The U.S. Department of Energy has funded research on combustion turbines, significantly improving their efficiency from 25-35% to over 60% through innovations like heat-recovery steam generators. These advancements also reduce harmful nitrogen oxide emissions, addressing critical environmental concerns. Future efforts will focus on integrating coal-derived hydrogen fuels into combustion turbine technology for cleaner power generation.

2.  Over the past two decades, the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) has supported
a wide range of research initiatives in the
field of combustion turbines. Before recent
technological innovations, natural gas-fired
combustion turbines converted anywhere
from 25 to 35 percent of natural gas
heating capacity to electricity.
Today, many large power plants use heat-recovery
steam generators to recover
waste products in the reaction and use
them to power steam turbines.

3.  Researchers have also developed
techniques to operate combustion turbines
at temperatures more than 300 degrees
Fahrenheit higher than traditional turbines,
which has achieved energy efficiencies of
more than 60 percent. New technologies
have also allowed for the reduction of
harmful nitrogen oxide emissions, which
represented one of the most serious
problems facing combustion turbines.

4.  Looking forward, the DOE’s Fossil Energy
Program will support the adoption of
combustion turbine technology that
incorporates coal-derived hydrogen
fuels and synthesis gas. Over time,
combustion turbines may play an
important part in a near-zero emission,
power-generation landscape.