Study of a modern industrial low pressure turbine for electricity production employed in oxy-combustion cycles with CO2 capture purposes

• A modern industrial low-pressure turbine, part of a common gas turbine, was studied.
• The purpose is to compare its working using a normal fluid and an oxy-combustion one.
• The study was performed using CFD codes employed in the turbomachinery industry.
• Important changes in power, Smith diagram, efficiency and others were found.
• Last stages' power contribution increased and leading edge angle's behavior changed.

The implementation of the Kyoto Protocol in 2005 and similar international agreements has placed greater demands related to the control of carbon dioxide emissions on the governments of signatory countries. This article shows a detailed comparison of the same modern industrial low-pressure turbine. This low-pressure turbine, LPT (low pressure turbine), is part of a modern gas turbine used currently for electricity production. The comparison is focused on the LPT's phenomenology working with the fluid present in normal conditions and with the new fluid present in semi-closed cycles with oxy-combustion for CO2 capture. The study used CFD (computational fluid dynamic) methods for this purpose, among them 3D multirow CFDs.