Impact of Alternative Fuels on Emissions Characteristics of a Gas Turbine Engine – Part 2: Volatile and Semivolatile Particulate Matter Emissions

• Published in: Environmental science & technology Vol. 46; no. 19; pp. 10812 - 10819
• Main Authors: Williams, Paul I, Allan, James D, Lobo, Prem, Coe, Hugh, Christie, Simon, Wilson, Christopher, Hagen, Donald, Whitefield, Philip, Raper, David, Rye, Lucas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 02.10.2012
• Subjects: Aerosols; Air Pollutants - chemistry; Airborne particulates; Aircraft; Alkanes - chemistry; Alternative energy sources; Applied sciences; Atmospheric pollution; Biofuels; Coal; Emissions; Equipment Design; Exact sciences and technology; Fossil Fuels; Gas turbine engines; Mass spectrometry; Mass Spectrometry - instrumentation; Measurement; Particulate Matter - chemistry; Pollution; Prevention and purification methods; Transports and other; Vehicle Emissions; Volatilization; Volatile compound; Alternative fuel; Airplane; Pollution prevention; Gas turbine engines; Aerosols; Air pollution; Air transportation; Emission measure; Low volatile compound; Organic compounds
• ISSN: 0013-936X; 1520-5851
• DOI: 10.1021/es301899s

The work characterizes the changes in volatile and semivolatile PM emissions from a gas turbine engine resulting from burning alternative fuels, specifically gas-to-liquid (GTL), coal-to-liquid (CTL), a blend of Jet A-1 and GTL, biodiesel, and diesel, to the standard Jet A-1. The data presented here, compares the mass spectral fingerprints of the different fuels as measured by the Aerodyne high resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer. There were three sample points, two at the exhaust exit plane with dilution added at different locations and another probe located 10 m downstream. For emissions measured at the downstream probe when the engine was operating at high power, all fuels produced chemically similar organic PM, dominated by C x H y fragments, suggesting the presence of long chain alkanes. The second largest contribution came from C x H y O z fragments, possibly from carbonyls or alcohols. For the nondiesel fuels, the highest loadings of organic PM were from the downstream probe at high power. Conversely, the diesel based fuels produced more organic material at low power from one of the exit plane probes. Differences in the composition of the PM for certain fuels were observed as the engine power decreased to idle and the measurements were made closer to the exit plane.