fuTure hydRogen Assisted gas turbiNeS for effective carbon capTure IntegratiON

The achievement of the EU targets established for 2030 for a more sustainable, cost-effective and environmentally-neutral energy production will not only require increasing the penetration of renewable energy sources (RES) into the actual mix, but necessarily point to reduce the carbon footprint of the conventional technologies based on the use of natural gas which is required to complement and compensate intermittent availability of RES.

TRANSITION objective is to pave the way for carbon-neutral energy generation from natural gas-fired power plants using gas turbines (GT), by enabling a highly efficient Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) process in the post-combustion phase.

This will be achieved by the development of advanced hydrogen assisted combustion technologies capable to permit stable engine operations with high Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) rates leading to high CO2 content in the exhaust gas sent to the CCS unit.

Two distinct scenarios will be considered, by i) validating up to TRL4 retrofit hydrogen-based burners targeting 50% EGR rate and ii) proving up to TRL 3 more aggressive technologies adopting hydrogen/oxygen flame piloting to reach 60% EGR.

Experimental tests (from atmospheric up to full-engine pressure) will support the technology assessment and the validation of high-fidelity numerical CFD models. Overall CCS-GT system integration will be also carried out with technical and economic analysis.

The global sustainability of the proposed technologies will also be investigated to assess environmental/social/economic impacts.TRANSITION outcomes will enable the decarbonisation of GT-based power plants, which are among the most efficient energy thermal generators adopted in several energy-intensive applications.

The multi-fuel capabilities and the retrofit opportunity of the developed systems will allow targeting hard-to-decarbonize sectors enabling an efficient transition to a net greenhouse gas neutral EU economy.