Modelling the performance of aero-gas turbine engine using algae-based biofuel with emission prediction

The world oil consumption is at the peak where the fuel price is insubstantial and can increase dramatically due to economic, social, and political factors andunprecedentedstability.Since fuel resourcesare scarce, it is an urgent need to find alternative fuel. Biofuel is one of the favorable choices in the market. Algae-based biofuel is the fourth generation of biofuel where it does not compete with the food production and it has myriad of advantages.These abundant algae are easy to cultivate and researchers found that algae-based biofuel is capable of reducing engine emission. This paper modelled the RB211aero-gas turbine engine by utilizing algae-based biofuel with various blended percentageratios at different flight conditions. Cranfield’s University in-house software, PYTHIA,and HEPHAESTUSare used to model the engine performance and emission prediction respectively.PYTHIA programme uses a modified Newton-Raphson convergence technique in the zero-dimensional steady-state model for both design and off-design conditions. Meanwhile, HEPHAESTUSsoftware uses the Zeldovich equations (for NOx) and models the emission by implementing a partially-stirred reactor (PSR) model and perfectly stirred reactor (PSRS) models at different zones in the combustor.Results have shown that thrust force produced is increasing at higher blended percentage ratio of algae biofuel. Through emission analysisprediction, generally,the nitrous oxide emission formation is lower at a higher altitude during the cruising. Results also predicted that higher percentage blended ratio of algae biofuel also reduces the emission formation.