Effect of various inlet air cooling methods on gas turbine performance

Turbine air inlet cooling is one of many available commercial methods to improve the efficiency of an existing gas turbine. The method has various configurations which could be utilized for almost all installed gas turbines. This paper presents a comparison between two commons and one novel inlet air cooling method using turbo-expanders to improve performance of a gas turbine located at the Khangiran refinery in Iran. These methods have been applied to one of the refinery gas turbines located at the Khangiran refinery in Iran. Two common air cooling methods use evaporative media or a mechanical chiller. The idea behind the novel method is to utilize the potential cooling and power capacity of the refinery natural gas pressure drop station by replacing throttling valves with a turbo-expander. The study is part of a comprehensive program with the goal of enhancing gas turbine performance at the Khangiran gas refinery. Based on the results, it is found that using turbo-expanders is the most economically feasible option and so is recommended to be utilized for improving gas turbine performance at the Khangiran refinery.     

Thermodynamic performance assessment of an indirect intercooled reheat regenerative gas turbine cycle with inlet air cooling and evaporative aftercooling of the compressor discharge

This study provides a computational analysis to investigate the effects of cycle pressure ratio, turbine inlet temperature (TIT), and ambient relative humidity (φ) on the thermodynamic performance of an indirect intercooled reheat regenerative gas turbine cycle with indirect evaporative cooling of the inlet air and evaporative aftercooling of the compressor discharge. Combined first and second‐law analysis indicates that the exergy destruction in various components of gas turbine cycles is significantly affected by compressor pressure ratio and turbine inlet temperature, and is not at all affected by ambient relative humidity. It also indicates that the maximum exergy is destroyed in the combustion chamber; which represents over 60% of the total exergy destruction in the overall system. The net work output, first‐law efficiency, and the second‐law efficiency of the cycle significantly varies with the change in the pressure ratio, turbine inlet temperature and ambient relative humidity. Results clearly shows that performance evaluation based on first‐law analysis alone is not adequate, and hence more meaningful evaluation must include second‐law analysis. Decision makers should find the methodology contained in this paper useful in the comparison and selection of gas turbine systems. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

Comparison of evaporative inlet air cooling systems to enhance the gas turbine generated power

The gas turbine performance is highly sensitive to the compressor inlet temperature. The output of gas turbine falls to a value that is less than the rated output under high temperature conditions. In fact increase in inlet air temperature by 1°C will decrease the output power by 0.7% approximately. The solution of this problem is very important because the peak demand season also happens in the summer. One of the convenient methods of inlet air cooling is evaporating cooling which is appropriate for warm and dry weather. As most of the gas turbines in Iran are installed in such ambient conditions regions, therefore this method can be used to enhance the performance of the gas turbines. In this paper, an overview of technical and economic comparison of media system and fog system is given. The performance test results show that the mean output power of Frame‐9 gas turbines is increased by 11 MW (14.5%) by the application of media cooling system in Fars power plant and 8.1 MW (8.9%) and 9.5 MW (11%) by the application of fog cooling system in Ghom and Shahid Rajaie power plants, respectively. The total enhanced power generation in the summer of 2004 was 2970, 1701 and 1340 MWh for the Fars, Ghom and Shahid Rajaie power plants, respectively. The economical studies show that the payback periods are estimated to be around 2 and 3 years for fog and media systems, respectively. This study has shown that both methods are suitable for the dry and hot areas for gas turbine power augmentation. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

A new approach for enhancing performance of a gas turbine (case study: Khangiran refinery)

There are various methods which are commercially available for turbine air inlet cooling aiming to improve gas turbine efficiency. In this study a new approach has been proposed to improve performance of a gas turbine. The approach has been applied to one of the Khangiran refinery gas turbines. The idea is to cool inlet air of the gas turbine by potential cooling capacity of the refinery natural-gas pressure drop station. The study is part of a comprehensive program aimed to enhance gas turbines performance of the Khangiran gas refinery. The results show that the gas turbine inlet air temperature could be reduced in range of 4–25 K and the performance could be improved in range of 1.5–5% for almost 10 months.     

