Heavy Fuel Oil

Improving performance and availability

With increasing energy demand and often-limited supplies of fuel available, numerous regions are using crude and residual oils, commonly known as heavy fuel oils, in power generation. Rather than utilizing traditional subcritical steam boiler technology that uses fuels from refinery processes, power providers are turning to GE's higher-performing gas turbine technology to generate cost-effective power.

Most heavy fuel oils are contaminated with heavy metals and require pre-combustion fuel treatment, which results in the need for frequent turbine cleaning to recover lost performance. This contamination often reduces the availability of the power plant.

GE’s fuel flexibility technologies have significantly increased the availability of gas turbines fueled by heavy fuel oils and performance has measurably improved.

With more than 300 heavy-duty gas turbines operating with heavier fuels, GE has accumulated more than 7 million hours of operation. This extensive experience is leveraged to continuously improve the performance and availability of GE's fleet of gas turbines.

The latest example is the introduction of the Heavy Fuel Oil Availability Package on GE's E-class gas turbines. This Package significantly shortens the time required to perform a turbine offline water wash cycle, and reduces the rate of output and heat rate degradation due to fouling – by as much as 25 percent. The Heavy Fuel Oil Availability Package consists of three main features:

Automated Water Wash

The process of water washing the turbine and compressor, thereby saving time and resources

Smart Cool Down

Improves shutdown and startup profiles to shorten turbine cool down time, without impacting the life of parts

Firing Temperature Control with Model-Based Control

Enables the control system to compensate for the loss in turbine efficiency, maintain firing temperature and recover lost performance.