Enhancing Energy and Economic Performances of Combined Cycle Power Plants by Means of Gas-Cycle Regeneration

Efficiency improvement in the gas turbine sector has been mainly driven by increasing the turbine inlet temperature and compressor pressure ratio. For a fixed technology level, a further efficiency gain can be achieved through the utilization of waste thermal energy.Regeneration is an internal recovery technique that allows the reduction of heat input required at combustor, by preheating the air at compressor outlet. Under certain operating conditions, the temperature of exhaust gas leaving the regenerator is still enough high to allow the steam production via an heat recovery steam generator (HRSG).Regeneration in steam-gas power plants (CCGT) has the potential to enhance thermal efficiency, but reduces the margins for external recovery and then the bottoming steam cycle capacity. Moreover, the reduction of exhausts temperature at gas turbine outlet requires the reconsideration of HRSG operating parameters, in order to limit the increase of waste heat at the stack.The aim of this study is to explore the potential benefits that regeneration in the gas cycle gives on the whole steam-gas power plant. The extent of energy and economic performances improvement is evaluated, varying the gas turbine specifications and the layout and operating conditions of HRSG. Hence simple and regenerative configurations based on single and multi-pressure HRSG are compared, focusing on efficiency, specific CO2 emissions and unit cost of electricity (COE).© 2014 ASME