Analytical method for evaluation of gas turbine inlet air cooling in combined cycle power plant

Gas turbine inlet air cooling technologies (GTIAC), mainly including chilling with LiBr/water absorption chiller and fogging as well, are being used during hot seasons to augment the power output. To evaluate the general applicability of inlet air cooling for gas–steam combined cycle power plant (GTCCIAC), parameters such as efficiency ratio, profit ratio and relative payback period were defined and analyzed through off-design performances of both gas turbine and inlet air cooling systems. An analytical method for applicability evaluation of GTCCIAC with absorption chiller (inlet chilling) and saturated evaporative cooler (inlet fogging) was presented. The applicability study based on typical off-design performances of the components in GTCCIAC shows that, the applicability of GTCCIAC with chilling and fogging depends on the design economic efficiency of GTCC power plant. In addition, it relies heavily on the climatic data and the design capacity of inlet air cooling systems. Generally, GTCCIAC is preferable in the zones with high ambient air temperature and low humidity. Furthermore, it is more appropriate for those GTCC units with lower design economic efficiency. Comparison of the applicability between chilling and fogging shows that, inlet fogging is superior in power efficiency at t_a = 15–20 °C though it gains smaller profit margin than inlet chilling. GTCC inlet chilling with absorption chiller is preferable in the zones with t_a > 25 °C and RH > 0.4.     

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.     

燃气轮机进气喷水减温技术经济分析及滴径计算

夏季环境温度比较高，燃气轮机的出力和热效率都会受到影响，对压气机喷水减温方法和喷水滴径进行了分析和计算，计算结果表明：温度越高，湿度越小，燃气轮机的输出功率和热效率提高得越多，燃油消耗率也降低得越多，喷水减温的效果越好，此外，高的压比和高的透平进气温度提高了喷水减温效果。     

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.     

Proposal and analysis of a dual-purpose system integrating a chemically recuperated gas turbine cycle with thermal seawater desalination

A novel cogeneration system is proposed for power generation and seawater desalination. It combines the CRGT (chemically recuperated gas turbine) with the MED-TVC (multi-effect thermal vapor compression desalination) system. The CRGT contains a MSR (methane-steam reformer). The produced syngas includes plenty of steam and hydrogen, so the working medium flow increases and NO_x emissions can achieve 1 ppm low. However, the water consumption is large, ∼23 t/d water per MW power output. To solve this problem and produce water for sale, MED-TVC is introduced, driven by exhaust heat. Such a dual-purpose plant was analyzed to investigate its performance and parameter selection, and compared with four conventional cogeneration systems with the same methane input. Some main results are following: In the base case of the CRGT with a TIT of 1308 °C and a compression ratio of 15, the MED-TVC with 9 effects, the specific work output, performance ratio and CRGT-consumed water ratio are 491.5 kJ/kg, 11.3 and 18.2%, respectively. Compared with the backpressure ST (steam turbine)/CC (combined cycle) plus MED/MSF (multistage flash), the CRGT + MED has better thermal performance, lower product cost and shorter payback period, which indicates the CRGT + MED dual-purpose system is a feasible and attractive choice for power and water cogeneration.     

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.     

On the technical feasibility of gas turbine inlet air cooling utilizing thermal energy storage

The potential of using thermal energy storage (TES) in the form of ice or chilled water to cool gas turbine inlet air is evaluated for a remote oil field location in the Sultanate of Oman using local hourly typical meteorological year weather data. It is found that under the conditions investigated seasonal TES in chilled water storage tanks or ice bins for the location considered is prohibitively expensive and thus not recommended. Application of partial TES option shows that the cool storage does not result in any noticeable reduction in the chiller size. Hence, TES whether seasonal, partial, or full storage is not a viable option for the considered location, especially in the absence of time‐of‐use utility rate structure. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

燃气轮机进气喷雾蒸发式冷却与Li-Br吸收式制冷冷却增能对比分析

燃气轮机进气冷却技术是一种能够有效提高高温环境下燃气轮机发电机组输出功率的重要手段。介绍了几种主要的进气冷却技术方法,并分析了进气冷却技术的作用机理。着重对比分析了华菱涟钢能源中心所采用的两种进气冷却技术对燃气轮机输出功率的影响规律,并阐明了两种进气冷却技术各自的优缺点。根据运行参数以及相关数据分析的对比研究结果,为燃气轮机进气冷却技术在实际工程上的应用提供一定的参考。     

