Analysis and cost optimization of the triple-pressure steam-reheat gas-reheat gas-recuperated combined power cycle

Abstract

Increasing the inlet temperature of gas turbine (TIT) and optimization are important methods for improving the efficiency and power of the combined cycle. In this paper, the triple-pressure steam-reheat gas-reheat recuperated combined cycle (the Regular Gas-Reheat cycle) was optimized relative to its operating parameters, including the temperature differences for pinch points (δTPP). The optimized triple-pressure steam-reheat gas-reheat recuperated combined cycle (the Optimized cycle) had much lower δTPP than that for the Regular Gas-Reheat cycle so that the area of heat transfer of the heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) of the Optimized cycle had to be increased to keep the same rate of heat transfer. For the same mass flow rate of air, the Optimized cycle generates more power and consumes more fuel than the Regular Gas-Reheat cycle. An objective function of the net additional revenue (the saving of the optimization process) was defined in terms of the revenue of the additional generated power and the costs of replacing the HRSG and the additional fuel. Constraints were set on many operating parameters such as the minimum temperature difference for pinch points (δTPPm), the steam turbines inlet temperatures and pressures, and the dryness fraction at steam turbine outlet. The net additional revenue was optimized at 11 different maximum values of TIT using two different methods: the direct search and variable metric. The performance of the Optimized cycle was compared with that for the Regular Gas-Reheat cycle and the triple-pressure steam-reheat gas-reheat recuperated reduced-irreversibility combined cycle (the Reduced-Irreversibility cycle). The results indicate that the Optimized cycle is 0.17–0.35 percentage point higher in efficiency and 5.3–6.8% higher in specific work than the Reduced-Irreversibility cycle, which is 2.84–2.91 percentage points higher in efficiency and 4.7% higher in specific work than the Regular Gas-Reheat cycle when all cycles are compared at the same values of TIT and δTPPm. Optimizing the net additional revenue could result in an annual saving of 33.7 million US dollars for a 481 MW power plant. The Optimized cycle was 3.62 percentage points higher in efficiency than the most efficient commercially available H-system combined cycle when compared at the same value of TIT. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.