inlet air can be cooled by passing it through a heat exchanger where heat is
transferred to a chilled heat transfer fluid. The heat transfer fluid can be cooled using an electrically
driven mechanical chiller or an absorption chiller that makes use of hot water or steam. An
advantage of this approach is that it is not limited by the humidity of the air, the air can be cooled
below its wet bulb temperature and there is no requirement for clean injection water.
Water injection
An alternative to inlet air chilling is to inject water into the compressor inlet air, to reduce the air
temperature by evaporation. Water can be added to the inlet air by use of wetted media, by fogging
or by wet compression. The first of these techniques involves passing the air across a wetted
honeycomb-type medium from which water is evaporated, thereby cooling the air. Fogging consists
of spraying very fine droplets of water into the inlet air stream. The droplets evaporate to cool the
air in a similar way to the wetted media system. Fogging can be controlled to produce various sizes
of droplets depending on the ambient temperature and humidity. For wet compression, more finely
atomised water is sprayed into the compressor inlet air. The amount of water that is injected is
typically three to four or more times the amount of water that is evaporated in the inlet cooling
techniques described above (GTW, 2010). The excess water fog is carried forward into the
compressor where is evaporates and provides cooling of the air as it passes through the compressor.
Fogging and wet compression require the use of high purity water to reduce the risk of formation of
deposits.
Water injection has the greatest impact in hot dry climates, although the places that have such
climates are often places where water availability is limited. In hot countries where the use of air
conditioning is widespread, the peak power demand tends to coincide with the times when ambient
temperatures are at their highest. The ability to avoid a derating of the power output of a gas
turbine at such times makes water injection and saturation of the compressor air inlet particularly
advantageous. Water injection and saturation of the compressor inlet air is less relevant in the UK,
where the peak power demand is in winter, when ambient air temperatures are relatively low and

9
humidity levels are usually relatively high. Inlet spray cooling is relatively ineffective in such
condition. This is illustrated by Figure 5, which shows that inlet spray inter-cooling reduces the heat
rate and increases the power output of the Siemens Trent 60 gas turbine at high temperatures but
there is no effect below about 7C.

Figure 5 Impact of inlet spray inter-cooling on power output and heat rate
Source: Siemens, 2014©

Compressor inter-cooling
The temperature of air increases as it passes through a gas turbine compressor. A way of reducing
the compressor power consumption is by inter-cooling the air part way through the compressor,
which is a technique that is commonly used in industrial gas compression. Inter-cooling is however
rarely used in current power generation gas turbines. A prominent exception is GE’s LMS100 aero-
derivative turbine. Inter-cooling is most advantageous in turbines that have high pressure ratios, and
the LMS 100 has a pressure ratio of 42.5, the highest of any of the turbines in the database.
2.4.3 Combustor steam injection
Water or steam can be injected into a gas turbine combustor to reduce NOx emissions, which is
discussed in section 2.5, and to increase mass flow rate and power output. Steam injection normally
increases the efficiency of a simple cycle but does not necessarily increase the efficiency of a
combined cycle because it may be more efficient to expand the steam in a steam turbine. A
disadvantage, as with compressor water injection, is that the water or steam that is injected is lost
to the atmosphere as water vapour in the turbine exhaust gas unless a flue gas cooler and water
recovery system is installed. The quantity of water that is lost may be lower than the quantity that is
lost in a wet cooling tower of a combined cycle plant but the injected water needs to be high purity
and the cost of water treating is an additional burden.
Steam injection is particularly well suited to smaller gas turbines. For some small turbines the cost
and complexity of a combined cycle cannot be justified. In such cases a relatively simple gas turbine
exhaust steam generator can be used to produce modest pressure steam that can be injected into
the turbine combustor to provide additional mass flow through the expansion turbine and hence
higher power output. Steam injected gas turbines are reported to have a smaller footprint, shorter

10
construction time, lower capital cost and better operating flexibility than an equivalent combined
cycle plant (MHPS, 2016b). The capability to inject steam into the gas turbine can be useful in
combined heat and power (CHP) plants, to help balance varying demands for steam and power.
It is reported that most gas turbines can accommodate a steam flow equal to 5% of the compressor
air with some turbines being able to accommodate greater amounts, and that 5% steam injection
will increase the power output by about 17.5% (OSTI, 2012). The quantity of steam that can be
injected into a gas turbine is limited by the compressor surge margin, which is different for different
gas turbines.
The Siemens 501KH5 is a well established gas turbine designed for steam injection. The power
output is 6.5MW, which is 65% greater than the non-steam injected equivalent and the net
efficiency is 41.9% compared to 30.6% for the non-steam injected equivalent.
Another example of a steam injected gas turbine is Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems’ Smart
Advanced Humid Air Turbine (AHAT), shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6 Smart Advanced Humid Air Turbine

Source: Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, 2016©

MHPS’ Smart AHAT is based around their H-50 frame gas turbine. The H-50 is specifically designed to
accommodate a large amount of injection steam. Its rated power output is 57MW without steam
injection and this increases to 70MW with steam injection, i.e. a 23% increase. The efficiency with
steam injection is 45%, which is significantly higher than the 37.8% efficiency of the non-steam
injected H-50 and which is also higher than any comparable simple cycle turbine (MHPS, 2016b).
A disadvantage of steam injected gas turbines, in common with compressor water injection, is that
the injected steam is lost to the atmosphere in the gas turbine exhaust gas. A large amount of
demineralised make-up water is needed to compensate for this loss. MHPS’s AHAT includes a water
recovery system in which the turbine exhaust gas is contacted with sprays of recirculating cooled
water which condenses most of the steam from the turbine exhaust gas. The recirculating water
from the heat recovery system is then cooled in an air cooler or alternatively a wet cooling tower,
although using a wet cooling tower would result in water loss to the atmosphere, negating some of
the benefits of the water recovery system. The amount of water lost in the cooled turbine exhaust

11
gas depends on ambient conditions. In some conditions the plant can become a net producer of
water, i.e. some of the water produced by combustion as well as all of the injected steam is
recovered.
Water can be injected into the combustor instead of steam but this is rarely practiced (except for
NOx control) because the additional fuel that is needed to provide the heat to evaporate the water
results in a reduction in overall energy efficiency of the gas turbine.
2.4.4 Recuperative gas turbines
In a recuperative gas turbine, also known as a regenerative gas turbine, the turbine exhaust gas is
passed through a heat exchanger where heat is transferred to the high pressure air from the
compressor, as shown in Figure 7. ETI has expressed a particular interest in recuperated gas
turbines, so they are described at greater length in this report.

Figure 7 Recuperated gas turbine

Source: Ricardo

The heat transferred to the compressed air reduces the need for fuel in the combustor, thereby
increasing the thermal efficiency of a simple cycle. Recuperation also reduces the amount and
temperature of heat available for a combined cycle, so the benefits of recuperation in a combined
cycle are lower. The amount of heat that can be transferred in the recuperator depends on the
temperature difference between the turbine and compressor exit gases. Some recuperated gas
turbines have a low pressure ratio, which results in a relatively low compressor exit temperature and
high heat recovery from the turbine exhaust gas. When higher pressures ratios are used, compressor
inter-cooling is normally employed, which decreases the compressor exit temperature and hence
increases the amount of heat that can be transferred in the recuperator. Recuperation is not widely
used in large gas turbines but it is conventional in micro-turbines and it enables such machines to
achieve high efficiencies despite their small size, for example 33% efficiency in a 200kW turbine
(Capstone, 2016). In micro turbines the recuperator is typically an integral part of the machine, as
shown in Figure 8.

12
Figure 8 Micro turbine with integral recuperator
Source: Powermag (Gillette, 2010)

The only frame type gas turbine with recuperation that is currently on the market is the Solar
Mercury 50, which has a power output of 4.6MW. This is just below the 5MW lower threshold set by
the ETI for this study but because of ETI’s interest in recuperated gas turbine it has been included in
the database. This turbine has an efficiency of 38.5 which is 4-7 percentage points higher than
Solar’s other <20MW non-recuperated turbines. The optimum pressure ratio of recuperated gas
turbines is lower than that of non-recuperated turbines. The pressure ratio of the Mercury 50 is 10
while the pressure ratios of other 5-15 MW turbines in the database are 12-18. The need to
accommodate a recuperator means that the orientation of the compressor and turbine in the
Mercury 50 is different to that of a conventional gas turbine, as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9 Solar Mercury 50 recuperated gas turbine

Source: Modern Power Systems, 2004

The largest recuperated gas turbine that has been developed in recent years is the Rolls-Royce
WR21, which is an intercooled-recuperated turbine built around an RB211/Trent core. The WR21’s
plate-fin recuperator and the intercooler are made by Northrop Grumman. The WR21 was
introduced in 1997 but it is only being used as a military marine engine, in the UK’s Type 45

13
destroyers. The WR21 has a shaft power output of around 25MW, a pressure ratio of 16.2, an
efficiency of 42% and an exhaust temperature of 355C (GTW, 2016). The recuperator, along with
variable area turbine nozzles, enables the turbine inlet temperature to be maintained at part load.
The turbine has significantly better part load efficiency than comparable non-recuperated engines,
which is important for warships that operate most of their time at much less than maximum speed.
The efficiency at 50% load is essentially the same as at full load and even at 20% load the efficiency
is still around 80% of the full load efficiency (English, 2000).
2.4.5 Recuperative humid air turbine cycles
Humid Air Turbine (HAT) cycles that include a recuperator, a compressor intercooler and a saturator
to add water vapour to the compressor discharge air have been proposed. An example of such a
cycle is shown in Figure 10. The inlet gas to the combustor contains approximately 20% moisture.
Use of a saturator is thermodynamically more efficient than generating pure steam in a steam
generator and then adding the steam to the air, because the steam evaporates not at its pure
component vapour pressure but instead at its partial pressure in the system. This makes it possible
to utilise lower temperature heat for evaporation.

Figure 10 An example of a Humid Air Turbine (HAT) cycle

Source: ParisTech, 2016

Recuperated HAT cycles such as this have better part load performance than combined cycles. It is
reported that the heat rate remains essentially constant down to 60% load and increases by only
35% at 20% load whereas in a combined cycle it increases by as much as 70% (Rao, 1991).
Such advanced HAT cycles were studied extensively in the 1990s, particularly in the context of coal
gasification power plants (EPRI, 1993). An integrated gasification HAT cycle plant using a turbine
derived from the Pratt and Whitney FT-4000 aero-derivative gas turbine was shown to have a heat
rate comparable to that of an IGCC plant but with a lower capital cost. A natural gas fired plant had
up to a 5% lower heat rate than a combined cycle plant but a higher capital cost, resulting in only a
slight reduction in the cost of electricity. Although some components of existing turbines, could be
used in advanced HAT cycles, expensive development programmes would have been needed to
commercialise large scale turbines and it appears that the advantages of HAT cycles were considered
at the time to be insufficient to warrant the expense and commercial risk.

14
Hitachi has worked on development of a recuperated cycle with a saturator but no turbine inter-
cooling as part of the Japanese government’s Cool Earth Innovative Energy Technology programme.
A 40 MW demonstration plant commenced operation in 2013, with the aim of developing a 100-
200MW commercial plant. A plant based on a 100MW gas turbine was reported to have better
operating flexibility than a comparable combined cycle plant, with hot and cold start times of 30 and
60 minutes compared to 60 and 180 minutes for a combined cycle, a ramp rate of 8.3-10%/minute
(5% for a combined cycle) and a minimum load of 25% (50% for a combined cycle). The reduction in
efficiency at part load was also less than for a combined cycle (Gotoh, 2011).
2.4.6 Other novel gas turbines
There is currently significant interest in semi-closed oxy-combustion turbine cycles, in which CO2 or a
combination of H2O and CO2 are used as the working fluid and combustion takes place using purified
O2. The main advantage of these cycles is that when burning a carbon-containing fuel they produce
an output gas with a high CO2 concentration that is suitable for underground storage. The ability of
oxy-combustion cycles to produce a high concentration CO2 stream is not relevant to ETI’s current
interest in hydrogen fired gas turbines.
A review and techno-economic assessment of oxy-combustion turbine cycles was published recently
(IEAGHG, 2014). The highest efficiency and lowest cost oxy-combustion turbine cycle was a high
pressure recuperated cycle proposed by NET Power that makes use of recycled CO2 as the working
fluid. This cycle (which inherently captures CO2) is claimed by its developer to have an efficiency
comparable to conventional F-class gas turbines without CO2 capture. It would appear that this cycle
could in principle use high-purity hydrogen fuel. The only substance withdrawn from the cycle would
then be water and all of the CO2 would be recycled (a small top-up of CO2 would be needed to offset
fugitive leaks). It should be noted that the hydrogen fuel would need to have very low levels of inert
impurities to avoid then building up in the recycle loop. The main relevance of the NET Power cycle
however would be as a natural gas-fuelled potential commercial competitor to hydrogen fired
conventional gas turbines.

2.5 Gas turbine emission control techniques

CO2 is a significant emission from gas turbines because of its impact as a greenhouse gas. The CO2
emission depends on the thermal efficiency and the carbon content of the fuel that is used. The
most significant other emissions produced by gas turbines are NOx, CO and volatile organic
compounds (VOC). Sulphur oxides can be a concern when using liquid fuels or sulphur-containing
gases and particulate matter can be a marginally significant emission for gas turbines using liquid
fuels.
Three techniques are used to limit emissions of NOx from gas turbines:
 Pre-mixed dry low NOx combustion
 Dilution in the combustor, mostly by steam, water or nitrogen
 Reduction of pollutants in the turbine exhaust gas, especially by selective catalytic reduction
(SCR).

