lower carbon gas turbine first to hit major milestone

In May, a SoLoNOx gas turbine in California was the first to produce energy for multiple days using a fuel blend with 60% hydrogen. A SoLoNOx gas turbine is a type of turbine that produces lower nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions.

“The project has shown that this type of lower-emissions stationary power generation is possible 24/7 with a high-hydrogen blend. That’s a first,” said Troy Haugeberg, Chevron’s project manager for this demonstration. “Reliable stationary power generation is crucial for industrial applications like manufacturing and data centers. Seeing that this type of hydrogen infrastructure and technology work over longer periods can encourage their adoption by hard-to-abate industries.”

Low-NOx turbines use special technology to reduce NOx emissions caused by burning natural gas at high temperatures to generate power. While turbines traditionally run on natural gas, blending natural gas with hydrogen can reduce CO₂ emissions.

This specially equipped turbine is located at a Chevron Pipeline & Power Business Unit facility in Kern County, California. It generates power and steam used at the oil field surrounding the plant site.

The milestone was reached through collaboration with Solar Turbines, a subsidiary of Caterpillar.

“Solar Turbines is committed to supporting Chevron’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to help meet climate-related goals,” said Aad den Elzen, vice president of power generation and strategic growth for Solar Turbines. “While Solar’s traditional turbine configurations have significant experience running on high-hydrogen blends, running 60% on an existing low-NOx turbine is an important development.”

Chevron is working to lower the carbon intensity of its operations. This milestone is a major step in that direction.

“It’s exciting for our customers and for us,” said Elizabeth Vose, commercial advisor for Chevron’s U.S. West Coast hydrogen group. “This demonstration provides an opportunity to share our knowledge and help our customers meet their lower carbon goals.”

The next crucial step in the pilot is to demonstrate that the high-hydrogen blend can reliably power the turbine around the clock for 180 days.

This longer run time can give an accurate picture of how the turbine could perform under sustained use and across seasonal temperature ranges.

Chevron is testing fuel blends made with at least 55% hydrogen. The several-months-long intermittent demonstration will involve balancing hydrogen concentration with reliable performance.

“Reliably running a low-NOx turbine on 100% hydrogen will require technology development and modifications to the turbine combustion system and will likely be possible in the not-so-distant future,” said Rob Hiestand, a gas turbine optimization engineer for Chevron.

“In the future, companies will want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions using hydrogen, and with the long life and reliability they have come to expect with gas turbines,” he said. “So having Solar Turbines evaluate the unit’s condition and incorporate that data into Solar’s design are essential parts of the groundwork for the long-term run.”