An improved modelling approach for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and soot formation in complex fuels is presented. The introduction of PAH radicals allows a reversible growth by hydrogen abstraction and carbon addition. Emphasis is placed on the model’s general validity with respect to fuel flexibility and operating condition using one set of model constants. A detailed gas phase mechanism describes the decomposition of fuel species as well as the formation and growth of PAHs and soot precursors. PAHs and PAH radicals are described by a sectional approach. Soot particle dynamics are modeled either by a two-equation model or alternatively by a sectional approach. All models take the processes of growth, collision, oxidation and agglomeration into account. The introduction of a temperature-dependent collision coefficient enhances the PAH and soot interaction. The differences between the two-equation model and the sectional approach are investigated. An extensive set of shock tube experiments is examined to verify the developed PAH and soot model over a wide range of temperatures, pressures, fuels and mixing-ratios. Thereby, the pyrolysis and oxidation of ethylene, benzene, kerosene and its major components are examined. In addition, ignition delay times and laminar diffusion flames are used for further validation. The overall agreement to experimental data demonstrates the applicability of the presented PAH and soot model even for complex fuels.

The adaptation of high hydrogen content fuels for low emissions gas turbines represents a potential opportunity to reduce the carbon footprint of these devices. The high flame speed of hydrogen air mixtures combined with the small quenching distances poses a challenge for using these fuels in situations where significant premixing is desired. In particular flashback in either the core flow or along the walls (i.e., boundary layer flashback) can be exacerbated with high hydrogen content fuels. In the present work, the ability of a flashback correlation previously developed for round jet flames is evaluated for its ability to predict flashback in an annular flow. As a first step, an annular flow is generated with a centerbody located at the centerline of the original round jet flame. Next, various levels of axial swirl is added to that annular flow. Additional flashback data are obtained for various mixtures of hydrogen and methane and hydrogen and carbon monoxide for all-the annular flow configurations. Pressures from 3–8 bar are tested with mixture temperatures up to 750 K. Flashback is induced by slowly increasing the equivalence ratio. The results obtained show that the same form of the correlation developed for round jet flames can be used to correlate flashback behavior for the annular flow case with and without swirl despite the presence of the centerbody. Adjustments to some of the constants in the original model were made to obtain the best fit, but in general, the correlation is quite similar to that developed for the round jet flame. A significant difference with the annular flow configurations is the determination of the appropriate gradient at the wall, which in the present case is determined using a cold flow CFD simulation.

Global warming, climate change and pollution are burning environmental issues. To reduce the carbon footprint of the aviation sector, aeronautical companies have been striving to lower engine emissions via the development of reliable lean combustors. In this context, effort has been devoted to the better understanding of various flame dynamics with emphasis on thermoacoustic instabilities, lean blow-off and extinctions. In line with this effort, Safran Helicopter Engines has recently developed and patented the revolutionary spinning combustion technology (SCT) for its next generation of combustors. This technology has indeed great flexibility when it comes to ignition and blow-off capabilities. To better understand the various physical mechanisms occurring in a SCT combustor, a joint numerical and experimental analysis of the flame stabilization in this spinning combustion technology framework has been devised. On the experimental side, the NTNU atmospheric annular combustor has been modified to introduce a relevant azimuthal component of velocity while operating under premixed fuel conditions, following the SCT concept. Note that to reduce temperature at the backplane of the chamber, film cooling is incorporated to avoid fuel injector damage. On the numerical side, high fidelity Large Eddy Simulations of the test bench have been carried out with the AVBP code developed at CERFACS, providing insights on the flame stabilization in this unique SCT geometry. In particular, it is noted that there is a strong interaction between the cooling film and the highly swirled flames exiting from the fuel injector bend. In that respect, changing the injector or global equivalence ratios while operating the SCT is shown to affect the combustion of this design.

