A gas turbine draws in huge quantities of air which it uses to compress.  The air that it draws in contains particulate matter.  This particulate matter could consist of many things that will stick to the surfaces in the gas path which in turn degrades the engines performance.  If regular effective cleaning is carried out it will clean the stuck on particulate matter and will not only help to restore the engines efficiency but also its service life.

Below are two documents which help to describe how the fouling occurs and then why it is important to clean this fouling.

The first paper was written by group Managing Director Peter McDermott about a decade ago but it is still entirely relevant to today’s problems of compressor fouling.  It explains in concisely accurate terms how fouling actually occurs and what effect it has on the efficiency of the gas turbine.

It is also useful information for gas turbine operators in order to give them a better understanding of what will happen if they make no effort to control compressor fouling.

The second is a short presentation entitled "Why clean the compressor" which outlines the importance of cleaning the compressor.