The Air Injection Power Augmentation Technology Provides Additional Significant Operational Benefits
The Air Injection (AI) Power Augmentation technology (HAI for humid Air injection and DAI for dry air injection) has primary benefits of increasing power of combustion turbine/combined cycle (CT/CC) power plants by 15–30% at a fraction of the new plant cost with coincidental significant heat rate reductions (10–15%) and NOx emissions reductions (for diffusion type combustors up to 60%) (See References 1, 2, 3): Figure 1A is a simplified heat and mass balance for the PG7241 (FA) combustion turbine with HAI. The auxiliary compressor supplies the additional airflow that is mixed with the steam produced by the HRSG and injected upstream of combustors. Figure 1B presents the heat and mass balance for the PG7142 CT based combined cycle power plant with HAI. It is similar to that presented on Figure 1A except that the humid air is created by mixing of steam, extracted from the steam turbine, with the supplementary airflow from the auxiliary compressor. The maximum acceptable injection rates are evaluated with proper margins by a number of factors established by OEMs: the compressor surge limitations, maximum torque, the generator capacities, maximum moisture levels upstream of combustors, etc.