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7 September 2006 -- Siemens Power Generation announced today that its 17 MW industrial gas turbine SGT-500 has successfully undergone a comprehensive test program on heavy fuel oil and has passed its performance test "with flying colors." Siemens pursued the technology because there is a potential market for marine gas turbine propulsion machinery operating with Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) following the tripling of price for distillates in recent years.
Since the SGT-500 was originally designed for operation with HFO, and already has broad experience of operation with a variety of fuels, including intermediate fuel oils, the turbine is a suitable prospect for this market. The purpose of the test was thus to find the limits for good combustion with commercially available HFO regarding viscosity and carbon residue, and to document performance with the higher viscosity fuels demanded by the market.
The tests proved that SGT-500 can be fueled with commercially available HFO. Siemens reported that operation was problem-free, combustion efficiency was high and the result indicates no significant effect on turbine maintenance. Most importantly, there is no visible smoke given off with this fuel as low as below 20 percent load. All the test targets were achieved, and in some cases, even exceeded.
After six weeks of intensive testing in the presence of independent branch specialists, DNV (Det Norske Veritas) signed a statement of preliminary approval for installation on vessels for operation with the stated HFO. Siemens said this is a significant reduction in fuel and operation costs compared with other propulsion machinery using light distillates.
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