Stork Thermeq - Water Injection Technology for Gas Turbine Power Augmentation and NOx Reduction

Stork Thermeq specialises in the delivery of the state-of-the-art water injection technology for gas turbine power augmentation and NOx reduction purposes.

SwirlFlash® uses hot pressurised water to obtain a power increase of up to 15% in the output of a gas turbine and a NOx reduction of up to 45%. The technology is capable of NOx reduction up to 40%, or 20 % on a dry low NOx gas turbine.

Designed to provide a power increase within 15 to 30 seconds (15% power increase with the same gas turbine), it also minimises GT power loss at high ambient temperature. SwirlFlash® does not suffer blade erosion, benefits from grid frequency support and can be used instead of spinning reserve.

IMPROVING AIR COMPRESSOR PERFORMANCE

The key to enhancing gas turbine performance is directly linked to improving air compressor performance. SwirlFlash® technology offers the simplest, most robust and most powerful solution for both of these issues.

Gas turbines consist essentially of a power turbine, a combustor and a compressor. The power turbine drives the compressor which is required to supply the large volume of pressurised air for the combustion and power producing process. In modern gas turbines, more than 60% of the power produced by the power turbine is consumed by the compressor. Only 35% to 40% of the power turbines power production is available for driving a generator or other external load.

AIR COOLING

SwirlFlash® utilises drops in compressed air temperature to create an air cooling effect. By adding hot water to our technology, the amount of heat extracted from the compressed air by means of evaporation is far greater than the amount of heat added by utilising the hot water spray.

NOx EMISSION REDUCTION

Today, many gas turbines are equipped or retrofitted with steam or water injection in the combustors to significantly cut NOx emission and increase power output. Steam injection is expensive since steam is valuable. Water injection is cheaper, but this results in lower turbine efficiency and can cause expensive repairs due to cracking of the hot components.

With SwirlFlash® you can achieve significant NOx reduction at much lower costs and with increased power output than is possible with steam or water injection. The flame stability is not affected by introducing humidified air in the combustor, not even for a dry low-NOx combustor.

SwirlFlash® - DESIGNED FOR VARYING AMBIENT CONDITIONS

SwirlFlash® technology performs well in varying ambient conditions. Classical inlet air chillers require high investments and operate effectively at high ambient temperatures and low relative humidity. The cold water over-spray injection systems require ambient temperatures above 10°C in order to avoid ice formation in areas of compressor inlet ducting with high air velocities.

However, the SwirlFlash® system is applicable over a much wider range of temperature conditions from 5°C upwards and at relative humidities up to 100%.