Hydrogen derived from non-fossil sources is an attractive candidate to replace carbon based fuels in gas turbines, as it is inherently carbon free. Yet the unusual combustion properties of hydrogen requires some care to successfully use it in gas turbines. To attain the lowest NO x emissions, uniformly low reaction temperatures must be assured thus the reactants must be well mixed. This is accomplished in low emission gas turbines by mixing the reactants within a pre-mixer section prior to entry into the combustor. With the addition of hydrogen into the fuel, certain issues arise such as higher flame speeds compared to carbon based fuels. Flashback is a phenomena that occurs when the flame no longer propagates beyond the exit of the premixer/injector but instead retracts and propagates upstream towards, and ultimately into the pre-mixer, causing significant damage due to such high temperatures. Flashback occurs when the flame speed exceeds either the local or bulk flow velocity. In practice, the question arises regarding the impact of turbulence levels. While an increase in turbulence intensity may help improve mixing, it also known to increase turbulent burning velocity. In the present work, the influence of bulk turbulence intensity of the flow on boundary layer flashback is investigated. Data are acquired for a different turbulence intensities at pressures from 3 to 8 bar with preheated reactants up to 750 deg. K. Various mixtures of hydrogen and methane are evaluated. The results show that even with significantly different bulk flow turbulence intensities (based on the ratio of flow centerline turbulence to centerline axial velocity) boundary layer flashback is not strongly affected. This is attributed to the role of the quenching distance in connection with damping within the boundary layer. It is noted that core flow flashback or other flashback mechanisms may be affected differently.

A confluence of technology development, policy support, and industry investment trends are accelerating the pace of Hydrogen (H 2 ) technology demonstrations, increasing the likelihood of power sector impacts. In preparation for a large-scale power sector shift toward decarbonization for a low-carbon future, several major power equipment manufacturers are developing gas turbines that can operate on a high H 2 -volume fuel. Many have H 2 capable systems now that range from 5 to 100% H 2 . Units with 100% H2 capabilities are either using a diffusion burner or some version of a wet low emissions (WLE) burner. Most dry low emission/dry low NOx (DLE/DLN) technologies are currently limited to ∼60% H 2 or less. Therefore, research is currently underway to develop low NOx gas turbine combustion systems with improved Hydrogen capability. This paper provides an overview of the technical challenges of Hydrogen combustion and the probable technologies with which the manufacturers will respond.

The growing call of minimizing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitting from energy and transportation products will spur innovation to meet new stringent requirements while striving to preserve significant investments in the current infrastructure. This paper presents quantitative analysis of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) on industrial gas turbines to enable carbon sequestration venturing towards emission free operation. This study will show the effect of using EGR on gas turbine performance and operation, combustion characteristics, and demonstrate potential hybrid solutions with detailed constituent accounting. Both single shaft and two shaft gas turbines for power generation and mechanically driven equipment are considered for application of this technology. One key element is assessing the combustion system operating at reduced O 2 levels within the industrial gas turbine. With the gas turbine behavior operating with EGR defined at a reasonable operating state, a parametric study shows rates of CO 2 sequestration along with quantifying supplemental O 2 required at the inlet, if needed, to sustain combustion. With rates of capture known, a further exploration is examined reviewing potential utilities, monetizing these sequestered constituents. Ultimately, the objective is to preview a potential future of operating industrial gas turbines in a non-emissive and in some cases carbon negative manner while still using hydrocarbon fuel.

During the last decades there has been a rise of awareness regarding the necessity to increase energy systems efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. These goals could be partially achieved through a greater use of gas turbine - solid oxide fuel cell hybrid systems to generate both electric power and heat. However, this kind of systems are known to be delicate, especially due to the fragility of the cell, which could be permanently damaged if its temperature and pressure levels exceed their operative limits. This could be caused by degradation of a component in the system (e.g. the turbomachinery), but also by some sensor fault which leads to a wrong control action. To be considered commercially competitive, these systems must guarantee high reliability and their maintenance costs must be minimized. Thus, it is necessary to integrate these plants with an automated diagnosis system capable to detect degradation levels of the many components (e.g. turbomachinery and fuel cell stack) in order to plan properly the maintenance operations, and also to recognize a sensor fault. This task can be very challenging due to the high complexity of the system and the interactions between its components. Another difficulty is related to the lack of sensors, which is common on commercial power plants, and makes harder the identification of faults in the system. This paper aims to develop and test Bayesian belief network based diagnosis methods, which can be used to predict the most likely degradation levels of turbine, compressor and fuel cell in a hybrid system on the basis of different sensors measurements. The capability of the diagnosis systems to understand if an abnormal measurement is caused by a component degradation or by a sensor fault is also investigated. The data used both to train and to test the networks is generated from a deterministic model and later modified to consider noise or bias in the sensors. The application of Bayesian belief networks to fuel cell - gas turbine hybrid systems is novel, thus the results obtained from this analysis could be a significant starting point to understand their potential. The diagnosis systems developed for this work provide essential information regarding levels of degradation and presence of faults in gas turbine, fuel cell and sensors in a fuel cell – gas turbine hybrid system. The Bayesian belief networks proved to have a good level of accuracy for all the scenarios considered, regarding both steady state and transient operations. This analysis also suggests that in the future a Bayesian belief network could be integrated with the control system to achieve safer and more efficient operations of these plants.

