On the Utilization of Hydrogen as a Fuel for Gas Turbine : 1st Report, On the Utilization of Low Temperature Exergy of Liquid Hydrogen

Abstract

In order to utilize the low temperature exergy of the liquid hydrogen, the characteristic of a gas turbine cycle employing a precooler and an auxiliary hydrogen turbine is discussed. The thermal efficiency and specific output of this cycle are superior to those of the simple cycle gas turbine which has the same components' efficiencies. The low temperature exergy is converted to work by decreasing the compressor input and hydrogen turbine output addeed. The merit of improvements in specific output of this cycle is about 20 percent of that of the simple cycle. The pressure loss coefficient of the precooler is very critical to the merit of improvements of the thermal efficiency. The critical value is about 5 percent. The thermal efficiency and the specific output are increased with an increasing ambient temperature, thus the performance degradation of the simple cycle gas turbine at high ambient temperature can be improved by introducing a precooling system.