15
2.5.1 Dry low NOx combustion
NOx is produced mainly from atmospheric N2 and O2 by the Zeldovich thermal mechanism. Higher
temperatures result in substantially greater production NOx. CO is produced by incomplete
combustion.
Turbine inlet temperatures have increased in order to increase thermal efficiency but this tends to
increase NOx production, while at the same time NOx emission limits have reduced. To meet this
challenge, gas turbine combustors have evolved considerably over the years, in particular lean pre-
mix (dry low-NOx) combustors have been developed. Early large gas turbines mostly used large silo
combustors, firstly with single diffusion burners and then with multiple dry low-NOx burners. Later
gas turbines use more compact multiple annular and can-annular combustors.
The principle of current dry low-NOx combustors is to generate a well mixed lean fuel-air mixture
prior to entering the combustor. Having a lean mixture results in a low flame temperature, which
lowers the rate of NOx production. A low combustor residence time is also needed to minimise NO
production. Gas turbine NO emissions are much lower than the equilibrium value, which for a typical
F class gas turbine is about 820ppmv at 15% O2 (Lieuwen, 2013).
The lean mixture in a gas turbine combustor is close to the lean extinction limit so the fuel-air ratio
has to be kept within a narrow band. Another reason why this is necessary is that the lower
combustion temperature tends to lead to less complete combustion, resulting in production of CO
and unburned hydrocarbons. In contrast to NOx, CO emissions are above the equilibrium level (e.g.
2ppmv for a typical F class gas turbine), so the need to limit both NOx and CO leads to conflicting
design considerations.
A limitation of lean pre-mix burners is the lean flame stability limit, i.e. the amount of excess air
which is permitted for stable combustion. This limit is typically exceeded during start-up and low
load operation. Dry low-NOx combustors in gas turbines typically include a pilot diffusion burner,
which is used for start-up and low load operation. Diffusion burners are very stable but they result in
high emissions. As the load is increased, premix fuel is introduced spreading the fuel into all of the
air and the pilot burner is turned off. The maximum degree of turndown of a gas turbine is usually
dictated by increasing emissions of CO. Because of the need for greater operating flexibility and low
load operation, gas turbine manufacturers devote considerable effort to development of dry low
NOx combustors that can continue to operate at low load factors.
2.5.2 Dilution in the combustor
The flame temperature, and hence NOx emissions, can be reduced by injecting a diluent, either
steam, water of nitrogen, into the combustor. This is a commonly used technique in turbines firing
gases containing hydrogen and it is discussed later in the section on hydrogen fired turbines.
Injecting water into the combustor instead of using dry low-NOx combustion normally reduces the
thermal efficiency of a gas turbine. This can be seen by comparing the information in the database
for Siemens Trent gas turbines. The wet low emission variants have efficiencies 1.0-1.8 percentage
points lower than the dry low emission (DLE) variants. Similarly water injection variants of GE’s aero-
derivative LM2500 and LM6000 turbines have efficiencies 1.4-1.9 percentage points lower than DLE
variants and for the LMS100 the difference is 0.6 percentage points.

16
Steam injection was described earlier in the report, in the context of increasing turbine mass flow.
Steam injection increases the efficiency of a simple cycle but the efficiency is generally lower than if
the steam had been used in a combined cycle.
Steam and/or nitrogen injection into medium and large gas turbines for NOx reduction is widely used
in IGCC plants. The fuel gas in the existing IGCC plants, which do not include CCS, contains a
substantial amount of CO. CO has an even higher stoichiometric flame temperature than H2, so the
need for steam or nitrogen addition to the combustor is at least as great. IGCC plants have operated
with about 50% nitrogen dilution of the fuel gas or 35% steam dilution, which has enabled NOx
emissions to be reduced to acceptable levels. For example, NOx emissions at a coal-fired IGCC plant
at Buggenum were 6-30 ppm at full load and about 4-20ppm at 40% load (Huth, 1998).
2.5.3 Removal of pollutants from turbine exhaust gas
NOx
The main technique used to remove NOx from turbine exhaust gas is Selective Catalytic Reduction
(SCR). In SCR, ammonia is injected into the turbine exhaust gas and it reacts with NO in the presence
of a fixed bed of catalyst to produce N2 and H2O. The most common catalysts are vanadium or
titanium based, on a ceramic support. SCR can reduce NOx in gas turbine exhaust gas by 80-90%,
depending on the degree to which the chemical conditions in the exhaust gas are uniform. When
used in series with water/steam injection or dry low-NOx combustion, low single digit NOx emissions
(1.5-5 ppm ) can be achieved (USEPA, 2015).
It would not be realistic to expect that SCR could be used to reduce NOx emissions from the very
high levels that would be produced by diffusion combustors without diluent addition, due to high
costs of reagent and catalyst, but it could be used to enable hydrogen fired turbines to meet the
increasingly stringent NOx emission regulations which may be difficult and expensive to achieve by
combustor diluent addition alone.
The operating temperature of SCR systems depends on the type of catalyst and the flue gas
composition. The operating temperature range has traditionally been around 200-425C. The exhaust
temperature of modern frame gas turbines is usually above this temperature range, as can be seen
from the turbines database, but this is not a problem for combined cycle plants because the SCR unit
can be contained within the HRSG at an appropriate temperature. The difference between turbine
exhaust and SCR temperatures is more of a concern for simple cycle plants. Cooling systems (air or
water) can be used to reduce the gas temperature but there are practical limitations on how much
cooling can be applied and the possibility of failure of the cooling system resulting in irreparable
damage to the catalyst needs to be considered, as well as the additional cost and complexity. Aero-
derivative gas turbines tend to have lower exhaust temperatures than frame gas turbines and some
of them are within the range for SCR operating temperatures, which makes it easier to apply SCR to
aero-derivative turbines in simple cycle power plants.
“Hot” SCR catalysts, typically zeolite based, have more recently become available which makes SCR a
more feasible option for simple cycle gas turbines, especially frame-type machines. For example, a
catalyst from BASF is able to operate at up to 580C (BASF, 2007), although this is still lower than the
exhaust temperature of some frame turbines, so some cooling would still be needed. Hot SCR
catalysts are however reported to be more expensive, less efficient and less durable than lower
temperature catalysts (Chupka, 2013).

17
Although SCR reduces NOx emissions it results in some emission of unreacted ammonia, which is
referred to as “ammonia slip”. This is due to the non-uniform distribution of the reacting gases, both
the NOx in the turbine exhaust gas and the injected ammonia. Typical values of ammonia slip are
about 5ppm (Lieuwen, 2013). Ammonia emissions lead to increased quantities of fine particulates
through reactions in the atmosphere. Another concern regarding SCR is the need for on-site storage
and handling of ammonia, which is a hazardous chemical. Aqueous ammonia or urea can be used to
reduce hazards.
SCR catalysts have a finite lifetime and have to be replaced when no longer effective and/or
ammonia slip reaches unacceptable levels. Catalysts can contain heavy metals such as vanadium
and/or titanium, which results in potential health and environmental concerns related to disposal of
spent catalyst. Vanadium pentoxide is classed as an extremely hazardous material (Scorr, 1999).
SCR is best suited to base load operation because turbine exhaust temperatures become lower at
low loads, as described earlier, and the SCR reactions are sensitive to temperature. Close matching
of the ammonia injection rate and turbine exhaust flow rate are needed to avoid lower NOx
abatement or higher ammonia slippage rates.
CO oxidation
Oxidation catalysts promote the reaction of O2 that is present in turbine exhaust gas with CO and
hydrocarbons to produce CO2 and water. No reactants need to be added. CO oxidation catalysts are
usually made of platinum, palladium or rhodium. Emissions of CO are reduced by approximately
90%. The positioning of CO and SCR catalysts in an HRSG depends on the particular catalysts and
their optimum operating temperature. The classical positioning of CO catalyst is upstream of the
SCR, where the high temperature maximises catalyst activity and minimises the quantity of catalyst.
Palladium-based catalysts also oxidise ammonia into molecular nitrogen and may be fitted after SCR
catalyst to remove ammonia-slip (Jakobsson). The concentration of CO in gas turbine exhaust gas
varies strongly with load and the highest concentrations usually occur at low loads. The percentage
conversion of CO is almost independent of the concentration of CO (Jakobsson).
Catalytic absorption
An alternative process for reduction of NOx and CO emissions is the SCONOx™ process which can
reduce NOx emissions to less than 2.5ppm and almost completely remove CO. In this process CO and
NO are catalytically oxidised to CO2 and NO2. The NO2 is subsequently absorbed on the treated
surface of the catalyst, which is coated with potassium carbonate and platinum. The resulting
potassium nitrites and nitrates are then reconverted to potassium carbonate through a regeneration
process that involves passing a mixture of regeneration gas (H2 and CO2) across the surface of the
catalyst in the absence of oxygen. The catalyst is divided into sections and a set of dampers is
located upstream of each section to achieve the required oxygen free environment. The system
operates at a temperature within a range of 150 and 370C.
The SCONOx™ process does not use ammonia reagent, so there is no ammonia slip. The SCONOx™
technology is still in the early stages of market introduction. Although it can achieve very low
emission levels, there are issues of concern, including its relatively high capital cost, system
complexity and high demand for utilities (steam, natural gas, compressed air and electricity are
required), and a gradual rise in NO emissions over time (USEPA, 2015).

18
2.6 Gas turbine operation
2.6.1 Start-up
The requirement for gas turbine combined cycle plant start-ups has changed considerably in recent
years. Combined cycle plants built in the 1990s were mostly designed as base load plants with
typically 5 hot starts, 4 warm starts, 3 cold starts and 2 trips per year. In contrast modern plants
more usually operate in two-shift mode for around 4,000 hours per year with typically 200 hot
starts, 50 cold starts and 4 trips (Parsons Brinckerhoff, 2014).

In a combined cycle plant the ramp rate of the gas turbine is constrained by limitations imposed by
equipment in the steam cycle. To protect that equipment, the gas turbine is traditionally ramped to
a low load hold point, which lets the rest of the cycle warm up and achieve appropriate steam
conditions before it is ramped further. At the hold point the gas turbine produces much higher CO
emissions than at base load, which results in low power and high emissions during the hold. Gas
turbines with a 3-pressure reheat combined cycle can experience two such holds prior to allowing
the steam turbine to go to full load. Newly designed combined cycle plants are designed for faster
start up with less need for hold periods. Fast plant operation can be enabled by use of a Benson
once-through HRSG , which eliminates the thick walled drum and allows for unrestricted gas turbine
ramping. HRSGs with thinner walled drums are an alternative choice, which offers much faster ramp
rates than traditional plants but somewhat slower than the Benson design.
Another technique to reduce the start-up time of a combined cycle plant is to reduce the cooling of
the HRSG when it is not in operation. This can be achieved by installing a stack damper to minimise
cooling by natural convection. Some manufacturers also provide active measures to keep the steam
generator warm between hot start-ups, introducing an auxiliary boiler that generates low pressure
steam that is used to keep components warm.
The conventional hot start-up schedule for a combined cycle plant and the schedule in modern
plants are illustrated qualitatively in Figure 11 (IEAGHG, 2012a). The improved start-up techniques
approximately halve the start-up time.

Figure 11 Improvement in start up schedules

Source: IEAGHG

19
Another technique that can be used is to operate the gas turbine in a combined cycle plant in simple
cycle mode. This can be achieved by installing a by-pass stack that can divert the gas turbine exhaust
gas directly to the atmosphere, rather than passing it through the HRSG. Downsides of this are the
cost, maintenance requirements and leakage through the diverter valve during normal combined
cycle operation.

Gas turbine manufacturers often offer the option of normal start-ups and “fast” start-ups. “Fast”
start-ups involve more stresses on the turbine which increase maintenance costs. The plant operator
can balance the increased maintenance costs against increased revenues depending on the
prevailing electricity market prices.

Cold start-up times for combined cycle plants are longer than hot start-up times, typically by a factor
of about three for existing plants (IEAGHG, 2012a, Parsons Brinckerhoff, 2014).

Aero-derivative turbines usually operate as simple cycle plants, except when they are part of
combined heat and power schemes. Aero-derivative turbines usually have faster start-up times than
frame gas turbines because of their lighter weight construction and less need to manage thermal
expansion and stresses. Hot and cold start-up time classifications are not needed.
2.6.2 Part load operation
Power plants need to be able to operate at part load in order to match generation and power
demand at all times. Gas turbines are turned down using two main techniques; reducing the mass
flow and reducing the turbine inlet temperature. In some cases additional peak power can be
generated by increasing the mass flow by steam or water injection, as discussed earlier. An increase
in the turbine inlet temperature beyond the normal maximum continuous rating may be employed
in some cases but this has a severe impact on turbine component lifetimes and maintenance costs.
The first technique that is normally applied to turn down a gas turbine is to reduce the mass flow,
which is achieved by closing the compressor inlet guide vanes. Some turbines also employ variable
stator vanes in the first few stages of the compressor to improve the ability to reduce the
compressor mass flow rate. The inlet flow to the turbine is close to be being choked and as a
simplification, M.√T/P is a constant at full and part load, where M is the mass flow, T is the absolute
temperature and P is the pressure. As a consequence, when the mass flow is reduced, the pressure
at the inlet to the turbine reduces by approximately the same ratio. Because the turbine exhausts at
an almost constant pressure, close to the atmospheric pressure, the pressure ratio of the turbine
decreases, which further reduces the power output. If the turbine inlet temperature is kept
constant, the lower pressure ratio results in an increase in the turbine exhaust temperature. If
required, the turbine inlet temperature can be reduced in order to keep the turbine exhaust
temperature constant. The impact of reduced mass flow and pressure ratio on the efficiency of a gas
turbine is relatively modest. However, the ability to reduce the mass flow into the compressor is
limited. Once the mass flow has been reduced by the maximum possible amount, the turbine inlet
temperature has to be reduced, which tends to have a greater impact on the gas turbine efficiency.
When the gas turbine is in a combined cycle plant, the lower turbine exhaust temperature also
means that it is not possible to maintain the superheated steam temperature and the efficiency of
the steam cycle also decreases.

