0% found this document useful (0 votes)
8 views5 pages

Analysis of Inlet Evaporative Cooling For Gas Turbine Power Plant in Shiraz, Iran

This paper analyzes the impact of inlet evaporative cooling on the energy efficiency and power output of a GE gas turbine at the Fars combined cycle power plant in Shiraz, Iran. The study finds that implementing evaporative cooling can enhance power generation and efficiency by over 8%, particularly during the hot summer months when the gas turbine's performance is most affected by ambient conditions. The research includes a validation of the gas turbine model against manufacturer data and real performance results, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed cooling method.

Uploaded by

Amir Hozhabr
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
0% found this document useful (0 votes)
8 views5 pages

Analysis of Inlet Evaporative Cooling For Gas Turbine Power Plant in Shiraz, Iran

This paper analyzes the impact of inlet evaporative cooling on the energy efficiency and power output of a GE gas turbine at the Fars combined cycle power plant in Shiraz, Iran. The study finds that implementing evaporative cooling can enhance power generation and efficiency by over 8%, particularly during the hot summer months when the gas turbine's performance is most affected by ambient conditions. The research includes a validation of the gas turbine model against manufacturer data and real performance results, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed cooling method.

Uploaded by

Amir Hozhabr
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

The 29th Annual International Conference of Iranian Society of Mechanical Engineers & 8th Conference on Thermal Power Plants

25 to 27 May, 2021, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.

ISME2021-IC1033

Analysis of inlet evaporative cooling for gas turbine power plant in Shiraz, Iran
A. Hozhabr1,2, K. Ghasemi2, M. Esmaeilipour2, R. Radi2, MH. Masoodi3

1
Mechanical Engineering, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran; [email protected]
2
Fars Power Generation Management Company, Shiraz, Iran; [email protected]
3
Ph.D. Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran

Abstract Moreover, Shukla and Singh [8] evaluated the


In this paper, the effects of inlet evaporative cooling performance of gas turbine by steam injected and inlet
system on the energy efficiency and power augmentation evaporative cooling. They concluded that the best
are investigated for GE gas turbine which is installed in combination to obtain more power and efficiency of gas
Fars combined cycle power plant near Shiraz in Iran. turbine is inlet evaporative cooling, steam injection and
Since the gas turbine performance is very sensitive to film cooling. In another research, Baakeem et al. [9]
ambient conditions, the effectiveness of evaporative compared results of different air inlet cooling methods
cooler is analyzed and compared with the measured and predicted a typical gas turbine performance in
values at different temperatures. In Fars power plant, the Riyadh, Saudi Arabia climatic. A novel inlet air cooling
inlet evaporative coolers operate a maximum of ten hours system is proposed by Liu et al. [10]. They concluded that
a day, from June to August. The gas turbine is modeled the liquefied natural gas cold energy as a cooling system
and the mathematical results obtained from the model are has higher output power than without inlet air cooling.
validated by manufacturer data and performance results Recently, the comparison of inlet air cooling system
from Fars power plant. Due to the climate and type of methods for different cities has been the subject of studies
power plant, a new operating time is proposed and the [11,12]. They presented more suitable technique to
energy, efficiency and economic analyses have been improve gas turbine performance for various climatic.
evaluated for different operations from inlet evaporative While there are numerous studies are available for
cooling. The results show that proposed method predicts evaporative cooling techniques in gas turbine cycles few
the efficiency improvement and power generation were found studying on aging or variation effectiveness
increases more than 8% what it is now. of evaporative. This study investigates the effect of various
parameters on the gas turbine cycle located in Shiraz i.e.
Keywords: Energy, Efficiency, Economic analysis, Power relative humidity, ambient temperature and effectiveness of
augmentation, Evaporative cooling evaporative cooler. And the energy, efficiency and economic
analyses are been carried for different operations with the
Introduction help of computer program codes in Matlab software.
Gas turbines are being widely used in power plants for
power generation all over the world. Obviously, many
System Description
regions of the world have a wide range of climatic A schematic of the gas turbine with inlet evaporative
conditions, which impact on the gas turbine performance. cooling (EC) is shown in Figure 1. Fresh air at ambient
Problems rise when a gas turbine is used in a higher
conditions is cooled in the evaporator before drawn into
elevation or hot weather. Hot inlet air results in gas
the compressor, where its temperature and pressure are
turbines less power, especially during the warm seasons,
raised. The high-pressure air proceeds into the
when the demand for electricity is possibly more. In such
combustion chamber (CC), where the fuel is burned. The
conditions, power augmentation methods are highly resulting high-temperature gases then enter the turbine,
desirable. One of the most important parameters affecting where they expand to the atmospheric pressure while
gas turbine performance is the inlet air temperature [1–3].
generating power. The exhaust gases leaving the turbine
As mentioned before with decreasing the inlet
are thrown out.
temperature to the gas turbine, its net output power and
efficiency increase and the production of pollutants comes Water supply

