A new surrogate of Fischer–Tropsch fuel and its pollution emission in gas turbine combustor

Abstract

Based on the analysis of the combustion process of liquid fuel in the gas turbine combustor, we suggest that a comprehensive surrogate fuel should be developed according to the basic physical and chemical properties that affect the diffusion combustion process. The present study took the carbon–hydrogen mole ratio, molar weight, density, viscosity, surface tension, initial boiling point, and lower heating value, as the target properties. The optimal direction method was utilized to obtain the mixture composition ratio which has the minimum deviation on the basic physical and chemical properties compared with the Fischer–Tropsch (F-T) fuel. This mixture, taken as the comprehensive surrogate fuel of the F-T fuel, was composed of 15% n-decane, 67% n-tetradecane, 13% iso-octane, and 5% methylcyclohexane in mole fraction. Further experiments were conducted to investigate the pollutant emissions of the F-T fuel and the surrogate fuel in a gas turbine combustor. The experimental results showed that the surrogate fuel can well predict the EI(CO) and EI(NOx) of the F-T fuel in the turbine combustor, and the difference in EI(UHC) is mainly influenced by the fuel evaporation property.