Repowering: An Option for Refurbishment of Old Thermal Power Plants in Latin-American Countries

Author(s):  
Washington Orlando Irrazabal Bohorquez ◽  
Joa˜o Roberto Barbosa ◽  
Luiz Augusto Horta Nogueira ◽  
Electo E. Silva Lora

The operational rules for the electricity markets in Latin America are changing at the same time that the electricity power plants are being subjected to stronger environmental restrictions, fierce competition and free market rules. This is forcing the conventional power plants owners to evaluate the operation of their power plants. Those thermal power plants were built between the 1960’s and the 1990’s. They are old and inefficient, therefore generating expensive electricity and polluting the environment. This study presents the repowering of thermal power plants based on the analysis of three basic concepts: the thermal configuration of the different technological solutions, the costs of the generated electricity and the environmental impact produced by the decrease of the pollutants generated during the electricity production. The case study for the present paper is an Ecuadorian 73 MWe power output steam power plant erected at the end of the 1970’s and has been operating continuously for over 30 years. Six repowering options are studied, focusing the increase of the installed capacity and thermal efficiency on the baseline case. Numerical simulations the seven thermal power plants are evaluated as follows: A. Modified Rankine cycle (73 MWe) with superheating and regeneration, one conventional boiler burning fuel oil and one old steam turbine. B. Fully-fired combined cycle (240 MWe) with two gas turbines burning natural gas, one recuperative boiler and one old steam turbine. C. Fully-fired combined cycle (235 MWe) with one gas turbine burning natural gas, one recuperative boiler and one old steam turbine. D. Fully-fired combined cycle (242 MWe) with one gas turbine burning natural gas, one recuperative boiler and one old steam turbine. The gas turbine has water injection in the combustion chamber. E. Fully-fired combined cycle (242 MWe) with one gas turbine burning natural gas, one recuperative boiler with supplementary burners and one old steam turbine. The gas turbine has steam injection in the combustion chamber. F. Hybrid combined cycle (235 MWe) with one gas turbine burning natural gas, one recuperative boiler with supplementary burners, one old steam boiler burning natural gas and one old steam turbine. G. Hybrid combined cycle (235 MWe) with one gas turbine burning diesel fuel, one recuperative boiler with supplementary burners, one old steam boiler burning fuel oil and one old steam turbine. All the repowering models show higher efficiency when compared with the Rankine cycle [2, 5]. The thermal cycle efficiency is improved from 28% to 50%. The generated electricity costs are reduced to about 50% when the old power plant is converted to a combined cycle one. When a Rankine cycle power plant burning fuel oil is modified to combined cycle burning natural gas, the CO2 specific emissions by kWh are reduced by about 40%. It is concluded that upgrading older thermal power plants is often a cost-effective method for increasing the power output, improving efficiency and reducing emissions [2, 7].

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  

The major growth in the electricity production industry in the last 30 years has centered on the expansion of natural gas power plants based on gas turbine cycles. The most popular extension of the simple Brayton gas turbine has been the combined cycle power plant with the Air-Brayton cycle serving as the topping cycle and the Steam-Rankine cycle serving as the bottoming cycle for new generation of nuclear power plants that are known as GEN-IV. The Air-Brayton cycle is an open-air cycle and the Steam-Rankine cycle is a closed cycle. The air-Brayton cycle for a natural gas driven power plant must be an open cycle, where the air is drawn in from the environment and exhausted with the products of combustion to the environment. This technique is suggested as an innovative approach to GEN-IV nuclear power plants in form and type of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). The hot exhaust from the AirBrayton cycle passes through a Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HSRG) prior to exhausting to the environment in a combined cycle. The HRSG serves the same purpose as a boiler for the conventional Steam-Rankine cycle [1].


Author(s):  
T. Mita ◽  
N. Ando ◽  
A. Kawauchi ◽  
K. Morikawa

A fully-fired combined cycle power plant (FFCCPP) combines a steam thermal power plant with a gas turbine. Hot exhaust gases fed from the gas turbine are used as combustion air for the boiler, thus increasing total plant output and efficiency. An unusually hot spell in Japan in the summer of 1990 brought about such a rapid surge in power demand for air conditioning so that all electric power companies registered record highs in consumption. This promoted Chubu Electric Power Co. to decide to add a 154-MW gas turbine to each of its six existing steam thermal power plants (four 700-MW and two 375-MW units), thus repowering their system into an FFCCPP. Construction work began in 1992. In September, 1994, two 700-MW steam thermal power plants (Chita Thermal Power Plant’s No. 6 unit and Chita Second Thermal Power Plant’s No. 1 unit) were modified into FFCCPPs, which then began operating in a trouble-free manner. This paper reports the characteristics and test-run results of the above two plants, which have been operating in good condition as the largest-capacity FFCCPPs in the world.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 01011
Author(s):  
Isworo Pujotomo

