The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has selected 14 projects to receive approximately $7 million in federal funding under the funding opportunity announcement, DE-FOA-0001816, Advanced Components for 65 Percent Combined Cycle Efficiency, Super Critical Carbon Dioxide (sCO₂) Power Cycles and Advanced Modular Heat Engines.

These cost-shared research and development projects will support the goals of The Office of Fossil Energy’s Advanced Energy Systems Program by developing advanced, highly efficient, turbine-based technologies for coal-derived synthesis gas, coal-derived hydrogen, and natural gas. The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) will manage the projects, described below:

Area of Interest 1: Advanced Combustion Turbines for Combined Cycle Applications

High-Temperature Additive Architectures for 65 Percent Efficiency – General Electric (Schenectady, NY) will develop advanced turbine technologies for hot-gas-path inlet components. Enabled by advanced manufacturing, these technologies will result in efficiency improvements. This project will develop novel and innovative component airfoil and end-wall architectures that provide cooling-flow savings while maintaining component durability.
DOE Funding: $499,690; Non-DOE Funding: $232,994; Total Value: $732,684

High-Temperature, High AN2 Last-Stage Blade for 65 Percent Combined Cycle Efficiency – General Electric(Schenectady, NY) will cultivate a last-stage blade technology by developing rotor system designs and vibration-management strategies. This technology will be necessary to realize the goal of 65 percent combined cycle efficiency and reduced cost of electricity. Knowledge gained from this project will open design space to move beyond today’s state of the art.
DOE Funding: $499,989; Non-DOE Funding: $241,835; Total Value: $741,824

Turbine Aero-Thermal Technologies for 65 Percent Combined Cycle Efficiency – General Electric(Schenectady, NY) will create a gas turbine technology development program that develops mechanically feasible, emerging, aerodynamic, and heat-transfer technologies to optimize the entire turbine system and improve overall gas turbine cycle efficiency. General Electric will select conceptual design configurations that contribute to the 65 percent efficiency performance goal.         
DOE Funding: $499,614; Non-DOE Funding: $238,369; Total Value: $737,983

Additive Manufactured Metallic-3D Ox-Ox CMC Integrated Structures for 65 Percent Combined Cycle Efficient Gas Turbine Components – Siemens Energy (Orlando, FL) will develop a metallic additive manufacturing (AM) and 3D oxide-oxide ceramic matrix composites (3D Ox-Ox CMC)-based design for advanced vanes. The design will eliminate the need for film cooling and significantly reduce overall cooling requirements.  The use of AM-3D Ox-Ox CMC components in all relevant hot turbine stages can reduce total cooling and leakage flow of turbine components by at least 50 percent.  This reduction translates to an increase of approximately 1.5 percent in combined cycle efficiency.
DOE Funding: $494,394; Non-DOE Funding: $123,599; Total Value: $617,993

Design and Development of Low-Weight, Titanium Aluminide Airfoils for High-Performance Industrial Gas Turbines Meeting 65 Percent Combined Cycle Efficiency – Siemens Energy (Orlando, FL) will create a prototype titanium aluminide (TiAl)-cooled turbine blade design capable of operating in a baseline gas turbine application. This blade will increase the exit annulus of large-frame gas turbines and support the target combined cycle efficiency levels of 65 percent. The project will establish an understanding of a state-of-the-art cast TiAl alloy, capable of withstand high temperatures.
DOE Funding: $492,183; Non-DOE Funding: $123,046; Total Value: $615,229

Extension of Operating Envelope for an Extremely Low NOx Axial Stage Combustion System – Siemens Energy (Orlando, FL) will develop an optimized design for an advanced high-temperature combustor for gas turbine applications. Proof-of-concept testing on a combination of advanced transition design and the distributed combustion system showed significant advantages in nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. The goal is to maximize the firing temperature while maintaining stable operation within the NOx emission limits so that future commercial power systems can realistically target combined cycle efficiencies of 65 percent or greater while achieving low NOx emissions.
DOE Funding: $499,943; Non-DOE Funding: $124,986; Total Value: $624,929

Hybrid Ceramic-CMC Vane with EBC for Future Coal-Derived Syngas-Fired Highly Efficient Turbine Combined Cycle – United Technologies Research Center (East Hartford, CT) will lead the conceptual design of high-pressure turbine vanes that use a novel combination of monolithic ceramics and ceramic matrix composites to increase component efficiencies within the turbine hot section and provide key building blocks for a 65 percent efficient system.
DOE Funding: $499,974; Non-DOE Funding: $124,994; Total Value: $624,968

Area of Interest 2: Development of Oxy-Fuel Combustion Turbines with CO₂ Dilution for sCO₂-Based Power Cycles

