Potential of gas microturbines for integration in commercial laundries

Abstract

Cogeneration of electrical energy and heat has become a steadily growing and flourishing segment of energy industry. Application potential of microturbines moved from back-up sources for electrical energy and island operation systems, and expended as a combined source for electrical energy and heat in commercial facilities and residential premises. In this paper, we wish to present an analysis of gas microturbine integration in a commercial laundry. We opted for a professional laundry care since it is a common representative of a well-known process which requires a lot of energy input. We focus on commercial laundries with a capacity over 1000 kg of processed laundry per shift. This type of laundries is very common and has a large innovation potential. The gas microturbine was considered as a cogeneration unit as it has a process-adequate performance (30 kWe). Its flue gas helps heat main laundry input flows: hot water for the washing machines and hot flue gas for the dryers. Incorporation of a progressive technology with a common commercial process gives us a promising application potential for our work. Prices of commercial microturbines are still rather high and short payback period may be expected only if very specific conditions are met.