Industrial Power Systems Using Dry Low Emission Turbines

Gas turbines often provide the power necessary for the process at production sites. These power systems are much different from the utility grid. Being smaller, they are subject to large disturbances causing wide variations in turbine power over short periods of time. These power swings can have negative effects on some types of turbines designed to have low emission of nitrogen oxides. Such turbines use different firing methods at low and high values of power. The transition between these ranges and firing methods can lead to flameout. Turbines struggling to maintain power system stability at an industrial facility may succumb to the disturbance, resulting in a system collapse and loss of production. Regulations concerning emissions are becoming more severe, so this problem will become more challenging. Turbine firing techniques that allow low emissions for all values of output power are reviewed. The benefits this offers to the power system and the design of the power management system are also discussed. Using only one firing technique eliminates the risk of flameout and enhances power system availability. Another advantage of this firing technique is better parallel operation of turbines, particularly when machines have different ratings. Operating all turbines at the same relative power improves stability since all machines will react by the same amount during disturbances.