Gas has great potential to be converted into electrical energy. Indonesia has natural gas reserves up to 50 years in the future, but the optimization of the gas to be converted into electricity is low and unable to compete with coal. Gas is converted into electricity has low electrical efficiency (25%), and the raw materials are more expensive than coal. Steam from a lot of wasted gas turbine, thus the need for utilizing exhaust gas results from gas turbine units. Combined cycle technology (Gas and Steam Power Plant) be a solution to improve the efficiency of electricity. Among other Thermal Units, Steam Power Plant (Combined Cycle Power Plant) has a high electrical efficiency (45%). Weakness of the current Gas and Steam Power Plant peak burden still using fuel oil. Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Technology may be used to accommodate the gas with little land use. CNG gas stored in the circumstances of great pressure up to 250 bar, in contrast to gas directly converted into electricity in a power plant only 27 bar pressure. Stored in CNG gas used as a fuel to replace load bearing peak. Lawyer System on CNG conversion as well as the power plant is generally only used compressed gas with greater pressure and a bit of land.


Author(s):  
Toru Takahashi ◽  
Eiichi Koda ◽  
Yoshinobu Nakao

Recently, it is more necessary to maintain or improve the thermal efficiency of actual thermal power plants to reduce CO2 emission and energy consumption in the world, and it is also important to reduce the maintenance cost of commercial thermal power plants. Thus, it is crucial to investigate power plant performance deterioration factors and solve problems related to these factors promptly when the thermal efficiency decreases. However, it is difficult to understand the internal state of power plants sufficiently and to determine power plant performance deterioration factors only from operation data because actual thermal plants are composed of many components and are very complex systems. In particular, it is more difficult to understand performance deterioration in gas turbine combined cycle (GTCC) power plants than in steam power plants because the performance changes markedly in GTCC power plants depending on atmospheric conditions (temperature, pressure, humidity). In other words, when thermal efficiency changes, it is difficult to determine whether the cause is the change in external factors or that in the performance of the component. Therefore, we develop a method based on heat balance analysis to calculate the immeasurable quantity of state and the efficiency of each component in GTCC power plants, and to correct the performance of each component in a plant to a standard state using the performance function obtained from long-term operation data. Through the method, the analysis of the effects of deterioration factors on thermal efficiency becomes possible, and the performance of a plant can be simulated when the operation conditions are changed. Thus, we can determine the main factor that affects thermal efficiency using our method.


Akustika ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 133-137
Author(s):  
Vladimir Tupov ◽  
Vitaliy Skvortsov

The power equipment of thermal power plants is a source of noise to the surrounding area. One of the sources of noise for the surrounding area are gas distribution points (GDP) of thermal power plants (TPP) and district thermal power plants (RTS). Noise from gas distribution points may exceed sanitary standards at the border of the sanitary protection zone. The article shows that the radiated noise from gas distribution points depends on the power of the thermal power plant (natural gas consumption) and the type of valves. Three types of valves used in gas distribution points are considered. Formulas are obtained for calculating the width of the sanitary protection zone for gas distribution points for thermal stations, depending on the consumption of natural gas (electric power of the thermal power plant) and the type of valve. It is shown that, depending on the valve used, the noise level at the border of the sanitary protection zone can either meet sanitary standards or exceed them. This allows at the design stage to select the required type of valve or to determine mitigation measures from hydraulic fracturing.


Author(s):  
Stephan Heide ◽  
Christian Felsmann ◽  
Uwe Gampe ◽  
Sven Boje ◽  
Bernd Gericke ◽  
...  

Existing solar thermal power plants are based on steam turbine cycles. While their process temperature is limited, solar gas turbine (GT) systems provide the opportunity to utilize solar heat at a much higher temperature. Therefore there is potential to improve the efficiency of future solar thermal power plants. Solar based heat input to substitute fuel requires specific GT features. Currently the portfolio of available GTs with these features is restricted. Only small capacity research plants are in service or in planning. Process layout and technology studies for high solar share GT systems have been carried out and have already been reported by the authors. While these investigations are based on a commercial 10MW class GT, this paper addresses the parameterization of high solar share GT systems and is not restricted to any type of commercial GT. Three configurations of solar hybrid GT cycles are analyzed. Besides recuperated and simple GT with bottoming Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC), a conventional combined cycle is considered. The study addresses the GT parameterization. Therefore parametric process models are used for simulation. Maximum electrical efficiency and associated optimum compressor pressure ratio πC are derived at design conditions. The pressure losses of the additional solar components of solar hybrid GTs have a different adversely effect on the investigated systems. Further aspects like high ambient temperature, availability of water and influence of compressor pressure level on component design are discussed as well. The present study is part of the R&D project Hybrid High Solar Share Gas Turbine Systems (HYGATE) which is funded by the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature and Nuclear Safety and the Ministry of Economics and Technology.


