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Lecture 11

Lecture 11: Combined Cycle,

with Heat Recovery
Combined Heat and Power
When combustion engines are used only for generating electricity, most of
the usable energy from fuel combustion is lost in the form of heat resulting
in systems that are only 20 - 30% efficient. Generating systems can be made
greater than 70% efficient by recovering and using waste heat from the
combustion process this strategy is more commonly known as
"Cogeneration" or "Combined Heat and Power."
Cogeneration, as discussed in previous lectures, where vapor power system
used for district heating (or cooling). The present applications build on
recognizing that the exhaust gas temperature of a simple gas turbine is
typically well above ambient temperature and thus hot gas exiting the
turbine has significant thermodynamic utility that might be harnessed
economically.

Combined Cycle, General

Combined cycle power generation combines two cycles for operation, namely
the gas turbine cycle (Brayton Cycle) and the vapor power (or Rankine) cycle.
In a gas turbine power plant, natural gas and compressed air undergo
combustion. The resultant high pressure gas drives the gas turbine which in
turn produces electricity. Although it is clean and fast in starting up, the gas
turbine power plant suffers from low thermo efficiency of about 25 to 30%.
Much of the energy is wasted in the form of gas turbine exhaust.

Figure 11.1: P-v, T s and Schematic of Air Standard Brayton Cycle

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The hot exhaust gas from the gas turbine, instead of being released as waste,
is captured and channeled to the steam turbine where steam is heated by the
exhaust to drive the turbine. The combined cycle power generation makes
use of the merits of the high temperature (1100 to 1650C) gas turbine cycle
and the lower temperature (540 to 650C) steam turbine cycle.

Combined Cycle with Heat Recovery Boiler

In the gas turbine plant, atmospheric
air enters through the compressor
and
into
the
combustor
(or
combustion chamber) where fuel
(usually natural gas) is added.
Combustion takes place and the hot
gas drives the turbine, which in turn
drives the generator and produces
electricity.
The gas turbine is usually operated
with
a
high
air-fuel
ratio,
approximately
400
percent
theoretical air, to make sufficient air
available in the gas-turbine exhaust
for further combustion.
The hot flue gas from the gas turbine
enters a heat exchanger, sometimes
known as heat recovery boiler or heat recovery steam generator, where it is
used to heat up the steam. The superheated steam is then used to drive the
steam turbine which in turn drives the generator to produce electricity. The
exit steam from the steam turbine
goes through a condenser and then
Figure 11.2: Combined gas turbinevapor power plant.
back to the heat exchanger where
the cycle repeats itself.
In large combined-cycle plants used foe base-load operation, where efficiency
is of prime importance, separate supplementary firing equipment is
interposed between the gas turbine and the heat recovery boiler. The steamturbine output is usually greater than the gas-turbine output by 8:1. The
steam cycle is therefore designed for high efficiency with reheat and a full
complement of feedwater heaters. A forced draft fan may be installed ahead
of the supplementary firing to operate the steam cycle on its own when the
gas turbine is off.
Variations of the cycle shown in Figure 11.2 are used to extract the maximum
amount of energy from the gas leaving the heat-recovery boiler before
exhausting it to the stack. Depending upon the temperature of that gas, it

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Lecture 11

may be used for (1) partial heating (regeneration) of the compressed air
leaving the compressor, (2) feedwater heating of the steam cycle in a closedtype feedwater heating, or (3) generating steam in a dual or multi-pressure
steam cycle.
There are various types of combined cycle power generation, the most
important of which comprise;
1.
2.
3.
4.

Combined
Combined
Combined
Combined

cycle
cycle
cycle
cycle

with supplementary firing,

with regeneration and/or feedwater heating,
with multi-pressure steam cycle,
for nuclear power plants.

