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SUSPOWER – The KTH Cluster of Research Infrastructures in Sustainable Thermal Power Generation

Andrew MartinAssociate Professor (Docent)

Department of Energy Technology

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Brief Overview of SUSPOWER

• Allows transnational access to facilities in– Innovative combustion– Gasification– Gas turbine technology

• Key stats:– 34 visits (each 20 exp. day) during 3 year period– 838 kEuro total budget– Commencement date 1 Nov 2004

• Project status:– First meeting of USP 24 May 2005– 4 out of 8 proposals accepted– Visits to begin on 11 June 2005

• Homepage: www.energy.kth.se/proj/projects/SUSPOWER

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Innovative Combustion Installation• High-temperature air combustion semi-industrial test

facility (HiTAC)– Extremely high air preheating levels (up to 1300 C)– 500 kW nominal capacity– Extremely well instrumented– NOx reductions, improved fuel conversion efficiencies, and

enhanced furnace performance key factors

• High-pressure catalytic combustion test facility– Industrially relevant pressure levels (i.e. for gas turbines)– Variety of catalysts and fuels can be employed– Ultra-low NOx emissions possible

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Gasification Installation

• High-temperature air and steam gasification (HTAG) test facility

– Extremely high preheating levels a unique feature– Variety of solid fuels can be employed– Automatic fuel feeding now available (20 kg/hr)– Biomass and wastes of particular interest

• Pressurized fluidized bed reactor– Pressure levels up to 35 bar, rare in other facilities– Air, steam, and CO2 possible fluidizing agents– Coupling to CHRISGAS for complimentary experimentation

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Gas Turbine Technology Installation• Low-pressure turbine test facility

– Unique rig for testing aeromechanical phenomena in rotating components

– Oscillating blade device– Critical for enhancing turbine performance and increasing

component lifetime• VM100 transonic wind tunnel

– Mass flows up to 4.7 kg/s at 4 bar– Wide variety of test sections available– New test sections ready mounted

• Cold flow test turbine– Full-flow device– 1- 3 stages with rotational speeds up to 10000 rpm

• Special diagnostic equipment– Laser anemometers including 3-D L2F– Steady and unsteady pressure measurement

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Envisioned Impacts

• Scientific novelty– Experiments conducted with two or more separate

installations (e.g. gasification and catalytic combustion)– Fresh, outside approaches to utilizing existing equipment

• Host benefits– Increased capacity = more efficient facility utilization– Enhanced international exposure

• User/host synergies– Links to advanced numerical studies– Expanded experimental data sets– Benchmarking

• Attraction for young engineers– Involvement of students encouraged

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Reflections on the Future

• Current flexibility in project implementation should be maintained

• Mapping of current resources vital– Apparent duplication not necessarily negative

• How can users and providers be best matched?– Desirable to include researchers outside energy field?– Assembling new multinational research teams

• Education contra research– Earmarked experimental days for training purposes?

• Remote operation and access