Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 55 No. 4 (December 2018)
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Hydrogen-fired Gas Turbine Targeting Realization of
CO2-free Society

MASAKAZU NOSE*1

TOMO KAWAKAMI*1

HIDEFUMI ARAKI*2

NORIAKI SENBA*3

SATOSHI TANIMURA*4

Gas turbine combined cycle power generation (GTCC) is clean and highly efficient andaccounts for a large proportion of power generation today. Therefore, for the realization of a
CO2-free society, it is important to use hydrogen for large power generation gas turbines on alargescale. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries group is proceeding with the development of natural gas
and hydrogen co-fired and hydrogen-fired large gas turbines, and has succeeded in a 30 vol%hydrogen co-firing test. In addition, we also started research on the use of ammonia, which shows
promise as one of the energy carriers of hydrogen, in GTCC carriers, and are participating in a
GTCC plant hydrogen firing conversion project in Europe. Through these activities, Mitsubishi
Hitachi Power Systems, Ltd. (MHPS) will contribute to the realization of a hydrogen society byleading the establishment of an international hydrogen supply chain for the supply, transportation,and storage of hydrogen.

|1. Introduction
To handle the rapid increase in electricity demand since the 1980s, GTCC power generation
using natural gas/LNG (liquefied natural gas) as fuel has attracted attention, and its capacity andefficiency improvement have been promoted. GTCC power generation is the cleanest and mostefficient facility among the thermal power generation systems using fossil fuels. In Japan, primaryenergy is converted mainly to electricity, which accounts for as much as 43% of the total. Among
this total, the proportion of electricity supply from thermal power generation is as high as 85% (asof 2015). For this reason, GTCC power generation is required to continue to handle lively energy
demand and to further reduce CO2 for the effective use of resources and the realization of alow-carbon society.
In Japan, as a basic hydrogen strategy for a low carbon society, the commercialization ofhydrogen power generation around 2030 has been targeted. To more realistically promotecommercialization (from the development of technologies to the introduction of equipment toelectric power companies) in a short term of 10 or more years, we devised a system that can carryout hydrogen power generation using existing gas turbine equipment. This system does not requirea large-scale renewal of power generation equipment other than gas turbine combustors. Therefore,
it is expected to lower the cost hurdle for hydrogen conversion and to promote a smooth shift to ahydrogen society. Currently, with the support of the New Energy and Industrial Technology
Development Organization (NEDO), we have succeeded in developing a combustor that can use
30% hydrogen mixed with LNG fuel for large power generation gas turbines. The emission ofNOx, which is a concern along with the combustion of hydrogen, can be suppressed to theconventional level. This technology can handle output equivalent to 700,000 kW (GTCC power*1

Chief Staff Manager, Large Frame Gas Turbine Engineering Department, Gas Turbine Technology & Products Integration Division,*2

Chief Staff Manager, Power Systems Project Engineering Department, Project Management Division, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power*3

Manager, Basic Engineering Department, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engineering, Ltd*4

Senior Manager, Large Frame Gas Turbine Engineering Department, Gas Turbine Technology & Products Integration Division,

Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Ltd.
Systems, Ltd.

Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Ltd.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 55 No. 4 (December 2018)2

generation with a turbine inlet temperature of 1,600°C), and the CO2 emissions during power
generation can be reduced by approximately 10% in comparison with conventional GTCC power
generation. This is a big step toward building a hydrogen society. This report presents our efforts
toward realizing a hydrogen society, centered on hydrogen-fired gas turbines.

|2. Large power generation gas turbines and hydrogen society
Efforts toward achieving the greenhouse gas reduction targets in the “Paris Agreement”
adopted at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) have begun in countries
around the world, and the introduction of renewable energy has been accelerating. Figure 1 (1)shows the forecast of the total global CO2 reduction amount from the present to 2060 in the IEA(International Energy Agency) report. The reduction of CO2 emissions using renewable energy isestimated to account for about 30% of the total.

