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2nd International Conference on Mechanical Engineering Research (ICMER 2013) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 50 (2013) 012054 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/50/1/012054

Analysis of carbon dioxide emission of gas fuelled

cogeneration plant

Adzuieen Nordina and M Amin A Majid

Mechanical Engineering Department, University Teknologi Petronas, Bandar Seri
Iskandar, 31750 Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia.

E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract. Gas turbines are widely used for power generation. In cogeneration system, the gas
turbine generates electricity and the exhaust heat from the gas turbine is used to generate steam
or chilled water. Besides enhancing the efficiency of the system, the process assists in reducing
the emission of CO2 to the environment. This study analyzes the amount of CO2 emission by
Universiti Teknologi Petronas gas fuelled cogeneration system using energy balance equations.
The results indicate that the cogeneration system reduces the CO2 emission to the environment
by 60%. This finding could encourage the power plant owners to install heat recovery systems
to their respective plants.

1. Introduction
Gas turbines (GT) are widely installed at the gas fuelled power plant to generate electricity. It is
integrated into the power generation systems either as an open cycle system, a combined cycle system
or a cogeneration system [1-6]. Besides generating electricity, the GT generates exhaust heat. The
exhaust heat released to the environment consists of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other air pollutant
emission. Studies on CO2 emission have been undertaken by a number of authors. [7] reported the
amount of CO2 intensity released using power and heat method by gas-fuelled power generating
system is 404 g/kWh. While [8] noted that the major contributor of GHG is CO2 emissions. Changing
the type of fuel percentage from fossil fuel to renewable fuel for electricity generation reduced the
CO2 emission [9]. [10] have also studied the CO2 emission with regards to fuel consumptions in Iran
covering until 2025. The results show that the CO2 emission will increase to 2.1 times by 2025. Other
studies on CO2 emission have also been undertaken by various authors. The studies are; emission
assessment [11], analysis of CO2 emission factor [12] and the capture and storage of CO2 [13].
For the district cooling plant at Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP), the exhaust heat from GT is
used to generate chilled water by absorption process. A study on the conversion process has been
undertaken by [14] . Findings from the study indicate only maximum of 66.6% of the exhaust heat can
be used to generate steam while the remaining 33.4% was emitted to the environment. In another study
by [15], it is reported that the total amount of exhaust heat produced power generation is very large
and to store all of the exhaust heat is not an option. This study is to focus on the evaluation of CO2
emissions by GT for the cogeneration system.

Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution
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Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1
2nd International Conference on Mechanical Engineering Research (ICMER 2013) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 50 (2013) 012054 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/50/1/012054

2. Methodology
A typical GT for a cogeneration system is shown in figure 1. The GT consists of a compressor,
combustor and turbine section. Ambient air is first compressed in the compressor. Fuel is added and
combusted in the combustor. Most GT applications rely on natural gas or fuel oil for fuel. The
combustion products exit the combustor and expand in the turbine section. The expansion drives an
electric generator to generate electricity. The exhaust heat from the turbine is normally used to
produce process steam or hot water. The steam in turn could either be used to power steam turbine or
to produce chilled water for absorption process.

Fuel

Combustor

Compressor Power
Turbine

Exhaust
Air heat

Figure 1. Typical gas turbine system.

The energy balance equation was used to evaluate the energy input, energy output and the
difference between them. Eq. (1) [16] is used for analysis:

̇ ( ) ̇ ̇ ( ) ̇ (1)

where ̇ is mass flow rate (kg/s), h is enthalpy (kg/kJ), V is velocity (m/s), Z is elevation (m), ̇ is the
rate of heat and ̇ is power generated by the system. Mass and energy balance for any control volume
with negligible potential and kinetic energy is expressed by Eq. (2);

̇ ( ) ̇ ̇ ( ) ̇ (2)

For the cycle outline in figure 1, the thermodynamic models and related balance equations for the
compressor, combustor and the turbine section are covered in the following sections:

2.1 Compressor
The model for the compressor is shown in figure 2. By applying the energy equations for the
compressor, the power output from the compressor according to [17] is given as;

̇ ̇ ( ) (3)

2
2nd International Conference on Mechanical Engineering Research (ICMER 2013) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 50 (2013) 012054 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/50/1/012054

where ̇ is power of the compressor (kW), ̇ is mass flow rate of air entering the compressor
(kg/s), is air temperature entering the compressor (K), is actual temperature air leaving the
compressor (K) and is the specific heat of air (kJ/kg.K).

