Optimal synthesis and design of Heat Recovery Steam Generation (HRSG) via mathematical programming

Thermal efficiency of Combined Cycle Power Plants (CCPPs) depends strongly on the Heat Recovery Steam Generation (HRSG) design which links the gas cycle with the steam cycle. Therefore, the HRSG must be carefully designed in order to maximize the heat exchanged and to improve the overall performance of the plant.In this paper, a mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) model to simultaneously optimize the equipment arrangement, geometric design and operating conditions of CCPPs is proposed. General Algebraic Modelling System (GAMS) is used to implement and to solve the mathematical model. The HRSG model involves discrete decisions connected with the geometric design and the selection of tube diameters as well as the length and width of each solid fin. Continuous variables are used to model the operating conditions of the HRSG and steam turbines (ST). The solution strategy for the resulting model comprises two phases: the first one focuses the process optimization but considering only global energy and mass balances and this phase provides initial-bounds values for the second phase where the complete and rigorous model involving discrete decisions is solved. Different case studies with increasing complexity have been successfully solved. Model validation and results obtained from the MINLP model by considering different objective functions are discussed.