Power Enhancement of Gas Turbine Plant by Intake Air Fog Cooling

Abstract - Performance of gas turbine significantly depends upon the ambient air temperature and mass flow rate. During summer season the density of the air decreases which affects the mass flow rate and ultimately the power output of a gas turbine is reduced. In order to overcome this situation several techniques are already in the practice and one of the most effective and economical is adopting the inlet fog cooling which basically enhances the power output of the machine. The cooling of ambient air by fog cooling up to wet bulb temperature increases the mass flow rate on account of increase in air density, as a result it ultimately increases the power output of a gas turbine. Fogging is applied with consideration of relative humidity of ambient air not only during summer season but also during dry days of summer season in order to increase the power output of gas turbine. This paper describes the effect on percentage enhancement of power output adopting various fuel options with low and high humidity ambient conditions. The results indicate the potential increase in the power output up to 14%. It is also observed that the total cost of power production increases due to increase in fuel consumption on account of enhanced power output. Thus, the optimum operating parameters are required for taking advantage of power augmentation ensuring that it does not lead to excessive increase in fuel cost.