In 1991 ENEL started a research program on gas turbine problems, an important activity which contributed to the realisation of the ENEL Sesta Gas Turbine Test Facility located in Radicondoli, Siena, Italy [1]. The aim of this program was to increase ENEL’s competitiveness in the liberalised energy market dominated by the increasing application of gas turbines in combined cycles and re-powered power stations due to lower costs and the higher performances. The first testing campaigns carried out in Sesta were conducted with conventional fuels such as natural gas and diesel oil. In 1998, ENEL built a specific plant able to simulate alternative fuels by mixing different pure components. Pure gases that can be added to the NG to simulate the syngas are: H2, CO, CO2, N2, steam and ammonia (NH3). Throughout the years, many test campaigns have been conducted at ENEL using industrial gas turbine combustion systems, as well as using a wide variety of fuels and technologies. These tests were carried out for ENEL purpose or for external industrial customers. This paper describes the main characteristics of the ENEL Sesta facility with particular reference to the alternative fuels plants. Two tests carried out at the Sesta facility by ENEL using different industrial combustion systems and non-conventional fuels are also described. The first one refers to the use of H2/CH4 mixtures in a diffusion flame gas turbine combustor. The second one concerns the co-combustion of methane and syngas from biomass in a modified DLN gas turbine combustor.
On the Cyclic Variability and Sources of Unburned Hydrocarbon Emissions in Low Temperature Diesel Combustion Systems