20
The minimum load at which gas turbines can operate is usually dictated by environmental emissions.
The critical emission is usually CO which increases greatly at low load due to lower firing
temperatures and more incomplete combustion. Operation at low load factors during start-up
should be minimised in order to avoid high emissions.

3. GAS TURBINE PERFORMANCE DATABASE

3.1 Description of the database and data sources
A database of information on commercial gas turbines has been created as an Excel file. Printouts of
the database are included in the Appendix to this report.
This first sheet of the database includes a list of current modern 50Hz gas turbines with power
outputs >5MW from major manufacturers. For each turbine the following information is provided
for full load operation:
 Manufacturer
 Gas turbine model
 Type of turbine e.g. heavy frame or aero-derivative, reheat, water/steam injected
 Net power output
 Net efficiency
 Pressure ratio
 Exhaust mass flow
 Exhaust temperature
The second sheet includes a list of current 50Hz gas turbine combined cycle plants with power
outputs >30MW from major manufacturers. For each plant the following information is provided for
full load operation:
 Manufacturer
 Gas turbine model
 Net power outputs for 1 gas turbine + 1 steam turbine and 2GT+1ST plants
 Net efficiencies for 1GT + 1ST and 2GT + 1ST plants
The following data are also provided for selected simple and combined cycle plants, depending on
the data availability:

 Start-up times; hot (normal and “fast”) and cold

 Minimum load (%)
 Ramp rate (MW and % per minute)
 Part load efficiency (50%)
In most cases the data have been obtained from manufacturers’ data sheets, compilations of gas
turbine data and conference papers, which are listed in the references (Section 7 of the report). In
most cases the information is from 2016 sources. Continuing improvements are being made to
models of gas turbines so the performance data often change over time, which accounts for some of
the discrepancies which sometimes occur between different sources. The basis and definitions are
sometimes not well defined and they differ between sources, which also accounts for discrepancies.
The information in this report and database is indicative only and no warranty is given that the

21
information is complete or correct. Information should be obtained from manufacturers for any
projects which have commercial implications. It should be noted that it has not been possible to
supply data on every criteria for every turbine, due to limitations on the availability of dynamic
performance data in the public domain.

3.2 Turbine Manufacturers

The market for gas turbines with power outputs greater than 5MWe (as specified by ETI) is
dominated by a small number of manufacturers and this is reflected in the database. The market for
large frame power generation gas turbines is currently dominated by four manufacturers: GE,
Siemens, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) and Ansaldo. There have been significant
company take-overs and transfers of assets in recent years, which have seen the disappearance of
other manufacturers of large turbines. In particular, Westinghouse was taken over by Siemens and
ABB was taken over by Alstom, whose overall power generation business was in turn taken over by
GE. One of Alstom’s large turbines then had to be divested to Ansaldo to comply with a regulatory
requirement. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Hitachi merged their gas turbines businesses into
Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems.
GE also supplies aero-derivative power generation turbines based on its own aero engines. The
other two large aero engine manufacturers, Rolls-Royce and Pratt and Whitney, also used to supply
aero-derivative power generation gas turbines but Rolls Royce sold its power turbines business to
Siemens and Pratt and Whitney sold its power systems business to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, who
now supply aero-derivative turbines through a subsidiary called PW Power Systems.
In addition to aero-derivative and large (>50MWe) frame gas turbines, GE, Siemens and MHPS also
supply smaller turbines in the 5-50MWe range. These turbines are usually aimed mainly at industrial
CHP and mechanical drive applications but they are also sometimes used solely for electricity
generation. Other companies also manufacture such turbines, in particular Kawasaki Heavy
Industries, the Solar Turbines division of Caterpillar and MAN Diesel & Turbo.
As well as the primary turbine manufacturers there are also companies that supply gas turbine
power generation packages based on turbines developed by the major manufacturers described
above, including IHI, Bharat Heavy Electrical, Centrax and Dresser Rand (now part of Siemens). These
suppliers have not been included in the database because their products are very similar to the
products from the main manufacturers. Also not included in the database are some other turbine
manufacturers that do not have a significant market presence in Western Europe, including
Aviadvigatel, a Russian manufacturer of aero-derivative turbines, and the Iranian company Mapna.

3.3 Definitions of parameters in the database

3.3.1 Power output and efficiency
In line with the normal convention for gas turbines and combined cycle plants, data in the database
are based on ISO conditions: 15C ambient temperature, 1.013 bar pressure (sea level) and 60%
relative humidity. Also in line with the convention for gas turbines, efficiencies are on a lower
heating value (LHV) basis, and the fuel is assumed to be pipeline quality natural gas.
Gas turbine performance varies substantially according to the ambient conditions. Manufacturers
often publish graphs showing the variations in power output and efficiency due to differences in
ambient pressure (due to elevation) and temperature but this is beyond the scope of this report.

22
Reducing the pressure and/or increasing the temperature reduces the mass flow into the
compressor and hence reduces the throughput and power output of the turbine. An increase in the
ambient temperature also increases the temperature throughout the compressor, which increases
the compressor power consumption and reduces the thermal efficiency. Increasing the elevation
reduces the ambient pressure. A 100m increase in elevation results in a reduction of typically about
1.1% in simple cycle power output but there is no change the efficiency. A 10C increase in
temperature reduces power output by about 7% and reduces the efficiency by about 2.5% (not
percentage points), but the impacts of ambient conditions are different for different turbines (GTW,
2016).
The power outputs and efficiencies of simple cycle gas turbines can be specified on a gross basis at
the generator terminal or on a net basis including losses due to the pressure drop through the inlet
air filter, inlet and exhaust ducts, stack and silencer and auxiliary loads. The difference between
gross and net generally amounts to about a 1.8% reduction of power output and a 0.6% (not
percentage point) reduction in the efficiency (GTW 2016). The efficiencies in the database are on a
net basis.
Performance data published by manufacturers are for new turbines, representing data that would
be obtained during acceptance tests before extended operation. Gas turbine performance declines
over time due to fouling and wear and tear and power output and efficiency can decrease by around
2-3% compared to the new plant rating. Some of this degradation can be recovered by routine
maintenance and washing. It is reported that degradation could reach 5% between overhauls and
following the overhaul the performance can normally be restored to within 1-1.5% of the “new”
rating (GTW 2016).
Combined cycle plant performance can be specified on a gross basis, or a net basis taking account of
auxiliary consumptions. Net basis data are provided in the database. There is no industry standard
set of parameters for combined cycles and the assumptions that have been used are not always
specified by manufacturers, so there are inevitably some inconsistencies. The choice of cooling
system (air or water cooling) and its design parameters can have significant effects on the steam
turbine performance. The reported combined cycle performance data are for steam turbine
condenser pressures of around 0.034-0.051 bar, which are reasonable for water cooled condensers
and ISO conditions.
As with simple cycles, there are rules of thumb that can be used to quantify the effects of ambient
conditions on combined cycle performance but it should be recognised that the magnitude of the
effects differ between different turbines. A 10C increase in ambient temperature reduces the power
output by about 4.5% and reduces the efficiency by about 0.9% (not percentage points). A 100m
increase in elevation is reported to reduce the power output by about 1.2% and reduce the
efficiency by less than 0.1% (GTW, 2016).
Combined cycle plants can consist of one steam turbine combined with one, two or more gas
turbines. Power output and efficiency data for plants based on one and two gas turbines are
included in the database. The efficiencies of plants with two gas turbines and one steam turbine are
slightly higher due to the higher efficiencies of larger steam turbines. Plants based on two gas
turbines are often able to operate at lower minimum loads by shutting down on of the gas turbines.
It should however be noted that the same effect could be achieved by having two plants each based
on one gas turbine.

23
3.3.2 Minimum load, start-up times and ramp rates
The minimum continuous operating load of gas turbines is normally set by environmental emissions,
in particular by emissions of CO which increase substantially at low loads due to incomplete
combustion.
Gas turbine start times are normally classified as hot, warm or cold. The definition of hot, warm and
cold starts can differ between manufacturers. A hot start is generally defined as after a downtime of
around 8 hours or less, e.g. after a night time shutdown. A warm start is after a shutdown of up to
around 8-48 hours, e.g. a weekend, and a cold start is after a long term shutdown of greater than
about 48-120 hours.
Hot start times are sometimes quoted as “conventional” and “fast” or “peaking”. The peaking rates
result in increased maintenance costs but this may be worthwhile in circumstances where there is a
strong need for rapid start-up. The start times quoted in the database are assumed to be
conventional unless specified otherwise, although in some cases there is ambiguity, so the definition
of the start times would need to be ascertained by contacting the manufacturers.
The ramp rates are the maximum average rate at which the plant output can be increased between
the minimum load and full load.

3.4 Summary of information in the database

3.4.1 Power output and efficiency at full load
The relationship between power output and efficiency of simple cycle gas turbines (frame and aero-
derivative) is shown in Figure 12.

46

44

42
Efficiency, % (LHV)

40
Frame
38 Aero
36 Steam injected
34 Recuperated

32

30
1 10 100 1000
Power , MW

Figure 12 Power output and efficiency of simple cycle gas turbines

It can be seen that there is a trend towards higher efficiency at higher power output. This is partly
because larger turbines tend on average to be more recent models with higher inlet temperatures.
The higher efficiencies at higher sizes are therefore to some extent due to the age of the design of
gas turbine rather than a direct function of size. This is particularly noticeable with turbines in the
150-400MW range. The turbines at the lower end of this range are mostly older E-class turbines, the
ones in the middle are F-class turbines and the largest, highest efficiency turbines are H and J-class

24
turbines. The same is also true for aero-derivative turbines, where the power output has increased
over the years in line with the increase in the size of the commercial aero engines from which they
are derived. However, even for the most modern designs, higher inlet temperatures tend to be
applied in first in large size turbines rather than small and medium sized turbines and this
contributes to the general trend to higher efficiencies at higher power outputs.
Aero-derivative turbines tend to have slightly higher simple cycle efficiencies than frame turbines of
the same size, although this is not the case for smaller aero-derivatives which are based on older
aero-engines. The higher efficiencies of aero-derivatives are mainly due to their higher pressure
ratios.
The two out-lying data points in Figure 12 are a recuperated gas turbine (Solar Mercury 50) and a
turbine with a large amount of steam injection (the Siemens 501-KH5), which have significantly
higher efficiencies for their sizes. As discussed in section 2, these features increase the efficiencies of
simple cycle gas turbines.
The relationship between power output and efficiencies of combined cycle plants is shown in Figure
13.

64

62

60
Efficiency, % (LHV)

58

56 Frame
54 Aero

52

50

48
10 100 1000
Power , MW

Figure 13 Power output and efficiency of combined cycle plants

The comments made earlier regarding higher efficiencies at higher power outputs also apply to
combined cycle plants. The most significant difference compared to Figure 12 is that the efficiencies
of aero-derivative combined cycle are on average broadly similar to or lower than those of similar
sized plants based on frame gas turbines.
3.4.2 Efficiencies at part load
Indicative efficiencies of selected simple and combined cycle plants at 100% and 50% load are given
in Table 1. Manufacturers do not usually publish part load efficiency data. The data in Table 1 are
obtained from various published sources, often in graphical form, and it is subject to greater
uncertainty than the full load data. In some cases the full load efficiency quoted in the part load data
reference is slightly different to that in the database, mostly likely because of the on-going
improvements that are being made to models of gas turbines. In such cases the part load efficiency
has been scaled pro-rata to the full load efficiency for inclusion in Table 1.

25
Table 1 Indicative efficiencies of selected gas turbines at part load
Full load power Efficiency, % LHV basis Ratio of efficiencies,
MW 100% load 50% load 50%/100% load
Simple cycle
Solar Mars 100 11.3 32.9 22.1 67
Kawasaki L20A 18.5 34.3 27.8 81
GE LMS100PA+ 114 43.3 36.2 84
Combined cycle
Siemens SGT-800 74 55.6 48.3 87
MHPS H100 143 53.8 46.0 86
Siemens SGT5-4000F 445 58.7 53.5 91
GE9F 462 60.5 53.6 89
Ansaldo GT26 502 60.1 55.9 93
Siemens SGT-8000H 600 60.5 55.5 92
MHPS 701J 680 61.7 55.0 89

The efficiencies of combined cycle plants operating at 50% load are around 90% of their full load
efficiencies. The Ansaldo GT26 has the smallest decrease in efficiency at 50% load, due to its unique
feature of reheat combustion. The efficiency reduction at part load is greater for simple cycle gas
turbines, typically around 80% of the full load efficiency at 50% load. The relationship between load
and efficiency of combined cycle plants is shown more generally in Figure 14, for two models of gas
turbine. It can be seen that there is almost no reduction in efficiency at 90% load but the rate of
reduction increases at lower loads.