Compressor ̇

Figure 2. Thermodynamic model for compressor.

Figure 2 shows air enters the compressor at , in atmospheric condition. Using the ideal gasses
relation for air, the ideal temperature of is obtained by Eq. (4) [18].

( ) (4)

where and are pressure entering and leaving the compressor respectively and k is the specific
heat ratio of air. With an isentropic efficiency, the actual air temperature leaving the compressor is
calculated using Eq. (5) [19];

( )
(5)

where the is the compressor isentropic efficiency.

2.2 Combustor
The compressed air from the compressor enters the combustion section. In the combustor, the heat is
supplied by fuel as shown in figure 3.

̇ Combustor ̇

Figure 3. Thermodynamic model for combustor.

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2nd International Conference on Mechanical Engineering Research (ICMER 2013) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 50 (2013) 012054 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/50/1/012054

The energy input, fuel energy input and energy output from the combustor were calculated using
Eq. (6), (7) and (8) respectively [20];

̇ ̇ (6)

̇ ̇ (7)

̇ (8)
̇

where ̇ is mass flow rate of air leaving the compressor (kg/s), ̇ is mass flow rate of fuel (kg/s),
LHV is lower heating value, is specific heat of air at ̇ is mass flow rate of flue gas
leaving the combustor, is temperature outlet of the combustor section and is specific heat of
flue gas at constant pressure (kJ/kg.K). The energy balance equations model with reference to figure 3;

̇ ̇ ̇ (9)

where the mass flow rates of flue gas is denoted by Eq. (10);
̇
̇ (10)

2.3 Turbine
Figure 4 shows the thermodynamic model of the turbine. The energy output from combustor entered
the turbine to generate power. During the process, exhaust heat is emitted to the environment.

̇
Turbine

Figure 4. Thermodynamic model for turbine.

The power of the gas turbine was calculated by Eq. (11) [19];

̇ ̇ ( ) (11)
The exhaust heat released by the turbine was calculated as [19];

4
2nd International Conference on Mechanical Engineering Research (ICMER 2013) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 50 (2013) 012054 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/50/1/012054

̇ ̇ (12)

where is exhaust heat temperature (K), is temperature for power generating (K), is
specific heat of gas for the exhaust temperature (kJ/kg.K) and is specific heat of gas for power
generating temperature (kJ/kg.K). The temperature of exhaust heat can be calculated as [19];

(( ) )
(13)

where is the isentropic efficiency of the turbine, is the specific heat ratio of gas and is the
pressure ratio of the compressor.
Gas District Cooling (GDC) plant at UTP was selected for the case study. The gas turbine is
examined for operating conditions shown in table 1 with the fluid properties shown in table 2. The gas
turbine performance was specified for continuous duty rating in standard ISO condition of 15ºC and
60% relative humidity and at sea level ambient pressure.

Table 1. Operating conditions of the UTP GDC gas turbine.

Components Operating condition Value
Compressor Mass flow rate of air inlet and outlet 19.0 kg/s
Inlet temperature 300K
Pressure Ratio 11.7
Isentropic efficiency 0.89
Specific heat ratio of air 1.4
Combustor LHV 41 000 kJ/kg.K
Turbine Specific heat ratio of gas 1.33
Isentropic efficiency 0.91

Table 2. Physical properties of fluids [20].

Substance Property

Air Specific ( )
heat ( )
(
( )
Flue Gas Specific ( )
heat ( )
( )

For the analysis, the following assumptions were used [19]:

 The process at compressor section was an adiabatic process.
 The total energy output from the compressor was to be taken as energy input for
combustor section and remained constant.
 The total energy output from the combustor was to be taken as energy input for the
turbine.

5
2nd International Conference on Mechanical Engineering Research (ICMER 2013) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 50 (2013) 012054 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/50/1/012054

 The outlet temperature of the compressor was the temperature inlet of the turbine.
 A turbine engine was at steady state.
 The pressure ratio was constant both in compressor and turbine
 Heat lost due to lubrication was eliminated.

