Impact of Ethane, Propane, and Diluent Content in Natural Gas on the Performance of a Commercial Microturbine Generator

Abstract

The impact of fuel composition on the performance of power generation devices is gaining interest as the desire to diversify fuel supplies increases. In the present study, measurements of combustion performance were conducted on a commercial natural gas-fired 60kW gas turbine as a function of fuel composition. A statistically designed experiment was carried out and exhaust emissions were obtained for significant amounts of ethane and propane. In addition, a limited study of the effect of inerts was conducted. The results show that emissions of NOx, CO, and NOx∕NO are not well correlated with common descriptions of the fuel, such as higher heating value or methane number. The results and trends indicate that the presence of higher hydrocarbons in the fuel leads to appreciably higher NOx emissions for both test devices operating under similar lean conditions, while having less impact on CO emissions.

Natural Gas Fired Reciprocating Engines for Power Generation: Concerns and Recent Advances

“…Overall, the concentration of larger hydrocarbons in natural gas has a dominating effect and it significantly reduces the MN. As observed by Hack and McDonell, larger hydrocarbons also increase the heating value and the general emission propensity of natural gas [5].…”

Evaluation of the Effects of Carbon to Hydrogen Ratio and Sulfur Level in Fuel on Particulate Matters From Micro Gas Turbine Engine

“…Previous work has shown correlation between NOx emissions and H/C ratio for tbe C65 micro gas turbine engine [12]. PM measurements in the exhaust were carried out with fuel of varying H/C ratio and the results are shown in Fig.…”