Physical and Chemical Features of Hydrogen Combustion and Their Influence on the Characteristics of Gas Turbine Combustion Chambers

Hydrogen plays a key role in the transition to a carbon-free economy. Substitution of hydrocarbon fuel with hydrogen in gas turbine engines and power plants is an area of growing interest. This review discusses the combustion features of adding hydrogen as well as its influence on the characteristics of gas turbine combustion chambers as compared with methane. The paper presents the studies into pure hydrogen or methane and methane–hydrogen mixtures with various hydrogen contents. Hydrogen combustion shows a smaller ignition delay time and higher laminar flame speed with a shift in its maximum value to a rich mixture, which has a significant effect on the flashback inside the burner premixer, especially at elevated air temperatures. Another feature is an increased temperature of the flame, which can lead to an increased rate of nitrogen oxide formation. However, wider combustion concentration ranges contribute to the stable combustion of hydrogen at temperatures lower than those of methane. Along with this, it has been shown that even at the same adiabatic temperature, more nitrogen oxides are formed in a hydrogen flame than in a methane flame, which indicates another mechanism for NOx formation in addition to the Zeldovich mechanism. The article also summarizes some of the results of the studies into the effects of hydrogen on thermoacoustic instability, which depends on the inherent nature of pulsations during methane combustion. The presented data will be useful both to engineers who are engaged in solving the problems of designing hydrogen combustion devices and to scientists in this field of study.