Combustion Turbine

Overview
Operations
Heat Recovery
Efficiency
Environmental
Manufacturers

1. Air Intake Section

2. Compression Section
3. Combustion Section
4. Turbine Section
5. Exhaust Section
6. Exhaust Diffuser
Source: Siemens web site, 8/01

Overview
For an Overview of the Combustion Turbine, see Combustion Turbine

Operations
A gas turbine has a
compressor to draw in and
compress air; a combustor (or
burner) to add fuel to heat the
compressed air; and a turbine
to extract power from the hot air
flow. The gas turbine is an
internal combustion (IC) engine employing a continuous combustion process.

This differs from the intermittent combustion occurring in diesel and automotive
IC engines. About 2/3rds of the shaft power produced by the turbine is used to
run the compressor, leaving about 1/3rd available to turn a genset to produce
electrical power.
Gas Turbine Cycles
A cycle describes what
happens to air as it passes into,
through, and out of the gas
turbine. The cycle usually
describes the relationship
between the space occupied by
the air in the system (called
volume, V) and the pressure
(P) it is under. The Brayton
cycle (1876), shown in graphic
form as a pressure-volume
diagram, is a representation of
the properties of a fixed amount
of air as it passes through a
gas turbine in operation. These same points are also shown in the engine
schematic above.
Air is compressed from point 1 to point 2. This increases the pressure as the
volume of space occupied by the air is reduced.
The air is then heated at constant pressure from 2 to 3. This heat is added by
injecting fuel into the combustor and igniting it on a continuous basis.
The hot compressed air at point 3 is then allowed to expand (from point 3 to 4)
reducing the pressure and temperature and increasing its volume. In the engine,
this represents flow through the turbine to point 3' and then flow through the
power turbine to point 4 to turn a shaft or a ships propeller. The Brayton cycle is
completed by a process in which the volume of the air is decreased (temperature
decrease) as heat is absorbed into the atmosphere.
A gas turbine that is configured and operated to closely follow the Brayton cycle
is called a simple cycle gas turbine. Most aircraft gas turbines operate in a simple
configuration since attention must be paid to engine weight and frontal area.
However, in land or marine applications, additional equipment can be added to
the simple cycle gas turbine, leading to increases in efficiency and/or the output
of a unit. Three such modifications are regeneration, intercooling and reheating.

Regeneration involves the

installation of a heat exchanger
(recuperator) through which
the turbine exhaust gases pass.
The compressed air is then
heated in the exhaust gas heat
exchanger, before the flow
enters the combustor.

If the regenerator is well

designed (i.e., the heat
exchanger effectiveness is high
and the pressure drops are
small) the efficiency will be
increased over the simple cycle
value. However, the relatively
high cost of such a regenerator
must also be taken into
account. Regenerators are
being used in the gas turbine
engines of the M1 Abrams main
battle tank of Desert Storm
fame, and in experimental gas
turbine automobiles. Regenerated gas turbines increase efficiency 5-6% and are
even more effective in improved part-load applications.

Intercooling also involves the use of a heat exchanger. An intercooler is a heat

exchanger that cools compressor gas during the compression process. For
instance, if the compressor consists of a high and a low pressure unit, the
intercooler could be mounted between them to cool the flow and decrease the
work necessary for compression in the high pressure compressor. The cooling
fluid could be atmospheric air or water (e.g., sea water in the case of a marine
gas turbine). It can be shown that the output of a gas turbine is increased with a
well-designed intercooler.

Reheating occurs in the turbine and is a way to increase turbine work without
changing compressor work or melting the materials from which the turbine is
constructed. If a gas turbine has a high pressure and a low pressure turbine at
the back end of the machine, a reheater (usually another combustor) can be
used to "reheat" the flow between the two turbines. This can increase efficiency

by 1-3%. Reheat in a jet engine is

accomplished by adding an
afterburner at the turbine exhaust,
thereby increasing thrust, at the
expense of a greatly increased fuel
consumption rate.
Source: Text and graphics in this section
has been extracted from the International
Gas Turbine Institute web site 5/02. For
more information about IGTI see
www.asme.org/igti/index.html