down [4,5]. As Boyce [6] discusses, practical power


augmentation, which could be applied to gas turbines can
EC Exhaust
be divided into two main categories. They range from the Inlet air
cooling of the inlet to injection of steam or water into the CC
turbine. Since our objective, in this paper, is to study inlet
Compressor Turbine Generator
cooling, especially by using the evaporative cooler.
Many researches have already been done in this CC
context. Ameri and Hejazi [7] studied the inlet air cooling
of gas turbine in the Chabahar power plant in Iran. They Fuel (natural gas)

showed that by using a steam absorption chiller and an air


cooler, the output power will increase by 11.3%. Figure 1. Schematic of gas turbine with evaporative cooling.

25 to 27 May, 2021
Climatic Conditions The energy efficiency of the gas turbine can be expressed
• Shiraz is a city in south-central Iran, located at as [5,11]:
29˚35ʹ30ʺ N, 52˚35ʹ1ʺ E, the summers are sweltering,
arid, and clear. It has an average altitude of 1585 m. 𝑊̇ 𝑛𝑒𝑡
ɳ= (4)
• Fars combined cycle power plant is on the 𝑚̇ 𝑓 (𝐿𝐻𝑉)
outskirts, located 35 km southeast of Shiraz, and is
situated 1530 m above sea level. where LHV is the natural gas lower heating value
Table 1 shows average monthly temperatures and supplied.
relative humidity in each location, over the year. It should
be noted that climatic information of Shiraz find out from Model Validation
Iran Meteorological Organization in a period of 60 years The present model of the gas turbine is validated by
[13], while power plant data are recorded on-site in the manufacturer data and results obtained from the
latest 5 years ago. performance test in a real cycle. Table 2, values of
performance parameters at ISO conditions (𝑇0 = 15°C,
Gas Turbine Model 𝑃0 = 101.325 kPa and RH = 60%) from manufacturer’s
In present study, the General Electric PG9171E gas technical data [15] and real Fars power plant data [16] are
turbine was used for evaluation. The performance compared with the results of modeling. The maximum
configuration is specific to Fars combined cycle power difference observed between the real data and the
plant and based on natural gas as fuel. Although this mathematical model is less than 3%. This error is usually
power plant is a combined cycle type, modeling is acceptable for engineering applications. Moreover,
assumed only for gas turbine and simple cycle. Figure 2 is provided for comparison with the results of
the present model and manufacturer data at variable
Energy and Mass Models temperatures. This agreement proves the reliability of the
For the energy analysis of gas turbine, the mass and present mathematical model.
energy balances are applied to each component of the
system. All gas turbine components and cooling system
are as a control volume at steady-state. Any changes in 1.25
Manufacturer Data [15]
kinetic and potential energies to be negligible. 1.20 Present work
Furthermore, adiabatic condition is a suitable assumption 1.15 Manufacturer Data [15]
Present work
Correction Factor

for this modeling. Thus, the conservation of mass and 1.10


energy relations for all system components are as follows 1.05
[14]: 1.00
0.95
∑ 𝑚̇ = ∑ 𝑚̇ (1) 0.90
𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑡
0.85