用于汽轮机排汽冷却的蒸发式冷凝器模型及性能分析

蒸发式冷凝器兼具传热性能好和节水的优势,在大型动力系统冷却中具有广阔的应用前景。建立了蒸发冷凝器的理论分析模型,提出了蒸发式冷凝器用于冷却小型汽轮机排汽的设计方案;获得了喷淋水温度、空气和蒸汽的焓值在冷凝器内沿程的变化规律,并对喷淋水量、配风量和空气温度等影响冷凝器性能的影响因素进行了分析。研究结果对蒸发式冷凝器在火力发电行业的应用具有参考意义。     

Techno-economic evaluation of the evaporative gas turbine cycle with different CO2 capture options

The techno-economic evaluation of the evaporative gas turbine (EvGT) cycle with two different CO₂ capture options has been carried out. Three studied systems include a reference system: the EvGT system without CO₂ capture (System I), the EvGT system with chemical absorption capture (System II), and the EvGT system with oxyfuel combustion capture (System III). The cycle simulation results show that the system with chemical absorption has a higher electrical efficiency (41.6% of NG LHV) and a lower efficiency penalty caused by CO₂ capture (10.5% of NG LHV) compared with the system with oxyfuel combustion capture. Based on a gas turbine of 13.78 MW, the estimated costs of electricity are 46.1 $/MW h for System I, while 70.1 $/MW h and 74.1 $/MW h for Systems II and III, respectively. It shows that the cost of electricity increment of chemical absorption is 8.7% points lower than that of the option of oxyfuel combustion. In addition, the cost of CO₂ avoidance of System II which is 71.8 $/tonne CO₂ is also lower than that of System III, which is 73.2 $/tonne CO₂. The impacts of plant size have been analyzed as well. Results show that cost of CO₂ avoidance of System III may be less than that of System II when a plant size is larger than 60 MW.     

回热燃气轮机余热利用进气冷却的研究

本文研究了利用余热制冷进气冷却的回热燃气轮机系统,并对该系统性能进行了模拟计算,得到了压比、流量比等参数对系统性能的影响规律。并通过与常规回热循环比较,指出利用余热制冷来进气冷却的方式能使系统效率提高11%,是提高燃气轮机系统性能的有效途径之一。     

AE94.3A型燃气轮机进气冷却的应用可行性研究

对AE94.3A型燃气轮机燃气-蒸汽联合循环热力系统平衡进行研究进而发现,与同类型、同等级不同型号机组相比,AE94.3A型联合循环机组余热锅炉的排烟温度较高,排烟余热仍有进一步利用的空间。通过设计优化,扩大省煤器受热面,回收烟气余热加热给水,驱动热水型溴化锂制冷机制冷,用于机组满负荷调峰时的压气机进气冷却或厂房及办公区域空调供冷,对改善燃气轮机联合循环的运行性能,实现能源梯级利用,提高能源利用率和机组经济性运行起到了很大作用。     

燃气轮机进气冷却技术发展现状及前景分析

分析了燃气轮机进气冷却的必要性，介绍了国内外目前应用的几种燃气轮机进气冷却技术的发展现状，分析了各自特点并对发展前景进行了展望。     

Experimental study on the inlet fogging system using two-fluid nozzles

Large-capacity compressors in industrial plants and the compressors in gas turbine engines consume a considerable amount of power. The compression work is a strong fimction of the ambient air temperature. This increase in compression work presents a significant problem to utilities, generators and power producers when electric demands are high during the hot months. In many petrochemical process industries and gas turbine engines, the in- crease in compression work curtails plant output, demanding more electric power to drive the system. One way to counter this problem is to directly cool the inlet air. Inlet fogging is a popular means of cooling the inlet air to air compressors. In the present study, experiments have been performed to investigate the suitability of two-fluid nozzle for inlet fogging. Compressed air is used as the driving working gas for two-fluid nozzle and water at am- bient conditions is dragged into the high-speed air jet, thus enabling the entrained water to be atomized in a very short distance from the exit of the two-fluid nozzle. The air supply pressure is varied between 2.0 and 5.0 bar and the water flow rate entrained is measured. The flow visualization and temperature and relative humidity measurements are carried out to specify the fogging characteristics of the two-fluid nozzle.