Heat Recovery
Combustion turbines generate a large volume of very hot air. The exhaust is also
high in oxygen content as compared to other combustion exhaust streams, as
only a small amount of oxygen is required by the combustor relative the total
volume available.
Depending on how much thermal energy is required for the application, the
turbine exhaust may be supplemented by a duct burner.
A duct burner is a direct fired gas burner located in the turbine exhaust stream.
It has a very high efficiency due to the high inlet air temperature, and is used to
boost the total available thermal energy. The turbine exhaust boosted by the duct

burner is directed into the waste heat boiler, called the Heat Recovery Steam
Generator, or HRSG commonly pronounced as 'HerSig'.
Turbine exhaust can also be ducted directly into hot air processes, such as kilns
and material drying systems. This is the least costly first cost, as there is no
boiler or steam system to purchase. Turbine exhaust can also be ducted directly
into absorption chillers for large cooling loads.
The system will also include a diverter for times when waste heat is not needed.
The diverter vents the turbine exhaust to atmosphere; this substantially reduces
the system efficiency, as only the electric energy is being used. Single or Simple
Cycle electric plants (typical of peaker plants) dump all of their turbine exhaust,
as they have no thermal requirements. These plants generally use turbines with
recuperators to maximize their electrical efficiency.
The higher the electrical efficiency of the turbine, the lower the available thermal
energy in the exhaust. Newer turbines with recuperators, and larger sized
turbines, tend to have higher efficiencies.
For more information about the application of Heat Recovery, see the
Applications Guide , Industrial Market Section.

Efficiency
Turbine efficiency and total capacity is highly variable with the inlet air
temperature (ambient air temperature if no inlet air cooling is utilized) and local
altitude/atmospheric conditions. In a northern climate, turbine capacity can
fluctuate as must as 20% from summer (the lowest) to winter (the highest output
time), due to cold, denser air.
Single or Simple Cycle turbines have an efficiency of 25% (smaller,
unrecuperated) to 40% (larger units with recuperators), when comparing fuel
energy in, to electric energy out. The standard measurement is called the Heat
Rate, or the BTUs input to make 1 kWh of electric output.
To estimate efficiency based on the Heat Rate, use the formula:
BTUs/kWh (Absolute) / BTUs/kWh (Turbine) = 3,413/ Heat Rate
Typical Heat Rates are in the 11,000 BTU range, so typical efficiency would be
3,413/11,000 = 31% electrical efficiency.
To estimate total efficiency, add in the BTUs recoverable in the exhaust stream at
the temperature and flow conditions of the application. Typical combined thermal
and electric efficiency of combustion turbine plants is in the 60% range; higher if

lower temperature thermal energy can be used, such as direct ducting of exhaust
into a process. A duct burner can increase over-all system efficiency, as they
operate at near 100% efficiency due to the high temperature of their inlet air
supply.
For specific turbine performance data, see the manufacturer's web sites for their
product brochures, and see the selected PDF files attached to this program,
located in the Manufacturer's section below.

Source: Graphics Solar web site 5/02

Environmental
The primary emission concern of natural gas fired turbines is NOx, and in some
cases CO and CO2. Because turbine combustors operate at a very high
temperature, uncontrolled turbines produce high levels of NOx. A variety of
controls have been developed in an attempt to lower NOx to the 9 ppm required
by the strictest regulations.
The most common control methods for NOx is water injection to reduce
combustion temperature, and Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) an after-

treatment to remove NOx. Another system developed by Catalytica and

Kawasaki is called Xonon, which is a unique combustor that operates below the
NOx formation temperature. Xonon is currently offered as an option on certain
Kawasaki and other small industrial power turbines.
For more information about combustion turbine emissions, see Environmental
Overview

