Does humidification improve the micro Gas Turbine cycle? Thermodynamic assessment based on Sankey and Grassmann diagrams

Abstract

Despite appearing as a promising technology for decentralised Combined Heat and Power (CHP), the rather low electrical efficiency of micro Gas Turbines (mGTs) prevents them from being attractive for users with a variable heat demand. Hot water injection in mGTs, achieved by transforming the cycle into a micro Humid Air Turbine (mHAT), allows increasing the electrical efficiency of these units in moments of low heat demand—therefore decoupling heat and electricity production. This paper introduces and compares the Sankey (enthalpy flow) and Grassmann (exergy flow) diagrams of an mGT based on the Turbec T100 and the corresponding mHAT cycle. Results show that the electrical efficiency of the T100 increases by 1.4% absolute points with water injection, while the total exergy efficiency decreases by 5.1%. Although in the saturation tower there is an enthalpy gain, exergy actually decreases in this component due to the increase in entropy related to the evaporation of water. The benefits of water injection mostly rely on the increased heat capacity of the air-vapour mixture, the lower fuel consumption, the larger amount of heat recovered in the recuperator and the reduced power required in the compressor.