𝑊̇𝑖𝑛 + ∑ 𝑚̇ ℎ = 𝑊̇𝑜𝑢𝑡 + ∑ 𝑚̇ ℎ (2) 0.80


0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110
𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑡
Compressor Inlet Temperature (°F)
The net-work rate produced by gas turbine can be written
as follows: Figure 2. Comparison of the present model and manufacturer
data at variable temperatures.
𝑊̇𝑛𝑒𝑡 = (𝑚̇𝑎 + 𝑚̇𝑓 )𝑤𝑡 − 𝑚̇𝑎 𝑤𝑐 − losses (3)

Table 1. Average monthly temperatures and relative humidity.


Parameter Location Month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Average temperature (°C) Shiraz 5.3 7.7 11.8 16.2 22.5 27.7 29.8 28.7 24.5 18.4 11.7 6.8
Power Plant 8.6 9.5 13.6 18.0 24.4 30.2 32.1 30.5 27.4 21.2 12.5 9.8
Average relative humidity (%) Shiraz 65 58 51 46 32 22 24 24 26 34 48 61
Power Plant 35 40 36 33 20 8 10 9 12 20 39 40

Table 2. Comparison of modeling with manufacturer data at ISO conditions and a real cycle.
Parameter ISO Conditions Real Cycle in Fars power plant
Manufacturer Data Analytical Model Error (%) Power Plant Data Analytical Model Error (%)
Mass flow rate of inlet air (kg/s) 402.78 404.61 0.45 Na 333.61 -
Compressor pressure ratio 12.3 12.3 0.00 Na 12.3 -
Output power (MW) 123.40 123.39 0.01 99.36 100.18 0.83
LHV Heat rate (kJ/kWh) 10660 10659 0.01 11202 10871 2.95
Turbine inlet temperature (°C) 1124 1123 0.09 Na 1122.7 -
Exhaust gas temperature (°C) 540 544 0.74 542.2 549.8 1.40
Exhaust gas flow rate (kg/s) 410.28 412.51 0.54 338.1 339.82 0.51

25 to 27 May, 2021
Evaporative cooling In Fars power plant, the inlet evaporative coolers
Evaporative cooling is based on a simple principle that as operate a maximum of ten hours a day, from June to
water evaporates, the latent heat of vaporization is August. Operating time is almost in second half of a day
absorbed from the water body and the surrounding air. As when the ambient temperature is increased. Table 3
a result, both the water and the air are cooled during the shows the values of dry-bulb temperature, wet-bulb
process. Thus, the air cooled enters compressor. To temperature and relative humidity for June, July and
evaluate the performance of the evaporative cooling August.
system, evaporative cooler effectiveness is calculated as
[8,11]: 110
34.05
𝑇𝑑𝑏,𝑖 − 𝑇𝑑𝑏,𝑜
𝜀= (5) 105
𝑇𝑑𝑏,𝑖 − 𝑇𝑤𝑏 33.65

Output Power (MW)


100
where, 𝑇𝑑𝑏,𝑖 and 𝑇𝑑𝑏,𝑜 are dry-bulb temperatures of

Efficiency (%)
33.25
ambient air at the inlet and outlet of the evaporative
95
cooler, respectively. 𝑇𝑤𝑏 is wet-bulb temperature at the
inlet of the evaporative cooler. It should be note that wet- 90
32.85

bulb temperature at the inlet and outlet are almost equal


to each other [14]. It is noteworthy that value of 85
32.45
effectiveness (𝜀) is usually between 80% and 90%. This
value for new and clean cooler is 𝜀 ≥ 89% [17]. The mass 80 32.05
flow rate of water required for evaporative cooling can 10 20 30 40 50
be expressed as follows [18]: Ambient Temperature (˚C)

𝑉𝑎̇ Figure 3. Effect of different effectiveness at variable


𝑚̇𝑤 = (𝜔 − 𝜔𝑑𝑏 ) (6)
𝑣𝑎 𝑎,𝑜 temperature.

where, 𝑉𝑎̇ and 𝑣𝑎 are volume flow rate of ambient air into
the compressor and specific volume of wetted air of dry
air, respectively. 𝜔 is specific humidity in kg/kg.

