{"id":565,"date":"2026-06-10T22:50:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T22:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/ppats\/?page_id=565"},"modified":"2026-07-29T21:20:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T21:20:03","slug":"conceptual-design-and-simulation-of-an-ammonia-cracking-combustor","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/ppats\/conceptual-design-and-simulation-of-an-ammonia-cracking-combustor\/","title":{"rendered":"Conceptual Design and Simulation of an Ammonia-Cracking Combustor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">by Alex Tharpe, PhD Candidate<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Conceptual Design and Simulation of an Ammonia Cracking Combustor\" width=\"860\" height=\"484\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XOCCrhmVcgE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hydrogen has long been at the center of attention as the fuel of the future to achieve carbon-free gas turbine power generation. This choice seems obvious&nbsp;at first glance as&nbsp;hydrogen is very energy-dense on a unit-mass&nbsp;basis&nbsp;and its combustion produces only water as its primary emission. However, complications with&nbsp;hydrogen\u2019s&nbsp;production and liquid-phase storage requirements and low volumetric energy density currently make it practically and economically more inconvenient to use as a combustion fuel than conventional hydrocarbons. Fortunately, ammonia fuel addresses these specific complications while fitting the criteria of being a carbon-free fuel, albeit while ignoring the issue of&nbsp;ammonia\u2019s&nbsp;toxicity. Unfortunately, ammonia combustion has its own challenges with&nbsp;very low&nbsp;flammability and high NOx emissions that must be addressed&nbsp;in order for&nbsp;it to be&nbsp;a viable&nbsp;replacement for pure hydrogen. This presentation will show CFD simulations of an aero-engine gas turbine combustor designed for the NASA&nbsp;CarbonLess&nbsp;Electric&nbsp;AviatioN&nbsp;(CLEAN) project that&nbsp;utilizes&nbsp;detailed combustion chemistry and a one-step surface reaction for ammonia decomposition that addresses the low flammability and high NOx issues in one package.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Alex Tharpe, PhD Candidate Hydrogen has long been at the center of attention as the fuel of the future to achieve carbon-free gas turbine power generation. This choice seems obvious&nbsp;at first glance as&nbsp;hydrogen is very energy-dense on a unit-mass&nbsp;basis&nbsp;and its combustion produces only water as its primary emission. However, complications with&nbsp;hydrogen\u2019s&nbsp;production and liquid-phase storage requirements and low volumetric energy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":152,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-565","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/ppats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/ppats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/ppats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/ppats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/152"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/ppats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/ppats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":649,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/ppats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/565\/revisions\/649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/ppats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}