Emissions optimization of a biodiesel fired gas turbine

This study investigates the operation of a 30 kW as turbine engine operated on biodiesel. Atomization, vaporization. combustion, and emissions are compared Cor operation of the gas turbine on biodiesel and. as a reference, diesel fuel distillate #2. The role of liquid properties oil fuel preparation and subsequent engine performance, injector operation oil the resulting droplet sizes, and fuel vaporization characteristics are examined. Results show that while compositionally simple, biodiesel's fluid properties result in inferior atomization, longer evaporation times compared to diesel. Theoretical and experimental findings indicate that optimizing the fuel injection process will improve NOx emissions for biodiesel. The minimum emission levels achieved Cor biodiesel still exceed the minimum attained for diesel. It is apparent that factors in addition to atomization contribute to the generally higher NOx emissions observed for biodiesel. (C) 2009 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.