Figure 1

Forecast of total global CO2 reduction amount from the present to 2060(1)Power generation using renewable energy such as wind power generation, photovoltaic
power generation, and hydroelectric power generation requires flexible and stable power
production and supply systems for the efficient utilization of such electric power because the power
generation amount fluctuates depending on the climate and weather conditions and the time zone
(day and night), and the power generation amount is unevenly distributed around the world. On theother hand, it is considered that converting renewable energy into hydrogen for storage,transportation, and usage is effective against energy fluctuations. Even in Japan, which is far awayfrom large-scale power generation areas using renewable energy, it is important and urgent to build
a hydrogen supply chain and develop relevant technologies.
In addition, in the previous report(1), it is expected that the use of hydrogen produced byreforming fossil fuels including natural gas will start to increase from around 2030 and will accountfor 14% of the cumulative CO2 reduction amount to 2050. Together with carbon dioxide captureand storage (CCS), which collects CO2 generated in large quantities at the time of manufacturing
and stores it in the ground, technology for the utilization of hydrogen produced from a combinationof fossil fuel reforming and CCS is also required in the transition period of shifting to a renewableenergy-based society.
As illustrated in Figure 2, we are working on maximizing the utilization of hydrogen derived
from renewable energy and fossil fuel and applying power generation products, one of our major
strengths, to the hydrogen value chain. Among these efforts, large gas turbines for power
generation can not only generate power with high efficiency, but can also use low-purity hydrogen(with relatively low hurdles of manufacturing cost and technology), which leads to large and stablehydrogen demand. As the hydrogen usage vision, including the expansion of infrastructure andvarious methods of utilization toward realizing a hydrogen society, has been presented, the role of
our large gas turbines for power generation will increase further in the future.

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Figure 2 Relationship between our hydrogen power generation technologies and hydrogen
network|3. Combustor for hydrogen gas turbine
The development of large gas turbines for power generation has advanced up to now, while
the turbine inlet temperature (combustion temperature) has been raised to achieve high efficiency.
To handle the NOx emissions increasing exponentially along with the rise in the combustion
temperature, a premixing combustion method is adopted for the Dry Low NOx (DLN) combustor
installed in our large gas turbines for power generation.
The premixing combustion method mixes fuel and air in advance to put them into the
combustor. Since the flame temperature can be made uniform compared with the diffusion
combustion method, steam or water injection for NOx reduction is unnecessary and a decrease in
the cycle efficiency does not occur. On the other hand, the stable combustion range is narrow, there
is a risk of the occurrence of combustion oscillation and backfire (flashback), and unburned hydrocarbons tend to be easily discharged.
Depending on the hydrogen mixing ratio, the fuel component changes, resulting in a change
in the flame property Hydrogen has a higher combustion speed in comparison with natural gas, so
the risk of flashback phenomenon in the case of natural gas and hydrogen co-firing is higher thanthat in the case of natural gas firing. Therefore, for the development and practical realization of
combustors for hydrogen gas turbines, the reduction of NOx and the stabilization of combustion
centering on improvements for the prevention of flashback together with improvements inmarketability (low cost, long service life, etc.) are necessary.
The development status of our combustors for hydrogen-fired gas turbines that can be used
for the co-firing and firing of hydrogen is described below. Figure 3 provides an overview.

Figure 3

Our combustors for hydrogen gas turbinesMitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 55 No. 4 (December 2018)4(1) Dry Low NOx (DLN) multi-nozzle combustor for hydrogen co-firing
Figure 4 gives an overview of a newly developed combustor for hydrogen co-firing
based on the conventional DLN combustor with the aim of preventing an increase in theoccurrence risk of flashback because of hydrogen co-firing. The air supplied from thecompressor to the inside of the combustor passes through a swirler and forms a swirling flow.
Fuel is supplied from a small hole provided on the wing surface of the swirler and mixed
rapidly with the surrounding air due to the swirling flow effect. On the other hand, it is clearthat a region with a low flow rate exists in the center part of the swirling flow (hereafter thevortex core). A flashback phenomenon in a swirling flow is considered as flame moving backin a slow-flow velocity portion of the vortex core. The new-type combustor characteristicallyinjects air from the tip of the nozzle to raise the flow velocity of the vortex core. The injected
air compensates for the low flow velocity region of the vortex core and prevents the occurrenceof flashback.
As a result of a combustion test under the actual engine pressure using one full-scale new
combustor, NOx was within the operable range even under the condition where 30 vol% ofhydrogen was mixed in, so it was found that operation without the occurrence of flashback or aremarkable increase of combustion oscillation is possible.

