Article – Haze reduces GT power output

March 26, 2008

An interesting article appeared in the pages of the Feb 2008 issue of the Jurutera, the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia’s monthly bulletin. It claims that during the haze season, a gas turbine (GT) can lose as much as 3% of its power output.

For those of you who are not from south east Asia, the haze is a polite term for seasonal smog mostly generated by Indonesia and generously shared with the rest of the region.

To quote the article, written by Engr. Dr Philip Tan, Mr. Loh Tian Ek and Mr. Ng Yan Fu,:

  • ‘The (GT) output reductions could reach as much as 3%.”
  • “However, to our amazement, the additional power loss would recover when the haze is (sic) cleared.”
  • “… hypothesized that during the haze period, the oxygen concentration per volume of air could be lowered.”

The article provides stoichiometric equations demonstrating the effects of lowered oxygen content.

I would say that if the air quality is bad enough to cause a GT to have a reduced power output, pity the lungs of biological machines.