PERGAMON

Applied Thermal Engineering 18 (1998) 837846

Advanced gas turbine cycles for power generation: a critical review

T. Heppenstall
The Pipe Dream Company, PO Box 76, North Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE29 6YX, UK Received 27 November 1997

Abstract The use of gas turbines for power generation has increased in recent years and is likely to continue to increase in the medium term. This paper describes and compares several power generation cycles which have been developed to take advantage of the gas turbine's thermodynamic characteristics. Emphasis has been given to systems involving heat recovery from the gas turbine's exhaust and these include the combined, Kalina, gas/gas recuperation, steam injection, evaporation and chemical recuperation cycles. Thermodynamic and economic characteristics of the various cycles are considered in order to establish their relative importance to future power generation markets. The present dominance of the combined cycle as the preferred option for a new plant is thought likely to continue. # 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Power generation; Gas turbine; Combined cycle; Kalina cycle; Steam injection; Evaporation cycle; Chemical recuperation; Recuperator

1. Introduction This paper is mainly concerned with heat recovery from the exhaust streams of open cycle gas turbines used for large scale power generation. In this form of the gas turbine cycle, more than 60% of the total energy output is normally in the form of heat in the exhaust stream. Moreover, the exhaust temperature is typically around 5008C and, consequently, there is considerable scope for heat recovery applications. Gas turbine cycles with heat recovery are examples of what are generally known as advanced cycles. Heat recovery schemes are one of the most important ways of increasing the eciency of the power generation process, usually with the aim of improving commercial performance. Improved eciency also results in lower levels of pollution for a given output of electricity and this is a further, important consideration.
1359-4311/98/$19.00 # 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 1 3 5 9 4 3 1 ( 1 9 ) 7 0 0 1 1 - 6 6

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The combination of environmental and economic pressures on power generation and the wide availability of natural gas has resulted in the development of several types of gas turbine cycle. This paper provides a critical review of some of the more important concepts. 2. Advanced cycles Most of the following discussion is concerned with cycles in which heat recovery plays an obvious and direct role. However, there are many other examples of cycles which would also be referred to as advanced including, for example, inter-cooled and/or re-heated cycles and a range of gas turbine systems for use with coal. Cycles which are essentially based on heat recovery need to be judged against this wider range of potential provision and, consequently, other schemes are discussed briey in a later section. 3. Bottoming cycles and recuperation Two basic exhaust heat recovery arrangements can be used to improve cycle eciency: 1. recuperation, in which the recovered heat is used in the same gas turbine cycle; 2. bottoming cycles, in which the exhaust is used as a heat source for an essentially independent power cycle.

4. Recuperative cycles 4.1. Gas to gas recuperation Exhaust recuperation has been used in conjunction with industrial gas turbines for more than 50 years but there have always been underlying metallurgical problems due to the heat exchanger temperature. Increasing the pressure ratio increases the compressor exit temperature but reduces the exhaust temperature and, in modern gas turbine designs, the limiting conditions for the transfer of heat from the exhaust stream are easily achieved. Inter-cooling reduces the heat transfer problem and allows recuperation with high eciency turbines. This arrangement is illustrated in Fig. 1. The combination of inter-cooler and recuperator forms the basis of an advanced development by Rolls-Royce and Westinghouse, the WR21, which is intended initially for use by the US Navy. The unit has a power output of about 20 MW and a thermal eciency of around 42% [1]. Some current, simple cycle designs can match this eciency but the WR21 has a superior turn-down performance. There is a view, which is well supported theoretically, that a regenerator would provide a more ecient cycle than a recuperator. This is due to the very high thermal eectiveness of regenerators; values of around 95% are possible. However, maximum eciency occurs at very

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Fig. 1. Gas to gas recuperation.

Fig. 2. Steam injection.

low pressure ratios, typically less than 5 [2]. Consequently, even if the theoretical performance could be achieved, relatively large turbines would be required. The promoter of the regenerated cycle appears to have recognised that its application would be for very small output engines within the foreseeable future.

