Reduced PM2.5 Emissions for Military Gas Turbine Engines using Fuel Additives

Abstract

Abstract : The technical objective of this program was to develop fundamental understanding of the complex interactions of additives with the processes that lead to PM emissions from military gas turbine engines and to use that fundamental understanding to select and investigate the most promising additives for reducing PM emissions. Multiple laboratory devices were applied to study the effects of additives on soot formation processes including: a shock tube, a well-stirred reactor, premixed flames, diffusion flames, a spray flame, and a high-pressure turbulent reactor. Over the course of this program, three different classes of organic compounds (oxygenates, nitroalkanes, and nitrogen-heterocycles) were investigated along with phosphorus. Three primary mechanisms through which these compounds affected soot were uncovered through the course of the program: (1) changing the temperature in the fuel-rich, soot formation regions, (2) decreasing the production rates of aromatic species, and (3) increasing the number of C-atoms involved in strong chemical bonds such as C-O or C-N.