Energetic and exergetic performance analyses of a combined heat and power plant with absorption inlet cooling and evaporative aftercooling

In this paper, exergy method is applied to analyze the gas turbine cycle cogeneration with inlet air cooling and evaporative aftercooling of the compressor discharge. The exergy destruction rate in each component of cogeneration is evaluated in detail. The effects of some main parameters on the exergy destruction and exergy efficiency of the cycle are investigated. The most significant exergy destruction rates in the cycle are in combustion chamber, heat recovery steam generator and regenerative heat exchanger. The overall pressure ratio and turbine inlet temperature have significant effect on exergy destruction in most of the components of cogeneration. The results obtained from the analysis show that inlet air cooling along with evaporative aftercooling has an obvious increase in the energy and exergy efficiency compared to the basic gas turbine cycle cogeneration. It is further shown that the first-law efficiency, power to heat ratio and exergy efficiency of the cogeneration cycle significantly vary with the change in overall pressure ratio and turbine inlet temperature but the change in process heat pressure shows small variation in these parameters.     

Effects of evaporative inlet and aftercooling on the recuperated gas turbine cycle

Inlet air cooling and cooling of the compressor discharge using water injection boost both efficiency and power of gas turbine cycles. Four different layouts of the recuperated gas turbine cycle are presented. Those layouts include the effect of evaporative inlet and aftercooling (evaporative cooling of the compressor discharge). A parametric study of the effect of turbine inlet temperature (TIT), ambient temperature, and relative humidity on the performance of all four layouts is investigated. The results indicate that as TIT increases the optimum pressure ratio increases by 0.45 per 100 K for the regular recuperated cycle and by 1.4 per 100 K for the recuperated cycle with evaporative aftercooling. The cycles with evaporative aftercooling have distinctive pattern of performance curves and higher values of optimum pressure ratios. The results also showed that evaporative cooling of the inlet air could boost the efficiency by up to 3.2% and that evaporative aftercooling could increase the power by up to about 110% and cycle efficiency by up to 16%.     

Performance analysis of combined cycle power plant

Combined cycle power plants (CCPPs) are in operation with diverse thermodynamic cycle configurations. Assortment of thermodynamic cycle for scrupulous locality is dependent on the type of fuel available and different utilities obtained from the plant. In the present paper, seven of the practically applicable configurations of CCPP are taken into consideration. Exergetic and energetic analysis of each component of the seven configurations is conducted with the help of computer programming tool, i.e., engineering equation solver (EES) at different pressure ratios. For Case 7, the effects of pressure ratio, turbine inlet temperature and ambient relative humidity on the first and second law is studied. The thermodynamics analysis indicates that the exergy destruction in various components of the combined cycle is significantly affected by the overall pressure ratio, turbine inlet temperature and pressure loss in air filter and less affected by the ambient relative humidity.     

Analysis of parameters affecting the performance of gas turbines and combined cycle plants with vapor absorption inlet air cooling

The integration of an aqua‐ammonia inlet air‐cooling scheme to a cooled gas turbine‐based combined cycle has been analyzed. The heat energy of the exhaust gas prior to the exit of the heat recovery steam generator has been chosen to power the inlet air‐cooling system. Dual pressure reheat heat recovery steam generator is chosen as the combined cycle configuration. Air film cooling has been adopted as the cooling technique for gas turbine blades. A parametric study of the effect of compressor–pressure ratio, compressor inlet temperature, turbine inlet temperature, ambient relative humidity, and ambient temperature on performance parameters of plants has been carried out. It has been observed that vapor absorption inlet air cooling improves the efficiency of gas turbine by upto 7.48% and specific work by more than 18%, respectively. However, on the adoption of this scheme for combined cycles, the plant efficiency has been observed to be adversely affected, although the addition of absorption inlet air cooling results in an increase in plant output by more than 7%. The optimum value of compressor inlet temperature for maximum specific work output has been observed to be 25 °C for the chosen set of conditions. Further reduction of compressor inlet temperature below this optimum value has been observed to adversely affect plant efficiency. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance enhancement of gas turbines by inlet air‐cooling in hot and humid climates