4.2. Steam injection Fig. 2 illustrates the basic steam injection concept. The system will work if the pressure of the steam is higher than that at the compressor outlet and even the highest pressure ratio machines would require a saturation steam temperature of less than 2008C. Thus, steam injection overcomes the fundamental heat transfer restriction associated with gas to gas recuperation. The GE LM5000 gas turbine is one of the best known steam injected designs. In its standard, industrial form this engine produces about 30 MW of power with a thermal eciency of 36%. Steam injection raises the power output to 42 MW and the eciency by almost six percentage points [3]. Analyses based on the ABB GT10 design suggest a thermal eciency of about 44% for a similar power output [4]. Steam injection also improves the specic output; the ABB GT10 analysis predicts an increase of about 40% compared to the simple cycle. Several manufacturers produce steam injected turbines with output capacities down to 0.5 MW and design variations, including inter-cooling and reheat, have been considered. A practical concern with steam injection is water consumption, as total loss systems appear to be the normal arrangement. Consumption is, typically, between 1.1 and 1.6 kg of high purity water per kWh of electrical output. The necessary water purication system for large scale plant would represent about 5% of the total capital expenditure and running costs would add about 5% to the fuel cost. Furthermore, there can be substantial vapour plumes from the exhaust stack. This problem has been addressed. For example, a major gas distribution company in Canada has recognised benets in steam injected turbines for compressor duties and claims to have designed an economic water

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recovery system [5]. However, the scheme was concerned with a GE LM2500 turbine which has a relatively small output. Because, in modern designs, the temperature of injected steam must be raised in the gas turbine combustion chamber to about 12508C, there are advantages in a close approach temperature in the waste heat boiler. However, because boiling is a constant temperature process, high steam temperatures are necessarily associated with a low level of heat recovery. Conversely, the steam temperature must be relatively low if the heat recovery from the exhaust stream is to be maximised. This diculty limits the maximum theoretical eciency of the overall system. In practice, the high temperature option is normally the best compromise. 4.3. Evaporation cycles The limitations of the waste heat boiler can be reduced with multi-pressure systems so that the successive saturation temperatures are matched more closely to those of the exhaust gases with a better approximation to a reversible process. However, steam injection systems cannot accommodate steam ows at dierent pressures without substantial design `convolutions'. Schemes have been proposed [6] but they are unlikely to be implemented in practice. Evaporation cycles overcome the boiler limitation problem by injecting liquid water into the gas turbine air ow at the compressor exit, as illustrated in Fig. 3. In eect, the heat of compression is used to evaporate the water and the resulting, single phase mixture is then heated by the turbine's exhaust gas in a suitable heat exchanger. The benets are the same as for steam injection, ie, higher mass ow through the turbine and increased working uid specic heat. The temperature of the single phase mixture can `track' the exhaust gas temperature; hence, a much lower temperature dierence between the streams is possible. On the basis of analysis, this does result in an improved eciency; dierent sources indicate that the eciency would be

Fig. 3. The evaporation cycle.

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in the range 4546%. However, the specic output is predicted to be more than 20% lower than that of the basic steam injected cycle. Probably the best known of the evaporation cycles is referred to as the humid air turbine (HAT) or integrated gasication humid air turbine (IGHAT) since it was designed specically to work in conjunction with coal gasication plant. The basic principle is as previously described but heat recovery from the coal gasier is an important additional feature. Gas produced by gasiers must normally be cooled as part of the sulphur removal process and some processes reject substantial quantities of low grade heat in cooling water streams. The eective use of these heat sources benets the overall plant eciency. In the IGHAT design, gasier `waste' heat is used to preheat the water prior to its injection into the gas turbine air stream [7]. Predictions about the overall eciency of the system (gasier plus turbine) range from about 39%42% [4, 7]. Water consumption is a problem for the same reasons as apply to steam injection cycles but the consumption rate is only about one third. 4.4. Chemical recuperation As noted in previous sections, there is a high water content in the exhaust gases of steam injection and humid air cycles. Consequently, a signicant proportion of the heat recovered from the exhaust stream is eventually rejected to atmosphere as latent heat. As noted earlier, water recovery schemes which, clearly, would also result in latent heat recovery have been proposed but not implemented. Thus, for practical systems, the latent heat content of the exhaust sets a limit on performance. Chemical recuperation is a scheme which would overcome this diculty by, essentially, using the exhaust heat to manufacture its own hydrogen-rich fuel from a methane feedstock. Basic features of the proposed cycle are shown in Fig. 4. The fuel is manufactured in a steam reformer using recovered heat from an inter-cooled, reheated turbine

Fig. 4. Chemical recuperation.

