Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Ammonia (NH3) is a zero-carbon fuel and an attractive hydrogen (H2) carrier for gas turbine power generation due to its high energy density, ease of storage, and transportation. This study numerically investigates NH3/air combustion using a hybrid Well-Stirred Reactor (WSR) and Plug Flow Reactor (PFR) model in Cantera at pressures of 1–20 atm, temperatures of 1850–2150 K, and equivalence ratios (ϕ) of 0.7–1.2. The effects of pressure, equivalence ratio, and temperature on NH3 conversion and NO formation are examined. Results show that NH3 exhibits a non-monotonic conversion curve with pressure after the WSR, reaching a minimum near 5 atm, whereas NO formation decreases monotonically from 1 to 20 atm. Equivalence ratio sweeps show that NO decreases steeply as ϕ increases from 0.7 to ~1.1 as nitrogen is redirected toward N2 and oxidizer availability declines; residual NH3 increases rapidly for ϕ > 1.0, especially at high pressure. Increasing temperature accelerates NH3 oxidation and raises NO formation, most strongly at low pressure where thermal and NH/OH pathways are least inhibited. These results indicate that co-tuning pressure and equivalence ratio near rich operation enables low-NOx ammonia combustion suitable for advanced gas turbine applications.
Source: Fire
DOI: 10.3390/fire9010038
Authors: Kumeesha Arumawadu, Braxton Wiggins, Ziyu Wang
Institution: Utah State University
Language: English
Subfield: Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes
Field: Chemical Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,896
OpenAlex ID: W7124169429