Study of biodiesel specifications for heavy-duty gas turbine application

Abstract

Implementing a 20% biodiesel blend in diesel fuel (B20) has been launched since January 1th, 2016, and it was increased to 30% (B30) on January 1th, 2020, implemented in all sectors, including power generators. Gas turbines utilized as power generators designed to use natural gas or diesel fuel as fuel. Therefore, a study to use biodiesel blend as fuel in gas turbines was required. A comparative study was conducted to analyze the fuel requirements of General Electric’s (GE) Heavy Duty (HD) Gas Turbine specification compared to either of SNI 7182: 2015 and EN 14214 specifications. An assessment was conducted on samples of two biodiesel quality levels called biodiesel and distilled biodiesel to meet the GE HD Gas Turbine’s requirements. This study indicates that the biodiesel quality standards, both SNI 7182: 2015 and EN 14214, are insufficient to meet the gas turbine fuel specifications of the GE HD gas turbine. It is required a more specific quality standard dedicated to gas turbines. On the other hand, among the two samples, distilled biodiesel fulfills the fuel requirements of GE HD gas turbines and might be utilized as fuel for this type of gas turbine. According to the result of this study, a test run of 100% biodiesel (B100) as gas turbine fuel can be proposed to be implemented immediately.