Energy
Fuel oil treatment & forwarding for gas turbine power plants
Gas turbines in power stations are operated using diesel, crude or heavy fuel oil. All these oils not only have to have water removed, but also water-soluble salts and abrasive solid particles which can be a hazard to the turbine blades and consequently also to the entire power station. GEA supplies efficient treatment units for all fuels, with self-cleaning separators at the heart of each one.
An efficient and economical solution
The quality specifications for gas turbine fuel oils are extremely stringent. Harmful trace elements such as water-soluble sodium, potassium and calcium as well as oil-soluble vanadium and lead can cause major problems. An excessively high concentration of trace elements in the fuel results in corrosion. Sediments such as sand, rust and cat fines lead to increased wear.
Fuel oil treatment systems from GEA offer an efficient and economical solution. The gas turbine manufacturers specify limits for the trace elements to ensure safe and economical operation. For sodium and potassium these limits are between 1 ppm and 0.1 ppm. The harmful water-soluble trace elements are reduced to the required levels by separation only or by a combination of washing and separation. Contaminants such as sand, rust and cat fines are removed from the fuel oil under high centrifugal force.
Oil-soluble trace elements as for example vanadium and lead cannot be separated. A suitable inhibitor is added to the fuel to counteract the high temperature corrosion caused by vanadium ash. Self-cleaning separators with disc-type bowl are used for purifying and dewatering the fuel oil. An essential feature of the separators is the optimum separation efficiency even with constantly changing composition of the product to be separated. A requirement for efficient separation is a density difference between water, oil and solids.
Key benefits:
- Increase of turbine life-time
- Necessary general overhauling of gas turbine at longer intervals
- Reduction of gas turbine´s ”Power Loss“
- Reduction of operating costs for downstream equipment
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