Electrical resistance has become a technique of interest for monitoring SiC-based ceramic composites. The typical constituents of SiC fiber-reinforced SiC matrix composites, SiC, Si and/or C, are semi-conducive to some degree resulting in the fact that when damage occurs in the form of matrix cracking or fiber breakage, the resistance increases. For aero engine applications, SiC fiber reinforced SiC, sometimes Si-containing, matrix with a BN interphase are often the main constituents. The resistivity of Si and SiC is highly temperature dependent. For high temperature tests, electrical lead attachment must be in a cold region which results in strong temperature effects on baseline measurements of resistance. This can be instructive as to test conditions; however, there is interest in focusing the resistance measurement in the hot section where damage monitoring is desired. The resistivity of C has a milder temperature dependence than that of Si or SiC. In addition, if the C is penetrated by damage, it would result in rapid oxidation of the C, presumably resulting in a change in resistance. One approach considered here is to insert carbon “rods” in the form of CVD SiC monofilaments with a C core to try and better sense change in resistance as it pertains to matrix crack growth in an elevated temperature test condition. The monofilaments were strategically placed in two non-oxide composite systems to understand the sensitivity of ER in damage detection at room temperature as well as elevated temperatures. Two material systems were considered for this study. The first composite system consisted of a Hi-Nicalon woven fibers, a BN interphase and a matrix processed via polymer infiltration and pyrolysis (PIP) which had SCS-6 monofilaments providing the C core. The second composite system was a melt-infiltrated (MI) pre-preg laminate which contained Hi-Nicalon Type S fibers with BN interphases with SCS-Ultra monofilaments providing the C core. The two composite matrix systems represent two extremes in resistance, the PIP matrix being orders of magnitude higher in resistance than the Si-containing pre-preg MI matrix. Single notch tension-tension fatigue tests were performed at 815°C to stimulate crack growth. Acoustic emission (AE) was used along with electrical resistance (ER) to monitor the damage initiation and progression during the test. Post-test microscopy was performed on the fracture specimen to understand the oxidation kinetics and carbon recession length in the monofilaments.

Nowadays environmental impact assessment of a new product is necessary to meet rising sustainability requirements also in the Oil & Gas and Power Generation markets, especially for industrial gas turbines. From the conceptual phase to the detailed design, engineer’s work is supported by a wide range of tools aimed to define and evaluate typical parameters such as performances, life and costs, etc. However, considering environmental impact aspects from the early stages of product development may not be easy if the involved engineers are not provided by a specific Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) knowledge. Scope of this paper is to introduce and explain the development of a methodology aimed to define and evaluate the Key Environmental Performance Factors (KEPF) during the whole design process. The proposed methodology enables easy and fast eco-design evaluations and supports sustainable design assessments. Preliminary analysis of the entire processes involved in gas turbine (GT) design and production as well as testing and commissioning phases were performed to evaluate which factors affect mostly the Carbon Footprint of each process, referred to their specific functional unit. Extrapolating the KEPF from Cradle-to-Gate LCA they can be combined with case-specific qualitative and quantitative information such as material selection, manufacturing processes, mass quantity, presence of coatings etc. to provide environmental assessments. A case study of LCA applied to a heavy-duty GT is presented to outline the relative weight of each KEPF.

Nowadays the climate change is widely recognized as a global threat by both public opinion and industries. Actions to mitigate its causes are gaining momentum within all industries. In the energy field, there is the necessity to reduce emissions and to improve technologies to preserve the environment. LCA analyses of products are fundamental in this context. In the present work, a life cycle assessment has been carried out to calculate the carbon footprint of different water washing processes, as well as their effectiveness in recovering Gas Turbine efficiency losses. Field data have been collected and analyzed to make a comparison of the GT operating conditions before and after the introduction of an innovative high flow online water washing technique. The assessments have been performed using SimaPro software and cover the entire Gas Turbine and Water Washing skids operations, including the airborne emissions, skid pump, the water treatment and the heaters.

