Exhaust emissions from uncontrolled vehicles and related equipment using internal combustion engines. Part 6. Gas turbine electric utility power plants. Final report

Emissions data derived from laboratory and field test findings reported in the literature are sumarized for gas turbine electric utility power plants. The data are utilized together with information on the location and population of the plants to estimate national emissions impact, based on usage as reported to the Federal Power Commission. Expressing emissions from electric utility turbines as percentages of 1970 national totals from all sources, they account for approximately 0.6 percent of the nitrogen oxides, 0.05 percent of the hydrocarbons, 0.04 percent of the carbon monoxide, 0.03 percent of the particulates, and 0.02 percent of the sulfur oxides. Although overall emissions from electric utility turbines are not a large percentage of total emissions, they do occur in urban and suburban areas where they have high potential to affect people. These emissions probably occur during afternoon pollution peak hours and during the summer when other air pollution problems may be severe. The potential growth of turbine usage for power generation is quite substantial, although the Federal Power Commission estimates that the fraction of total electric power generated by turbines will probably not increase substantially in the near term.