How do you calculate specific fuel consumption of gas

turbine?

A simple-cycle gas turbine used for power generation has a thermal efficiency of
about 34 percent. Since1 kwh is theoretically equivalent to 3,415 Btu,the simple-
cycle gas turbine has a fuel connsumption of:3,415 / 0.34 = about 10,000 Btu/kwh.

Given the heating value (i.e, heat of combustion) of a fuel, we can easily calculate
thesimple-cycle gas turbine fuel usage.

For example, natural gas has a net heating value of about 21,500 Btu/pound.Thus,
the natural gas consumption in a simple-cycle gas turbine would be:10,000 / 21,500 =
0.47 pounds/kwh = 0.21 kg/kwh.

As another example, a typical diesel oil has a net heating value of 130,000
Btu/gallon.Thus, the diesel oil consumption in a simple-cycle gas turbine would
be:10,000 / 130,000 = 0.077 gallon/kwh.

(The gallon used just above is the U.S. gallon rather than the Imperial gallon)A
combined-cycle gas turbine will have a higher thermal efficiency and, hence, lower
fuel consumptions.