The heat balance of gas turbine (GT) combustors is used for determining the average Combustor Exit Temperature (CET). It is important for designing the hot parts in this area. Sensor measurements of the CET are nearly impossible due to its high level up to above 1700°C. Therefore it is typically evaluated based on a 1-D cycle calculation, in which the combustor receives compressed air and fuel and it discharges the hot combustion gas at the temperature CET. In the classic approach the fuel heat received in the combustor is evaluated based on the lower heating value (LHV) of the fuel and after the complete combustion the mixture of excess air and combustion products leaves the combustor at the temperature CET, which is calculated based on its specific enthalpy function. So far so simple but this is tricky. The reaction energy is not the LHV but the higher heating value HHV, which includes additionally the discharged energy for condensing the combustion water at ambient temperature. The total heat comes into the flue-gas in the combustor, which is designed for a combustion efficiency of typically 99%+. There is no significant downstream reaction known, which could add the missing difference of HHV-LHV. In GT based power stations condensation is mostly avoided by sufficiently high stack temperature. For methane as a fuel the HHV is around 11% higher than the LHV. Thus the CET derived with the LHV for a given fuel mass flow rate may be underestimated. The method comparison shown below indicates values around 10K. This is a “grey” issue. The intention of this paper is an attempt to understand this practice both technically and historically. Gas turbine catalogues indicate performance data based on burning pure methane. This may have its historic roots in the fact that methane (only Methane, not higher hydrocarbons) burns with oxygen without a change of the specific volume. This simplified the cycle calculation in the sense that combustion could be modelled by adding the LHV to air and methane (assuming an equal temperature) and by calculating the expansion of air and methane separately (corresponding to mixed if no chemical reaction due to the high temperature is assumed) but with the same polytropic efficiency. At ambient temperature this fuel-air mixture is still gaseous and therefore the heat balance of the GT matches exactly with the LHV (used before in the combustor heat balance) because there is no condensation issue. Another feature of the air may compensate the CET mistake partly when using the LHV. It is the effect of dissociation. This increases the specific heat and therefore reduces the calculated CET. In the older time the used specific heat function of air did not include the dissociation effect while nowadays it is mostly included assuming chemical equilibrium. In this paper the good match of a cycle calculation considering the HHV and dissociation with published OEM data will be demonstrated. Indeed this method contradicts existing standards and practices and a further discussion considering the evidence shown below is welcome. In its current development state it allows considering any fuel defined only by the HHV and by its composition with hydrogen to carbon ratio by mass. Additionally it also allows considering high fogging with water injection rates up to several mass % of the air inlet flow rate.

Biofuels are an important component of a sustainable fuel future. The implementation of such fuels into existing and new engine designs requires an understanding of their interactions with the engine’s components at temperature. The formation of soot deposits on hot metal components, when in contact with fuels at elevated temperatures, can reduce engine performance. We have devised a test rig to measure soot formation from individual biofuel components. Fuel can be sprayed onto metal surfaces up to 750 °C under a controlled atmosphere. Using this rig, we have studied the formation of carbon deposits on steel, nickel, and aluminum metals using the pure small molecule biofuels and fuel mixture simulants. The amount and chemical identity of the deposits formed were studied using Raman spectroscopy. Using this new method for soot quantification, we can more rapidly screen for low soot forming biofuels as promising biofuel candidates grow.

A radial segmented seal is composed of three or six carbon segments that are assembled by a circumferential (garter) spring that presses them against the rotor. Assembled, they take the form of an annular ring. Each segment has several pads that generate a radial lift force depending on the rotor speed. There are many ways of creating effective lift forces. For example, a pocket on the pad creates a lift force because each pad will act as a Rayleigh step bearing. A groove on the rotating shaft will also create a radial lift force on the pad. However, this latter lift force will be unsteady. The aim of the present work is the numerical study of the lift created by a grooved rotor on a pad. Due to the very small operating radial clearances of radial segmented seals (less than 10 μm), the problem can be simplified by analyzing a single pad and a grooved runner. Previous analysis of gas face seals or thrust bearings always considered grooved pads and a smooth runner, even when the runner was grooved. The peculiarity of this study, which is the first of its kind, is considering the unsteady problem of the moving runner grooves. The analysis was performed for a single pad of a radial segmented seal operating with air.

