Magazine of the Siemens Power Generat ion Group

Wet Compression: Gas Turbine

Power Output Enhancement for Peak-Load Demand

Reprint from
Power Journal International

Author:
Elliot Smith

Power for Generations Siemens Power Generation

 GAS TU R B I N ES

Upgrading gas turbines with a Wet Compression System significantly enhances power output, increases efficiency and reduces NOx emissions.

Real Power Boosters

Wet Compression Systems can enhance gas turbine power output
by 20 percent and more when it benefits most: for example, for increased earnings
during peak load demand or for restoring power loss during hot days.

BY ELLIOTT SMITH

as turbine modernization nologies is Wet Compression, a method pression Systems have now been applied

G and upgrading will increas-

ingly be the key to main-
taining the competitive-
ness of power producers in
a growing fleet of gas turbines in a dereg-
ulated market. One of the upgrade tech-
of safely injecting volumes of water into
the compressor for continuous operation
with significant performance gain.
This technology has been cooperatively
developed by Siemens Westinghouse and
The Dow Chemical Company. Wet Com-
to nine W501-series gas turbines with the
lead unit having accumulated 25,000
hours of system operation. System perfor-
mance has been demonstrated in field op-
eration and power increases in the range of
about 10 to 25 percent have been attained.

Siemens Power Journal 1/2000 29

GAS TU R B I N ES

Examples of Power Gains using Wet Compression and

Evaporative Coolers

Power increase
30
MW
25
Wet Compression
Evaporative cooling
20

15

10

0
Plant Louisiana Louisiana New New Mexico* Illinois Louisiana Louisiana
site in: Mexico Mexico

12 pj 1/00 e 02
Power plants equipped with W501A, W501D5 or W501D5A gas turbines
* no evaporative coolers

Since late 1999, several Wet Compression Systems have been installed in power plants
and have been successfully used to increase plant output, generating significant revenues
for plant operators. One example is the W501D5A unit at Springfield Station in Illinois
operated by City Water, Light and Power.

Power Augmentation during Compressor Wash

et Compression evolved out of this point that the former Westinghouse trols, and water supply systems have con-

W the field experience with com-

pressor water wash used on gas
turbines. Through a combination of cir-
(now Siemens Westinghouse Power Cor-
poration) joined Dow in further develop-
ment. The first, full-scale version of the
tinued to be refined to improve system re-
liability and durability. The greatest im-
provements have been demonstrated in
cumstances, personnel at The Dow Chem- system was demonstrated in 1995, show- system control and on the ability to mini-
ical Company, which operates its own ing a power output increase of greater mize casing distortion, which is a critical
power plants, came to recognize that a than 20 percent when operating down- aspect on more modern gas turbines as
power gain was produced through the ad- stream of an existing evaporative cooling blade clearances have been reduced to op-
dition of compressor wash water to the system. Today, the lead engine (a W501A) timize compressor and turbine efficiency.
compressor. This prompted an investiga- has accumulated 25,000 hours of opera- Siemens Westinghouse is a licensee of
tion into the possibility of optimizing the tion with the Wet Compression System in Dow’s patents and has successfully con-
power enhancement, by adding greater essentially continuous service, averaging tinued with its own development of Wet
amounts of water to the compressor. in excess of 20 percent augmentation over Compression technology. In fact, Dow has
Dow’s development work led to its con- that period. recently purchased Siemens Westing-
ception and first implementation of the Since the first full-scale implementa- house-designed systems for its turbine
Wet Compression technology. It was at tion, the spray nozzles, rack layout, con- fleet.
The Wet Compression System during a regular outage. It can provide a
power boost when plant operators can
Cooling Hot Days
Wet Compression improves power ca- benefit most, when market demands in New Mexico
pacity through a combination of evapo- are at their highest levels. When consid-
rative cooling, overspray of water and a ering peak market rates in the U. S. from
reduction in compressor work from the the summers of 1998 and 1999, a Wet outhwestern Public Service’s power generat-
intercooling effect the water produces as
it is vaporized in the compressor. These
effects increase compressor efficiency
Compression System can provide a very
quick return on investment, but also for
more moderate peak prices it can typi-
S ing asset includes two W501D5A gas turbine
units at its Cunningham Station, near Hobbs,
New Mexico, at 3,800 feet elevation. The natural-
and help to enhance mass flow through cally pay for itself within the first year gas-fired units are used for simple-cycle peaking.
the engine. of operation. Conventional evaporative coolers in the com-
Key design elements of a Wet Com- pressor inlet duct were originally installed to help
pression System include: Performance Enhancements from maintain power output for hot days with low hu-
• water injection spray rack layout, Wet Compression midity. This method can produce up to 8 percent
• spray rack location, more power above the dry operating condition.
• nozzle design, Increased Power Output In 1995, SPS decided to add the more advanced
• water carryover protection devices, Wet Compression enables an increase Siemens Westinghouse technology of spraying wa-
• optimization of turbine cooling cir- in power production capacity for any am- ter into the front end of the compressor to boost
cuits, and bient conditions where icing is not an is- power output. These Wet Compression Systems
• modification of turbine control logic. sue (i.e., greater than 50°F (10°C) com- have significantly improved machine performance.
The layout and location of the spray pressor inlet temperature). For example, during very hot days with 101°F (38 °C)
racks are established based upon the con- Because Wet Compression acts ambient temperature and 14 percent relative hu-
figuration of the inlet system for each through several mechanisms, power midity
site. This serves to optimize the droplet gains are more reliable and much higher • output can be increased by an additional 15 per-
size and nozzle flow rates required to than those from conventional evapora- cent while
safely produce the increase in power out- tive cooling or fogging systems. These • heat rate can be reduced by 1.5 to 3 percent.
put. systems cool the inlet air by evaporating
The water carryover protection de-
vices are typically water vapor traps in-
stalled in the compressor bleed piping.
Typical Wet Compression Power Augmentation Curve for a
These traps prevent water droplets from
entering the turbine cooling circuits.
W501D5A Gas Turbine
When water is injected into the com-
pressor inlet, a change occurs in the Power output
150
work distribution of the compressor. MW
The matching of compressor bleed pres- 145
sures and turbine pressures is affected,
and this requires adjustments to be 140
no evaporative cooler with Wet Compression
made to the turbine cooling circuits. The and no Wet Compression (downstream of evaporative cooler)
135
changes can be made through the use of
an automated flow control system or by 130 with evaporative cooler
(assumes 50% relative humidity)
adjustment of fixed orifices in the cool-
ing circuits. The automated flow control 125
system allows performance to be opti-
mized when operating in either a dry or 120
(ISO)
Wet Compression mode of operation.
115
Modifications to the existing turbine
control system must be made to in- 110
clude additional logic for system re-
sponse to engine operating conditions 105
such as alarm functions or functions re-
lated to trip the Wet Compression Sys- 100
20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105
tem. Compressor inlet temperature °F
12 pj 1/00 e 02