Economic Analysis Table 3. The values of dry-bulb temperature, wet-bulb


The cost of an energy system is often evaluated in terms temperature and relative humidity in Fars power plant in
of US$/kWh, hence to analyze economic feasibility the June, July and August.
cost associated with the fuel energy is defined as [5,11]: Time (h) Dry-bulb Wet-bulb Relative
temperature (°C) temperature (°C) humidity (%)
US$ June
CF = fuel price ( )⁄ɳ (7)
kWh 0 27.38 10.43 9.2
3 24.41 9.50 12.1
where ɳ is the energy efficiency of the gas turbine. It is 6 22.26 8.80 14.7
clear from this argument that if CF is smaller, 9 27.96 11.39 11.7
economically very attractive. Note that in Fars power 12 33.65 12.31 5.1
plant the inlet evaporative cooler has been installed on 15 36.72 12.68 2.5
six units of gas turbines, and thus the initial investment, 18 36.37 12.58 2.6
the operation and maintenance cost are already done. The 21 31.60 11.45 5.4
water consumption is based on water required for July
evaporative cooling, and thus it must be in optimum 0 29.92 12.50 11.8
value. The value of water consumption directly affects 3 27.23 11.68 14.5
6 25.14 10.98 16.8
the evaporative cooler effectiveness.
9 29.61 12.96 14.1
12 35.53 13.62 6.3
Results and Discussions 15 38.15 13.66 3.4
Figure 3 is provided for comparison of the different 18 37.74 13.81 4.2
effectiveness at variable temperature with the constant 21 33.29 12.99 7.6
relative humidity of 10%. Moreover, the effectiveness of August
evaporative coolers in Fars power plant are measured and 0 28.61 11.35 10.2
the results are shown in Figure 3. As mentioned before, 3 26.41 10.87 13.1
the value of this parameter is usually more than 80% or 6 24.45 10.15 14.9
higher, however, the average effectiveness measured in 9 28.25 11.81 12.7
power plant is less than 60%. This Figure shows that by 12 33.59 12.49 5.7
increasing ambient temperature, efficiency and output 15 36.19 12.78 3.3
power become more sensitive to the effectiveness 18 36.27 12.86 3.4
parameter. In fact, using the inlet evaporative cooling 21 31.45 11.73 6.5
system at high temperatures affects on gas turbine more
than low temperatures.

25 to 27 May, 2021
Figure 4 shows the variations of recorded and Table 4 shows the fuel and water mass flow rates for a
calculated values of the output power for July, with and gas turbine in Fars power plant, with and without inlet
without inlet evaporative cooler. The operating hours and evaporative cooler, from May to October. Results in this
output power in Fars power plant is shown as a red line. Table could be concluded that the inlet evaporative
Full time, on the other hand, can be viewed on blue dotted system increases fuel, thus leads to increase output power
line with the effectiveness of 90%. It is obvious that the of gas turbine. Furthermore, fuel consumption increases
green bars in Figure 4 indicate the potential of power by increasing the effectiveness parameter. It is important
generation, during a day. Figure 5 shows the average to be evaluated the economic aspect, hence to analyze
output power of each gas turbine throughout the year, for economic feasibility Table 5 presents the average values
Fars power plant. The net power generated with and of output power, energy efficiency and cost associated
without the evaporative cooler are predicted and with the fuel energy, from May to October. Results in
compared. The results in Figure 5 predict that using the Table 5 shows that CF is decreased by using inlet
evaporative cooler at least from May to September is evaporative cooler and, moreover by increasing
definitely useful, and in October is a good option. effectiveness the cost associated with the fuel energy
Therefore, the operating time of the evaporative coolers comes down. Therefore, it makes economical as well as
could be extended to six months. Note that the inlet engineering sense to use the evaporative cooler at least
cooling systems are limited by protection system to avoid for six months (from May to October) in Fars power
freezing. Thus, for the operation over six months, low plant.
temperatures are critical to calculate power generation.
Table 4. The fuel and water mass flow rates of gas turbine.
110 Months Inlet cooling Inlet cooling Inlet cooling
Inlet cooling full time (ℰ=90%)
Inlet cooling "off" “off” (ℰ = 60%) (ℰ = 90%)
105 Inlet cooling part time (ℰ=60%) 𝑚̇𝑓 𝑚̇𝑤 𝑚̇𝑓 𝑚̇𝑤 𝑚̇𝑓 𝑚̇𝑤
(kg/s) (kg/s) (kg/s) (kg/s) (kg/s) (kg/s)
Output Power (MW)