Lean-premixed combustion is commonly used in gas turbines to achieve low pollutant emissions, in particular nitrogen oxides. But use of hydrogen-rich fuels in premixed systems can potentially lead to flashback. Adding significant amounts of hydrogen to fuel mixtures substantially impacts the operating range of the combustor. Hence, to incorporate high hydrogen content fuels into gas turbine power generation systems, flashback limits need to be determined at relevant conditions. The present work compares two boundary layer flashback prediction methods developed for turbulent premixed jet flames. The Damköhler model was developed at University of California Irvine (UCI) and evaluated against flashback data from literature including actual engines. The second model was developed at Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) using data obtained at gas turbine premixer conditions and is based on turbulent flame speed. Despite different overall approaches used, both models characterize flashback in terms of similar parameters. The Damköhler model takes into account the effect of thermal coupling and predicts flashback limits within a reasonable range. But the turbulent flame speed model provides a good agreement for a cooled burner, but shows less agreement for uncooled burner conditions. The impact of hydrogen addition (0 to 100% by volume) to methane or carbon monoxide is also investigated at different operating conditions and flashback prediction trends are consistent with the existing data at atmospheric pressure.

The push for lower carbon emissions in power generation has driven interest in methods of carbon capture and sequestration. One such promising method involves the supercritical CO 2 (sCO 2 ) power cycle, a system which is powered by oxy-fuel combustion where supercritical carbon dioxide is used as the working fluid. The high CO 2 concentration in the combustion products allows for relatively simple extraction of CO 2 from the system. Although this is an active field of research, the design of such a combustor requires continued study of oxy-fuel combustion in high levels of CO 2 diluent. With that objective in mind, laminar flame experiments were conducted for CH 4 -O 2 -CO 2 mixtures at one atmosphere and room temperature, where the relative concentrations of O 2 and CO 2 in the oxidizer mixture were 34.0% and 66.0% by mole, respectively. These concentrations were chosen to ensure the flame would propagate quickly enough to overcome the effects of buoyancy, which were observed to become significant below laminar flame speeds of roughly 15 cm/s. A high-speed chemiluminescence imaging diagnostic was employed in place of the traditional schlieren technique. Laminar flame speed was measured from OH* emission at 306 nm for a full range of equivalence ratios, varying from 15.2 cm/s at 0.7 to 24.8 cm/s at stoichiometric. Additionally, images of OH* chemiluminescence of turbulent CH 4 -O 2 -CO 2 flames and of quiescent, 5-atm CH 4 -O 2 -CO 2 flames at stoichiometric concentration are also presented. These experiments provide useful data for validation of chemical kinetics models for oxy-methane combustion in a CO 2 diluent, which can be applied to the modeling of oxy-methane combustion for supercritical CO 2 power cycles.

Design of the combustor is of high priority in microturbine generators (MTG) due to the small and compact configuration of these type of generators and high range of the shaft revolution (normally over 100k rpm). Design process of the MTG components including the micro combustor and turbomachinery also require accurate description of the combustion phenomena, heat transfer, emission level and performance analysis of the system. Design of combustors for renewable fuels such as biogas has several complications including overcoming the lower heating value of the biogas (normally 1/3 of the natural gas), combustion instabilities and corrosion effects of burning these types of fuels. The main benefit of burning a carbon neutral fuel (e.g., biogas), however will be in reducing the carbon emission by avoiding fossil fuels and achieving the environmental targets (e.g., Paris Agreement). The tubular combustors are in the centre of attention in design and operations of the microturbines due to their low cost and the level of emission. This research work presents the design procedure and CFD modelling of a tubular combustor for a biogas burnt microturbine engine assembly. The biogas is generated from anaerobic digestions of agriculture waste and include a 57% and 43% mixture of methane and CO 2 respectively. All the combustor parts are designed with empirical and practical equations and dimensions are optimised by CFD simulations. Operation of the combustor is then analysed in terms of its gaseous emissions. Finally, the operation of the new combustor in a closed heat and power cycle was verified and compared with conventional combustor of the microturbine burning diesel fuel, and as a result all the benefits and considerations for the application of biogas in microturbine assembly are carefully remarked and discussed.

An industrial gas turbine can run on a wide variety of fuels to produce power. Depending on the fuel composition and resulting properties, specifically the hydrogen-carbon ratio, the available output power, operability, and emissions of the engine can vary significantly. This study is an examination of how different fuels can affect the output characteristics of Solar Turbines Incorporated industrial engines, and highlights the benefits of using fuels with higher hydrogen-carbon ratios including higher power, higher efficiency, and lower carbon emissions. This study also highlights critical combustion operability issues that need to be considered such as autoignition, flashback, blowout and combustion instabilities that become more prominent when varying the hydrogen-carbon ratio significantly. Our intent is to provide a clear and concise reference to edify the reader examining attributes of fuels with different properties and how natural gas is superior to other fossil fuels with lower hydrogen carbon ratios in terms of carbon emissions, power, and efficiency.

