The Use of Wave Machinery for Power Generation and Production of Hydrogen as Gas Turbine Fuel

Gas turbines present a unique opportunity to generate power outputs and have been widely used in power plants, stationary power generation, and propulsion systems. Increasing concern regarding global warming has urged the gas turbine industry to reduce CO2 emissions from gas turbines. A leading solution is the use of hydrogen as a carbon-free fuel or low-carbon mix in gas turbines. New Wave Hydrogen (NWH2) has developed a revolutionary fuel reformer that thermally decomposes, or cracks, natural gas into hydrogen and carbon black. The innovative method is based on wave rotor technology utilizing shock waves to compress and heat natural gas to temperatures sufficient for methane pyrolysis. This paper introduces the new concept of producing hydrogen using a high-pressure gas source and the NWH2 wave reformer, integrated with a gas turbine, in a flexible range of designs for power generation. Preliminary numerical modeling using an in-house quasi-one-dimensional wave rotor code support the possibility of cracking natural gas in a wave reformer utilizing the energy contained in the combustor burned gas.