Catalytic utilization of unconventional fuels in a gas turbine

In this paper, the numerical modelling of acetone utilization in the thermocatalytic reactor based on the intermetallic phase of Ni₃Al has been presented. The experimental results of mixtures containing air contaminated with acetone in a thermocatalytic reactor were used for the preliminary calibration of the Computational Fluid Dynamics "CFD" calculations. The thermocatalytic combustion reaction of acetone has been modelled by employing experimental data related to the active surface area. For more accurate application of current model into the gas turbine regime simulation was performed on three different geometrical cases. Effects regarding flows in microchannel are visible especially when "small" geometry is concerned. One should notice that a decrease of acetone concentration at inlet into package, mainly, two millimetres before the thermocatalytic area, is connected with the diffusion fluxes of the other components, mainly water and carbon dioxide. The commercial CFD code has been expanded by User Defined Functions "UDF's" to include surface chemical reaction rates on the interphase between fluid and solid. Results obtained through numerical calculations were calibrated and compared with experimental data to receive satisfactory agreement. (paper)