Impact of Fuel Composition on Gas Turbine Engine Performance

Abstract

An industrial gas turbine can run on a wide variety of fuels to produce power. Depending on the fuel composition and resulting properties, specifically the hydrogen–carbon ratio, the available output power, operability, and emissions of the engine can vary significantly. This study is an examination of how different fuels can affect the output characteristics of Solar Turbines Incorporated industrial engines and highlights the benefits of using fuels with higher hydrogen–carbon ratios including higher power, higher efficiency, and lower carbon emissions. This study also highlights critical combustion operability issues that need to be considered such as auto-ignition, flashback, blowout, and combustion instabilities that become more prominent when varying the hydrogen–carbon ratio significantly. Our intent is to provide a clear and concise reference to edify the reader examining attributes of fuels with different properties and how natural gas is superior to other fossil fuels with lower hydrogen carbon ratios in terms of carbon emissions, power, and efficiency.

Detailed Group-Type Characterization of Plastic-Waste Pyrolysis Oils: By Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography Including Linear, Branched, and Di-Olefins

“…The corresponding H/C values of the naphtha fraction are identical (1.93) in both analytical methods. Although the fact that the naphtha fraction of a fossil origin has the H/C value higher than a diesel fraction of the same origin, that is not in the case when these fractions come from plastic pyrolysis oils [66,67]. Furthermore, the oxygen elemental composition determined by EA is higher in comparison with the obtained results of GC × GC-FID in both studied samples.…”

Impact of Plasma Combustion Technology on Micro Gas Turbines Using Biodiesel Fuels

“…In particular, the benefits of biodiesel as an alternative aviation fuel have attracted research interest in addressing the inefficient performance of conventional fossil fuels [10]. The incomplete combustion of fossil fuel hydrocarbons adversely impacts GTE performance in terms of the GHG emission levels, fuel consumption, engine running cost [11][12][13].…”

Effect of the Maintenance Strategy on the Performance and Efficiency of the Gas Turbine Unit: A Review

“…Burnes and Camou [25] studied the effect of fuel composition on the performance of a gas turbine engine, and how different fuel types (natural gas and crude oil) affect the output characteristics of power turbine engines and highlighted the benefits of using fuel that contains high percentages of Hydrogen and carbon, including higher energy, higher more effectiveness and reduced carbon emissions, as well as the problems of the combustion process that must be taken into account such as self-ignition, reflux, explosion, and combustion instability, which become more obvious when changing hydrogen and carbon, and the researchers concluded that increasing the proportion of H2 in fuel results more efficient H2 combustion effects ,while Low H/C fuels lower ignition temperature are typical, and the results showed that natural gas is better than fossil fuels in this study.…”