Air Bottoming Cycle: Use of Gas Turbine Waste Heat for Power Generation

This paper presents a thermodynamic analysis of the Air Bottoming Cycle (ABC) as well as the results of a feasibility study for using the Air Bottoming Cycle for gas turbine waste heat recovery/power generation on oil/gas platforms in the North Sea. The basis for the feasibility study was to utilize the exhaust gas heat from an LM2500PE gas turbine. Installation of the ABC on both a new and an existing platform have been considered. A design reference case is presented, and the recommended ABC is a two-shaft engine with two compressor intercoolers. The compression pressure ratio was found optimal at 8:1. The combined gas turbine and ABC shaft efficiency was calculated to 46.6 percent. The LM2500PE gas turbine contributes with 36.1 percent while the ABC adds 10.5 percent points to the gas turbine efficiency. The ABC shaft power output is 6.6 MW when utilizing the waste heat of an LM2500PE gas turbine. A preliminary thermal and hydraulic design of the ABC main components (compressor, turbine, intercoolers, and recuperator) was carried out. The recuperator is the largest and heaviest component (45 tons). A weight and cost breakdown of the ABC is presented. The total weight of the ABC package was calculated to 154 metric tons, and the ABC package cost to 9.4 million US$. An economical examination for three different cases was carried out. The results show that the ABC alternative (LM2500PE + ABC) is economical, with a rather good margin, compared to the other alternatives. The conclusion is that the Air Bottoming Cycle is an economical alternative for power generation on both new platforms and on existing platforms with demand for more power.