Design issues and performance of a chemically recuperated aeroderivative gas turbine

A number of innovative gas turbine cycles have been proposed lately, includ ing the humid air turbine (HAT) and the chemically recuperated gas turbine (CRGT). The potential of the CRGT cycle lies in the ability to generate pow er with a high efficiency and ultra-low NOx emissions. Much of the research work published on the CRGT cycle is restricted to an analysis of the therm odynamic potential of the cycle. However, little work has been devoted to d iscussion of some of the relevant design and operation issues of such cycle s. In this paper, part-load performance characteristics are presented for a CRGT cycle based on an aeroderivative gas turbine engine adapted for chemi cal recuperation. The paper also includes discussion of some of the design issues for the methane-steam reformer component of the cycle. The results o f this study show that large heat exchange surface areas and catalyst volum es are necessary to ensure sufficient methane conversion in the methane ste am reformer section of the cycle. The paper also shows that a chemically re cuperated aeroderivative gas turbine has similar part-load performance char acteristics compared with the corresponding steam-injected gas turbine (STI G) cycle.