Criteria for integration of combined cycle cogeneration systems in the process industries

Abstract

Cogeneration systems often provide a very effective means of integrating power generation with the provision of thermal energy to an industrial process. Various types of power generating machines can be used, but combined cycle cogeneration systems can offer significant advantages over other technologies in many medium and large scale applications. The systems that are used consist of fired prime movers (usually gas turbines), discharging their exhaust heat into heat recovery steam generators. The steam raised in this way is passed through back-pressure steam turbines to extract additional power before finally delivering its residual heat content to process heating duties. This paper presents an overview of the economic trade-offs in the design of single cycle and combined cycle systems. Generalizations are derived from this investigation, leading to the identification of three distinct classes of problem for which different types of cogeneration systems (combined cycle or single cycle) are appropriate. Case study results are presented to illustrate the principles employed.