Performance and emission characteristics of butanol/Jet A blends in a gas turbine engine

• One of the first studies of butanol/Jet A blends in gas turbines.
• Operational thrust range was smaller for butanol blends.
• NOx and CO emissions were lower for butanol blends.
• Butanol/Jet A blends are promising alternate fuels.

Butanol, which can be derived from biomass, is an attractive alternative energy resource to petroleum fuels. Recently, butanol seems to be preferred over other alcohols, particularly for blending with petroleum fuels such as gasoline/Jet A, because its properties are closer to those of the latter. The focus of this study was the effect of butanol/Jet A blends on the performance and emission characteristics of a gas turbine engine. Pure Jet A, butanol and their blends with varying concentrations of butanol, ranging from 25% to 75% by volume, were used as fuels. The performance characteristics, the thrust, thrust-specific fuel consumption, turbine inlet temperature and exhaust gas temperature, and the emission characteristics, such as thrust-specific emission indices of CO and NOx, were measured over a range of throttle settings. The operational thrust range of the engine for butanol-containing fuels was reduced when compared to that of Jet A fuel. The NOx and CO emission indices were lower for butanol and butanol blends compared to those with Jet A.