Chapter 11 - Gaseous Emissions and the Environment

Abstract

Human activity creates a stress on the environment. Land, air, and water are inundated with the detrimental effects of industry. Air has received more attention and publicity than land and water in terms of the pollution it suffers. Besides, air pollution at some point affects land and water, either directly or indirectly. In the interests of brevity, this chapter will deal mostly with air pollution. Separate standards exist, for instance, for legislating the water effluent from power stations. Gas turbines running at optimal emissions status tend to have TIT profiles and internal air cooling that promote the best TBOs and component longevity, particularly in the hot section. If TITs or temperatures anywhere within the gas turbine increase over optimum design settings (due to blockage or partial blockage in any of the modules), component lives and emissions are adversely affected. Thus engineers, especially those who have considerable field and overhaul experience, frequently concur that environmental emissions-lowering technologies mean better turbine component lives, as they lead to the engine operating cooler (than it would without the technologies in question for a given power setting).