In this paper, a model to study the effect of inlet air‐cooling on gas turbines power and efficiency is developed for two different cooling techniques, direct mechanical refrigeration and an evaporative water spray cooler. Energy analysis is used to present the performance improvement in terms of power gain ratio and thermal efficiency change factors. Relationships are derived for an open gas turbine cycle with irreversible compression and expansion processes coupled to air‐cooling systems. The obtained results show that the power and efficiency improvements are functions of the ambient conditions and the gas turbine pressure ratio. The performance improvement is calculated for, ambient temperatures from 30 to 50°C, the whole range of humidity ratio (10–100%) and pressure ratio from 8 to 12. For direct mechanical refrigeration air‐cooling, the power improvement is associated with appreciable drop in the thermal efficiency. The maximum power gain can be obtained if the air temperature is reduced to its lowest limit that is the refrigerant evaporation temperature plus the evaporator design temperature difference. Water spray cooling process is sensitive to the ambient relative humidity and is suitable for dry air conditions. The power gain and efficiency enhancement are limited by the wet bulb temperature. The performance of spray evaporative cooler is presented in a dimensionless working graph. The daily performance of the cooling methods is examined for an ABB‐11D5 gas turbine operating under the hot humid conditions of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The results indicate that the direct mechanical refrigeration increased the daily power output by 6.77% versus 2.57% for the spray air‐cooling. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Investigation of effect of variation of cycle parameters on thermodynamic performance of gas-steam combined cycle

The paper deals with second law thermodynamic analysis of a basic gas turbine based gas-steam combined cycle. The article investigates the effect of variation of cycle parameters on rational efficiency and component-wise non-dimensionalised exergy destruction of the plant. Component-wise inefficiencies of the combined cycle have been quantified with the objective to pin-point the major sources of exergy destruction. The parameter that affects cycle performance most is the TIT (turbine inlet temperature). TIT should be kept on the higher side, because at lower values, the exergy destruction is higher. The summation of total exergy destruction of all components in percentage terms is lower (44.88%) at TIT of 1800 K & r_p,c = 23, as compared to that at TIT = 1700 K. The sum total of rational efficiency of gas turbine and steam turbine is found to be higher (54.91%) at TIT = 1800 K & r_p,c = 23, as compared to that at TIT = 1700 K. Compressor pressure ratio also affects the exergy performance. The sum total of exergy destruction of all components of the combined cycle plant is lower (44.17%) at higher value of compressor pressure ratio (23)& TIT = 1700 K, as compared to that at compressor pressure ratio (16). Also exergy destruction is minimized with the adoption of multi-pressure-reheat steam generator configuration.     

Energy and exergy analyses of a CFB‐based indirectly fired combined cycle power generation system

Combined cycle configuration has the ability to use the waste heat from the gas turbine exhaust gas using the heat recovery steam generator for the bottoming steam cycle. In the current study, a natural gas‐fired combined cycle with indirectly fired heating for additional work output is investigated for configurations with and without reheat combustor (RHC) in the gas turbine. The mass flow rate of coal for the indirect‐firing mode in circulating fluidized bed (CFB) combustor is estimated based on fixed natural gas input for the gas turbine combustion chamber (GTCC). The effects of pressure ratio, gas turbine inlet temperature, inlet temperatures to the air compressor and to the GTCC on the overall cycle performance of the combined cycle configuration are analysed. The combined cycle efficiency increases with pressure ratio up to the optimum value. Both efficiency and net work output for the combined cycle increase with gas turbine inlet temperature. The efficiency decreases with increase in the air compressor inlet temperature. The indirect firing of coal shows reduced use with increase in the turbine inlet temperature due to increase in the use of natural gas. There is little variation in the efficiency with increase in GTCC inlet temperature resulting in increased use of coal. The combined cycle having the two‐stage gas turbine with RHC has significantly higher efficiency and net work output compared with the cycle without RHC. The exergetic efficiency also increases with increase in the gas turbine inlet temperature. The exergy destruction is highest for the CFB combustor followed by the GTCC. The analyses show that the indirectly fired mode of the combined cycle offers better performance and opportunities for additional net work output by using solid fuels (coal in this case). Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Maisotsenko循环在燃气轮机进气冷却中的应用研究

