ABSTRACT
Wood-burning research begun in 1976 led to the building and testing of a 375kW wood-burning gas turbine system (Ref. 1). Experience with that system resulted in the building and testing of a 3000-kW system. The gas turbine had long been used with liquid and gaseous fuels and operability with wood had been demonstrated more recently. The main question to be answered, that of turbine life, could have been answered to some extent by long-term testing of the 375kW system. However, gas turbines differ in their designs. Those differences may not greatly affect the life of turbines powered by liquid or gaseous fuels, but with wood there is the possibility of erosion by solid particles, and the number of turbine stages, gas velocities through the turbine passages, and turbine inlet gas temperature may make a significant difference in turbine life. Therefore, it was decided to build a system and test it in a location where power could be generated and sold during life testing of the turbine. The selection of a gas turbine, location of the operating site, construction of the system, and preliminary operating results are discussed in this report.
