Off - Design analysis of the Semi-Closed Gas Turbine Cycle (SCGT) with low CO2 emissions

The Semi Closed Gas Turbine Cycle (SCGT) was introduced as a short to medium term solution for applying existing CO2 removal techniques to current production gas turbine powerplants. Thus, one of the main goals is the adaptability to existing turmomachinery, with only minor changes to the equipment. In this manuscript, the off – design analysis of two previously proposed and thermodynamically assessed configurations was carried out: the first one is the combined cycle (SCGT/CC), related to an heavy duty gas turbine, whereas the second one is the recuperative – evaporative cycle (SCGT/RE). Both of them may be equipped with intercooled or, either, aftercooled compression, which is done with spray water injection. The analysis was carried out with special reference to the off design conditions of the compressor and to its coupling with turbine when the partial exhausts recirculation is applied to originally open cycle GTs. In the SCGT/CC configurations, the steam pressure levels are increased due to the increased GT exhausts temperature with respect to the open cycle. When no water injection is applied, the working point of the compressor due to the different gas composition and temperature are largely within the operating margins, thus the semi closed configuration may be applied even to compressors with reduced stall bounds and no large decays in compressor efficiency were found compared to the design operation. On the contrary, when water injection is applied, heavy variations of the compressor working point were found, which make the effects of exhausts recirculation comparatively marginal and leads to unavoidable compressor efficiency drop. It suggests that the application of water injection may be suitable only for the short peakload times, whereas current technology allows the shifting to SCGT.