Terri Somers

Western Turbine Users Inc. (WTUI) began in the 80s with a small gathering of owners and operators of gas turbines for power generation in California. It has since evolved into a global network, helping its membership grapple with worldwide changes, including the decommissioning of large baseload units as more power is supplied by newer, renewable energy sources, said Ed Jackson, WTUI president.

More than 1,000 people from 25 countries and 46 U.S. states gathered in San Diego, CA, March 12–15, 2023 for WTUI’s 32nd annual conference and exhibition since its official incorporation in 1990, It was WTUI’s first in-person gathering since 2019.

Innovation that allows turbine systems to increase performance in various ambient conditions was a key topic of discussion in break-out sessions. Fogging, mechanical chilling, evaporative chilling, and inlet heat were among the subjects showcased at WTUI.

Industrom Power, a Houston-based startup founded by GE veterans, introduced its ready-to-launch, closed-loop CO

 system that, according to the company, can boost turbine plant power up to 20% and improve its heat rate by as much as 17%.



ProEnergy Services analyzed various turbine-cooling methods before determining its best investment would be an innovative fogging technology that can be combined with its wet-compression technology for superior outcomes, according to Constantin Dinu, a senior performance engineer at ProEnergy Services. The goal of the innovative system, still under development, is to improve a plant’s power output by 10% percent.

The quest for cleaner fuel production has driven innovation in selective catalytic reduction (SCR), a technology introduced in the 1950s to control nitrogen oxides (NOx).

When a power plant is designed and permitted, the needed SCR is determined by various factors. These include how many turbine starts are anticipated, how many hours a year it will run, and the expected load, Dan Johnson, P.E., Senior Director of Sales at CORMETECH.

The full show report will be available in Turbomachinery International's May/June print issue. 

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Innovation that allows turbine systems to increase performance in various ambient conditions was a hot topic in break-out sessions at WTUI 2023.

WTUI 2023 Show Report: Innovation and Technologies 

When a power plant is designed and permitted, the needed SCR is determined by various factors. These include how many turbine starts are anticipated, how many hours a year it will run, and the expected load, Dan Johnson, P.E., Senior Director of Sales at CORMETECH, said on Tuesday during a presentation at Western Turbine Users Inc. (WTUI), held in San Diego, California, March 12–15, 2023.

CORMETECH's Elite SCR catalyst module. Credit: Turbomachinery International

When plants expand, the demands on SCRs change, and sometimes that change is dramatic. Generally, SCRs look like giant filters and remove pollutants through oxidation and/or with the assistance of a reagent like ammonia. Across the industry, titanium dioxide and other metals are used in the catalyst process to reduce the emissions. They can be stacked horizontally to make a wall for gas to flow through, positioned to flow vertically, or placed in canisters, depending on the need. All house the same materials in different ways.

Johnson presented a map of the United States showing power plant expansions that added an additional 215,000 MW of power to the grid from 2000 to 2004. He then showed solar and wind farms added to the grid during that timeframe. This shifted power plant operations from what had originally been planned.

Surge in power plant expansions from 2000 to 2004. Credit: CORMETECH

As more solar power comes online, a plant has to ramp up and down throughout the day to compensate for solar generation fluctuations, Johnson said. Wind power added further fluctuation to the demand on the turbines. A greater number of starts typically increases carbon oxide (CO) and NO

emissions. These issues require adding more catalyst, but adding catalyst puts more pressure on the turbine, which means they need to use more gas.

Around 2015, CORMETECH introduced a catalyst with more activity and arranged it in a way that there was much more surface area through which gas could flow without increasing pressure on the engine. This technology has since been introduced industry wide.

A more recent market introduction was a multi-emission catalyst, which can handle NOx and CO needs in a single layer—traditionally this is done with two separate catalyst layers, Johnson said. This provides options to retrofit existing units that do not have the ability to remove CO with catalyst.

Johnson ended with a note on alternative fuels, which present their own obstacles. Waste gases such as landfill gas “are nasty for the catalyst,” he said. Hydrogen-rich fuels can increase overall NOx production. Further use of these fuels can be expected to influence ongoing SCR innovations, Johnson said.

Dan Johnson of CormeTech presented on Gas Turbine SCR at Western Turbine Users Inc. in San Diego on Tuesday, March 14, 2023.