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with some steam injection. Steam injection is used mainly for cooling purposes and the reheat section of the turbine is to improve the reformation process. There has been some analysis to suggest that a simpler system without inter-cooling and reheat would be more commercially competitive [8]. Chemical recuperation is a complex system but it has been the subject of a substantial feasibility study by major industrial organisations due to promotion by the California Energy Commission [9]. The estimated eciency of the more complex cycle is about 60% and the resulting benets of reduced pollution were the main reasons for an interest in the system. The production and use of hydrogen rich fuel is very important in this respect. It can be burnt at a lower temperature than methane and, consequently, the combustion process has a lower propensity to produce oxides of nitrogen.

5. Bottoming cycles Within the scope of this paper, a bottoming cycle will consist of a power generation plant which uses the heat in the exhaust of a gas turbine prime mover as its energy source. Apart from the exhaust heat recovery, the gas turbine and secondary power generation systems are, in general, `thermodynamically' independent but they may be linked mechanically. 5.1. The combined cycle The combined cycle is the well known arrangement of a gas turbine with a steam turbine bottoming cycle. Because the concept is well established, a general description will not be provided. Variants of the basic arrangement, mostly fuelled by natural gas, are becoming the dominant power generation system on a worldwide basis [10]. Even in India, where there are massive coal reserves, a 200 MW gas-red combined cycle plant has been installed [11]. Given that natural gas and coal supplies are relatively secure in the medium term (see later section), there are several reasons which probably explain the current preference for combined cycle rather than conventional coal red plant: 1. thermal eciencies in excess of 55% are possible with current designseven super-critical steam plants have percentage eciencies only in the mid 40%s; 2. capital cost is relatively lowtypically less than half that of a conventional coal red plant; 3. construction times are shortagain, typically less than half that of a conventional coal red plant; 4. plant is available in a wide range of congurations and capacities; 5. the scheme is compatible with a range of fuels and, in particular, with gas produced by coal gasication plants; 6. atmospheric emissions are relatively low. Factors related to the availability of plant are important. Large industrial gas turbines with power outputs well in excess of 200 MW are well suited, in thermodynamic terms, to the combined cycle concept because their basic operating conditionspressure ratio about 15:1, turbine inlet temperature about 12508Cprovides the basis for near optimum overall

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eciency. Also, the total power output of large units is convenient for the current form of centralised, utility scale generation and a range of established designs can accommodate dierent capital cost/eciency compromises. The range extends from single shaft machines with simple steam cycles through to multiple shaft arrangements with triple pressure steam cycles and reheat. 5.2. The Kalina cycle The thermodynamic/heat transfer limitations of the waste heat boiler eciency of steam injected systems also applies to combined cycles. The Kalina cycle is a novel bottoming cycle arrangement which overcomes this problem using a zeotropic mixture of ammonia and water as the working uid. Its characteristics are such that its temperature `tracks' the turbine exhaust temperature in the waste heat boiler. However, the thermodynamic advantages of this small boiler temperature dierence compared to a steam cycle would be lost at the condensing stage, assuming the condenser cooling medium temperature would be the same in both cases. The novelty of the Kalina cycle lies in the solution to this problem. The principle of the Kalina cycle is illustrated schematically in Fig. 5. There are, in eect, two condensing stages. In the rst stage, the turbine exhaust stream is fully absorbed, on a continuous basis, by a stream of secondary uid in a liquid phase and the heat of absorption is

Fig. 5. The Kalina cycle condensing arrangement.