For this study, historical data from 12 September 2011 to 16 September 2011 was used. In order to
evaluate the amount of CO 2 emission released to the environment, the calculation was based on the
earlier researches as well as on published literature.

3.Results and discussions

Using historical data for 12/9/2011 to 16/9/2011 and Eq. (12), the amount of exhaust heat generated is
as shown in figure 5.

12000

10000

8000
kWh

6000

4000

2000
23:00 03:00 07:00 11:00 15:00 19:00 23:00

Hour
12/9/2011
13/9/2011
14/9/2011
15/9/2011
16/9/2011

Figure 5. Estimated Exhaust heat generated by GT for 12/9/2011 to 16/9/2011.

Figure 5 shows the total hourly exhaust heat from GT from 12 a.m. to 11 p.m. for five working
days in September 2011. The average amount of estimated exhaust heat released to the environment
during this period is equivalent to 10 875 kWh daily. The results are summarized in table 3.

Table 3. Summarized results of estimated exhaust heat in terms of equivalent

kWh from energy analysis of GT.
12/9/2011 13/9/2011 14/9/2011 15/9/2011 16/9/2011
Min (kWh) 4127 9615 10 940 9307 10 887
Max (kWh) 11 467 11 262 11 418 11 513 11 390
Mean (kWh) 10 267 10 843 11 138 11 020 11 105

6
2nd International Conference on Mechanical Engineering Research (ICMER 2013) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 50 (2013) 012054 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/50/1/012054

12000
100%

10000

8000
kWh

6000

40%
4000

30%

2000
11/09/2011 12/09/2011 13/09/2011 14/09/2011 15/09/2011 16/09/2011 17/09/2011

Day

Figure 6. Amount of estimated exhaust heat based on variation percentage of exhaust heat released to
the environment for 12/9/2011 to 16/9/2011.

Figure 6 and table 4 shows the calculated amount of estimated exhaust heat released to the
environment. The case of 30 percent to 40 percent refers to the maximum amount of exhaust heat
released taking into account with the amount captured which is in between 60 percent to 70 percent for
heat recovery process. While the case for 100 percent implies all of the exhaust heat is emitted to the
environment which means there is no heat recovery process.

Table 4. Summarized results of estimated exhaust heat from GT released to the

environment (kWh) based on 30%, 40% and 100%.
12/9/2011 13/9/2011 14/9/2011 15/9/2011 16/9/2011
30% 3080 3253 3341 3306 3332
40% 4107 4337 4455 4408 4442
100% 10267 10843 11138 11020 11 105

Using conversion factor from [16], that is 474g of CO 2/kWh will be released to the environment.
figure 7 shows the plotted results for the amount of CO2 emitted to the environment by the GT during
the study period.

7
2nd International Conference on Mechanical Engineering Research (ICMER 2013) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 50 (2013) 012054 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/50/1/012054

6000

100%
5000

4000
kg CO2

3000

40%
2000
30%

1000
9/11/2011 12/9/2011 9/13/2011 14/9/2011 9/15/2011 16/9/2011 9/17/2011

Day

Figure 7. Estimated amount of CO2 equivalent to exhaust heat based on 30%, 40% and 100%
released to the environment for 12/9/2011 to 16/9/2011.

For the case of 100 percent of exhaust heat released to the environment, the total estimated amount
of CO2 emitted is 5155 kg. While if only 30 percent of the exhaust heat is released to the environment,
the estimated amount of CO2 emitted is 1546 kg. Thus, the steam conversion process helps to save
about 60 percent of CO2 that is 3600 kg from being released to the environment.

4. Conclusions
The energy balance analysis shows that the estimated exhaust heat in terms of equivalent per kWh
from the GT is 10 875 kWh daily for district cooling plant at UTP. It contributed 5155 kg of CO2
emission released to the environment for the GT with 8.4 MW. Increasing the amount of exhaust heat
will increase the amount of CO2 released to the environment. Thus, the heat recovery process avoided
about 60 percent of CO2 from being released to the environment. These findings could be useful for
power plant owners as well as the researchers.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their appreciation to the support by Fundamental Research Grant
Scheme (FRGS) and Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) for the project.

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2nd International Conference on Mechanical Engineering Research (ICMER 2013) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 50 (2013) 012054 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/50/1/012054

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