采用基于Maisotsenko循环的露点间接蒸发式冷却作为进气冷却的手段,研究了不同环境条件下其对燃气轮机性能的提升效果。建立了针对某9E级燃气轮机的热力循环过程的计算模型,并利用该热力模型分析了进气温度变化对燃机出力的影响。基于Maisotsenko循环的原理,以温降为指标对露点间接蒸发冷却器的性能进行了分析。以功率和效率作为指标,对燃气轮机性能随环境条件的变化情况做了数值模拟,对露点蒸发式冷却与无进气冷却、直接喷雾式冷却对燃机性能的影响进行了计算分析。结果表明,在高温低湿度的条件下,露点间接蒸发式冷却能有效提升燃机性能。     

Thermoeconomic optimization of an ice thermal storage system for gas turbine inlet cooling

The gas turbine power output and efficiency decrease with increasing ambient temperature. With compressor inlet air cooling, the air density and mass flow rate as well as the gas turbine net power output increase. The inlet cooling techniques include vapor or absorption refrigeration systems, evaporative cooling systems and thermal energy storage (TES) systems. In this paper the thermoeconomic analysis of ice (latent) thermal energy storage system for gas turbine inlet cooling application was performed. The optimum values of system design parameters were obtained using genetic algorithm optimization technique. The objective function included the capital and operational costs of the gas turbine, vapor compression refrigeration system, without (objective function I) and with (objective function II) corresponding cost due to the system exergy destruction. For gas turbines with net power output in the range of 25-100 MW, the inlet air cooling using a TES system increased the power output in the range of 3.9-25.7%, increased the efficiency in the range 2.1-5.2%, while increased the payback period from about 4 to 7.7 years.     

Energy–exergy analysis of 70‐MW gas turbine unit under the variable operation condition

Exergy and energy analyses were carried out in each component to study the effect of compression ratio, ambient temperature, and load on energy losses and exergy destruction. The highest exergy destruction occurred in the combustion chamber and the lowest exergy destruction occurred in the compressor. Also, the maximum thermal efficiency of the gas turbine unit and second law efficiency are 33.77% and 32.25%, respectively. The peak load of the selected power station is 65 MW. This study reveals possible areas of focus to improve performance of the power plant in the future.     

Comparative exergoeconomic analyses of the integration of biomass gasification and a gas turbine power plant with and without fogging inlet cooling

Inlet cooling is effective for mitigating the decrease in gas turbine performance during hot and humid summer periods when electrical power demands peak, and steam injection, using steam raised from the turbine exhaust gases in a heat recovery steam generator, is an effective technique for utilizing the hot turbine exhaust gases. Biomass gasification can be integrated with a gas turbine cycle to provide efficient, clean power generation. In the present paper, a gas turbine cycle with fog cooling and steam injection, and integrated with biomass gasification, is proposed and analyzed with energy, exergy and exergoeconomic analyses. The thermodynamic analyses show that increasing the compressor pressure ratio and the gas turbine inlet temperature raises the energy and exergy efficiencies. On the component level, the gas turbine is determined to have the highest exergy efficiency and the combustor the lowest. The exergoeconomic analysis reveals that the proposed cycle has a lower total unit product cost than a similar plant fired by natural gas. However, the relative cost difference and exergoeconomic factor is higher for the proposed cycle than the natural gas fired plant, indicating that the proposed cycle is more costly for producing electricity despite its lower product cost and environmental impact.     

开式回热燃气轮机热电冷联产装置性能优化

建立了考虑压降的开式回热燃气轮机热电冷联产装置的有限时间热力学模型,导出了各个部件的相对压降和各个热流率与压气机进口相对压降的关系式,以第一定律效率、[火用]输出率、[火用]效率和利润率为目标,在无燃料消耗和装置尺寸约束下,通过数值计算发现分别存在最佳的压气机进口相对压降使[火用]输出率和利润率取得最优值,进一步优化压比,得到了最大[火用]输出率和利润率,分别存在最佳的供热温度使最大[火用]输出率和利润率取得双重最大值,以利润率为设计目标能够减小装置的尺寸.在燃料消耗和装置尺寸约束下,优化了压气机进口相对压降,得到了最优效率,同时各部件流通面积分配也得到了优化.回热能够增大装置的利润率和效率.     

