Gas Turbines in Alternative Fuel Applications: Bio-Ethanol Field Test

There is a sustained interest worldwide for liquid biofuels that form a numerous and very contrasting family. Among biofuels, bio-ethanol is a natural candidate in regions such as Brazil and India, where similar petroleum-based fuels such as naphtha have been utilized as gas turbine fuels. While biodiesel is very similar to middle distillates (gasoil), ethanol has some commonalities with volatile petroleum fuels in terms of physical data; however, the small alcohol molecule displays a markedly distinct combustion behavior. As part of a development program devoted to biofuels and in collaboration with the major Indian utility Reliance Energy, GE Energy has carried out a preliminary characterization of the combustion of an extensive range of naphtha/bio-ethanol blends with up to 95% ethanol. This test was performed in Spring 2008 on a Frame 6B equipped with standard combustors at the Goa power plant, state of Goa, India. All blends showed excellent combustion performances, low NOx emissions and virtually zero emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), unburned hydrocarbons (UHC) and sulphur oxides (Sox).