Recycled Fuel Performance In The Sr 30 Gas Turbine

An SR-30 gas turbine engine has been run with biodiesel fuel (referred to henceforth as biodiesel) to broaden the educational experience of the engineering students in various classes. The preparation of biodiesel from new and used vegetable oil and pre-testing of the fuel is also described. Basic characteristics and operation of the engine have not been covered here since they are very well presented in the TTL publications and in Dr Callinan's ASEE paper[1]. Background John Brown University (JBU) purchased an SR-30 gas turbine engine in 1999. Two years later we purchased the cutaway version since our use was for classroom and laboratory applications. The first applications of the engine were done with no deviations from the Turbine Technologies suggested practice. We found the engine to be an excellent device for demonstration and a definite morale builder. In the fall of 2000 we were making biodiesel from unused cooking oil for testing in piston diesel engines and decided to try that fuel in our SR-30. Based on that success, in 2001 we prepared SR-30 fuel from used cooking oil. A variety of fuels are specified by Turbine Technologies Ltd. , manufacturer of the SR-30 Turbojet Engine®. Throughout the history of the gas turbine one of the most interesting features has been the theoretical ability for them to use a variety of fuels. Some early authors even anticipated performance independent of fuel type. In the extreme, Tickell [2] reports applications for piston engines using used cooking oil ’straight’, after a startup period with conventional fuel. Commercial airplane engines do not have the liberty of using compounded vegetable fuels, due mainly to their auxiliary equipment, temperatures and pressures, standards and guaranteed performance, Mattingly [5]. The university laboratory is not bound by these considerations and we continue to explore the diversity of vegetable oil based fuels to broaden the engineering students’ design mindset. The John Brown University TTL MiniLab® System has been left as shipped, with no inlet