100 May 5.91 - 6.16 1.08 6.29 1.64


Jun 5.72 - 6.09 1.52 6.27 2.32
95 Jul 5.66 - 6.03 1.53 6.22 2.34
Aug 5.71 - 6.07 1.51 6.26 2.31
90 Sep 5.81 - 6.13 1.34 6.29 2.05
Oct 6.01 - 6.24 1.00 6.36 1.52
85

80 Conclusions
0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 The effects of inlet air cooling system, especially
Time (Hour) evaporative cooling on the performance of gas turbines in
Figure 4. Variation of output power for July during a day. Fars power plant are investigated. Gas turbine’s output
power increases by using the evaporative cooler.
120
Moreover, use inlet evaporative cooling for gas turbine in
Inlet cooling "off" warm and dry months of year, can improve the efficiency.
115 Inlet cooling (ℰ=60%)
Inlet cooling (ℰ=90%) On the other hand, the effect of inlet air cooling system
110
strongly depends on effectiveness parameter. The results
Output Power (MW)

105
show that, the evaporative cooler in Fars power plant can
100
use from May to October and, on average, its increases
95
output power more than 10%. Since the effectiveness of
90
evaporative cooler in Fars power plant is less than 60%
85
and operating time limited to 10 hours in a day, it lost
80
significant amount of power generation. In fact, proposed
75 method predicts power augmentation more than 8% in
70 half a year. It means that Fars power plant can generate
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
electrical energy by six units about 206000 MWh more
Month
than what it is now. Finally, the distribution and amount
Figure 5. Monthly average net power throughout the year. of water in evaporative coolers could be improved to
increase effectiveness parameter.

Table 5. The average output power, efficiency and cost associated with the fuel energy from May to October.
Months Inlet cooling “off” Inlet cooling (ℰ = 60%) Inlet cooling (ℰ = 90%)
𝑊̇𝑛𝑒𝑡 ɳ CF 𝑊̇𝑛𝑒𝑡 ɳ CF 𝑊̇𝑛𝑒𝑡 ɳ CF
(MW) (%) (US$/kWh) (MW) (%) (US$/kWh) (MW) (%) (US$/kWh)
May 95.21 33.16 0.1055 100.47 33.53 0.1044 103.05 33.69 0.1039
Jun 91.34 32.86 0.1065 98.86 33.42 0.1047 102.57 33.66 0.1040
Jul 90.05 32.74 0.1069 97.71 33.32 0.1050 101.52 33.58 0.1042
Aug 91.07 32.84 0.1066 98.59 33.39 0.1048 102.30 33.64 0.1040
Sep 93.19 33.01 0.1060 99.76 33.48 0.1045 103.00 33.69 0.1039
Oct 97.35 33.33 0.1050 102.14 33.65 0.1040 104.48 33.79 0.1036