Figure 4 Outline of new combustor for hydrogen co-firing(2) Multi-cluster combustor for hydrogen firing (Figure 5)
The higher the concentration of hydrogen is, the higher the risk of flashback becomes. To
mix fuel and air using swirling flow like a hydrogen co-firing DLN combustor, a relatively
large space is necessary and the risk of flashback increases, so it is necessary to mix them in ashort time in a narrow space. Therefore, we devised a mixing system that disperses the flameand blows out the fuel smaller and more finely. Based on the multi-cluster combustor illustrated
in Figure 5 with a greater number of nozzles than the fuel supply nozzles (eight nozzles) of a
DLN combustor, for the hole of one nozzle, we adopted a system where the nozzle hole wasmade smaller, air was fed in, and hydrogen was blown in for mixing. It is possible to mix air
and hydrogen at a smaller scale without using swirling flow, which may allow for thecompatibility of high flashback resistance and low NOx combustion. We are currently studying
the basic structure of the fuel nozzle.
(3) Diffusion combustor
A diffusion combustor injects fuel to air into the combustor. Compared with a premixed
combustion method, a region with a high flame temperature is likely to be formed, and theamount of NOx generated increases, so a measure for NOx reduction using steam or water
injection is necessary. On the other hand, the stable combustion range is relatively wide, andthe allowable range for the fluctuation of the fuel property is also large.
Figure 6 is our diffusing combustor. This combustor has actual results with fuels with awide range of hydrogen content (up to 90 vol%) through the utilization of offgas (exhaust gas
generated in refinery plants, etc.) as fuel in small to medium size gas turbine power generation

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facilities, and also succeeded in a hydrogen-fired combustion test when taking part in theInternational Clean Energy Network Using Hydrogen (World Energy NETWORK (WE-NET)
technological research and development project.

Figure 5 Multi-cluster combustor(under development)

Figure 6

Diffusion combustor|4. Ammonia cracking GTCC
To make it possible to stably use the large amount of hydrogen required for a large-sized gas
turbine for power generation, it is a prerequisite that a supply chain that produces, transports,
stores, etc., hydrogen is established. The transportation and storage of hydrogen presented in the
Hydrogen Basic Strategy(2) includes not only a method of liquefying hydrogen before transportingand storing, but also the utilization of energy carriers such as ammonia and organic hydride.
MHPS has been participating in the SIP (Strategic Innovation Promotion Program) of the
Cabinet Office and studying gas turbine systems using ammonia as an energy carrier since fiscal
2017. Ammonia has a volumetric hydrogen density 1.5 times higher than that of liquefiedhydrogen, and has the feature that existing transportation and storage infrastructure for liquefied
petroleum gas can be used. In the program, studies have been made to directly burn ammonia as afuel in a micro gas turbine(3) and a small gas turbine. However, there are problems as can be seen in
Table 1 with its application to large gas turbines. Therefore, as noted in Figure 7, we are studyinga system that thermally cracks ammonia to hydrogen and burns it in a gas turbine. To crackammonia, it is necessary to introduce a heat of reaction of 46 kJ/mol per 1 mole of raw ammonia
while heating ammonia to high temperature under catalytic contact. Since this heat of the reaction
results in an increase in the heat value of hydrogen (chemical recuperation), there is no efficiency
reduction in principle. Since a trace amount of residual ammonia remaining after cracking causes
NOx formation in the combustor, the configuration of a cracker capable of reducing the amount ofresidual ammonia, the selection of the cracking catalyst, etc., are being promoted through theprogram.
Table 1 Characteristics of ammonia combustion and consideration for large gas turbines
Characteristics of ammonia combustion
Low combustion speed(about 1/5(3) of that of methane)

Nitrogen contained in fuelConsiderations for large gas turbines- The size of the combustor increases to secure the time necessary for completingthe combustion.
- Since the large gas turbine is composed of a multi-can combustor, there is a
restriction on the size expansion of the combustor.
- Fuel NOx is generated, but the combustion gas temperature of a large gas
turbine has been increased to the extent permitted by Thermal NOx, and there islittle room to allow Fuel NOx.
- Lowering of NOx by two-stage combustion is considered, but in the case of alarge gas turbine, there are many technical problems such as upsizing andcomplication of the combustor.

