Combustion of Ecodiesel - kerosene mixtures in gasturbine testing rig

Iva Ozana Prah1, Andreea Cristina Petcu2*, Razvan Carlanescu2, Cornel Sandu2, , Milan Ermacora3 , Morana Jaganjac1,
Franz Tatzber4, Neven Zarkovic1
1
Division of Molecular Medicine, Laboratory for Oxidative Stress,
Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Bijenicka 54, HR-10000, Zagreb Croatia
2
National Research and Development Institute for Gas Turbines COMOTI
220D, Iuliu Maniu Boulevard, sector 6, 061126, Bucharest, Romania
3
Obrt Ermacora, Zapresic, Nova cesta 25, Croatia
4
Dr Tatzber KEG, Vienna, Austria
*Andreea Cristina Petcu: andreea.petcu@comoti.ro
Abstract One of nowadays major preoccupations is to
diminish greenhouse gases and to find the best kind of biofuel. It
should be from renewable, environmental friendly, not food
feedstock and if possible, production of such fuel should be waste
recycling and not producing more nus-products. This relates
especially to fastest growing transport sector, air-transport.
Ecodiesel is fuel additive made from waste cooking oil (WCO)
and it is a renewable, but also sustainable fuel additive. It is
produced without methanol, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or any
other toxic substance. The experiments were done on the Garrett
30-67 turbo-engine, poly-carburant engine which can operate
using different fuel mixtures. In this research kerosene was
supplemented with 10%, 20% and 40% of Ecodiesel. Based on
the results in this paper, one can draw the conclusion that for a
proper running of gas-turbine with Ecodiesel-kerosene mixtures,
the injection system and/or the design of the combustion chamber
should be modified. Significant carbonic and tar deposits were
found in the combustion chamber. They can cause damage of
various components in the turbo-engine. One possibility to resolve
this problem is to preheat Ecodiesel to decrease its viscosity.
Experiments regarding the use of biofuels on micro gas turbine
have been done before, but running with biofuel has not come in
commercial stage yet. If Ecodiesel could be used as kerosene
additive it would be very beneficial for pollution caused by airtraffic and for expenses after initial investment in the necessary
modifications.
Keywords- gasturbine, biofuel, waste cooking oil, Ecodiesel,
exhaust gases.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Current estimations are that aviation is using approximately

about 3% of total fossil fuel consumption [1]. Predictions for
the future fuel consumption are that it will grow with about 5%
per year until 2027 [2] or 3% [3]. Forecasts are also that global
oil consumption will increase from 85 million barrels a day in
2006 to 118 million barrels per day in 2030 [4], projected that
aviation traffic growth will increase by 4.5% to 6% every year
over the next 20 years, and that traffic will be doubling, every
15 years [5]. There is a consensus within the literature that
fossil fuel resources for the production of kerosene and diesel
fuel are disappearing.
So production and utilization of biofuels is and will be the
key priority, to fulfill the goal of reducing greenhouse gas
emissions and decrease the dependence of fossil derived fuel.

Road vehicles running on biofuels and its performances

have been tested and monitored extensively and many reviews
are available [69], but using biofuels in micro gas turbines is
still in an experimental and not yet commercial stage [10].
Furthermore climate perturbations attributable to airplanes
emissions has been extensively studied, but impact of aviation
on air quality and human health globally was not researched a
lot, so there is a real need for research about the subject.
Chronic exposure to CO may increase the severity of
cardiovascular symptoms, persistent headaches, lightheadedness, depression, confusion and nausea [11]. It was
reported recently that exposure to CO can lead to damage to
the heart muscle [12]. It was reported that cca.8000 [13]
premature mortalities per year globally are caused by aviation
transport emissions.
II.

THE EXPERIMENT SETUP

A. Ecodiesel description
Ecodiesel is fuel additive made from waste cooking oil
(WCO). It is a renewable, sustainable and biodegradable fuel
additive. Ecodiesel is prepared as described in Austrian and
Croatian patents, AT502540A12007-04-15, respectively,
HRP20070130A2. The procedure for Ecodiesel oil processing
differs from standard procedures used for biodiesel production.
Namely, instead of toxic methanol used for the biodiesel
production, the Ecodiesel was produced using ethanol, which is
further recycled. This procedure includes catalysts like sodium
and potassium hydroxide, carbonates and alkoxides, which
need short times, 30 min., to complete the reaction even at
room temperature, while homogeneous acid catalysts,
commonly used catalysts, which include sulphuric acid, need
higher temperatures (100C) and longer reaction times 3 to 4h
[14]. Furthermore, neither additional heating nor sodium
hydroxide (NaOH), which can pollute environment, are needed
in Ecodiesel production, while they are normally used for
biodiesel manufacturing.
WCO was collected in Zapresic, Croatia and processed at
Obrt Ermacora company on the mini plant which was
designed and built specially for producing Ecodiesel, following
patented procedure. (fig. 1).

