Performance Assessment of Turbojet Engine Operated With Biodiesel

Depletion of conventional fuels, concerns about environmental pollution and the tightening of exhaust emission legislations are the main reasons for increasing research on alternative fuels produced from agricultural feedstock. Biodiesel fuels produced from vegetable oils are investigated as renewable fuels for a gas turbine engine for aviation. The biodiesel fuels were produced using transesterification process and characterized according to ASTM biodiesel specifications. Chemical and physical properties show a real potential of using biodiesel blends as an alternative for JetA-1. The performance characteristics and exhaust emissions of the gas turbine engine are investigated when the engine fueled with various blends of biodiesel/JetA-1 by volume. The measured engine performance parameters and exhaust emissions are compared with that of pure JetA-1 over a range of throttle setting. The experimental results show that biodiesel fuels can be used up to blend of 50% with JetA-1 in gas turbine engines with slight enhancement in engine performance and significant improvements in exhaust emissions.