A gas turbine cycle consists of (1) compression of a gas (typically air), (2) addition of
heat energy into the compressed gas by either directly firing or combusting the fuel in
the compressed air or transferring the heat through a heat exchanger into the
compressed gas followed by (3) expansion of the hot pressurized gases in a turbine to
produce useful work. The work required by the compression is supplied by the turbine
with the remaining being available for useful work. Typically, the work required by the
compressor is as much as half of the power developed by the turbine. Clean fuels such as
natural gas, distillate derived from the refining of petroleum and gas derived from
gasification may be used for direct firing in the gas turbine. In some instances heavy oils
derived from petroleum that are a lot "dirtier" because of their metal and sulfur content
are also fired directly in the gas turbine. To minimize the adverse effects of the metals
and sulfur, the gas turbine is operated at lower turbine inlet temperatures resulting in
reduced output and efficiency. Dirty fuels may also be used with the gas turbine by
combusting the fuel externally and transferring the heat into the pressurized working fluid
of the gas turbine.
The useful work developed by the turbine may be used directly as mechanical energy or
may be converted into electricity by turning a generator. An aircraft jet engine is a gas
turbine except that the useful work is produced as thrust from the exhaust of the turbine.
Land based gas turbines are of two types: (1) heavy frame engines and (2)
aeroderivative engines. Heavy frame engines are characterized by lower compression
ratios (typically below 15) and tend to be physically large whereas the aeroderivative
engines as implied by the name are derived from jet engines operate at very high
compression ratios (typically in excess of 30) and tend to be very compact.
Air from the compressor is used for cooling the turbine in order to maintain the metal
temperatures within their design limits of 1500 to 1700 deg F or 820 to 930 deg C
depending on the alloys utilized, while the gas flowing through the turbine may be as
high as 2500 deg F or 1370 deg C. The requirement for cooling the turbine limits the
ultimate thermal efficiency of the gas turbine and technologies are being developed in the
areas of materials including ceramics and enhanced cooling effectiveness in order to
minimize the cooling air requirement. With more advanced materials and cooling
technologies, increases in turbine inlet temperature are possible in order to increase the
thermal efficiency of the cycle.

The optimum compression ratio from a thermal efficiency standpoint increases as the
turbine inlet temperature is increased. Some advanced heavy frame gas turbines with
high turbine inlet temperatures, to be introduced in the near future, will have
compression ratios as high as 25.
Other approaches to increasing the efficiency are to incorporate reheating during the
expansion step of the cycle, intercooling the compressor while recovering the intercooler
heat for humidifcation of the compressed air and preheating the humid air in the turbine
exhaust before admitting it into the combustor (HAT Cycle).
The principal pollutants associated with gas turbines are oxides of nitrogen (NOx).
Control strategies for NOx include water or steam injection and premixed burners as well
as the post combustion control by installing a catalytic reduction unit which consists of
reacting the NO with injected ammonia in the presence of a catalyst. Control strategies
incorporated within the combustion process often result in reduced combustion efficiency
and thus increased emissions of carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons. In order
to increase the efficiency while reducing the pollutants formed within the combustor,
computer based models and laser diagnostic techniques are being applied.
Within a typically can combustor of a gas turbine, swirling action imparted to the
incoming air imparts a centrifugal force and creates a low pressure in a region of the
primary zone causing recirculation of the hot combustion products to the primary
combustion zone which imparts stability to the combustion process (the hot combustion
products contain free radicals which serve to initiate the combustion much like a spark
plug in an auto-engine). The CO oxidizes to CO2 in the secondary zone where additional
air is added. The hydrocarbons in the fuel form CO in the "dome" which is the region
around which the circulation occurs in the primary zone and mixing. Pollutants are also
produced in the dome. Fuel rich conditions maintained in the dome minimize NOx
pollutant formation, however, this results in loss of stability of the combustion process,
especially considering different modes of operation including startup, idling and full load.
Variable geometry combustors under development may solve some of these problems.
The exhaust heat from a land based gas turbine may be recovered to generate steam to
produce additional electric power in a steam turbine resulting in a combined cycle or to
provide process or district heating resulting in a cogeneration plant. With current state of
the art gas turbine technology (in 1997), combined cycles with efficiencies in the
neighborhood of 55% on a fuel LHV basis can be achieved and are projected to increase
to 60% within next couple of years.
When gas turbines were first applied in the electric power generation industry some 20
years ago, the majority of the power generated by the gas turbines was for peaking load
service. Since then however, with increases in efficiency and reliability, the gas turbine is
being utilized more and more in base load generation.
H R Simmons SwRI 41
Gas Turbine
Technology Center
Southwest Research Institute