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Title: Gas turbine combustor performance on synthetic fuels. Final report

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7014867· OSTI ID:7014867

The purpose of Project RP989-1 was to determine the effects of burning coal- and shale-derived synthetic liquid fuels in state-of-the-art gas turbine combustors. Ten types of coal-derived liquid fuels from the SRC-I, SRC-II, EDS, and H-Coal processes, and three hydrogenated shale oil fuels were utilized. The combustion and emission performance of fuels other than petroleum has now been obtained. The main conclusion was that synthetic fuels burned approximately as expected from extrapolation of the combustion results obtained with petroleum fuels. Synthetic fuels with hydrogen content greater than approximately 10% (by weight) and nitrogen content less than approximately 0.2% should be satisfactory for engines of current design. These include a number of the fuels tested. A wider selection of synthetic fuels could be used in engines of a lower pressure ratio and/or turbine inlet temperature. Conversely, designs of higher turbine inlet temperature and/or pressure ratio would require tighter fuel specifications or the development of improved combustor cooling, smoke performance, and NO/sub x/ suppression. The other combustion characteristics of the synthetic fuels were quite satisfactory. They burned smoothly, cleanly, efficiently, and ignited readily with no significant coking. All fuels were handled acceptably by standard fuel forwarding systems. Emissions of CO, UHC and particulates were at about the same low levels as for petroleum distillate No. 2. Analysis and correlation of NO/sub x/ emissions and wall temperatures versus fuel properties have been developed for prediction of these effects over a range of operating conditions. Volume I summarizes the main conclusions and the results of these correlations of the data. Volume II presents the detailed test and analysis results.

Research Organization:
Westinghouse Electric Corp., Concordville, PA (USA). Combustion Turbine Systems Div.
OSTI ID:
7014867
Report Number(s):
EPRI-AP-1623(Vol.1)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English