Gas Turbine Hidden Capacity Recovery by Inlet Air Filter Variation Method to Produce Clean and Efficient Energy

Abstract

In the F-series gas turbine with the capacity of 250MW, as time goes by, the power produced will drop below its initial capacity, this refers as a hidden capacity. Hidden capacity occurs due to several causes, one of them is the decreased of compressor efficiency. This happens because the Inlet Air Filter (IAF) is unable to filter particles more than 10 µm, as a result particles infiltrate compressor which can prompt scaling on compressor blade. This paper will discuss an effort to recover the hidden capacity by varying air filtration system in the IAF. The variation of IAF use High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter and combination of pre-filters, consist of bag filter and coalescer, which can filtrate particles less than 10 µm and 1 µm. By implement this modification, compressor efficiency remains at 90.1%, compared to existing IAF, compressor efficiency drop to 85% and continuously. Because the compressor efficiency is maintained, power plant efficiency can also be maintained to avoid heat rate drop by 40 kCal/kWh. As a summary, after modifying the IAF, the F-Series Gas Turbine can produce more reliable power capacity, thus, the gas turbine can produce maximum load efficiently and hidden capacity can be recovered.