Figure 14 Overall combined cycle efficiency vs. gas turbine load

Source: IEAGHG

26
3.4.3 Start-up times
For the purposes of the database the start times provided by manufacturers are assumed to be
normal hot start times unless stated otherwise. The hot start-up times of simple cycle turbines for
which data are available are 12-30 minutes for frame gas turbines and 5-10 minutes for aero-
derivatives. The hot start up times of combined cycle plants are around 30-70 minutes.
Although turbine manufacturers often quote hot start times they do not usually quote cold start
times. Average cold start times of eight combined cycle plants in the UK based on five types of
leading large gas turbine are around 215 minutes, which is 3.5 times their average hot start times
(Parsons Brinckerhoff, 2014). Another reference gives typical cold start times of 250 minutes for
1990s base load plants and 180 minutes for recent flexible designs (IEAGHG, 2012a).
3.4.4 Ramp rates
Ramp rates of the simple cycle frame gas turbines in the database for which data are available are in
the range of 5-33%/minute of rated output, with most being in the range of 7-15%/min. The rates
for combined cycles are 7-45%/min and the typical value is around 10%/min. It is however
emphasised that the ramp rates are highly turbine-specific, and manufacturers sometimes quote
very different ramp rates for turbines that appear in most respects to be similar.
Aero-derivative turbines have substantially higher ramp rates, in the range of 87-120%/minute in
simple cycle and 62-88%/minute in combined cycle. An exception is the GE LMS100, which has an
aero-derivative core but which includes some features of heavy duty gas turbines, which has ramp
rates of 44-46%/min in simple cycle and 37-39%/min in combined cycle.
3.4.5 Minimum load
The minimum loads of most of the gas turbines are in the range of 30-50% in simple cycle mode,
although some are as high as 85%. The minimum loads of combined cycle plants are mostly in the
range of 38-60% for frame gas turbines and 19-42% for aero-derivative turbines. An exception is the
Ansaldo GT26 which has an exceptionally low minimum load of 10% in simple cycle mode and 15% in
combined cycle mode.

4. COSTS
4.1 Capital costs
Capital costs of simple cycle and combined cycle plants are provided in this section of the report and
in the database. The main source of data is the Gas Turbine World 2014-15 Handbook (GTW, 2015).
The costs in the Gas Turbine World Handbooks are broadly in line with those quoted in the GTPRO
turbine modelling software. In the case of some turbines, the power output ratings included in the
database are higher than those pertaining at the time of the GTW 2015 reference. In those cases the
cost per kW rather than the cost per machine has been assumed to remain constant.
The costs are indicative only and no significance should be attached to differences in costs between
different manufacturers. Costs will in practice be determined on a project specific basis, depending
on the scope of supply, local geographical factors, transport costs, tariffs, commercial arrangements,
etc. The market price of gas turbines varies over time due to variations in supply and demand and
other competitive market factors.

27
The main gas turbine manufacturers are based in the USA, continental Europe and Japan. The costs
in this report are quoted in US$ rather than UK£ because most published data are in dollars and at
the time of writing currency exchange rates are highly volatile. The main aim of this report is to
provide a comparison of different classes of turbines, rather than absolute costs for a specific project
at a UK location. It is recommended that the ETI consult an engineering and construction contractor
to obtain costs for UK sites.
4.1.1 Simple cycle gas turbines
Prices of simple cycle gas turbines are quoted in this report as equipment prices at the factory gate
for the turbine, generator and balance of plant such as air filter, exhaust duct, stack and control
system. Total plant costs of simple cycle power plants are higher than the FOB equipment costs.
Normal practice for building up the major equipment price into an estimate of the total project price
is to apply a factor of 2 to increase the scope from equipment only to complete power island and a
further factor of 1.1 to adjust from multi contract to an EPC contracting regime (Parsons
Brinckerhoff, 2008).
Costs of simple cycle frame and aero-derivative gas turbines with power outputs greater than 5MWe
are shown in Figure 15 on a linear scale of power output and in Figure 16 on a logarithmic scale of
power output.
Figure 15 shows that the specific costs ($/kW) decrease substantially at higher power outputs but
above about 200MW the specific cost remains more constant. A larger power output would be
expected to result in greater economies of scale but within the 200-470MW size range the larger
turbines tend to be more modern machines with higher efficiencies. The higher efficiencies are
achieved by using more exotic materials and improved cooling techniques which entail greater
manufacturing complexity, which tends to offset the economies of scale. Turbine manufacturers also
need to recover their substantial costs of developing new turbines though the prices of such
turbines. It should also be borne in mind that the price of gas turbines is not necessarily directly
related to the cost of development and manufacture. Turbines which have higher efficiencies have
lower specific fuel costs, which should enable them to command a higher market price, provided
other attributes such as flexibility, reliability and maintenance costs are the same.

900
Simple cycle cost, $/kW FOB, 2015 US$

800
700
600
500
Frame
400
Aero
300
200
100
0
0 100 200 300 400 500
Power, MW

Figure 14 Simple cycle turbine equipment costs, FOB

28
 900
Simple cycle cost, $/kW FOB, 2015 US$

800
700
600
500
Frame
400
Aero
300
200
100
0
1 10 100 1000
Power, MW

Figure 16 Simple cycle turbine equipment costs, FOB (logarithmic scale)

On a logarithmic basis, Figure 16 shows that the relationship between cost and power output is
reasonably linear between about 10 and 470MW. The average cost scale exponent over this range is
about 0.75, although as discussed above the specific cost is more constant and the cost exponent
will be higher above 200MW.
Figures 15 and 16 distinguish between aero-derivative and non-aero-derivative turbines. Aero-
derivative turbines appear on average to have slightly higher capital costs than other turbines with
the same power outputs but it is not clear to what extent this difference is significant.
A study of peaking power plants carried out by Lummus Consultants for the New York Independent
System Operator provides costs for gas turbine and gas engine plants with total power outputs of
around 200MW at six locations within the New York area (Richert, 2016). The plant types are:
 2 x GE LMS100PA+, aero-derivative gas turbines
 1 x Siemens SGT6-5000F5, frame gas turbine
 12 x Wartsila 18V50DF, gas engines
The capital costs of the aero-derivative turbine plants are about 50% higher than those of the frame
turbine plants. The cost difference is in part due to the need to provide two aero-derivative turbines
to provide the same power output as one frame turbine. The gas engine overall plant costs are 17%
higher than the aero-derivative turbine plant costs. Amongst the six plant sites in the New York area,
costs varied by as much as 30%, which emphasises the site specific nature of power plant costs.
A study carried out for the Western Electricity Council also provides costs of aero-derivative and
frame gas turbines and gas engines from various sources (WECC, 2014). The ratio of costs is similar
to in the New York study. The average aero-derivative turbine plant cost is 45% higher than the
average frame turbine plant cost and the average gas engine plant cost is 8% higher than the aero-
derivative turbine plant cost.

29
4.1.2 Combined cycle plants
Budget prices for total combined cycle plants including balance of plant and construction are shown
in Figures 17 and 18. Costs are given for 1+1 plants, consisting of one gas turbine and HRSG plus one
steam turbine, and 2+1 plants consisting of two gas turbines and HRSGs plus one steam turbine.

1400
Combinede cycle plant cost, $/kW, 2015 US$

1200

1000

800

1+1 plants
600
2+1 plants
400

200

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Power, MW

Figure 17 Combined cycle plant costs

1400
Combined cycle plant cost, $/kW, 2015 US$

1200

1000

800
1+1 plants
600
2+1 plants
400

200

0
10 100 1000
Power, MW

Figure 18 Combined cycle plant costs (logarithmic scale)

In common with simple cycle turbines, the costs per kW of combined cycle plants decrease with
increasing size due to economies of scale but the rate of decrease in costs tails off at larger plant
sizes. Costs for 1+1 and 2+1 plants of similar capacities do not seem to differ significantly.
The costs in Figures 17 and 18 are total plant “overnight” costs in current money values, excluding
escalation and interest during construction. They include equipment supply, plant engineering and
construction but exclude transportation, project-specific options, owner’s costs, contingencies,
commissioning and spare parts. A mechanical draught water cooling system is including but grid
connection, fuel gas compression and back-up fuel supply (if required), an HRSG by-pass damper and

30
stack and SCR and CO oxidation are not included. Including SCR and CO oxidation is reported to
increase the cost by around 5% and including a by-pass damper and stack increases the cost by
around 3% (El Masri, 2013). Use of an air cooling system is reported to increase the cost per kW by
10% because of a lower net power output and a higher capital cost (El Masri, 2013), although the
relative costs depend on ambient conditions. Overall, it is reported that total plant costs for
combined cycle plants can vary by as much as 30% depending on differences in engineering and
design choices (GTW, 2015).
Costs also vary depending on the plant location. The costs presented here are for plants built in the
US Gulf Coast region, which is a relatively low-cost region because of its relatively benign ambient
conditions, regulatory requirements and a large pool of skilled labour and contractors.
In order to provide a general indication of the relative contributions of different plant areas to the
overall cost of a combined cycle plant, Table 2 provides a breakdown of the cost of a plant based on
two 60Hz, 210MW F-class gas turbines and one steam turbine (NETL, 2015). The costs are on a June
2011 basis. The Total Plant Cost is the Bare Erected Cost plus engineering and home office fees and
contingencies. Start-up and inventory costs, escalation, interest during construction and owner’s
costs are not included.
Table 2 Breakdown of a combined cycle plant cost
Plant area Equipment cost Bare erected Total plant cost
cost
M$ M$ M$ $/kW
Fuel and feedwater inputs 28.1 42.6 53.9 86
Gas turbine 104.2 112.4 134.9 214
HRSG, ducting and stack 35.0 44.2 53.3 85
Steam turbine and auxiliaries 52.3 66.6 81.1 129
Cooling water system 5.0 15.9 19.9 32
Accessory electrical plant 21.3 37.8 45.6 72
Instrumentation and control 7.1 13.9 16.9 27
Site preparation and facilities 2.1 9.0 11.8 19
Buildings 0 10.8 13.5 21
Total 255.2 353.2 430.9 685

4.2 Operating costs

Examples of operating costs for base load plants are given in Table 3. Cost breakdowns are available
in NETL (NETL, 2015) and IEAGHG (IEAGHG, 2012b) references but are not reported here. The
IEAGHG costs are for a plant in Europe. The costs have been translated to US$ using the exchange
rate at the time of the study, for comparison with the other studies.
Table 3 Power plant operating costs
Plant Reference $/year per kW net capacity
type Fixed cost Variable cost Total
Combined cycle 7F, 2+1 NETL, 2015 25 12 37
Combined cycle 9F, 2+1 IEAGHG, 2012b 30 8 38
Aero-derivative simple cycle WECC, 2014 15
Frame simple cycle WECC, 2014 9
Combined cycle WECC, 2014 10
Gas engine WECC, 2014 18

31
Operating costs depend on contractual arrangements, for example sometimes the owners have long
term service agreements, particularly for new turbines, and sometimes the maintenance is carried
out on a more in-house basis. The main component of the IEAGHG variable cost is the cost of a long
term service agreement linked to the number of operating hours. The main variable cost in the NETL
study is the cost of water, which is highly site specific.
Operating costs of gas turbine power plants also depend on the number of start-ups and the amount
of ramping. When a power plant is turned on and off, the components undergo thermal and
pressure stresses, which cause damage which will result in higher plant equivalent forced outage
rates (EFOR) and/or higher capital and maintenance costs to replace components at or near the end
of their service lives. In addition, the overall plant life may be reduced. How soon these detrimental
effects will occur will depend on the specific types and frequency of the cycling.
Median costs due to hot and cold start-ups and a load following excursion are shown in Table 4
(Intertek APTECH, 2012). The costs comprise increased capital and maintenance (C&M) costs and the
increase in the equivalent forced outage rate (EFOR) and are in addition to the normal costs of
continuous base load operation. Median costs of a cold start are around 1.5-3 times greater than the
costs of a hot start. Aero-derivative turbines have lower start-up and cycling costs than large frame
gas turbines, which is to be expected as they are based on aero-engines that are specifically
designed for flexible operation. The relative costs of cold and hot starts are more similar for aero-
derivative than for frame turbines. Table 4 shows median costs but costs vary substantially between
different plants, as detailed in the reference. Modern power plants are designed for more flexible
operation and it is possible that this may reduce cycling costs.
Table 4 Costs of gas turbine power plant cycling events
Simple cycle Combined cycle
Aero-derivative Large frame
Hot start
C&M cost, $/MW capacity 19 32 35
EFOR impact, % 0.0073 0.0020 0.0025
Cold start
C&M cost, $/MW capacity 32 103 79
EFOR impact, % 0.0088 0.0035 0.0055
Load following
C&M cost, $/MW capacity at typical ramp rate 0.63 1.59 0.64
Faster ramp rate cost multiplying factor 1-1.2 1.2-4 1.2-4

5. USE OF HYDROGEN-CONTAINING GASES IN GAS TURBINES

5.1 Hydrogen-containing gases used in gas turbines
The main gaseous fuel used in gas turbines is natural gas, which is predominantly CH4 but various
other “opportunity fuels” are also used, such as coke oven gas, refinery off-gas, blast furnace gas
and syngas from coal and oil gasification. Typical compositions of these gases are shown in Table 5.