Figure 3. Instrumentation of the gasturbine

Figure 1.Prototype of mini plant for Ecodiesel processing

III. RESULTS
B. Micro gasturbine testing rig
The experiments were done on a Garrett 30-67 turboengine, because this it is a poly-carburant engine and can
operate using different mixtures for a short period of time (30
min). During each experiment, the following values have been
recorded: battery amperage, and idling temperature, provided
by the engine control system, and the CO, CO2, NO, NOx, O2
and SO2 percentage in the exhaust gas, by means of a gas
analyser placed at the exit of the micro gasturbine.
The combustion experiment with Garrett gasturbine was
started with 10% Ecodiesel kerosene mixture and then
followed 20% and 40% mixtures. Temperature, pressure and
exhaust gases CO, CO2, NOx, O2 were measured and showed
significant changes. In each experiment the micro gas turbine
was started on kerosene, brought to a stable regime of
functioning and then switched to function on the Ecodiesel/
kerosene mixture. After a quantity of 1 liter of this mixture has
been consumed the micro gas turbine was switched back to
kerosene and then stopped.

AND

DISCUSSION

C. Results of pressure and temperature

During the experiments the function regime was:

Figure 4. Presure results from Garrett gasturbine combustion chamber.

From fig. 4 it can be observed that the pressure in the

combustion chamber is the same during all tests. The
Ecodiesel/kerosene mixture did not cause pressure changes.
The 100% kerosen tests duration was shorter because this test
was done only to get a reference point.

Figure 2. Micro gasturbine testing rig

Figure 5. Temperature results from Garrett gas turbine exhaust gases.

It was observed that during the starting phase (first 80

seconds) and the stopping phase the temperature evolution was
the same because during all experiments in these phases the
gasturbine functioned using only kerosene. When it was
switched to Ecodiesel/kerosene mixtures, it had been noticed
that the temperature has increased due to higher fuel
consumption caused by lower combustion effiency.

expected that with the increase of biofuel percentage in the

mixture there will be also more carbonic and tar deposits on
the flametube.

D. Carbonic and tar deposits

To assess the combustion process, pictures of the gas
turbine combustion chamber were taken after running on
kerosene supplemented with Ecodiesel in 10%, 20% and 40%
percentages.
After each experiment the combustion chamber has been
disassembled. Significant carbonic and tar deposits have been
observed on the fire tube (fig. 6, fig. 7). These observations
showed that the injection system or the combustion chamber
geometry should be modified in the gas-turbine to function
properly when using Ecodiesel/ kerosene blends.
Figure. 8. CO concetrations (ppm) in exhaust gases.

The above observations correlate properly with the CO 2

levels presented in fig. 9. As the amount of Ecodiesel in the
mixture increases, the resulting CO2 concentration decreases,
due to the lower CO oxydation rates observed earlier.

Figure 6. Garrett gasturbine flametube after combustion with Ecodiesel (20%)

Figure 9. CO2 concentration (vol%) in exhaust gases.

Figure 7. Garrett gasturbine flametube after combustion with Ecodiesel (40%)

E. Results of exhaust gases measurement

It can be noted in fig. 8 that for low amount of ecodiesel
(10%, 20%), the time for the oxidation of CO to CO 2 increases,
in good correlation with the decrease of the lower energy
content of the ecodiesel with respect to the kerosene. However,
for larger amounts of ecodiesel (over 20 %), this trend is
reversed. Also, as the percentage of ecodiesel in the mixture is
increasing, the initial levels of CO tend to decrease. It has been

It was reported that biofuels usually caused slight increase

in NOx concentaions. Another explanation could be the random
movement of the flame front (maximum temperature region,
most likely to produce Nitrogen oxydation), due to turbulent
fluctuations and the instabilities due to incomplete vaporization
(fig.10).
In previous research diesel, biodiesel, vegetable oil and
different blends of those were tested [15]. Researchers came up
with a conclusion that alternative fuels additives in gas turbine
offered few advantages, such as: 1) possibility of fuel
preheating temperature higher than in diesel engines, 2) no
possibility for fuel /lubricating oil mixing due to the presence of
air-lubrication of the rotating parts, 3) continuous injection and
combustion and lower pollutant emission [15].

material and together with production process, financial costs

for this fuel additive are very low.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to thank to Dr Frederique Battin Leclerc as this
work was supported within COST Action 0901 in the form of STSM
(Short Research Scientific Mission).