Removal of fuel sulfur assumes that hot corrosion events will subsequently end in shipboard and aero gas turbine engines. Most papers in the literature since the 1970s consider Na 2 SO 4 and SO 3 as the primary reactants causing hot corrosion. However, several geographical sites around the world have relatively high pollutant levels (particulate matter, SO 2 , etc.) that have the potential to initiate high-temperature corrosion. The deposit chemistry influencing hot corrosion is more complex consisting of multiple sulfates and silicates with the addition of chlorides in a marine environment. Sulfur species may still enter a ship combustion chamber as contaminants via air intake or with seawater entrained in air entering through the ship air intake. High levels of impurities (SO 2 ) above 2 ppm can lead to hot corrosion attack. Research is needed to determine how sulfate salt mixtures and air impurities influence hot corrosion in marine and non-marine conditions. Other impurities such as phosphorus, lead, chlorides, sand, and unburned carbon may lower salt melting temperatures, alter the sulfate activity, or change the solution chemistry and acidity/basicity that leads to accelerating hot corrosion. Other issues need to be considered in non-metallic materials system.

The paper investigates the optimum size and potential economic, energetic and environmental benefits of ORC applications, as bottomer section in natural gas compressor stations. Since typical installations consist of multiple gas turbine units in mechanical drive arrangement, operated most of the time under part-load conditions, the economic feasibility of the ORC can become questionable even though the energetic advantage is indisputable. Depending on mechanical drivers profile during the year the optium size of the bottomer section must be carefully selected in order not to overestimate its design power output. To achieve this goal a numerical optimization procedure has been implemented in the Matlab environment, based on the integration of a in house-developed calculation code with a commercial software for the thermodynamic design and off-design analysis of complex energy systems (Thermoflex). Thus the optimal ORC design power size is identified in the most generic scenario, in terms of compressors load profile, installation site conditions (i.e. ambient conditions and carbon tax value) and gas turbine models used as drivers. Two different objective functions are defined aiming at maximize the CO 2 savings or the net present value. Different case studies are shown and discussed to prove the potential of the developed code. The comparison among the case studies highlights, chiefly, the influence of yearly mechanical drivers profile, part-load control strategy applied and carbon tax value on the ORC techno-economic feasibility.

The importance of expanded operating flexibility with reduced emissions on dry low emissions (DLE) gas turbines to lower loads has grown in importance for operators in many applications including natural gas transmission. Solar Turbines has developed an improved emissions control algorithm for Solar’s SoloNOx DLE gas turbines being offered as Enhanced Emissions Control . The new algorithm reduces carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned hydrocarbons (UHC) emissions from idle to 50% load. The corresponding startup and shut down emissions are reduced so that operators can obtain permits for operation over longer periods outside of low emissions mode. The algorithm has been evaluated in field trials at two different compressor stations using different gas turbine engine models. Solar’s Taurus™ 60 was tested at a field site in West Virginia and a Mars ® 100 was tested near Houston, Texas in the United States. The new control scheme reduces emissions from part load down to idle. The new controls extend the bleed valve or variable guide vanes’ operating range where they modulate to control combustor temperature from idle to full load. The pilot fuel schedule is also changed to work more directly with the combustor temperature control. Two field trials were completed to measure emissions continuously for more than 10 months at each site to validate the effectiveness of the new algorithm. Operation of the test units was largely at loads over 50% and the continuous data served to validate that the new algorithm with the modifications to pilot control did not change the emissions signature in the ‘low emissions mode.” In addition, multiple site visits were completed to map emissions from idle to 50% load over a range of engine settings. This mapping fully documented the complete emissions performance of the test units from idle to 100% load over a range of ambient temperatures from below freezing to 38°C. The field trials validate that the improved controls reduce CO and UHC emissions from idle to 50% load when compared to the current production algorithm. The testing also validated that the emissions above 50% load were unchanged compared to the current control algorithm. Specifically, CO and UHC emissions were reduced by 35 to 99% over the idle to 50% load operating range. By optimizing the pilot fuel controls the NOx emissions were also reduced 20 to 75% from idle to 50% load. The algorithm makes it possible to offer 15 ppm NOx warranties for the subject engine models in gas transmission applications down to 40% load that have been restricted to 50% load and higher. Over the wide ambient temperature range experienced during the field trial periods, emissions were consistent and no clear trends were documented with ambient temperature or engine speed (load).