First and second law investigations of a new solar‐assisted thermodynamic cycle for triple effect refrigeration

This investigation is persuaded for the first and second law analyses of a new solar‐driven triple‐effect refrigeration cycle using Duratherm 600 oil (Duratherm Extended Life Fluid, NY, USA) as the heat transfer fluid is performed. The proposed cycle is an integration of ejector, absorption, and cascaded refrigeration cycles that could produce refrigeration output of different magnitude at different temperature simultaneously. Both exergy destruction and losses in each component and hence in the overall system are determined to identify the causes and locations of the thermodynamic imperfection. The effects of some influenced parameters such as hot oil outlet temperature, refrigerant turbine inlet pressure, and the evaporator temperature of ejector and cascaded refrigeration cycle have been observed on the first and second law performances. It is found that maximum irreversibility occurs in central receiver as 52.5% and the second largest irreversibility of 25% occurs in heliostat field. The second law efficiency of the solar driven triple effect refrigeration cycle is 2%, which is much lower than its first law efficiency of 11.5%. Analysis clearly shows that performance evaluation based on the first law analysis is inadequate and hence, more meaningful evaluation must be included in the second law analysis. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Thermo-environmental analysis of an open cycle gas turbine power plant with regression modeling and optimization

In this paper, a gas turbine cycle is modeled to investigate the effects of important operating parameters like compressor inlet temperature (CIT), turbine inlet temperature (TIT) and pressure ratio (PR) on the overall cycle performance and CO₂ emissions. Such effects are also investigated on the exergy destruction and exergy efficiency of the cycle components. Furthermore, multiple polynomial regression models are developed to correlate the response variables (performance characteristics) and predictor variables (operating parameters). The operating parameters are then optimized. According to the results, operating parameters have a significant effect on the cycle performance and CO₂ emissions. The largest exergy destruction is found in the combustion chamber with lowest exergy efficiency. The regression models have appeared to be a good estimator of the response variables. The optimal operating parameters for maximum performance have been determined as 288 K for CIT, 1600 K for TIT and 23.2 for PR.     

Thermodynamic analysis of an integrated power generation system driven by solid oxide fuel cell

A new integrated power generation system driven by the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is proposed to improve the conversion efficiency of conventional energy by using a Kalina cycle to recover the waste heat of exhaust from the SOFC-GT. The system using methane as main fuel consists an internal reforming SOFC, an after-burner, a gas turbine, preheaters, compressors and a Kalina cycle. The proposed system is simulated based on the developed mathematical models, and the overall system performance has been evaluated by the first and second law of thermodynamics. Exergy analysis is conducted to indicate the thermodynamic losses in each components. A parametric analysis is also carried out to examine the effects of some key thermodynamic parameters on the system performance. Results indicate that as compressor pressure ratio increases, SOFC electrical efficiency increases and there is an optimal compressor pressure ratio to reach the maximum overall electrical efficiency and exergy efficiency. It is also found that SOFC electrical efficiency, overall electrical efficiency and exergy efficiency can be improved by increasing air flow rate. Also, the largest exergy destruction occurs in the SOFC followed by the after-burner, the waste heat boiler, the gas turbine. The compressor pressure ratio and air flow rate have significant effects on the exergy destruction in some main components of system.     

Brayton refrigeration cycle for gas turbine inlet air cooling

In this paper, a new approach to enhance the performance of gas turbines operating in hot climates is investigated. Cooling the intake air at the compressor bell mouth is achieved by an air Brayton refrigerator (reverse Joule Brayton cycle) driven by the gas turbine and uses air as the working fluid. Fraction of the air is extracted from the compressor at an intermediate pressure, cooled and then expands to obtain a cold air stream, which mixes with the ambient intake. Mass and energy balance analysis of the gas turbine and the coupled Brayton refrigerator are performed. Relationships are derived for a simple open gas turbine coupled to Brayton refrigeration cycle, the heat rejected from the cooling cycle can be utilized by an industrial process such as a desalination plant. The performance improvement in terms of power gain ratio (PGR) and thermal efficiency change (TEC) factor is calculated. The results show that for fixed pressure ratio and ambient conditions, power and efficiency improvements are functions of the extraction pressure ratio and the fraction of mass extracted from the air compressor. The performance improvement is calculated for ambient temperature of 45°C and 43.4% relative humidity. The results indicated that the intake temperature could be lowered below the ISO standard with power increase up to 19.58% and appreciable decrease in the thermal efficiency (5.76% of the site value). Additionally, the present approach improved both power gain and thermal efficiency factors if air is extracted at 2 bar which is unlike all other mechanical chilling methods. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of ambient conditions on the thermodynamic performance of hybrid nuclear‐combined cycle power plant