32
Table 5 Compositions of fuel gases used in gas turbines (Huth, 2012, OGJ, 2008)
Composition, vol%
Natural gas Coke oven gas Refinery off-gas Syngas Blast furnace gas
(undiluted)
H2 - 50-60 5-35 25-50 2-6
CO - 4-6 0-1 35-65 20-30
CH4 80-100 20-30 30-50 0-6 -
C2H4 - - 5-20 - -
C2H6 0-15 1-3 15-25 - -
C3H6 - - 1-5 - -
C3H8 0-5 0-1 1-5 - -
C4H10 0-0.5 0-0.5 0-1 - -
N2 0-15 10-12 3-10 1-10 45-60
CO2 0-6 1-2 0-1 2-20 20-25

Opportunity fuels are often available at lower costs than natural gas, which has provided an
incentive for turbine manufacturers to make suitable machines available. The current low prices of
natural gas have however resulted in reduced interest in the use of such fuels.
Gasification combined cycle plants with pre-combustion capture of CO2 were expected to be a
significant market for hydrogen-burning gas turbines in future. Such plants produce fuel gas with a
hydrogen concentration of around 90% before dilution (assuming 90% CO2 capture) (NETL, 2015).
The level of interest in such plants has however failed to live up to expectations, and the focus of
interest in capture of CO2 has shifted towards post combustion capture rather than pre-combustion
capture. This has further reduced the commercial impetus towards development of hydrogen-
burning turbines. The money needed to develop and demonstrate hydrogen-burning turbines is
substantial, for example Solar Turbines mentions a cost of $50M to develop a fuel delivery package,
control and safety systems for a 15MW turbine (Solar Turbines, 2013).
The opportunity fuel that is most directly relevant to the ETI’s proposed scheme of using stored
hydrogen and methane in gas turbines is coke oven gas, which consists of 50-60% H2 together with
20-30% CH4. The composition of refinery off-gas is variable, the H2 concentration is typically 5-35%
but it can be as high as 95%. Syngas from gasification (without CCS) is also relevant even through it
contains only small amounts of CH4. In some respects the large concentration of CO creates
additional difficulties but in other respects it reduces problems compared to pure H2, as discussed
later, as discussed later.

5.2 Properties of H2, CH4 and CO

Properties of H2 are shown in Table 6, along with properties of CH4 and CO, which is a major
constituent of some other fuel gases used in gas turbines.

33
Table 6 Properties of gases (Huth, 2013; Smith, 2009)
CH4 H2 CO
LHV, MJ/Nm3 35.91 10.78 12.63
LHV, MJ/kg 50.06 119.97 10.10
Density, kg/Nm3 0.72 0.09 1.25
Stoichiometric combustion temperature, K 2206 2376 2370
Stoichiometric air demand, kg/kg 17.35 34.53 2.49
Laminar flame speed (max), cm/s 54 770 2.7
Laminar flame speed (excess air ratio=2), cm/s 12 43 0.8
Chemical reaction time (min), s 2E-5 2E-7 6E-3
Chemical reaction time (excess air ratio=2), s 4E-4 4E-5 8E-2
Autoignition time at 1000C (min), s 1E-3 2E-5 4E-2
Flammability limits, vol% 5-15 4-75 12.5-74
Wobbe index, MJ/m3 48.21 40.9 12.85
Properties at 18 bar, fuel-air mixtures calculated with 420C air temperature and 200C fuel temperature

Compared to CH4, H2 has a lower density, a higher stoichiometric combustion temperate and flame
speed, shorter autoignition and reaction times and a wider flammability limit, especially a higher
upper flammability limit. The heating value of H2 is lower on a volumetric basis but higher on a mass
basis.
The Wobbe index is a common indicator of fuel characteristics and inter-changeability in combustion
systems and gas turbines. Wobbe index is defined as the heating value divided by the square root of
the specific gravity of the fuel (the density of the fuel divided by the density of air). The pressure
drop in the fuel system will be the same for different fuels with the same Wobbe index and in
general direct substitution is possible and no changes have to be made to the fuel system. Table 6
shows that H2 and CH4 have broadly similar Wobbe indices. The lower density of hydrogen is
counteracted by its lower volumetric heat of combustion. In contrast, CO has a much lower Wobbe
index than CH4 because although it also has a lower volumetric heat of combustion it has a higher
density. Vendors sometimes specify the Wobbe index tolerances of their gas turbines. Some
examples are given in Table 7. For comparison, the Wobbe index of H2 is 18% higher than that of
CH4.
Table 7 Wobbe Index variation of gas turbines (GE, 2016a)
Gas turbine model Wobbe index variation
GE6B.03 >±30%
GE9E.03/.04 >±30%
GE9F.06 ±15%
GE9HA ±15%
GE LM6000PF ±25%
GE LMS100PA+ ±20%
GE LMS100PB+ ±25%

There are however limitations of the use of Wobbe Index when burning fuels with very different
compositions. The Wobbe index does not reflect changes in other fuel properties such as flame
speed and combustion chemistry. If more reactive species such as H2 are present in significant
quantities, additional changes to the fuel system may be required.

34
5.3 Impacts of hydrogen on combustor design, operation and emissions
Important issues that are affected by the use of hydrogen-containing gases in gas turbine
combustors include flashback, blowout, autoignition, stoichiometric flame temperature and
emissions, flammability limits and combustion instability.
5.3.1 Flashback and blowout
Blowout, also known as static stability is when the flame becomes detached from where it is
anchored and is blown out of the combustor. The opposite of blowout is flashback, which is when
the turbulent flame speed is greater than the flow velocity and the flame propagates backwards into
the premixing section of the combustor. Flashback often occurs in the flow boundary layer, since this
is the point of lowest flow velocity. Hydrogen has a high flame speed, which means that flashback is
more significant when burning hydrogen and blowout is less significant.
Most issues are related to the turbulent flame speed, which depends on the laminar flame speed,
the level of turbulence in the combustor and other factors such as diffusion characteristics of the
chemical components. Two different fuels having the same laminar flame speed, turbulence
intensity and burner can have appreciably different turbulent flame speeds. In swirling flows
flashback can potentially occur by other mechanisms such as vortex breakdown. In this case
flashback can occur even if the turbulent flame speed is less than the flow velocity. (Lieuwen, 2008).
The laminar flame speed is defined as the velocity at which unburned gases move through the
combustion wave in the direction normal to the wave surface. The laminar flame speed does not
vary linearly between the respective pure values of the mixture constituents. The addition of H2 to
CH4 does not have a substantial impact on the laminar flame speed until H2 is the dominant
constituent of the mixture, as shown in Figure 19 (Lieuwen, 2008).

Figure 19 Dependence of laminar flame speed (cm/s) upon composition

1500K (left), 1900K (right) adiabatic flame temperatures at 4.4 atm with 460K reactant temperatures
Source: Lieuwen, 2008

The EU has funded a research project, H2-IGCC, that involves the development of syngas and
hydrogen fired gas turbines (H2-IGCC, 2014). The potential for flashback was identified as the largest
design challenge when using high hydrogen fuels, which can be overcome to a certain extent by
increasing the bulk velocity of the reactants through the burner, but this results in a configuration
that is hard to stabilise when operating with natural gas. If the final burner design must be fuel

35
flexible (operation with H2-rich fuel gas as well as with natural gas) then design conflicts are
apparent at this stage.
5.3.2 Autoignition
Autoignition involves spontaneous combustion in the absence of a concentrated source of ignition,
for example a spark or flame. It is similar in some respects to flashback in that it results in
combustion upstream in the premix section of a combustor but it has different physical origins. The
autoignition time delay is the time required for a mixture to spontaneously ignite at specific
conditions. It can be seen from Table 6 that the autoignition time of H2 is much less than that of CH4.
Higher temperatures and pressures tend to shorten the autoignition time and leaner mixtures tend
to have a longer delay time (Kurz, 2012). Autoignition in the premix section can damage the
combustor and cause high emission levels. In a lean premix combustor the flow velocities have to be
high enough to avoid autoignition inside the injector. While the presence of hydrogen greatly
reduces the ignition time delay at high temperatures compared to methane, at typical gas turbine
combustor inlet temperatures the autoignition time delay should be sufficiently long to preclude
autoignition in a well designed premixer (Lieuwen, 2012). However, few data are reported to be
available for mixtures and engine specific tests are often necessary to avoid problems (Kurz, 2012).
5.3.3 Flame temperature and emissions
In standard combustion systems the flame temperature is close to the stoichiometric flame
temperature (Kurz, 2012). The stoichiometric flame temperature strongly affects the amount of NO x
that is produced, with higher temperature resulting in more NOx. As shown in Table 6, H2 has a
higher stoichiometric flame temperature than CH4, so NOx production is more of an issue. As
discussed in section 2.5.2, the stoichiometric flame temperature can be reduced by dilution with
steam, water or N2, thereby reducing NOx production.
Although the flame temperature of H2 is higher than that of CH4 at the same equivalence ratio, the
presence of H2 extends the lean blowout limit. If the reduction in lean blowout limit is significant
then the combustor could be operated with a higher equivalence ratio, which could offset the
increase in flame temperature and have an overall positive effect on NOx emissions. However,
modifying the fuel and/or flow rates may change the mixing profile and temperature distribution,
potentially leading to an in increase in NOx emissions (Taamallah, 2015). At lean combustion
conditions the impact of hydrogen on NOx formation does not have a clear trend and the NOx
emission is not believed to change significantly as hydrogen is mixed into the natural gas up to 35 %
by volume H2 (Andersson, 2013).
Another issue that may arise if the fuel is a mixture of H2 and CH4 rather than pure H2 is that
emissions of CO may be higher because CO oxidation to CO2 is more limited at leaner conditions and
lower temperatures.
5.3.4 Flammability limits
The fuel air ratio in a gas turbine changes at different loads. In order to avoid flameout, i.e. when the
flame in the combustor is extinguished, it must be possible to achieve combustion over a range of
fuel-air ratios. The ratio of flammability limits indicates whether it will be possible to operate the
combustor at the required range of operating points of the turbine. The upper and lower
flammability limits are the maximum and minimum percentages of fuel in a fuel-air mixture that can
sustain combustion. It can be seen from the data in Table 6 that hydrogen has a much larger ratio of

36
flammability limits (the upper flammability limit divided by the lower). This indicates that flameout
should be less of a concern for H2 fired turbines.
5.3.5 Combustion instability
Combustion instabilities are characterised by large amplitude pressure oscillations that are driven by
unsteady heat release. Combustion instabilities can cause increased sound levels and physical
damage to the combustor and in extreme cases they can cause the break-off of material that
damages downstream components in the turbine. For instabilities to occur the heat and pressure
oscillations must be in phase (or more precisely, their phase difference is less than 90 degrees). The
degree of instability is affected by the fuel composition. Of particular significance in premixed
combustor systems are two mechanisms: fuel/air ratio oscillations and vortex shedding. In the
former mechanism, acoustic oscillations in the pre-mixer section cause fluctuations in the fuel
and/or air supply rates, thus producing a reactive mixture whose equivalence ratio varies
periodically in time. The resulting mixture fluctuations are convected in the flame where it produces
heat release oscillations that drive the instability. Vortex shedding is the result of flow separation
from the flameholders and rapid expansions as well as vortex breakdown in swirling flows. They are
convected by the flow of the flame where they distort the flame front and thereby cause the rate of
heat release to oscillate (Lieuwen, 2008).

Lean premixed combustors are more prone to combustion instabilities than earlier types of gas
turbine combustor (Taamallah, 2015). Fuel composition can affect combustion instabilities. The
results from the literature point towards the conclusion that fuel change is not an additional
complication for premixed combustion dynamic stability. Some conflicting results can be noticed,
most probably due to the geometry and specific design of the combustors used. This strengthens the
idea that addition of H2 can have a positive or negative impact on combustor dynamic stability
(Taamallah, 2015).

5.4 Impacts on overall gas turbine design and operation

5.4.1 Compressor-turbine matching
Use of nitrogen, steam or water as diluents for NOx control increases the mass flow rate into the
expansion turbine. The swallowing capacity of the turbine (M√T/P) is almost constant so the higher
mass flow rate results in a higher turbine inlet pressure, and hence a higher compressor outlet
pressure. Increasing the compressor outlet pressure moves it closer towards the surge line, beyond
which flow instability and catastrophic damage can occur. To avoid the compressor operating too
close to or reaching the surge line, various techniques can be used. The extent to which these
techniques are needed depends on the surge margin of the compressor, i.e. how far away from the
surge line it operates under normal full load conditions. The surge margin is different for different
gas turbines. The simplest technique is to reduce the mass flow of air into the compressor by closing
the compressor inlet guide vanes. Closing the inlet guide vanes is however a technique that is
normally used to turn down a gas turbine and it is also used to accommodate changes in ambient
temperature. If the gas turbine has to operate at full load with the inlet guide vanes partially closed,
the ability to efficiently turn down the turbine is reduced. The advantage of closing the inlet guide
vanes is that it does not require significant change to the turbine design.