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dissipated into the `condenser' cooling water. The secondary uid is an ammonia/water mixture of dierent composition from the turbine exit stream but this is not important with respect to the underlying principle. Following the absorption process, the mixture of secondary uid plus turbine exit stream is pressurised by a pump. Since a liquid is being compressed, very little pumping work is required. The pressurised uid is heated by the turbine exhaust stream and this causes the turbine working uid to boil o from the secondary uid. Since the uid is now at a higher pressure than at the turbine exit it can be fully condensed by the condenser cooling water. In a recent analysis [12] this arrangement is claimed to result in a net plant eciency of 58.8%, which is more than 2% better than the best Rankine cycle system. Furthermore, the marginal cost of producing this additional output by the Kalina cycle has been estimated to be about 2/3 of that required for a conventional combined cycle (Kalina pers. comm.). Exergy, the company established to develop and exploit Kalina cycle technology, was bought by GE in 1992/93 with the intention of producing bottoming cycle plant on a commercial basis. Reference [12] was written by GE personnel and it is reasonable to infer that interest in the technology remains.

6. A review of the options On a worldwide basis, coal red plants still form the rst ranked category with respect to total output and developments to coal red systems continue to take place. For example: 1. there are numerous commercial examples of circulating uidised bed boilersthe largest is in France and rated at 250 MW; 2. pressurised uidised bed demonstration plants have operated in Spain, Japan, Sweden and the USA and commercial applications will be operating by the end of the century in Germany and Japan; 3. there is interest in super-critical steam cycles, and a Danish plant with a design eciency of 47.1% is expected to become operational in 1997. 4. there has been major development eort in coal gasication systems which will operate in conjunction with combined cycle plantsseveral serious projects are at various stages of development in Europe and America [13]. Despite all the development eort, the natural gas-red combined cycle is likely to remain, for many years, attractive as a new plant for utility scale applications. The reserves to production ratio for natural gas has remained for some time at about 60 years despite the substantial increase in its use [14, 15]. Furthermore, a major, intercontinental distribution infra-structure is being developed, principally to supply Western Europe from Eastern Russia, the Middle East and Africa. Thus, there are good reasons for condence in the availability of natural gas in the short to medium term and this reduces requirements to introduce advanced coal based plant. Also, system eciency continues to improve. The American Government has initiated an advanced turbine system (ATS) programme which includes eorts to raise the eciencies of natural gas-red combined cycles to more than 60% [16]. Although the ATS programme will benet all gas turbine based systems, only chemical recuperation and the Kalina cycle seem

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likely to match the combined cycle's technical performance. However, the marginal cost of possible, slight eciency improvements due to the use of chemical recuperation would be very high. The Kalina cycle must be regarded as a possible competitor to the combined cycle. It is a soundly based concept being developed by a major `player' in the power generation business. However, it is largely untried and judgement must be reserved until there is some commercial operating experience. The humid air turbine does allow eective use of low temperature heat rejection from gasication systems and this is important in the overall performance of integrated gasier-power generation systems. However, coal gasication may not be adopted on a large scale for some years and the specic benet of the humid air turbine appears likely to be outweighed by the superior electrical generation eciency of the combined cycle. The situation is more complex for relatively low capacity systems, say, less than about 50 MW. Here, the choice is greater and dierent selection criteria may operate. For example, low capital cost may have greater emphasis than high eciency and mechanical complexity may be less acceptable. Work carried out by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) suggests that reasons of this type may favour steam injection for low capacity systems [18, 19], despite the economic advantage remaining with combined cycles. Although these studies are rather old, the basic conclusions are still generally applicable. Furthermore, the potential performance of steam injected systems in the sub-50 MW capacity has been enhanced considerably in recent years by signicant developments in the aero-derivative forms of industrial gas turbine. A further important feature of the steam injection concept is its compatibility with cogeneration which is the mode used in most commercial applications. The Cheng cycle is a variation of steam injection which allows system optimisation under dierent heat and power demands [19]. There are several commercial applications but all have low capacities with power outputs of less than 10 MW. Again, however, there is a range of thermodynamic and economic arguments to suggest that the combined cycle is a more eective system for co-generation than steam injection [20, 21]. Gas to gas recuperation does oer reasonable eciency without mechanical complexity at relatively low capital cost. Furthermore, there is no requirement for large quantities of water for cooling or injection purposes. Although this system has a much lower absolute performance than the combined cycle, the variations in selection criteria which tend to apply to smaller scale systems create niche markets and the use of gas to gas recuperation may be a good solution to very specic requirements.

