Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Emissions from the Combustion of Alternative Fuels in a Gas Turbine Engine

Author

Simon Christie
David W. Raper
David S. Lee
Paul I. Williams
Lucas Rye
Simon Blakey
Chris W. Wilson
Prem Lobo, Missouri University of Science and TechnologyFollow
Donald E. Hagen, Missouri University of Science and TechnologyFollow
Philip D. Whitefield, Missouri University of Science and TechnologyFollow

Abstract

We report on the particulate-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in the exhaust of a test-bed gas turbine engine when powered by Jet A-1 aviation fuel and a number of alternative fuels: Sasol fully synthetic jet fuel (FSJF), Shell gas-to-liquid (GTL) kerosene, and Jet A-1/GTL 50:50 blended kerosene. The concentration of PAH compounds in the exhaust emissions vary greatly between fuels. Combustion of FSJF produces the greatest total concentration of PAH compounds while combustion of GTL produces the least. However, when PAHs in the exhaust sample are measured in terms of the regulatory marker compound benzo[a]pyrene, then all of the alternative fuels emit a lower concentration of PAH in comparison to Jet A-1. Emissions from the combustion of Jet A-1/GTL blended kerosene were found to have a disproportionately low concentration of PAHs and appear to inherit a greater proportion of the GTL emission characteristics than would be expected from volume fraction alone. The data imply the presence of a nonlinear relation between fuel blend composition and the emission of PAH compounds. For each of the fuels, the speciation of PAH compounds present in the exhaust emissions were found to be remarkably similar (R² = 0.94-0.62), and the results do provide evidence to support the premise that PAH speciation is to some extent indicative of the emission source. In contrast, no correlation was found between the PAH species present in the fuel with those subsequently emitted in the exhaust. The results strongly suggests that local air quality measured in terms of the particulate-bound PAH burden could be significantly improved by the use of GTL kerosene either blended with or in place of Jet A-1 kerosene.

Recommended Citation

S. Christie and D. W. Raper and D. S. Lee and P. I. Williams and L. Rye and S. Blakey and C. W. Wilson and P. Lobo and D. E. Hagen and P. D. Whitefield, "Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Emissions from the Combustion of Alternative Fuels in a Gas Turbine Engine," Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 46, no. 11, pp. 6393 - 6400, American Chemical Society (ACS), Jun 2012.

The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1021/es300301k

Department(s)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Second Department

Physics

Third Department

Chemistry

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0013-936X

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2012 American Chemical Society (ACS), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jun 2012