Water Injected Turbomachinery

From antiquity water has been a source of cooling lubrication and power for energy transfer devices. More recent applications in gas turbines demonstrate an added facet emissions control. Fogging gas turbine inlets or direct injection of water into gas turbine combustors decreases NOx and increases power. Herein we demonstrate that injection of water into the air upstream of the combustor reduces NOx by factors up to three in a natural gas fueled Trapped Vortex Combustor (TVC) and up to two in a liquid JP-8 fueled (TVC) for a range in water/fuel and fuel/air ratios.