Comparative thermodynamic, environmental and sustainability performance assessments of an aero turboprop engine utilizing jet fuel and biofuel

ABSTRACT

The main objective of this study is to investigate the thermodynamic, environmental and sustainability performances of turboprop engines used on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for jet fuel and biofuel usages. Energy efficiency of TPE is accounted as 18.304% for jet fuel and 18.309% for biofuel. Exergy efficiency reduces from 17.05% to 16.99% by biofuel usage. Ecological objective function of TPE is computed as -4388.55 kW for jet fuel and -4413.77 kW for biofuel. Ecological objective function index is -3.863 for jet fuel and -3.885 for biofuel. Environmental effect factor of TPE is 4.863 for jet fuel and 4.885 for biofuel, during the ecological effect factor of TPE is 5.863 for jet fuel and 5.885 for biofuel. Exergetic sustainability index of TPE is assessed as 0.206 for jet fuel and 0.205 for biofuel while sustainable efficiency factor of TPE is estimated as 1.206 for jet fuel and 1.205 for biofuel. Environmental impact is obtained as 9059.798 mPts/h for jet fuel and 86.654 mPts/h for biofuel when the environmental impact index is computed as 7.976 mPts/kWh for jet fuel and 0.076 mPts/kWh for biofuel. Environmental damage cost of the engine is calculated to be 192.673 €/h for jet fuel and 1.843 €/h for biofuel when the environmental damage cost index of the engine is determined to be 0.170 €/kWh for jet fuel and 0.002 €/kWh for biofuel. As a result, the energy and exergy-based performance metrics have gone wrong by biofuel usage while the emission-based environmental impact analyses have improved by biofuel usage.

KEYWORDS:

• Exergy
• environmental
• sustainability
• biofuel
• turboprop engine

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).AU: The disclosure statement has been inserted. Please correct if this is inaccurate.