REFERENCES
Figure 10 NOx concentration (ppm) in exhaust gases

Figure 11. O2 concentration (vol%) in exhaust gases.

The oxygen concentration in the exhaust provides an inverse

correlation of the combustion efficiency and that is consistent
with the results in this experiment for temeprature in
combustion chamber.
IV.

CONCLUSION

Based on these results one can draw the conclusion that, for
a proper functioning using Ecodiesel-kerosene mixtures, some
changes regarding the injection system and/or the design of the
combustion chamber of the gas turbine will have to be done.
The resulted significant carbonic and tar deposits can cause
damage to various components of the turbo-engine. Also the
Ecodiesel should be preheated to decrease its viscosity.
Using Ecodiesel as additive to kerosene has few advantages.
Because of processing with ethanol moisture is negligible and
does not contain salt substances, proteins or carbohydrates that
are detrimental for engines. Also supplementing diesel fuel with
Ecodiesel showed less acrolein-protein adducts [16].
Considering higher temperature in combustion chamber and
slightly lower combustion efficiency, using Ecodiesel still
would be very cost effective, because feedstock is waste

[1] IEA International Energy Agency/OECD. IEA Energy Balance;

International Energy Agency: Paris, 2007.
[2] The Boeing Company. Boeing Current Market Outlook 2008-2027;
Boeing: Chicago, IL, 2008.
[3] Koh L. P., and Ghazoul J., 2008, Biofuels, biodiversity, and people:
Understanding the conflicts and finding opportunities, Biological
Conservation, Vol. 141, Nu10), pp. 2450-2460.
[4] Nygren E., Aleklett K., and Hk M., 2009, Aviation fuel and future oil
production scenarios,, Energy Policy, 37(10), pp. 4003 - 4010
[5] Lee D. S., Fahey D. W., Forster P. M., Newton P. J., Wit R. C. N., Lim L.
L., Owen B., and Sausen R., 2009, Aviation and global climate change in the
21st century, Atmospheric Environment, Vol 43, pp, 22-23.
[6]. No S-Y. Inedible vegetable oils and their derivatives for alternative diesel
fuels in CI engines: A review. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2011 Vol, 15,
pp,13149.
[7] Sidib SS, Blin J, Vaitilingom G, Azoumah Y. Use of crude filtered
vegetable oil as a fuel in diesel engines state of the art: Literature review.
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Review 2010, Vol 14, pp, 274859.
[8] Ramadhas AS, Jayaraj S, Muraleedharan C. Use of vegetable oils as I.C.
engine fuelsA review. Renewable Energy 2004; Vol 29, pp, 72742.
[9] Misra RD, Murthy MS. Straight vegetable oils usage in a compression
ignition engineA review. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2010;14:300513.
[10]. Chiaramonti D, Rizzo A M, Spadi A, Prussi M, Riccio G, Martelli F,
Exhaust emissions from liquid fuel micro gas turbine fed with diesel oil,
biodiesel and vegetable oil. Applied Energy 2013, Vol. 101, pp 349356.
[11] Fawcett, T.A., Moon, R.E., Fracica, P.J., Mebane, G.Y., Theil,,D.R.,
Piantadosi, C.A. Warehouse workers' headache. Carbon monoxide poisoning
from propane-fueled forklifts. Journal of Occupation Medicine. 1992, Vol 34,
pp1215.
[12] Henry, C.R., Satran, D., Lindgren, B., Adkinson, C., Nicholson, C.I.,
Henry, T.D. (2006). Myocardial Injury and Long-term Mortality Following
Moderate to Severe Carbon Monoxide Poisoning. JAMA 295, 398402.
[13]. Barrett S R H, Britter R E, Waitz I A, Global Mortality Attributable to
Aircraft Cruise Emissions, Environmental Science and Technology Vol 44,
2010, pp 77367742.
[14] Meher LC, Vidya Sagar D, Nail SN. Technical aspects of biodiesel
production by transesterification review, Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 2006;
Vol 10: pp 248-268.
[15]. Chiaramonti D, Rizzo A M, Spadi A, Prussi M, Riccio G, Martelli F,
Exhaust emissions from liquid fuel micro gas turbine fed with diesel oil,
biodiesel and vegetable oil. Applied Energy 2013, Vol. 101, pp 349356.
[16]. Jaganjac M, Prah IO, Cipak A, Cindric M, Milkovic L, Ermacora M,
Spoljaric D, Tatzber F, Ilincic P, Rukavina V, Spehar B, Parlov Vukovic J,
Telen S, Uchida K, Lulic Z, Horvatic J, Zarkovic N, Ecodiesel
environmental friendly fuel additive that reduces diesel toxicity. Environ.
Toxicol. 2011; Vol 11:pp 644-652.