Efficiency
The combined cycle has the gas turbines high average temperature of heat
addition and the vapor cycles low average temperature of heat rejection, and
thus a thermal efficiency greater than either cycle would have individually.
For many applications combined cycles are a good choice, and they are
increasingly being used worldwide for electric power generation.
With reference to Fig. 11.2, the thermal efficiency of the combined cycle is

W gas+ W vap
Q

where

W gas

is the net power developed by the gas turbine and

W vap

is

the net power developed by the vapor cycle.

denotes the total rate of

Q
heat transfer to the combined cycle, including additional heat transfer, if any,
to superheat the vapor entering the vapor turbine. The evaluation of the
quantities appearing in above equation follows the procedures described in
the sections on vapor cycles and gas turbines.
The relation for the energy transferred from the gas cycle to the vapor cycle
for the system of Fig. 11.2 is obtained by applying the mass and energy rate
balances to a control volume enclosing the heat-recovery steam generator.
For steady-state operation, negligible heat transfer with the surroundings,
and no significant changes in kinetic and potential energy, the result is

m v ( h7h 6 )=m g ( h4h5 )

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Lecture 11
where

m g

and

respectively.

m v

are the mass flow rates of the gas and vapor,

As witnessed by relations such as above equations, combined cycle

performance can be analyzed using mass and energy balances.
Because gas turbines are not yet built in sizes as large as steam turbines,
combined cycles are often built in combinations of more than one gas turbine
plus one steam turbine. Such combinations show certain advantages, not
only in higher total plant output but also in higher availability, flexibility in
service, and part-load efficiency.

Advantages
A combined cycle power generation system offers many advantages.
As most combined cycle generation systems use natural gas as the fuel, the
environmental emissions are low. There is less pollution produced compared
to conventional steam or gas turbine power plants. As such, complex and
expensive environmental control systems are not needed. Transportation of
fuel via pipelines is also easier than that of coal and oil.
The gas turbine portion of the combined cycle system is easy to install. This
means a short schedule of about 1 year from order to operation while the
steam turbine portion can operate within another year. This can provide the
grid with power earlier than with other systems.
The combined cycle power generation system also offers quick part-load
starting. For example, the GE Model-7000 gas turbine is able to produce
maximum output of 198MW within 30 minutes while the steam turbine
portion takes about an hour to operate from a cold start. It can operate over a
wide range of loads and is suitable for meeting peak power requirement and
also base load. Supplementary firing can be used to increase steam turbine
output in times of increased output demand. On the other hand, the gas
turbine can be stopped when there is a decrease in demand.
It is also cheaper to build a combined cycle power plant than coal, nuclear or
renewable energy power plant. Its capital cost is lower than that of steam
turbine plant.

Disadvantages
The combined
disadvantages.

cycle

power

generation

system

is

not

without

its

As natural gas is the fuel used, its higher cost compared to coal and oil will
result in higher operating cost. The system is also less flexible with regards to

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the types of fuel to be used, thus this limit in resources means the supply of
fuel is critical to the plant's operation.
Also, the combined cycle power generation system is a combination of two
technologies, the complexity will result in higher maintenance cost and also it
will require highly skilled and better trained operating staffs.
The capital cost of a combined cycle power generation plant is higher than
that of gas turbine plant.

Future
There are many power generation systems available in the world. Although
nuclear power plants are clean and efficient, they are expensive and
complex. They are also less easily accepted by the population due to the
experience of the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl incidents. On the other
hand, combined cycle power plants offer flexibility in terms of size and
outputs, and are faster to build than nuclear power plants. The ability to
increase and decrease output on demand gives combined cycle power plants
an upper hand in the competitive power markets.
The Earth's supply of natural gas has been estimated to last 70-100 years,
and as long as natural gas price remains low, combined cycle power
generation will have the competitive edge against other forms of generation.
Also, with advancement in technology, the capital cost of combined cycle
generation has dropped from US$600/kW in 1990 to less than US$350/kW
today.
Studies in the United Kingdom have also predicted that by 2050, 40 - 50% of
UK's power supply will be dominated by combined cycle power plants.
From these, with continual improvement to the system, we can see that
combined cycle power generation will become the mainstay in the power
industry for at least the next few decades.