All Issue

2025 Vol.30, Issue 2

Research Article

Study on Zero-Carbon Ammonia Staged Combustion

무탄소 암모니아 다단연소 특성 연구

Eun-Seong Cho1†
,
Yuin Jin1
,
Moonsoo Cho1
,
Hyunwook Jegal1
,
Minjung Pyo1
조 은성1†
,
진 유인1
,
조 문수1
,
제갈 현욱1
,
표 민중1
1Hanwha Power Systems, Green GT Development Team
1한화파워시스템 친환경GT개발팀
*Corresponding Author
30 June 2025. pp. 1-10
PDF XML Citation
Abstract

This study explores the staged combustion characteristics of ammonia(NH3), a zero-carbon fuel and hydrogen carrier, in comparison with methane(CH4), using numerical simulations conducted with the ANSYS CHEMKIN-Pro reactor network model. Ammonia fuel requires effective strategies to mitigate nitrogen oxide(NOx) emissions. The study investigates four combustor configurations, each featuring different primary and secondary zone designs, to assess the effectiveness of staged combustion—combining rich premixed and air-diluted stages—in reducing fuel NOx formation. Key parameters such as primary zone equivalence ratio, operating pressure, co-firing effects, and residence time(linked to primary zone length) are analyzed. The results show that residence time in the primary zone plays a critical role in governing NOx emissions. While methane combustion primarily generates thermal NOx, ammonia combustion leads to the formation of fuel NOx, with co-firing scenarios exhibiting intermediate emissions. The findings highlight the potential of optimizing staged combustion configurations and primary zone parameters to significantly reduce NOx emissions, advancing ammonia’s viability as a sustainable fuel. These insights provide essential guidelines for the design of efficient, low-emission ammonia-based combustion systems.

Keywords
Ammonia
Gas turbine
Staged Combustion
NOx Emission
Co-firing
References
1

The 11th basic electricity supply and demand plan (2024.5)

2

H. Kim et al., A review of carbon neutral gas turbine combustion technology, J. Korean Soc. Combust., 27(2) (2022) 14-38.

10.15231/jksc.2022.27.2.014
3

E.-S. Cho, H. Jeong, J. Hwang, M. Kim, A novel 100% hydrogen gas turbine combustor development for industrial use, Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2022, GT2022-80619.

10.1115/GT2022-80619
4

Y. Shin, E.-S. Cho, J. Hwang, M. Kim, Development of 5MW hydrogen gas turbine suitable for eco- friendly power plant, Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2023, GT2023-102363.

10.1115/GT2023-102363
5

Y. Shin, E.-S. Cho, Numerical study on H2 enriched NG lean premixed combustion, J. Korean Soc. Combust., 26(1) (2021) 51-58.

10.15231/jksc.2021.26.1.051
6

H. Lee, Y. Woo, M.J. Lee, The needs for R&D of ammonia combustion technology for carbon neutrality - Part I Background and economic feasibility of expanding the supply of fuel ammonia, J. Korean Soc. Combust., 26(1) (2021) 59-83.

10.15231/jksc.2021.26.1.059
7

H. Lee, Y. Woo, M.J. Lee, The needs for R&D of ammonia combustion technology for carbon neutrality - Part II R&D trends and technical feasibility analysis, J. Korean Soc. Combust., 26(1) (2021) 84-106.

10.15231/jksc.2021.26.1.084
8

H. Kobayashi et al., Science and technology of ammonia combustion, Proc. Combust. Inst., 37 (2019) 109-133.

10.1016/j.proci.2018.09.029
9

M. Uchida, S. Ito, T. Suda, T. Fujimori, Performance of ammonia/natural gas co-fired gas turbine with two-stage combustor, AIChEAnnual Meeting, 2019.

10

J. Choe, W. Sun, T. Ombrello, C. Carter, Plasma assisted ammonia combustion: Simultaneous NOx reduction and flame enhancement, Combust. Flame, 228 (2021) 430-432.

10.1016/j.combustflame.2021.02.016
11

The ANSYS, Inc., CHEMKIN-Pro, Available at: https://www.ansys.com/products/fluids/ansys-chemkin.

12

G.P. Smith, D.M. Golden, M. Frenklach, N.W. Moriarty, B. Eiteneer, M.Goldenberg, C.T. Bowman, R.K. Hanson, S. Song, W.C. Gardiner Jr., V.V. Lissianski, Z. Qin, GRI-mech 3.0, Available at: http://www.me.berkeley.edu/gri_mech/, 1999.

13

E.C. Okafor, Y. Naito, S. Colson, A. Ichikawa, T. Kudo, A. Hayakawa, and H. Kobayashi, Experimental and numerical study of the laminar burning velocity of CH4-NH3-air premixed flames, Combust. Flame, 187 (2018) 185-198.

10.1016/j.combustflame.2017.09.002
14

I. Gu, Effects of turbulence and chemical mechanisms on NOx emission of ammonia combustion, Master Thesis, KAIST (2023).

15

Z. Tian, L. Zhang, Y. Li, T. Yuan, F. Qi, An experimental and kinetic modeling study of a premixed nitromethane flame at low pressure, Proc. Combust. Inst., 32 (2009) 311-318.

10.1016/j.proci.2008.06.098
16

M. Ditaranto, I. Saanum, J. Larfeldt, Experimental study on combustion of methane/ammonia blends for gas turbine application, Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2022, GT2022-83039.

10.1115/GT2022-83039
17

S. Park, Pressure effect on NO emission in methane/ air lean-premixed flames, J. Mech. Sci. Tech., 33 (2019) 3031-3038.

10.1007/s12206-019-0553-1
Information
  • Publisher :The Korean Society of Combustion
  • Publisher(Ko) :한국연소학회
  • Journal Title :Journal of the Korean Society of Combustion
  • Journal Title(Ko) :한국연소학회지
  • Volume : 30
  • No :2
  • Pages :1-10
  • Received Date : 2025-02-17
  • Revised Date : 2025-03-09
  • Accepted Date : 2025-03-11
  • DOI :https://doi.org/10.15231/jksc.2025.30.2.001
Journal Informaiton Journal of the Korean Society of Combustion Journal of the Korean Society of Combustion
Online submission
  • ESCI_jkosco
  • NRF
  • KOFST
  • crossref cited-by
  • crosscheck
  • orcid
  • open access
  • ccl
Journal Informaiton Journal Informaiton - close