Investigation of the Performance of a Three Stage Combined Power Cycle for Electric Power Plants

Abstract A three stage combined power cycle with a Brayton cycle as the topping cycle, a Rankine cycle as the middling cycle and an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) as the bottoming cycle is proposed in the present investigation. A two-stage Gas Turbine Power Plant (GTPP) with inter-cooling, reheating and regeneration based on the Brayton cycle, a single-stage Steam Turbine Power Plant (STPP) based on the Rankine cycle, and a two-stage ORC power plant with reheating based on ORC with atmospheric air as the coolant is considered in the present study. This arrangement enables the proposed plant to utilize the waste heat to the maximum extent possible and convert it into electric power. As the plant can now operate at low sink temperatures depending on atmospheric air, the efficiency of the combined cycle power plant increases dramatically. Further, Steam Turbine Exhaust Pressure (STEP) is positive resulting in smaller size units and a lower installation cost. A simulation code is developed in MATLAB to investigate the performance of a three stage combined power cycle at different source and sink temperatures with varying pressure in heat recovery steam boiler and condenser-boiler. Performance results are plotted with Gas Turbine Inlet Temperature (GTIT) of 1200 to 1500 °C, Coolant Air Temperature (CAT) of −15 to +25 °C, and pressure ratio of GTPP as 6.25, 9.0 and 12.25 for different organic substances and NH3 as working fluids in the bottoming ORC. Simulation results show that the efficiency of the three stage combined power cycle will go up to 64 to 69% depending on the pressure ratio of GTPP, GTIT, and CAT. It is also observed that the variation in the efficiency of the three stage combined power cycle is small with respect to the type of working fluid used in the ORC. Among the organic working fluids R134a, R12, R22, and R123, R134a gives a higher combined cycle efficiency.