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Figure 7

Concept of ammonia decomposition gas turbine cycle

As presented in Table 2, this system can be characteristically applied to high-efficiency andlarge-capacity GTCC systems with a relatively small number of modifications, thereby contributing
to a large amount of CO2 reduction by using CO2-free ammonia. By applying this system, it ispossible to not only utilize a hydrogen combustor for gas turbines currently under development, butalso to use the developed ammonia cracker as a component of a general-purpose hydrogen supply
chain.
Table 2 Characteristics of ammonia cracking gas turbine system
Item
High efficiency

Introducibility
Flexibility
CO2 reduction effectExpandability

Characteristic- Since the heat necessary for the ammonia decomposition reaction is used for increasing the heatvalue of hydrogen produced (chemical recuperation), there is no theoretical efficiency drop.
- A system with high overall efficiency can be constructed by combining with a high-efficiency
GTCC.
The major development equipment is ammonia cracker, so the number of modifications on the gas
turbine side that is necessary for the application of the system is relatively small such as
modification of hydrogen combustor, etc.
By changing the type of the combustor, such as hydrogen mono-firing or co-firing with natural gas,a system suitable for the fuel infrastructure and site conditions can be built.
In cases where the GTCC output is 500 MW, the capacity factor is 70%, and 100%
ammonia-cracked gas is used, 800,000 tons of CO2 emissions can be reduced annually.
The heat source required for the ammonia cracker is not limited to exhaust heat of the gas turbine,so the system can be used as a component of a general-purpose hydrogen supply chain.

|5. Efforts in overseas projects
Overseas, a comprehensive hydrogen utilization plan that covers the supply, transport,
storage, and use of hydrogen is proposed, such as a system that processes CO2 generated during the
production of fossil fuel-derived hydrogen using CCS. Especially in Europe where there is anadvantage that existing natural gas pipelines have been developed, hydrogen utilization projects areunderway as cross-border comprehensive infrastructure.
Among them, we are participating in a project to convert a natural gas-fired gas turbine
combined cycle (GTCC) power generation plant with 1.32 million kW-class output operated by
N.V. Nuon, a Dutch energy company, to hydrogen-fired power generation. This project calls for theconversion of one of the three units of the M701F gas turbine power generation plant, which wedelivered to the Nuon Magnum power plant (Figure 8) located in the state of Groningen in thenorthernmost part of the Netherlands, to a 100% hydrogen-fired power generation plant by 2023.
We have carried out an initial feasibility study where we examined the application of a diffusion
combustor, which is existing technology, and verified that the conversion to hydrogen-fired power
generation is possible. Natural gas-fired power generation emits approximately 1.3 million tons of
CO2 annually per system of 440,000 kW GTCC power generation, most of which can be reducedby conversion to a hydrogen-fired power generation plant. We will continue to handle thefeasibility study in the field of gas turbine technology and will continue to cooperate toward therealization of the project including planning specific modification ranges, etc.

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Figure 8

Nuon Magnum power plant in the Netherlands|6. Conclusion
The contents described in chapter 3 of this paper are part of the outcome of the project"Technology Development for the Realization of a Hydrogen Society" of the New Energy andIndustrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). In this grant project, we worked on thedevelopment of combustors for hydrogen and natural gas co-fired gas turbines and found that gas
turbine operation under a 30 vol% co-firing condition is possible. We are continuing with thedevelopment of hydrogen-fired systems.
The contents described in chapter 4 of this paper are part of the outcome of the Council for
Science, Technology and Innovation (CTSI), Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion
Program (SIP), "Energy Carriers" (Funding agency: JST). With this research, we began thedevelopment of ammonia cracking GTCC systems using ammonia, which is promising as one of
the energy carriers for hydrogen.
Our hydrogen-fired gas turbines play a major role in the realization of a global CO2-freehydrogen society using renewable energy by 2050 and in the utilization of fossil fuel-derived
hydrogen combined with CCS in the transition period. We will continue to lead the construction of
an international hydrogen supply chain with hydrogen power generation that produces a large andstable supply of hydrogen to contribute to the realization of a CO2-free hydrogen society.

References
(1)
(2)
(3)

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Web Site (Japanese)
http://www.meti.go.jp/committee/kenkyukai/sangi/ccs_jissho/pdf/001_05_00.pdf
The Ministerial Council on Renewable Energy，The Basic Hydrogen Strategy，（2017）
http://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2017/1226_003.html
Norihiko Iki et al., “Ammonia utilization for gas turbine,” Proceedings of the 44th GTSJ Annual Meeting,
Sakata, Japan, C-12, p. 259-264 [in Japanese]