Over the years, many users purchased gas turbines (GTs) with dual-fuel capability to maximize availability—or so they thought. Most of those machines were designed to operate either on natural gas or distillate oil, thereby providing owner/operators some measure of protection against fuel supply disruptions and price volatility. However, users often found the operation of dual-fuel systems problematic and many either decommissioned or removed their liquid fuel systems altogether.
Those who have retained the capability to burn oil on an intermittent basis typically are dealing with annual refurbishment or replacement of OEM- supplied liquid-fuel check valves and flow dividers, according to Schuyler McElrath ([email protected]), a specialist in GT auxiliaries with more than a quarter century of experience troubleshooting fuel-system problems on frame engines for a major OEM.