Technical Assessment of Two Alcohol Generator Sets

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the performance of two gensets, using as fuel, alcohol from fuel station and farm distillery. Specifically, to evaluate the power generation, the specific fuel consumption as well as the efficiency of the two gensets. The alcohol fuel from farm distillery was produced from residues of sugar cane aguardiente (head and tail), with an alcoholic content of 91%. It was used a single-phase generator of 10 kVA and three-phase generator of 42 kVA. For the generator 1 the specific fuel consumption was 0.93 L kWh-1 and 0.90 L kWh-1 and for generator 2 was 0.62 L kWh-1 and 0.71 L kWh-1 for alcohol from fuel station and farm distillery, respectively. With the increasing of power, the specific fuel consumption decreased and the efficiency increased. When the working power generator set increase, the efficiency increased. It was determined that the efficiency for the generator 1 was greater when it was used alcohol from farm distillery for the same load. In the case of the generator 2, the efficiency was higher with the ethanol fuel station for power values between 22.27 and 25.99 kW.