25 to 27 May, 2021
Nomenclature [5] Ehyaei MA, Mozafari A, Alibiglou MH, 2011.
“Exergy, economic & environmental (3E) analysis of
CF Cost associated with the fuel used by the system inlet fogging for gas turbine power plant”. Energy,
(US$/kWh) 36, 6851–6861.
ℎ Enthalpy (kJ/kg) [6] Boyce MP, 2012. Gas Turbine Engineering
𝐿𝐻𝑉 Lower heating value of the fuel (kJ/kg) Handbook, 4th ed. Elsevier, USA
𝑚̇ Mass flow rate (kg/s) [7] Ameri M, Hejazi SH, 2004. “The study of capacity
𝑃0 Reference ambient pressure (kPa) enhancement of the Chabahar gas turbine installation
RH Relative humidity (%) using an absorption chiller”. Applied Thermal
𝑇 Temperature (K) Engineering, 24, 59–68.
𝑇0 Reference ambient temperature (K) [8] Shukla AK, Singh O, 2016. “Performance evaluation
𝑉̇ Volume flow rate (𝑚3 /s) of steam injected gas turbine based power plant with
𝑣 Specific volume (𝑚3 /kg) inlet evaporative cooling”. Applied Thermal
𝑊̇𝑛𝑒𝑡 Net power output of the gas turbine (kW) Engineering, 102, 454–464.
𝑤 Specific work (kJ/kg) [9] Baakeem SS, Orfi J, Al-Ansary H, 2018.
“Performance improvement of gas turbine power
Greek symbols plants by utilizing turbine inlet air-cooling (TIAC)
𝜀  Effectiveness of evaporative (%) technologies in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia”. Applied
ɳ Efficiency (%) Thermal Engineering, 138, 417–432.
𝜔 Specific humidity [10] Liu Z, Karimi IA, He T, 2019. “A novel inlet air
cooling system based on liquefied natural gas cold
Subscripts
energy utilization for improving power plant
𝑎 Air
performance”. Energy Conversion and Management,
𝑐 Compressor
187, 41–52.
𝑑𝑏 Dry-bulb
[11] Majdi Yazdia MR, Ommi F, Ehyaei MA, Rosen MA,
𝑓 Fuel
2020. “Comparison of gas turbine inlet air cooling
𝑖 Inlet
systems for several climates in Iran using energy,
𝑜 Outlet
exergy, economic, and environmental (4E) analyses”.
𝑡 Turbine Energy Conversion and Management, 216, 1129–44.
𝑤 Water [12] Salehia M, Eivazi H, Tahani M, Masdari M, 2020.
𝑤𝑏 Wet-bulb “Analysis and Prediction of Gas Turbine
Performance with Evaporative Cooling Processes by
Developing a Stage Stacking Algorithm”. Journal of
References Cleaner Production, 277, 1226–66.
[13] Iran Meteorological Organization, 2015. Climatic
[1] Amell AA, Cadavid FJ, 2002. “Influence of the information of Shiraz by month 1951-2010
relative humidity on the air cooling thermal load in [14] Ç engel, YA, Boles MA, Kanoğlu M, 2019.
gas turbine power plant”. Applied Thermal Thermodynamics: an engineering approach, 9th ed.
Engineering, 22, 1529–1533. McGraw-Hill Education, New York
[2] Kakaras E, Doukelis A, Karellas S, 2004. [15] JOHN BROWN Power Engineering, 1990. GE gas
“Compressor intake-air cooling in gas turbine turbine performance
plants”. Energy, 29, 2347–2358. [16] MAPNA Co. 2003. Performance test, Fars combined
[3] Khaliq A, Dincer I, 2011. “Energetic and exergetic cycle power plant
performance analyses of a combined heat and power [17] Munters, 2004. Technical data of cooler-cooling
plant with absorption inlet cooling and evaporative efficiency
aftercooling”. Energy, 36, 2662–2670. [18] Dawoud B, Zurigat YH, Bortmany J, 2005.
[4] Zadpoor AA, Golshan AH, 2006. “Performance “Thermodynamic assessment of power requirements
improvement of a gas turbine cycle by using a and impact of different gas-turbine inlet air cooling
desiccant-based evaporative cooling system”. techniques at two different locations in Oman”.
Energy, 31, 2652–2664. Applied Thermal Engineering, 25, 1579–1598.

25 to 27 May, 2021

You might also like