Development of Oxy-Fuel Combustion Turbines with CO₂ Dilution for sCO₂-Based Power Cycles – Southwest Research Institute (San Antonio, TX) will develop a conceptual design for a sCO₂, coal syngas, or natural gas-fired oxy-fuel turbine, leading to high cycle efficiencies, smaller footprints, reduced cost, and more power output with the potential for use with various energy sources, including fossil energy. This project assesses the development of a thermodynamic cycle with natural gas as the fuel and a sCO₂ turbine, including the development of a nominal engine component; conceptual development of an oxy-fuel sCO₂ combustion turbine; thermal management options and concepts; and material selection for the hot sections of the cycle.  
DOE Funding: $499,693; Non-DOE Funding: $126,922; Total Value: $626,615

Area of Interest 3: Turbine-Based Modular Hybrid Heat Engines for Fossil Energy Applications

Turbo-Compound Reheat Gas Turbine Combined Cycle – Bechtel National (Reston, VA) will develop its Turbo-Compound Reheat Gas Turbine Combined Cycle for small-scale demonstration. The system is modular, scalable, fuel-flexible, highly efficient, and amenable to distributed generation and cogeneration. This cycle is based on a combination of technologies to enable thermodynamic cycle performance, including constant volume combustion, reheat, and waste recovery.
DOE Funding: $499,823; Non-DOE Funding: $124,956; Total Value: $624,779

Integrated Optimization and Control of a Hybrid Gas Turbine/sCO₂ Power System – Echogen Power Systems (Akron, OH) will define a hybrid gas turbine sCO₂ power cycle design to achieve improved steady-state and transient performance relative to a baseline gas turbine/sCO₂ combined cycle plant. The cycle optimization code will be extended to include the gas turbine system. With this approach, an integrated optimization process can be used to obtain higher thermodynamic efficiency for the overall plant. The commercial embodiment of this system could benefit microgrid and remote power installations by improving their efficiency and load-following characteristics.
DOE Funding: $500,000; Non-DOE Funding: $125,000; Total Value: $625,000

Advanced Modular Sub-Atmospheric Hybrid Heat Engine – Gas Technology Institute (GTI) (Des Plaines, IL) will develop a turbine-based advanced modular sub-atmospheric hybrid heat engine for fossil energy applications. The engine will be developed as a modular unit that can be used with modular coal or biomass gasifiers, distributed power generation systems, large power plants composed of multiple generating units, and with natural gas compression stations. This hybrid heat engine can achieve greater than 65 percent net electrical or mechanical power-conversion efficiency based on lower heating value of the fuel and provide ultra-low pollutant emissions at a competitive cost.
DOE Funding: $499,997; Non-DOE Funding: $127,230; Total Value: $627,227

A Modular Heat Engine for the Direct Conversion of Natural Gas to Hydrogen and Power Using Hydrogen Turbines – Gas Technology Institute (Des Plaines, IL) will design, test, and demonstrate a modular heat engine system for clean and efficient conversion of natural gas to power, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide (CO₂). The concept centers on clean power generation using hydrogen produced from GTI’s compact hydrogen generator (CHG), combined with an existing gas turbine modified for hydrogen combustion or with an advanced hydrogen turbine. Using the CHG technology, GTI predicts a greater than 15 percent reduction in hydrogen cost.
DOE Funding: $500,000; Non-DOE Funding: $125,000; Total Value: $625,000

Novel Modular Heat Engines with sCO₂ Bottoming Cycle Utilizing Advanced Oil-Free Turbomachinery – General Electric (Niskayuna, NY) will evaluate a highly-efficient heat engine for natural gas pipeline compression. The project is centered on the conceptual design of a novel, hermetically sealed oil-free sCO₂ bottoming cycle for a natural gas combustion turbine used for pipeline compression. The successful implementation of a sCO₂ bottoming cycle can save 41.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas annually, equating to approximately $120 million in annual fuel cost savings and a 2.5-million-ton annual reduction in CO₂ emissions. 
DOE Funding: $499,795; Non-DOE Funding: $125,000; Total Value: $624,795

Advanced Gas Turbine and sCO₂ Combined Cycle Power System – Southwest Research Institute (San Antonio, TX) will create a modular, highly-efficient combined cycle power system that will offer reduced operating costs and footprint, cleaner and more fuel-efficient operation, and enhanced load-following capability. The technology couples sCO₂-based waste-heat recovery system (WHRS) to the discharge of an existing gas turbine package. The sCO₂ WHRS technology is believed to increase the efficiency and environmental performance of existing gas turbine installations, including natural gas compression stations. 
DOE Funding: $500,000; Non-DOE Funding: $125,000; Total Value: $625,000

The Office of Fossil Energy funds research and development projects to reduce the risk and cost of advanced fossil energy technologies and further the sustainable use of the Nation’s fossil resources. To learn more about the programs within the Office of Fossil Energy, visit the Office of Fossil Energy website or sign up for FE news announcements. More information about the National Energy Technology Laboratory is available on the NETL website.

Contact:

• Shelley Martin, DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory, 304-285-0228, contact.publicaffairs@netl.doe.gov