Alternative fuel for gas turbine: Esterified jatropha oil–diesel blend

The oil crisis and the global effort to control the greenhouse effect have forced the researchers to think of various alternative energy sources. This decade has seen increasing importance of chemically treated vegetable oil biodiesel fuels for various applications in heat engines. Post-Kyoto negotiations refer to high level talks attempting to address global warming by limiting greenhouse gas emissions. During Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen the potential topics discussed were carbon capture and storage, biofuels, adaptation financing, technology transfer, sustainable agriculture, emissions targets, tropical forests and rural and transport electrification. Our area of interest is biofuels under which nonedible Jatropha oil due to its properties which are very close to diesel fuel is being explored as an alternative fuel. A lot of research is underway in the use of different biodiesel fuels in Internal Combustion engines, but very limited work has been reported in its use in gas turbines. This paper describes the results of an ongoing development program aimed at determining the technical feasibility of utilizing biodiesel in IS/60 Rovers gas turbine. The test rig is equipped with a dynamometer for turbine loading and AVL exhaust gas analyzer has been used to record emissions. The test results of 2 blends have been reported in this paper. Analyzing the results compared with the base line performance using diesel fuel under normal conditions show encouraging outcomes.