7. Conclusions Gas turbines will certainly play a major role in future power generation and several well justied concepts have been developed or are the subject of major feasibility studies. However, the combined cycle is now well established and oers superior performance to any of the competing systems which are likely to be available in the medium term for large scale power generation applications. Only serious concerns about the price or availability of natural gas seem likely to change this situation. The Kalina cycle is a possible exception since there is some evidence to suggest that this scheme can provide higher eciency without signicant cost

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penalties. The combined cycle may be too complex mechanically for small scale operations but there is a variety of schemes to help meet specic application requirements in this area. References
[1] C.F. Mcdonald, D.G. Wilson, The Utilization of Recuperated and Regenerated Engine Cycles for HighEciency Gas Turbines in the 21st Century, Applied Thermal Energy 16 (8/9) (1996) 635654. [2] D.S. Beck, D.G. Wilson, Gas Turbine Regenerators. Chapman and Hall, London, 1996. [3] J.B. Burnham, M.H. Guiliani, D. Moeller, Development, Installation and Operating Results of a Steam Injection System in a General Electric LM5000 Gas Generator. ASME Gas Turbine Conf., Dusseldorf, W Germany, 1986. [4] K. Annerwall, G. Svedberg, A Study on Modied Gas Turbine Systems with Steam Injection or Evaporative Regeneration, Proc. 1991 ASME Cogen-Turbo Conf., Budapest, Hungary, 1991. [5] H.B. Nguymen, A. den Otter, Development of a Gas Turbine Steam Injection Water Recovery (SIWR) System, ASME Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power 16 (1) (1994) 6874. [6] H. Frutschi, A. Plancherei, A Comparison of Combined Cycles with Steam Injection and Evaporation Cycles, Proc. ASME Turbo-Cogen Conf., Montreux, Switzerland 1988. [7] D.T. Cook, J.E. McDaniel, A.A.D. Rao, Coal to Clean Power Without Steam; Higher Eciency and Lower Cost, Proc. 1st World Coal Institute Conf., London, 1991. [8] K. Kesser, M. Homan, J. Baughn, Analysis of a Basic Chemically Recuperated Gas Turbine Power Plant, ASME Journal for Gas Turbines and Power 16 (2) (1994) 277284. [9] J. Janes, Chemically Recuperated Gas Turbine, Report P500-90-01, The California Energy Commission January (1990) . [10] J. Makansi, Gas-turbine Combined Cycle Becoming the World Standard, Electric Power International June (1996) 2534. [11] World Class Plant Blazes Technology Path in India, Electric Power International Third Quarter (1995) 5258. [12] R.W. Smith et al., Kalina Combined Cycle Performance and Operability, PWRVol. 30, Joint Power Generation Conf. Vol. 2 (ASME) (1996). [13] J. Makansi, New Options Aim to Keep Coal as Preferred Fuel, Electric Power International Sept. (1996) 2933. [14] BP Statistical Review of World Energy, British Petroleum Company, London, June, 1993. [15] Energy the Environment in the 21st Century, NAPAG Report, The Royal Society, London July (1995). [16] R.L. Bannister, R.A. Newby, A Status Update of Westinghouse's Contribution to Clean Coal Technology, Proc. of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Journal of Power and Energy, 210, A5 (1996) 351362. [17] EPRI Report AF-1186, Steam Injected Gas Turbine Study Sept (1979). [18] A. Cohn, Steam Injected Turbines versus Combined Cycles, EPRI Journal (1988) Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, California. [18] A. Cohn, Steam Injected Turbines versus Combined Cycles, EPRI Journal (1988). [19] D.A. Motz, The Cheng Cycle: Principles and Applications. 8th World Engineering Congress. Atlanta, GA, 1985. [20] H. Frutschi, H. Wettstien, A Thermodynamic Comparison of Steam Injected Gas Turbines and Combined Cycle Plants for Co-generation Applications. ASME Cogen-Turbo Conf. Budapest, 1991. [21] J. Mesko, Evaluation of Various Cogeneration Schemes for a Large University Campus. ASME Cogen-Turbo Conf., Budapest, 1991.