Exergy analysis of a gas turbine power plant

Abstract

Exergy analysis of a 100MW gas turbine power plant that works on the
Brayton cycle is presented. The average increase in the thermodynamic
degradation of the plant over the period of six (6) years at three different
levels of load was assessed. The exergy analysis of the plant was done on
two sets of data: one from the start-up report at the commissioning of the
plant and the other from the log sheets for operation of the plant in the
period considered. The later set of data was processed using statistical tools. The result shows that at full load, 259.216 MW of exergy is lost on the average, and that exergy loss is most prevalent in the combustion chamber, followed by the exhaust system, and is lowest in the compressor. Both the rational and thermal efficiencies of the plant reduce in value over the period considered, but not significantly. The fuel consumption rate also increased on the average by 0.24%.

Keywords: Exergy analysis, gas turbine power plant, irreversibility.