Cathlean: catalytic, hybrid, lean-premixed burner for gas turbines

Cathlean (an EU FP5 project) addresses the research and development of an advanced, ultra-low NOx, hybrid burner for gas turbines (present and future), that combines catalytic and lean-premix combustion components. Such a hybrid design enables this new technology to be introduced in a lower-risk manner. The catalytic elements serve to pretreat the fuel in order to enhance performance in terms of emissions (<3 ppmv NOx and <10 ppmv CO @ 15% O2 at 50–100% load, for natural gas fuel), part-load stability (reducing the lean blow-out temperature by over 100 °C) and thermoacoustic phenomena (pulsations ≪ 0.3% of pressure). The principle scientific objective is to quantify the advantages of the hybrid burner in terms of the above-mentioned criteria, relative to traditional, lean-premixed combustors. The present paper describes the technical and organisational aspects of the project, including an outline of state-of-the-art catalytic combustion technology, technical specification of the advanced burner and a description of the methods used to attain project goals.