Author(s):  
Vikram Muralidharan ◽  
Matthieu Vierling

Power generation in south Asia has witnessed a steep fall due to the shortage of natural gas supplies for power plants and poor water storage in reservoirs for low hydro power generation. Due to the current economic scenario, there is worldwide pressure to secure and make more gas and oil available to support global power needs. With constrained fuel sources and increasing environmental focus, the quest for higher efficiency would be imminent. Natural gas combined cycle plants operate at a very high efficiency, increasing the demand for gas. At the same time, countries may continue to look for alternate fuels such as coal and liquid fuels, including crude and residual oil, to increase energy stability and security. In over the past few decades, the technology for refining crude oil has gone through a significant transformation. With the advanced refining process, there are additional lighter distillates produced from crude that could significantly change the quality of residual oil used for producing heavy fuel. Using poor quality residual fuel in a gas turbine to generate power could have many challenges with regards to availability and efficiency of a gas turbine. The fuel needs to be treated prior to combustion and needs a frequent turbine cleaning to recover the lost performance due to fouling. This paper will discuss GE’s recently developed gas turbine features, including automatic water wash, smart cooldown and model based control (MBC) firing temperature control. These features could significantly increase availability and improve the average performance of heavy fuel oil (HFO). The duration of the gas turbine offline water wash sequence and the rate of output degradation due to fouling can be considerably reduced.


2011 ◽  
Vol 71-78 ◽  
pp. 1765-1768
Author(s):  
Hong Mei Zhu ◽  
Heng Sun ◽  
Tian Quan Pan

A theoretical study of the performance of a CCHP system using natural gas as fuel which consists of gas turbine-steam turbine combined cycle, absorption refrigeration unit and exhaust heat boiler under variable loads was carried out. Two methods to adjust the electric and cooling loads are employed here. One method is to increase the outlet pressure of the steam turbine in the Rankine cycle. Another way is to change the air coefficient of the gas turbine. The calculation results show that the first method can obtain higher energy efficient and is the preferred method. The second way can be employed in case that further more cooling is required.


2006 ◽  
Vol 129 (3) ◽  
pp. 637-647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mun Roy Yap ◽  
Ting Wang

Biomass can be converted to energy via direct combustion or thermochemical conversion to liquid or gas fuels. This study focuses on burning producer gases derived from gasifying biomass wastes to produce power. Since the producer gases are usually of low calorific values (LCV), power plant performance under various operating conditions has not yet been proven. In this study, system performance calculations are conducted for 5MWe power plants. The power plants considered include simple gas turbine systems, steam turbine systems, combined cycle systems, and steam injection gas turbine systems using the producer gas with low calorific values at approximately 30% and 15% of the natural gas heating value (on a mass basis). The LCV fuels are shown to impose high compressor back pressure and produce increased power output due to increased fuel flow. Turbine nozzle throat area is adjusted to accommodate additional fuel flows to allow the compressor to operate within safety margin. The best performance occurs when the designed pressure ratio is maintained by widening nozzle openings, even though the turbine inlet pressure is reduced under this adjustment. Power augmentations under four different ambient conditions are calculated by employing gas turbine inlet fog cooling. Comparison between inlet fog cooling and steam injection using the same amount of water mass flow indicates that steam injection is less effective than inlet fog cooling in augmenting power output. Maximizing steam injection, at the expense of supplying the steam to the steam turbine, significantly reduces both the efficiency and the output power of the combined cycle. This study indicates that the performance of gas turbine and combined cycle systems fueled by the LCV fuels could be very different from the familiar behavior of natural gas fired systems. Care must be taken if on-shelf gas turbines are modified to burn LCV fuels.


Author(s):  
Igor Pioro ◽  
Mohammed Mahdi ◽  
Roman Popov

SuperCritical Fluids (SCFs) have unique thermophyscial properties and heat-transfer characteristics, which make them very attractive for use in power industry. In this chapter, specifics of thermophysical properties and heat transfer of SCFs such as water, carbon dioxide and helium are considered and discussed. Also, particularities of heat transfer at SuperCritical Pressures (SCPs) are presented, and the most accurate heat-transfer correlations are listed. SuperCritical Water (SCW) is widely used as the working fluid in the SCP Rankine “steam”-turbine cycle in fossil-fuel thermal power plants. This increase in thermal efficiency is possible by application of high-temperature reactors and power cycles. Currently, six concepts of Generation-IV reactors are being developed, with coolant outlet temperatures of 500°C~1000°C. SCFs will be used as coolants (helium in GFRs and VHTRs; and SCW in SCWRs) and/or working fluids in power cycles (helium; mixture of nitrogen (80%) and helium [20%]; nitrogen, and carbon dioxide in Brayton gas-turbine cycles; and SCW “steam” in Rankine cycle).


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