37
An alternative technique that can be used is to add an extra stage or stages to the compressor,
which enables the compressor to operate with a higher pressure ratio without moving closer to the
surge line but this also involves some re-engineering. An example of this the V94.2K gas turbine
developed by Siemens for IGCC and blast furnace gas. This turbine was created by modifying the
existing standard V94.2 turbine by removing the first compressor stage and by adding two additional
final compressor stages (Smith, 2009). This turbine is used at the ISAB oil residue IGCC plant in Italy.
Another technique that can be used is to increase the height or angle of the turbine blades, which
enables the turbine to swallow a greater mass flow without increasing the pressure, but this requires
a significant re-engineering of the turbine.
A further technique that is used in some IGCC plants is to extract some air from after the gas turbine
compressor, which reduces the mass flow into the turbine to offset the higher mass flow of fuel gas
and diluents. The extracted air is fed via a partial pressure let-down turbine to a cryogenic air
separation plant, thereby replacing some of the air that would otherwise be provided by the ASU
main air compressors. This technique was applied in some commercial IGCC plants, for example at
Buggenum, but a high degree of integration between the ASU and gas turbine was found to result in
greater operational difficulties and lower operating flexibility. Air extraction is not suitable if the ASU
and gasification plant are not integrated and do not necessarily operate at the same times, which
would be the case in ETI’s schemes with hydrogen storage.
5.4.2 Turbine heat transfer
Use of hydrogen fuel and the addition of diluents change the gas composition and increase the
pressure, which affect the turbine heat transfer.
When H2 is used as fuel instead of CH4 the quantity of H2O in the turbine inlet gas increases and the
quantity of CO2 decreases. This however has no significant impact on the heat flux on the outer
surface of the turbine blades (Chiesa, 2005). In contrast, steam dilution increases the thermal flux
because the heat transfer coefficient of steam is higher than that or air. The higher heat transfer
coefficient would result in higher blade metal temperatures which would be unacceptable as it
would reduce the lifetime of the turbine. The temperature profile can in principle be restored by
increasing the cooling flow but this would require re-engineering of the turbine. The only feasible
alternative is to reduce the temperature of the turbine inlet gas, but this reduces the efficiency of
the turbine.
The higher mass flow rate due to the addition of diluents can increase the pressure of the turbine
inlet gas, as described earlier. A higher pressure affects the turbine heat transfer in three ways.
Firstly, the heat transfer coefficients both inside and outside the blades increase but this is not a
neutral effect because the increased heat flux reduces the temperature difference between the fluid
and the blade, which would result in a higher blade temperature (unless the temperature of the
expansion gas is reduced). Secondly, the temperature of the cooling air from the compressor
increases, which reduces the effectiveness of cooling. Thirdly, while the geometry of the cooling air
circuit remains the same, the mass flow of cooling air increases because the density of the
compressed air increases. This increased cooling air flow rate increases the extent of blade cooling
which tends to offset the two other effects of the higher pressure. However, overall the turbine inlet
temperature needs to be reduced to avoid an increase in the blade metal temperatures.

38
5.4.3 Turbine materials
The concentration of H2O in the turbine inlet gas is higher when firing hydrogen, especially when
H2O is used as a diluent in the combustor. The presence of H2O speeds up the oxidation mechanism
of turbine thermal barrier coatings, shortening the life of the coatings. It also appears that the higher
thermal gradients through thermal barrier coatings in hydrogen fired turbines accelerate some
modes of cracking and degradation of coatings. It may be necessary to decrease the turbine inlet
temperature with respect to natural gas firing in order to preserve the turbine lifetime (Grazzani,
2014). However, combusted hydrogen-enriched syngas did not cause significantly more damage
than combusted natural gas in demonstrations in either ENEL’s Fusina gas turbine or Cranfield
University’s burner rig cascade trial (H2-IGCC, 2014).
5.4.4 Hazards
Hazards which need to be considered include flammability and detonation limits and auto-ignition
temperatures outside as well as inside the turbine and its associated heat exchangers and ducting
need to be considered. Gas turbine enclosures are designed to avoid accumulation of leaked gases
and gas detectors are installed. The concentration of leaked gas must not exceed the flammability
limits. Hydrogen has an especially low density, which can cause problems in an enclosure because it
will rise and may accumulate in high dead spots, although outside it tends to aid its dispersion.
Hydrogen has a non-luminous flame which makes detection more difficult. Hydrogen has a negative
Joule Thompson coefficient at temperatures at or above ambient temperatures, which results in a
temperature increase when it expands but this is unlikely to cause ignition on its own because the
increase is too low, e.g. 9-18K for expansion from 50MPa at 9C. A stoichiometric mixture of
hydrogen and air has a very low minimum ignition energy, which makes it far more sensitive to
ignition than other gases or vaporised flammable materials, and the potential for electrostatic
ignition is much greater (Gummer, 2008).

5.5 Performance of hydrogen fired gas turbines

In diffusion flame combustors the flame tends to be close to the stoichiometric flame temperature.
The temperature needs to be reduced by dilution to reduce NOx emissions to acceptable levels. In
lean premix combustors the flame temperature is limited by the large excess of air and no diluents
need to be added, but hydrogen has a high flame speed which requires high air velocities to obtain
short mixing times and high turbulence rates. This may result in high pressure drops.
The sensitivity of performance of gas turbine combined cycle plants to stoichiometric flame
temperatures and diluents rates in diffusion combustors, and the combustor pressure drop in a
premix combustor has been modelled (Grazzani, 2014). The results are shown in Table 8. The
features of the gas turbine are representative of a state of the art large 50Hz F-class frame gas
turbine specifically designed for hydrogen combustion.

39
Table 8 Effects of combustor type, combustor pressure drop and diluent addition on the performance and emissions of hydrogen-fired turbines

Premix combustor Diffusive flame combustor

No diluent Nitrogen diluent Steam diluent
Stoichiometric Flame Temperature K 2712 2712 2575 2200 2575 2200
Combustor pressure drop % 3 10 3 3 3 3
Diluent:hydrogen ratio kg/kg 0 0 3.46 15.93 1.62 7.56
NOx (15% O2 basis) ppmv - - 250 19 250 19
Turbine flows and temperatures
Compressor air inlet flow kg/s 662 619 640 560 647 591
Hydrogen fuel flow kg/s 6.0 5.6 6.0 6.1 6.1 6.4
Diluent flow kg/s 0 0 21 98 10 48
Gas turbine inlet flow kg/s 539 503 538 536 532 505
Gas turbine outlet temperature C 575 586 575 574 578 590
Steam turbine inlet flow kg/s 72 70 72 72 73 78
Energy flows and efficiencies
Fuel input MW (LHV) 724 676 726 735 732 764
Gas turbine gross power MW 289 262 298 330 296 325
Nitrogen compressor power MW 0 0 10 48 0 0
Steam turbine gross power MW 138 133 138 137.3 131 104
Combined cycle net power MW 423 391 421 415.1 424 426
Combined cycle efficiency % (LHV) 58.47 57.90 58.04 56.49 57.91 55.76
Efficiency vs pre-mix combustor base case % points - -0.57 -0.43 -1.98 -0.56 -2.71

40
The mass of diluent has a large impact on the quantity of NOx produced. In order to achieve NOx of
less than 20ppmv (15% O2 basis) the stoichiometric flame temperature needs to be reduced to about
2200K, which requires a N2:H2 ratio of about 16:1 or a steam:H2 ratio of about 7.5:1. This
corresponds to a concentration of about 53%vol N2 in a N2/H2 mixture and 46%vol steam in a
steam/H2 mixture. Using N2 diluent to achieve a stoichiometric flame temperature of 2200K reduces
the efficiency of a hydrogen fired combined cycle plant to 56.5%, i.e. a 2.0 percentage point
reduction compared to a plant with no diluent addition. Using steam as the diluent reduces the
efficiency to 55.8%, i.e. 2.7 percentage point reduction. The steam for injection into the gas turbine
is assumed to be extracted from the steam turbine of the combined cycle plant and nitrogen is
assumed to be compressed from atmospheric pressure. The capital cost of a nitrogen compressor on
the one hand and the costs of water treatment for steam injection are additional costs that would
need to be taken into account in any economic comparison of steam and nitrogen injection. In the
type of hydrogen storage schemes proposed by ETI, nitrogen would have to be extracted from
underground storage, which may impose additional energy penalties as well as extra capital costs.
Grazzani’s analysis also considered the effects of a conservative approach of reducing the nominal
blade metal temperature, in case this is necessary to compensate for faster degradation of thermal
barrier coatings, as mentioned earlier, and a more uneven distribution of temperature at the entry
to the turbine. As an example, reducing the blade metal temperature by 40C reduced the combined
cycle plant efficiencies by an average of around 1.3 percentage points.
Grazzani, 2014 only assesses combined cycle plants. The relative efficiencies of nitrogen and steam
injection would be different for simple cycle plants. In a simple cycle plant with nitrogen addition the
turbine exhaust gas would be exhausted straight to atmosphere but for steam injection the exhaust
gas could be passed through a simple heat recovery steam generator to generate steam which
would be fed directly to the gas turbine. Assuming the generated steam was at the same
temperature as the steam extracted from the steam turbine in Grazzani’s analysis, the efficiency of a
simple cycle plant with sufficient steam addition to achieve a stoichiometric flame temperate of
2200K (<20ppmv NOx) would be about 42.5%, which is significantly higher than the 38.3% efficiency
of a corresponding plant with nitrogen addition. A downside of using steam addition in a simple
cycle plant is that the addition of a steam generator would increase the start-up time, which may be
a disadvantage for a peak load plant.
The analysis described above is based on turbines specifically designed for hydrogen rich fuel gas.
The market for turbines burning hydrogen rich gas is currently small, so at least in the short term,
existing turbines would have to be used as far as possible and the their operating parameters would
have to be modified to accommodate the use of hydrogen rich gases. As discussed earlier, hydrogen
fired gas turbines with diluent injection would have to operate either by partially closing the
compressor guide vanes to reduce mass flow through the compressor, or by keeping the air flow
constant and allowing an increase in turbine inlet pressure. Alternatively, the turbine could be re-
engineered to increase the first stage turbine nozzle area, to enable the turbine to accept a higher
mass flow without requiring a higher pressure. In practice a combination of these techniques could
be used. The effects of these different techniques on the performance of a combined cycle plant
were assessed based on a set of assumptions corresponding to a Siemens V94.3A large frame F-class
gas turbine, which is the predecessor of the current Ansaldo AE94.3A and the Siemens SGT54000F
(Chiesa, 2005). The results are shown in Table 9.

41
Table 9 Effects of fuel type, diluents and turbine design and operation on the performance of gas turbines

Fuel Natural Hydrogen

gas
Turbine design/operating mode Standard Variable guide vanes Increased pressure ratio Re-engineered turbine
Diluent None None Steam Nitrogen None Steam Nitrogen None Steam Nitrogen
Turbine pressure & temperatures
Stoichiometric Flame Temperature K 2545 2745 2300 2300 2746 2300 2300 2745 2300 2300
Pressure ratio 17.0 17.0 17.0 17.0 17.0 18.5 19.7 17.0 17.0 17.0
Turbine inlet temperature C 1350 1339 1316 1340 1339 1305 1319 1350 1350 1350
Turbine outlet temperature C 585 575 577 574 574 563 549 584 591 569
Turbine flow rates
Compressor air inlet flow kg/s 634 632 584 551 634 634 634 634 634 634
Fuel flow kg/s 15.0 5.6 5.7 5.5 5.6 6.0 6.1 5.7 6.3 6.3
Diluent flow kg/s 0 0 38 80 0 42 94 0 43 91
Diluent:hydrogen ratio kg/s 0 0 6.8 14.4 0 6.8 15.4 0 6.8 14.5
Energy flows and efficiencies
Gas turbine gross power MW 257 264 292 298 265 314 341 266 324 343
Nitrogen compressor power MW 0 0 0 43 0 0 54 0 0 49
Steam turbine gross power MW 130 126 91 125 126 92 132 130 105 142
Combined cycle gross power MW 387 390 383 380 391 406 419 396 429 436
Combined cycle gross efficiency %, LHV 57.57 58.32 56.38 57.46 58.32 56.25 57.15 58.35 56.60 57.57
Efficiency vs natural gas % point - +0.75 -1.19 -0.11 +0.75 -1.32 -0.42 +0.78 -0.97 0.0

42
The main conclusions of the analysis are summarised below:

 If no diluent is used, using hydrogen as the fuel rather than natural gas increases the
efficiency of a combined cycle plant by 0.75 percentage points and increases the efficiency
of a simple cycle gas turbine by 1.36 percentage points, due to the different thermodynamic
properties of the fluids.
 Using nitrogen or steam as a diluent in the combustor reduces the efficiency of a combined
cycle plant. Compared to a natural gas fired combined cycle plant a hydrogen fired plant
with steam injection has an efficiency that is about 1-1.3 percentage points lower and a
plant with nitrogen injection has an efficiency that is about 0-0.4 percentage points lower.
 If the compressor air flow is kept constant, adding a diluent increases the pressure ratio of
the turbine from 17:1 to 18.5:1 in the case of steam and 19.7:1 in the case of nitrogen, in
order to accommodate the larger turbine inlet gas flow rate with the same nozzle area.
Given the stall margins available on existing machines it is doubtful whether this highest
pressure ratio could be achieved without any modification to the machine and probably one
or more high pressure compressor stages would need to be added to shift the surge limit
upwards (Chiesa, 2005).
 The highest efficiencies are achieved if the turbine is re-engineered to increase the nozzle
area of the turbine to enable it to accept a higher mass flow without an increase in pressure.
 Using hydrogen as the fuel results in a lower gas turbine exhaust temperature. This reduces
the efficiency and power output of the steam cycle in a combined cycle plant. The
temperature reduction is greatest in the case where the compressor air flow is kept
constant, because of the additional effect of the higher pressure ratio across the gas turbine.
 Using hydrogen as the fuel increases the gas turbine power output. The increase is greater
when diluents are used; it is as much as a third higher when nitrogen is used and the turbine
pressure ratio is allowed to increase. Although a higher power output is generally
advantageous it may exceed the mechanical limits of the turbine. Also, a larger generator
would be needed.
The optimum choice of diluent would depend on many factors, in particular the duty cycle of the gas
turbines (e.g. peak load with frequent start-ups or mid-merit with less variable operation), and
whether there is a constraint on water consumption. The need to generate steam in a heat recovery
steam generator would increase the start-up time and possibly increase emissions during start-up,
which would be a disadvantage for peak load plants. In this case the greater flexibility of nitrogen
supply would be an advantage.
An alternative to steam injection would be to add water vapour to the hydrogen fuel in a saturator.
Heat would be provided to the saturator using a recirculating stream of warm water, which could be
heated in the lower temperature region of the HRSG. This would be thermodynamically more
efficient than generating steam and adding this to the hydrogen because the evaporation of water
would be achieved using lower grade heat. This is the concept of the HAT cycle described in section
2.4.5.
Another alternative would be to use exhaust gas recycle (EGR), in which a fraction of the turbine
exhaust gas is used instead of nitrogen or steam to reduce the flame temperature and NOx
emissions. It is reported that diffusion combustors could be used, but at high enough EGR rates (i.e.,

43
a working fluid with a very depleted O2 level) the use of lean premixed burners becomes also
feasible (Ditaranto, 2015).

