Sustainable fuels equipment

Power to Liquid (PtL) pilot plant with Fischer-Tropsch and RWGS

• A state-of-the-art, fully automatic, first-of-its-kind world class plug and play pilot scale research facility with full solid to liquid and gas to liquid cycle capable of producing liquid fuels from coal, biomass and gas, at a production capacity of 36 litres of fuel per day with 75% conversion efficiency
• Equipped with novel Reverse Water Gas Shift (RWGS) and Fischer-Tropsch (FT) reactors, offers the ability to synthesize sustainable alternatives to current petroleum distillates, enabling research into sustainable aviation fuels from captured CO2 and green H2
• Capability to test different reactor designs and catalysts in both RWGS and FT reactors at a wide range of operational conditions
• Able to separate and recycle excess/unreacted gases to enhance conversion efficiency

• Includes a polishing step for CO2 to remove SOx and NOx to a level which does not hinder the FT catalyst
• Online analysis available to monitor the feed and product gas streams at various locations
• Ability to fractionate FT product into different grades (petrol, diesel, kerosene and heavy oil)

APU

• This very popular engine has passed the 100 million hours of service milestone. It is used on both Boeing B737 family and Airbus A320.
• Thermal power input up to ~ 1.5MW
• Any operating condition conditions could be achieved between 20-36 gm/s fuel flow
• Air bleed flow output up to 1.17 kg/s at 4 bar
• Up to 90 KVA electric power export
• Ten dual-orifice fuel atomisers
• High pressure ratio compressor (8:1)
• Effusion-cooled annular combustor
• Two stage axial turbine
• Separate load compressor
• Emissions, PM size, density and number distribution as well as gaseous emissions
• Performance parameters, combustion acoustics
• Diagnostics inside the combustor (depending on funding application)
• Validation of medium pressure combustion models
• Capability of operating on wide range of jet fuels including sustainable and renewable aviation fuels

• Two stage axial turbine
• Separate load compressor
• Emissions, PM size, density and number distribution as well as gaseous emissions
• Performance parameters, combustion acoustics
• Diagnostics inside the combustor (depending on funding application)
• Validation of medium pressure combustion models
• Capability of operating on wide range of jet fuels including sustainable and renewable aviation fuels

Gas turbine

• The Turbec T100 micro gas turbine is highly instrumented to allow monitoring of the whole gas turbine cycle (temperatures, pressures, etc.), including extensive emissions analysis from the exhaust
• Conventionally fueled by natural gas, conversions are in place to fire a range of other fuels, including biogas
• The system comprises of a single-stage centrifugal compressor (with a pressure ratio of 4.5:1), a lean, pre-mixed combustion chamber and a single-stage radial turbine
• The generator and shaft rotate at up to 70,000 rpm to generate high-frequency electricity that is exported to the grid
• The counter-current water-gas heat exchanger is used to recover thermal energy; overall, the system has an electrical output of100 kW, with a thermal output of 165 kW (electrical efficiency ~30%; total efficiency ~80 %)

• The significant dilution ensures high combustion efficiencies and low levels of emissions (CO, NOx, etc.)
• The system has been modified to include exhaust gas recycle (EGR & Selective EGR), by which CO2 injections enable the examination of the impacts of recycling the exhaust gases on the combustion system, efficiency and emissions under different operating conditions
• Post-combustion CO2 capture research from the turbine system is available, since the flue gas pathway is integrated into the on-site capture systems
• Fuel flexibility research means that we are also investigating including hydrogen blending and other sustainable alternative fuels into our system