Design and off-design performance analysis of supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycles for gas turbine waste heat recovery

Abstract

The utilization of waste heat from marine gas turbines is an effective means of meeting future electric demands and achieving energy conservation and emission reduction. Meanwhile, the supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle, benefiting from its compact structure, is well-suited for power generation in limited spaces. Based on the reality that gas temperature and flow rate deviate from the design point with the variation of gas turbine operating conditions, this paper proposes a method for analyzing the off-design performance of supercritical CO2 cycles based on thermal source fluctuations rather than simply providing prescribed temperatures on the cycle side. This method allows for a clear understanding of the impact on the cycle when there are fluctuations in the thermal source. Firstly, the thermodynamic performance and economic viability of four types of supercritical CO2 cycles, namely simple regenerative, recompression, intercooling, and reheat, were optimized using a multi-objective genetic optimization algorithm. Subsequently, the off-design performance of these four cycles was investigated when the gas temperature and flow rate deviate from the design point. The results indicate that, compared to the decrease in gas temperature, the reduction in gas flow rate has a greater impact on the decline in cycle performance. Decreasing gas temperature enhances the exergy efficiency of all four cycles, while reducing gas flow rate initially increases and then decreases the exergy efficiency. The decrease in turbomachinery efficiency significantly contributes to the decline in cycle performance. When the gas flow rate exceeds 55% of the design value, it is recommended to adopt an intercooling cycle arrangement. Otherwise, a recompression cycle layout should be used.