VOC Destruction by Catalytic Combustion Microturbine

Barton, Tom

University Of Wyoming Research Corporation

关键词: Natural Gas;    Gas Turbines;    Combustion;    Methane;    01 Coal, Lignite, And Peat;   

DOI  :  10.2172/993815
RP-ID  :  None
RP-ID  :  FC26-98FT40323
RP-ID  :  993815

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

This project concerned the application of a catalytic combustion system that has been married to a micro-turbine device. The catalytic combustion system decomposes the VOC's and transmits these gases to the gas turbine. The turbine has been altered to operate on very low-level BTU fuels equivalent to 1.5% methane in air. The performance of the micro-turbine for VOC elimination has some flexibility with respect to operating conditions, and the system is adaptable to multiple industrial applications. The VOC source that was been chosen for examination was the emissions from coal upgrading operations. The overall goal of the project was to examine the effectiveness of a catalytic combustion based system for elimination of VOCs while simultaneously producing electrical power for local consumption. Project specific objectives included assessment of the feasibility for using a Flex-Microturbine that generates power from natural gas while it consumes VOCs generated from site operations; development of an engineering plan for installation of the Flex-Microturbine system; operation of the micro-turbine through various changes in site and operation conditions; measurement of the VOC destruction quantitatively; and determination of the required improvements for further studies. The micro-turbine with the catalytic bed worked effectively to produce power on levels of fuel much lower than the original turbine design. The ability of the device to add or subtract supplemental fuel to augment the amount of VOC's in the inlet air flow made the device an effective replacement for a traditional flare. Concerns about particulates in the inlet flow and the presence of high sulfur concentrations with the VOC mixtures was identified as a drawback with the current catalytic design. A new microturbine design was developed based on this research that incorporates a thermal oxidizer in place of the catalytic bed for applications where particulates or contamination would limit the lifetime of the catalytic bed.