This paper provides a theoretical study of the effects of ambient conditions on the thermodynamic performance of a hybrid combined‐nuclear cycle power plant. The operational parameters investigated are based on the first and second laws of thermodynamics, which include the ambient air temperature and ambient relative humidity (Φ). The results obtained for the gas turbine model are shown to agree very well with operational data from the Al‐Zour Emergency power plant in Kuwait. The ambient temperature was studied within the range of 0–55 °C. The analysis shows that the ambient air temperature has strong effects on plant performance and that operating the system at a high temperature will degrade the performance. Power output is reduced when the temperature is above the standard ambient temperature of 15 °C, and this loss rate is about 17% at 55 °C. The effect of ambient relative humidity (Φ) becomes significant only at higher temperatures. The ambient temperature has a large effect on the exergy destruction of the heat recovery steam generator exhaust, but it has little effect on other components of the plant. The analysis also indicates that reducing the temperature from 55 to 15 °C could help decrease the total exergy destruction of the plant by only 2%. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exergy-based performance analysis of the heavy-duty gas turbine in part-load operating conditions

The present study describes details of exergy-based performance characteristics of a heavy-duty gas turbine, 150MW-class GE 7F model. Results have shown that a chemical reaction in the combustor of which the exergy destruction ratio is 28.3% at full-load is one of the major sources of exergy destructions in the gas turbine. It was found that, in spite of its usefulness to the performance enhancement of the combined cycle plant in part-load operations, the variable inlet guide vane located in front of the multi-stage compressor caused the increase of exergy destruction in the first stage (about 10 times lager than that of other stages below 80% load) and decreased the overall compressor efficiency. Also, it was discovered that the magnitude of exergy destruction by the cooling air in turbine stages is large enough to influence the overall turbine efficiency. The exergy destruction by the cooling air is more than half of the total exergy destruction of each cooled turbine stage.     

Parametric analysis of a coal based combined cycle power plant

In the present paper thermodynamic analyses, i.e. both energy and exergy analyses have been conducted for a coal based combined cycle power plant, which consists of pressurized circulating fluidized bed (PCFB) partial gasification unit and an atmospheric circulating fluidized bed (ACFB) char combustion unit. Dual pressure steam cycle is considered for the bottoming cycle to reduce irreversibilities during heat transfer from gas to water/steam. The effect of operating variables such as pressure ratio, gas turbine inlet temperature on the performance of combined cycle power plant has been investigated. The pressure ratio and maximum temperature (gas turbine inlet temperature) are identified as the dominant parameters having impact on the combined cycle plant performance. The work output of the topping cycle is found to increase with pressure ratio, while for the bottoming cycle it decreases. However, for the same gas turbine inlet temperature the overall work output of the combined cycle plant increases up to a certain pressure ratio, and thereafter not much increase is observed. The entropy generation, the irreversibilities in each component of the combined cycle and the exergy destruction/losses are also estimated. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Energy,exergy and thermoeconomic analysis of a combined cooling,heating and power (CCHP) system with gas turbine prime mover

In this paper energy, exergy and thermoeconomic analysis of a combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) system has been performed. Applying the first and second laws of thermodynamics and economic analysis, simultaneously, has made a powerful tool for the analysis of energy systems such as CCHP systems. The system integrates air compressor, combustion chamber, gas turbine, dual pressure heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) and absorption chiller to produce cooling, heating and power. In fact, the first and second laws of thermodynamics are combined with thermoeconomic approaches. Next, computational analysis is performed to investigate the effects of below items on the fuel consumption, values of cooling, heating and net power output, the first and second laws efficiencies, exergy destruction in each of the components and total cost of the system. These items include the following: air compressor pressure ratio, turbine inlet temperature, pinch temperatures in dual pressure HRSG, pressure of steam that enters the generator of absorption chiller and process steam pressure. Decision makers may find the methodology explained in this paper very useful for comparison and selection of CCHP systems. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.