Fast Installation, Quick Amortization -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Compressor inlet temperature °C

The system can be designed and in- Because Wet Compression Systems act through several mechanisms, their
stalled within about 16 weeks with the power gains are more reliable and much higher than those of conventional
installation typically being performed evaporative cooling systems.

Siemens Power Journal 1/2000 31

GAS TU R B I N ES

water via a porous media or by injecting Compression System was installed: Three mainly as a result of the compressor in-
water mist into the air stream up to of the fifteen MW provided by the Wet tercooling effect. This represents a very
100 % saturation. The efficiency of these Compression System can be attributed to significant difference to direct combus-
techniques strongly decreases with in- evaporative cooling effects, while the re- tor water injection for NOx control or
creasing relative humidity of the air. maining twelve MW were gained from power augmentation, which tends to in-
One additional benefit of Wet Com- the overspray effects and compressor in- crease heat rate as heat is lost in vaporiz-
pression is that it can work with conven- tercooling. ing the water.
tional evaporative coolers or in place of
them. In units that do not already have Heat Rate Improvement Nitrogen Oxide Reduction
evaporative cooling systems, the Wet In recent applications to W501A, Application of Wet Compression Sys-
Compression System can provide both W501D5, and W501D5A engines, the Wet tems to W501D5A and W501D5 engines
evaporative cooling and compressor in- Compression System has decreased over- equipped with conventional combustion
tercooling. In a Mexico project, only a Wet all heat rates more than 1.5 percent, systems has shown that NOx emissions
can be reduced by 20 to 40 percent of dry
uncontrolled emission levels when ma-
chine output is not strongly increased, or
be kept well within the original levels
How Wet Compression Works even while realizing significant capacity
increases. The reduction of NOx emis-
sions is attributed to the increased mois-
sing Wet Compression enhances work required to compress the working ture content and decreased compressor

U
nisms:
the overall performance of a gas
turbine through three mecha-
fluid, allowing more power to drive the
generator. Since the compressor absorbs
more than half of the power from the
discharge temperature. For engines
equipped with Dry Low-NOx (DLN) com-
bustion systems, the use of Wet Com-
• Evaporative cooling of the inlet air turbine, this improvement alone ac- pression understandably has a lesser im-
stream if the air is not already saturated: counts for a significant improvement in pact.
Cooler air means reduced work required power and efficiency.
to compress the inlet air, which is trans- • Increased mass flow through the en- Increased Steam Production
lated into higher engine efficiency. gine: This is due to the “overspray” of wa- in Combined-Cycle Applications
• Intercooling of the compressor: As the ter into the compressor inlet and to the The increased mass flow through the
air gets hotter in the front stages of the additional amount of fuel that is used to gas turbine and increased specific heat of
compressor, water is rapidly evaporated raise the temperature of the combustion the exhaust gas due to the additional wa-
which effectively cools the air. Again, this air to maintain the turbine design inlet ter vapor present can benefit in com-
results in a reduction in the amount of temperatures. bined-cycle applications also. A 2 to 3 per-
cent increase in steam production can be
achieved with Wet Compression for use
as process steam, for additional power
generation, or for supporting less effi-
cient operating equipment. ■

Spray rack of the Wet Compression System: Demineralized water is injected

Elliott Smith
directly into the compressor inlet duct with optimized droplet size and nozzle
is a Senior Marketing Engineer for Gas Turbine Plant
flow rates. Modernizations and Upgrades which includes develop-
ment, sales & marketing, and implementation of Wet
Compression Systems.

32 Siemens Power Journal 1/2000

This article appeared in:
Power Journal
April 2000, pages 29–32

© copyright 2000 by
Siemens AG
Power Generation

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