Design and Test of a 73-MW Water Cooled Gas Turbine

This paper presents a preliminary design of a water-cooled gas turbine capable of operating on coal derived fuels and producing 73 MW when burning low Btu coal gas. Particular emphasis is placed on the critical technology issues of combustion and heat transfer at 2600 deg firing temperature. The recent technology developments; i.e., materials developments, composite construction, water cooling, fuels cleanup, etc., which now make this advanced concept possible are discussed. Detailed descriptions of the hot gas path components, the staged sectoral combustor, the water cooled nozzles and buckets, are described showing the implementation of these recent developments. The component development test program which is underway, is described and where testing results are available, design confirmation is demonstrated. Future plans for the construction of a full scale prototype machine and for design verification testing are presented. An analytical evaluation is included which demonstrates the advantages of the water-cooled gas turbine in an integrated gasification combined cycle.