5.6 Manufacturers’ experience with using hydrogen-containing fuel gases

Some commercial gas turbines already operate on fuel gases that contain H2 or they have been
developed to do so. There are heavy duty gas turbines equipped with diffusive flame combustors
operating with gaseous fuels containing up to 95%vol hydrogen (Cocchi, 2008). Reduction of NOx
emissions down to acceptable levels is generally achieved by means of steam, water or nitrogen
injection.
Major turbine manufacturers’ experience of using H2-containing fuel gases is summarised below.
5.6.1 GE
GE has published a list of the capabilities of its existing turbines to use non-standard fuels (GE
2016a). The capabilities to use hydrogen-containing fuel gases are shown in Table 10.

Table 10 GE turbines’ capabilities to use H2-containing fuel gases

H2 blends High H2 Syngas Coke oven gas Refinery/
(O2 blown) process off-gas
LM2500 * * * * *
LM6000 * * * *
LMS100 * * * *
6B.03 * * * * *
9E * * * * *
GT13E2 * *
6F.01 * * * *
6F.03 * * * *
9F * * * *
9HA * * * *

GE’s 44MWe 6B.03 E-class frame gas turbine can operate with up to 95% hydrogen and it can
operate with dry low-NOx combustion with up to 30% hydrogen (GE, 2016b). The GE hydrogen fleet
leader would appear to be a Frame 6B unit at the Daesan petrochemical plant in Korea, which was
installed in 1997 and which is reported to be routinely running with hydrogen concentrations
between 85% and 97% (MPS, 2008).
There is experience of using Frame 6B, 6F, 9E and 7F turbines in coal and refinery IGCC plants (Jones,
2003). Fuel gas hydrogen concentrations are mostly around 22-45%vol before dilution but are as
high as 62%. Steam and/or nitrogen is used to limit NOx production and these diluents are injected
into the combustor, rather than being mixed with the fuel. NOx emissions of 9-25ppmv are achieved
at US IGCC plants. GE’s IGCC turbines are reported to be designed with dual fuel capability because
of the dangers of starting on fuels containing hydrogen (Jones, 2003). This also gives the flexibility to
operate using natural gas if the supply of syngas is restricted. The turbines can operate on 100%
syngas or 100% natural gas or, in the “simplified extended turndown system” down to 15% natural
gas with 85% syngas or 35% syngas with 65% natural gas.

44
GE’s aero-derivative turbines are also capable of operating using hydrogen-rich fuels. For pre-mixed,
dry-low emissions (DLE) combustion systems, the hydrogen content is limited to 5 percent by
volume. The limit is due to fast flame speeds from high hydrogen fuels that can result in flashback or
primary zone re-ignition. For single annular combustor systems, limits range from 35 percent H2 by
volume for larger turbines (up to 100 MWe), to about 85 percent by volume for smaller turbines in
the 18 MWe to 30 MWe power range. GE’s LM2500+ and +G4 aero-derivative turbines are capable of
operating with coke oven gas. The LM2500 has experience up to 65% H2 (coke oven gas) in China and
the LM6000 has experience up to 33% H2 (petrochemical plant off-gas) in the USA (diCampli, 2014).

5.6.2 Siemens
Siemens’ V94.2, V94.2K and V94.3 gas turbine designs have been supplied to large coal and residual
oil IGCC plants. The V94.2 and V94.3 turbines are the precursors to Siemens’ current SGT5-2000E
and SGT5-4000F turbines and they are also manufactured by Ansaldo. As mentioned earlier, the
V94.2K is a modification of the V94.2 designed to reduce the compressor mass flow and
accommodate a higher turbine mass flow resulting from the addition of diluents in the combustor.
Siemens’ work on hydrogen combustion has mostly been focussed on 60Hz turbines in the USA, as
part of the US government funded Advanced Hydrogen Turbine Development Project. Siemens’ large
60Hz turbines were originally developed by Westinghouse, which was taken over by Siemens, and
they are not simply scaled versions of Siemens’ 50Hz turbines. Nevertheless, going forward some
common technology can be used in the different frequency machines, so developments for 60Hz
turbines still have relevance to the UK market. Siemens 60Hz SGT6-5000F gas turbine is reported to
support all levels of carbon capture in IGCC (i.e. high hydrogen fuel gas), meeting all emission and
operability issues, with nitrogen addition (Brown, 2007). Siemens reports that their H class turbine
will be available for service in IGCC plants by 2020 (Kraftwerkforschung, 2016).
Siemens also has experience with using high-hydrogen fuel gases in its medium sized industrial
turbines, which are made in Sweden (Blomstedt, 2015). The same DLE combustor is used as standard
in SGT600, 700 and 800 (25-50MWe) turbines. Hydrogen enriched natural gas was verified during
engine operation in 2012. Stable operation could be achieved using hydrogen fractions around 30-
40% by volume. Further analysis of these hydrogen tests indicated that minor modifications to the
standard burner could improve the hydrogen capability. Changes were implemented and new tests
with modified burners were performed during 2014. A criterion for acceptable burner modifications
was that natural gas capability should be kept with acceptable emissions. The tests in 2014
confirmed the possibility to run the SGT-700 on high hydrogen fuels, with results indicating 40-50%
H2 is possible at high loads. Based on these tests the accepted level of H2 in the SGT700 and 800 was
increased to 15%vol. At lower loads, higher hydrogen content is possible. At 10 MW load, 100% H2
was satisfactorily demonstrated, but the NOx emissions were about 60% higher than the high load
emissions.
Siemens’ smaller gas turbines, are also reported to have experience of high-H2 fuel gases at many
locations, including at refineries in the UK. The SGT-200 (currently 6.75MW), manufactured in the
UK, is reported to have experience of 80-85% H2 fuel and the SGT500-600 (currently 19-24MW) has
experience of 20-90% H2. As of 2007, Siemens’ 7-25MW turbines were reported to have more than
750,000 operating hours experience on syngas and high hydrogen content refinery fuel gas
(Wu,2007).

45
5.6.3 Ansaldo
Ansaldo’s GT26 gas turbine, which it inherited from Alstom, is a reheat gas turbine with two
different types of combustor; the first stage (EV) combustors, which operate in a similar way to the
combustors in non-reheat turbine, and the second stage reheat (SEV) combustors, which are
significantly different. The current SEV combustor is designed for natural gas and utilises large scale
mixing devices to create a complex mixing pattern, into which fuel is injected though a lance. This
design causes the rapid and uniform mixing of the reactants. As the vitiated air is above the auto-
ignition temperature, combustion spontaneously occurs after a characteristic ignition delay time
depending on the operating conditions and fuel type. The challenge in utilising hydrogen rich fuel is
principally associated with its reduced auto-ignition delay time, which can be addressed in one of
three approaches:
1. De-rating the engine – allowing the same mixing time by increasing the auto-ignition delay
time through altering the characteristics of the vitiated air (i.e. the inlet temperature of the
flow to the SEV).
2. Decreasing the reactivity of the fuel – i.e. by dilution with an inert gas.
3. Modifying the hardware – either to reduce the mixer residence time in-line with the reduced
auto-ignition delay time or develop a concept which is less influenced by the reactivity of the
fuel.
As part of the EU funded DECARBit project SINTEF developed a premixed reheat combustor
technology which has demonstrated acceptable NOx levels with a low dilution fuel consisting of
hydrogen and only 30% nitrogen, while maintaining combustor pressure drop at an acceptable level
(Erland, 2012).
The GT26 is reported by Alstom to have a capability of up to 10% H2 with the existing hardware with
only minor adaption in the gas supply and control system. More than 10% H2 is feasible with an
advanced SEV burner (Marx, 2013). Different fuels can be used in the two sets of burners.
5.6.4 Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems
Mitsubishi’s operational experience of gas turbines fired with gases containing 20%vol or more
hydrogen is shown in Figure 20 (Garnett, 2014).
In terms of experience of large turbines using high-hydrogen gas, Mitsubishi supplied a M701F gas
turbine for an oxygen-blown, residual oil IGCC plant at Negishi, Japan which entered service in 2003.
The plant has gross and net power outputs of 431MW and 342MW respectively. The turbine uses
diffusion combustors. (Peltier, 2007). Mitsubishi has also installed a M701-DA gas turbine at a
250MW air blown coal fuelled IGCC plant at Nakoso, Japan, which started up in 2007. An M701G
turbine was selected for the ZeroGen coal-fuelled, air-blown IGCC plant with CCS that was planned
to be built in Australia. That project was however cancelled.

46
Figure 20 Mitsubishi’s operational experience of gas turbines firing hydrogen-rich gases
Source: University of Queensland

5.6.5 Solar Turbines

With support from the US Department of Energy, Solar Turbines has developed a dry low NOx
combustor for its Titan 130 turbine that is suitable for use with coke oven gas with up to 65%vol H2.
The Titan 130 firing natural gas has a power output of 16.5MW. The combustor is able to meet the
NOx emission goal of 15ppmv for 50-100% load and showed favourable results on meeting
operability and durability goals (USDOE, 2015). The fuel injector is capable of operating on diesel fuel
or natural gas or high hydrogen fuels. Engine testing is needed to validate the rig results in future.

6. GAS ENGINES
6.1 Overview of gas engines used for grid-based power generation
Gas engines are spark-ignited lean-burn reciprocating engines, derived from diesel engines. The fuel
gas is mixed with air before the inlet valves. During the intake period of engine operation, gas is also
fed into a small prechamber, where the gas mixture is rich compared to the gas in the cylinder. At
the end of the compression phase the gas-air mixture in the prechamber is ignited by a spark plug.
Flames from the prechamber ignite the gas-air mixture in the main cylinder, resulting in rapid
combustion. After the working phase the cylinder is emptied of exhaust gas and the cycle starts
again.
Gas engines are reported to have some advantages compared to diesel engines, including lower
costs (especially in high hours applications), lower emission capabilities, better suitability for variable
load applications and no requirement for local fuel storage.

47
Advantages of gas engines compared to gas turbines include higher thermal efficiency in simple cycle
mode, lower costs for small schemes (<10MWe), better suitability for variable load applications,
greater tolerance to high ambient temperatures and high elevations, lower fuel pressure
requirements and fast start-up times (Caterpillar, 2014). Conversely, turbines have advantages of
lower emission capability, less down-time per machine, simple design, compact equipment and
better suitability for continuous operation.

6.2 Performance of gas engines

Gas engines are available with power outputs from <1MW up to nearly 20MW. The rotational speed
is lower in large engines, for example 500rpm for MAN Diesel and Turbo’s 12-19MW engines and
750rpm for its 3-10MW engines.
Performance of a range of gas engines is given in Table 11 (Corin, 2015; Losch, 2014; MAN Diesel &
Turbo, 2016; Rolls Royce, 2015; Wärtsilä, 2016a; Wärtsilä, 2016b). Hot start means that the engine is
in a pre-heated and pre-lubricated stand-by mode. It can be seen that the stated efficiencies of the
engines are all similar, and significantly higher than those of the most efficient simple cycle gas
turbine (42.5%).

Table 11 Performance of Gas Engines

Manufacturer Model Power (MW) Efficiency (%) Start time (minutes)
Hot Cold
Wärtsilä 34SG 4.3-9.7 49 3 10
Wärtsilä 18V50SG 18.3 50 7 12
MAN 20V35/44G 10.4 49 5-short loading
10-normal loading
Rolls Royce Bergen B35:40 2.6-9.6 48 8

The efficiency of a Wärtsilä engine was shown to be 5 percentage points lower at 50% load than at
full load (Wärtsilä 2016b). The part load efficiency reduction is broadly similar to that of a typical
large modern gas turbine. Gas engines however are often installed in power plants as multiple units
and individual engines can be turned off when power demand is lower, resulting in better overall
plant part load efficiency than for large gas turbines.

