Demand for Onsite Power.
Growth of data center construction and the resulting power needs of data centers have increased significantly in recent years. One estimate of forecast additional electric power demand for data centers in the United States is 30 Gigawatts by the end of 2028. Much of this demand for electrical power is driven by increased demand for servers optimized for artificial intelligence (AI). These data centers have much higher power density than conventional facilities.
Another aspect of the rapid growth in demand for electric power for AI data centers is the challenge of connection to a power grid, which can take multiple years to complete. As a result, more projects are considering decentralized power, dedicated to providing power to a specified data center. Further, these decentralized power stations are often required to meet strict emission limits of NOx and CO. Often these power stations use natural gas to heat a working fluid used in a thermal-mechanical power cycle to drive an electric power generator.
Manufactures of decentralized power generation are eager to embrace renewable forms of energy, but most forms of renewable energy are not ready to scale quickly. Natural gas, on the other hand, is quick to market and readily available as a power source. By using natural gas, power generators can access the market as quickly as possible and pivot to a renewable heat source at a later date.
To help meet the demand for heat needed to power these electric power stations, ALZETA offers a variety of burner designs that are well suited for these systems. For indirect heating, where the burner exhaust heats the working fluid with the use of a heat exchanger, the CSBTM burner offers several advantages over conventional burners.
· Ultra-low NOx emissions, guaranteed to 5ppm NOx corrected to 3% O2.
· Uniform heat release over the surface of the burner to reduce thermal wear on the heat exchanger.
· Large range in capacity from 2 to 120 MMBtu/hr (corresponding to 0.2 to 12 MWe).
· Available in cylindrical geometry and flat surface.
For direct heating of air as the working fluid in a gas turbine, the NanostarTM burner is a good choice. These burners were developed twenty years ago as a dry low NOx alternative to the use of secondary treatment of exhaust gas with Selective Catalytic Reduction for NOx control. These burners have been proven to provide low NOx and reliable operation in the combustion chamber of industrial gas turbines. Like the CSB technology, the Nanostar can be configured in a variety of geometries for retrofit into your gas turbine.
ALZETA® Corporation has been selling low NOx burners and waste gas treatment systems for over forty years. Our engineering team is available to offer solutions to your burner needs for any application, including modular electric power systems.
