Crude Oil Firing in the Utility Gas Turbine

Abstract

A more flexible approach is needed to accommodate rapidly changing require requirements of the fuel market toward the gas-turbine manufacturer. The impact of new fuels on performance of the gas turbine is both long and short range. The short-range effects influence the design of the fuel-handling, combustion, and control systems. Long-range effects on the gas turbine include potential corrosion of the blades and vanes, as some of the new fuels contain small but varying amounts of sodium, potassium, vanadium, and lead. These metallic trace elements, in causing corrosion, are independent of the type of fuel in which they are contained; therefore, safe trace element levels can be established under controlled laboratory conditions, using small specimens of the structural material. This paper deals mainly with the crude oil.