6.3 Costs of gas engines

Costs of gas engines are discussed in Section 4 of this report. Public data suggests that in a large
power plant (200MW), gas engines have a slightly higher capital cost than simple cycle aero-
derivative gas turbines.
In utility applications, diesel engines are reported to typically operate for 100-500 hours/year to
satisfy peak load. The lower operating costs of gas engines allow increased operating times of 100-
3000 hours/year (Caterpillar, 2014).

6.4 Use of hydrogen-rich gases in gas engines

Gas engines are operated using a wide range of gaseous fuels, including coal mine gas, landfill gas,
sewage gas, flare gas, biogas, steel mill LD converter gas and coke oven gas. However, the only one

48
of these gases that contains substantial quantities of H2 is coke oven gas, and it is not widely used in
engines.
Twelve Jenbacher gas engines have operated on coke oven gas since 1995 at the Profusa coke
factory in Bilbao, Spain. Total operating hours are more than 1 million. The engines are specially
modified type JGS 316 GS/N.L engines, operating at 1500rpm. They are designed to run with either
coke oven gas, natural gas or a mixture with natural gas down to 30%. The engines are relatively
small, the total power output of all twelve engines is 5.64MW with 100% coke oven gas and
6.528MW with 60% coke oven gas. The efficiency is 37% in both cases (GE Jenbacher, 2008).
Development work on hydrogen-fuelled internal combustion engines for cars has been undertaken.
Although the engines are much smaller than would be needed for utility power generation, it is
possible that some of the technology may be relevant larger engines in future. For example, BMW
developed a new cylinder head for hydrogen operation based on a production diesel engine.
Hydrogen was directly injected into the combustion chamber at pressures up to 300 bar. The engine
achieved an efficiency of 42%, comparable to the best automotive turbo diesel engines (BMW,
2009).

49
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54
APPENDIX GAS TURBINE DATA

Simple Cycle Gas Turbines

Manufacturer Model GT type Net Efficiency Pressure Mass Exhaust Minimum Start time Start time Ramp Ramp 50% load 50% load Comments
power ratio flow temp load Peaking Hot rate rate efficiency efficiency
% full
MW %, LHV kg/s C % Minutes Minutes MW/min %/min % load
Ansaldo AE64.3A Frame 78 36.3 18.3 215 573 45 15 20 7 9
AE94.2 Frame 185 36.2 12 555 541 45 15 30 16
AE94.2K Frame 170 36.5 12 540 545 Low LHV fuel
AE94.3A Frame 310 39.8 19.5 750 576 43 25 22 7
GT26 Reheat 345 41 35 715 616 10 30 33 10

GE Energy Oil & Gas NovaLT5-1 Frame 5.6 30.7 14.8 20 574
GE10-1 Frame 11.25 31.4 15.5 47 482 50
NovaLT16 Frame 16 36 19 54 490
PGT20 Frame 17.46 35.2 15.7 63 475
PGT25 Frame 22.42 36.3 17.9 69 524
PGT25+ Frame 30.23 39.6 21.5 84 500
PGT25+G4 Frame 33.06 40 23.2 90 510

GE Power Aero LM2500 Aero 24.8 35.1 19 71 525 50 10 30 121 Water injection
LM2500 DLE Aero 23.2 36.6 18 68 539 DLE
LM2500+ Aero 31.8 36.9 23.1 89 490 50 10 30 94 Water injection
LM2500+ DLE Aero 31.9 38.8 23.1 87 526 DLE
LM2500+ G4 Aero 34.5 35.3 24.6 97 519 50 10 30 87 Water injection
LM2500+ G4DLE Aero 33.4 37.2 24 93 552 DLE
LM6000PC Aero 45.42 40.1 29.7 130 436 25 5 50 110 Water injection
LM6000PC Sprint Aero 51.06 40.4 31,5 135 449 Water injection, Spray intercooling
LM6000PG Aero 56 40.1 33.5 143 470 25 5 50 89 Water injection
LM6000PG Sprint Aero 59 39.8 34 144 480 Water injection, Spray intercooling
LM6000PF Aero 45 42 30.1 127 457 50 5 50 111 DLE
LM6000PF Sprint Aero 50 42 31.6 133 459 DLE, Spray intercooling
LM6000PF+ Aero 53 41.8 32.1 135 500 50 5 50 94 DLE
LM6000PF+ Sprint Aero 57 41.4 34 143 490 DLE, Spray intercooling
LMS100PA+ Aero 114 43.3 42.5 231 422 25 10 50 44 36.2 84 Water injection
LMS100PB+ Aero 108 43.9 42.5 227 421 50 10 50 46 DLE

55
GE Power Heavy Duty 6B.03 Frame 44 33.5 12.7 145 548 50 10 12 20 45
6F.01 Frame 52 38.4 21 126 603 40 10 12 12 23
6F.03 Frame 82 36 16.4 213 613 52 -20 29 7 9
9E.03 Frame 132 34.6 13.1 419 544 35 10 30 50 38
9E.04 Frame 145 37 12.3 415 542 35 10 30 12 8
GT13E2 Frame 203 38 18.2 624 501 50 10 15 14 7
9F.03 Frame 265 37.8 16.7 665 596 35 20 23 22 8
9F.04 Frame 281 38.6 16.9 667 608 35 20 23 23 8
9F.05 Frame 299 38.7 18.3 667 642 35 10 23 24 8
9F.06 Frame 342 41.1 20 731 618 38 12 23 65 19
9HA.01 Frame 429 42.4 22.9 826 633 30 12 23 65 15
9HA.02 Frame 519 42.7 23.8 996 636 30 12 23 70 13

Kawasaki Heavy Industries M7A-03D Frame 7.8 33.6 15.6 27 523 70 26.4 79
L20A Frame 18.5 34.3 18.6 60 541 70 27.8 81
L30A Frame 30.1 40.1 24.9 89 470 29.3 73

MAN Diesel and Turbo MGT6100 Frame 6.6 32.2 15 26 505 50

THM1304-12N Frame 12 30.5 11 49 515

Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems H25 (42) Frame 42.03 37.2 17.5 111 556 50 22 3.5 8
H50 Frame 57.45 37.8 19.5 151 564 50 22 4.7 8
H100 (100) Frame 99.05 36.7 18.2 292 534 85 22 8 8
H100 (110) Frame 112.44 38.2 19.3 308 538 70 22 9 8
M701DA Frame 144.09 34.8 14 453 542 75 30 9 6
M701F3 Frame 75 30 18
M701F4 Frame 324.3 39.9 18 729 592 40 30 22 7
M701F5 Frame 359 40 21 730 611 45 30 36 10
M701G2 Frame 334 39.5 21 755 587 60 30 22 7
M701JAC Frame 445 >41 23 893 615
M701J Frame 470 41 23 893 638 50 30 58 12
-18
PW Power Systems FT8 SWIFTPAC Aero 30.89 36.6 21.3 92 491 WLE
FT4000 SWIFTPAC Aero 51.83 41 29.9 150 441 <10 DLE
FT4000 SWIFTPAC Aero 70 41.3 36.3 177 425 WLE, wet compression

56
Siemens Energy 501-KB7S Aero 5.24 32.8 13.9 21 498
501-KH5 Aero-STIG 6.45 41.9 12.5 19 530 Steam injected
SGT-100 Frame 5.4 31 15.6 21 531
SGT-200 Frame 6.75 31.3 12.3 29 466
SGT-300 Frame 7.9 30.6 13.7 30 542
SGT-400 Frame 14.33 35.4 18.9 44 540
SGT-500 Frame 19.06 33.7 13 98 369
SGT-600 Frame 24.48 33.6 14 81 543
SGT-700 Frame 32.82 37.2 18.7 95 533
SGT-750 Frame 38.15 40.2 23.7 114 458
SGT-800 Frame 53 39 21.4 137 551 50
RB211-GT61 DLE Aero 32.13 39.3 21.6 94 510
Trent 60 DLE Aero 53.12 42.4 34.5 155 433 10 DLE
Trent 60 DLE ISI Aero 63.51 43.3 39.3 177 416 DLE, Inlet spray intercooling
Trent 60 WLE Aero 66 41.4 39.3 178 425 30 9 WLE
Trent 60 WLE ISI Aero 66 41.5 39.3 180 416 WLE, Inlet spray intercooling
SGT5-2000E Frame 187 36.2 12.8 558 536
SGT5-4000F Frame 307 40 18.8 723 579 45
SGT5-8000H Frame 400 40 19.2 869 627 17 30 35 9

Solar turbines Mercury 50 Recuperated 4.6 38.5 9.9 18 366

Taurus 60 Frame 5.67 31.5 12.4 22 510
Taurus 65 Frame 6.3 32.9 15 21 549
Taurus 70 Frame 7.96 34.3 17.6 27 507
Mars 100 Frame 11.35 32.9 17.7 43 485 22.1 67
Titan 130 Frame 16.45 35.2 17.1 50 496
Titan 250 Frame 21.74 40 24.1 68 463 40

Glossary:
DLE: Dry low NOx emission
WLE: Wet low emission (water injection)
ISI: Inlet spray intercooling
STIG: Steam injected gas turbine

57
Combined Cycle Plants
1GT + 1ST 2GT + 1ST 1GT + 1ST 2GT + 1ST
Manufacturer GT Model Net Efficiency Net Efficiency Minimum Minimum Start time Start time Ramp Ramp 50% load 50% load Comments
power power load load Hot Cold rate rate efficiency efficiency
MW %, LHV MW %, LHV % % Minutes Minutes MW/min %/min % % full load
Ansaldo AE64.3A 115.8 53.8 233 54 50 50
AE94.2 277.5 54.6 561.5 55.2 60 60
AE94.2K Low LHV fuel
AE94.3A 456.3 58.8 913 58.9 50 50 45 42 9
GT26 502 60.1 1004 60.1 15 15 190 55.9 93 Reheat turbine

GE Power Aero LM2500 34.2 49.1 68.6 49.3 33 17 30 30 88 Water injection

LM2500 DLE 35 49.9 65.6 52.4 DLE
LM2500+ 41.5 49.2 83.2 49.4 34 17 30 30 72 Water injection
LM2500+ DLE 44 53.4 88.2 53.6 DLE
LM2500+ G4 48.2 49.6 96.8 49.7 34 17 30 30 62 Water injection
LM2500+ G4DLE 47.7 53.8 95.7 54 DLE
LM6000PC 57.9 51.5 116 51.7 19 19 30 50 86 Water injection
LM6000PC Sprint 66.5 51.9 133 52 Water injection, Spray intercooling
LM6000PG 73 52.2 146 52.4 19 19 30 50 68 Water injection
LM6000PG Sprint 76 52.1 153 52.3 Water injection, Spray intercooling
LM6000PF 58 54.9 117 55.1 37 19 30 50 86 DLE
LM6000PF Sprint 64 54.4 128 54.6 DLE, Spray intercooling
LM6000PF+ 70 55.9 140 56.1 37 18 30 50 71 DLE
LM6000PF+ Sprint 74 54.8 149 54.9 DLE, Spray intercooling
LMS100PA+ 135 51.5 270 51.6 21 21 30 50 37 WLE
LMS100PB+ 127 52.4 256 52.5 42 21 30 50 39 DLE

GE Power Heavy Duty 6B.03 67 51.5 135 51.7 57 29 30 20 30

6F.01 76 56.6 154 56.9 53 27 30 12 16
6F.03 124 55.4 250 55.9 59 30 45 7 6
9E.03 201 52.8 405 53.2 46 22 38 50 25
9E.04 212 54.4 428 54.9 46 22 38 12 6
GT13E2 289 55 581 55.2 56 56 80 240 14 5
9F.03 405 58.4 815 58.7 46 22 30 150 22 5
9F.04 429 59.4 861 59.8 45 22 30 22 5
9F.05 462 60.5 929 60.8 46 23 30 24 5 53.6 89
9F.06 508 61.1 1020 61.4 49 23 30 65 13
9HA.01 643 62.6 1289 62.7 38 18 30 65 10
9HA.02 774 62.7 1552 62.8 38 18 30 70 9

58
Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems H25 (42) 59.1 52.8 119.8 53.6 70
H50 83 54.4 166.3 55.2 70
H100 (100) 143.2 53.5 288.1 53.8 70
H100 (110) 157 54.4 322.8 55.9 70
M701DA 212.5 51.4 426.6 51.6 70
M701F3 70
M701F4 477.9 60 958.8 60.2 60
M701F5 525 61 1053.3 61.2 45
M701G2 498 59.3 999.4 59.5
M701JAC 650 >61
M701J 680 61.7 120 55 89

PW Power Systems FT8 SWIFTPAC 41 49.1 83.1 49.6

FT4000 SWIFTPAC 83.9 50.8 169 51.2

Siemens Energy SGT-600 35.9 49.9 73.3 50.9

SGT-700 45.2 52.3 91.6 53.1
SGT-750 49.3 52.4 99.2 52.7
SGT-800 74 55.6 150 56.2 24 30 110 24 32 48.3 87
RB211-GT61 DLE 42.6 52.8
Trent 60 DLE 65.3 53.6 40 DLE
Trent 60 DLE ISI 77.7 53.4 DLE, Inlet spray intercooling
Trent 60 WLE 81.2 51.4 WLE
Trent 60 WLE ISI 82.9 51.2 WLE, Inlet spray intercooling
SGT5-2000E 275 53.3 551 53.3
SGT5-4000F 445 58.7 890 58.7 220 53.5 91
SGT5-8000H 600 >60 1200 >60 55.5 89

Note: Cold start data for existing plants, new plants may be different.

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