Fuelling Micro Gas Turbines with Vegetable Oils

This paper deals with the technical feasibility of the use of straight vegetable oil (SVO) as gas turbine fuels. First, this paper reports the results of the experimental characterization of differ-ent vegetable oils, derived from dedicated crops, and of blends of diesel and vegetable oil in different concentrations (from pure diesel to pure vegetable oil). The considered vegetable oils were obtained from different types of oilseeds (rapeseed, sunflower, soybean) and were cultivated under different agronomic scenarios. The SVO properties determined experimental-ly are SVO elemental composition, lower heating value, density, specific heat and viscosity, for which this paper provides a practical overview, coming both from experiments and litera-ture data. Secondly, the paper experimentally evaluates the behavior of a Solar T-62T-32 mi-cro gas turbine fed by vegetable oils. The vegetable oils are supplied to the micro gas turbine as blends of diesel and straight vegetable oils in different concentrations, up to pure vegetable oil. The paper describes the test rig used for the experimental activity and reports some exper-imental results, which highlight the effects of the different fuels on micro gas turbine perfor-mance and pollutant emissions.