WTUI 2023: Clean Energy Creates New Challenges to Filtering Pollutants Out of the Production Process

Improvements in wet fogging—a process the directs a fine mist into the inlet airflow of a turbine to cool the air with the goal of increasing power and efficiency—was one of several technologies explored at the Western Turbine Users Inc. (WTUI) conference and exhibition, held in San Diego, California, March 12–15, 2023.

Increasing Turbine Plant Performance by 10% Through Wet Fogging

, ProEnergy Services analyzed various turbine-cooling methods before determining its best investment would be an innovative fogging technology that can be combined with its wet-compression technology for superior outcomes, according to Constantin Dinu, a senior performance engineer at ProEnergy Services. The goal of the system, still under development, is to improve a plant’s power output by 10%.

“The project aligns with our efforts to continually improve engine performance,” Dinu said.

Aeroderivative gas turbines, which comprise the company’s client base, have a steeper power lapse than heavy-duty turbines as the ambient temperature increases, which justified ProEnergy’s interest in fogging.

“We operate a couple of plants in Houston, where the weather is hot, and we have customers and projects in areas where fogging makes a lot of sense—that’s one reason we started developing this as an enhancement technology,” he said.

Dinu shared some of the company's findings in its comparison of fogging against other technologies:

Fogging outperformed NOx water over-injection, which had limited impact at high temperatures. NOx water also hurt the heat rate and may impact the combuster and hot gas path life. Based on Dinu’s studies, the maximum benefit shown from increasing NOx water is a boost of approximately 2 MW of power at temperatures typically below 80°F. At higher temperatures, the benefit is limited.

Fogging also outperformed evaporative cooling for a number of reasons, including the cost of the media used in the process. “You can recover an investment in fogging more than twice as fast as for an evaporative system,” he said.

A well-designed and optimized fogging system can achieve an evaporation effectiveness close to 100%. A power generator should select the fogging system with the highest effectiveness, he noted. A fogging system may offer a 20° temperature drop on a 95° day with about 40% relative humidity, but such numbers are hard to replicate over a plant’s ambient temperature range, Dinu said.

His advice: Familiarize yourself with the evaporative effectiveness and whether that can be guaranteed within your area’s ambient temperature range.

Additionally, the fogging nozzle design is critical as is the water supply pressure, spray characteristics, and distribution of the fogging nozzles.

After analyzing different turbine-cooling methods, ProEnergy Services decided to innovate its own fogging technology that can be combined with its wet-compression technology.

WTUI 2023 Session Coverage: Fogging Outperforms Other Cooling, Power-Boosting Tech, Fueling an Investment in Innovation

The first in-person Western Turbine Users Inc (WTUI) conference and exhibition of the decade included several companies introducing advances in technology. Industrom Power, a Houston-based startup founded by GE veterans, introduced its ready-to-launch, closed-loop CO

 system that, according to the company, can boost turbine plant power up to 20% at a 17% better heat rate.

“My partner, Joseph Harris, and I saw a need in the industry for something that uses waste heat to generate power and can start as fast as an LM6000. We came up with new technology that can do that,” Industrom CEO Paul Angel said during a presentation at the WTUI conference, held in San Diego, California, March 12–15, 2023.

The self-contained system uses no water and produces no emissions. It is designed to start and accelerate with the LM6000 gas turbine system and can add 10 MW of power, Angel said.

“The system is designed so that you can run the LM6000 any way you want, and we just go along for the ride,” he said.

 and a closed loop is that the internal machinery and heat exchangers can be very small. Industrom installs its system on what it calls a power trailer, Angel said. The turbine, gearbox, generator, and control center sit on a power trailer that is approximately the dimensions of a single-wide mobile home and is road legal, “so you can relatively easily bring that into California,” he said. The cooler trailer is about the same size, he said.

Industrom estimates the trailer option saves the installer about $3 million in installation costs. Installation time is about one to two days. The system is available for both lease or purchase.

Angel said Industrom, founded in 2018, is in discussions to launch its technology with a Midwest utility this year.

In this WTUI session, Industrom Power unveiled a closed-loop CO2 system that can boost turbine plant power by up to 20%. The system uses waste heat, does not require water, and produces no emissions.