Performance analysis of a CCGT power plant integrated to a LNG regasification process

This paper examines the performance of a combined cycle gas turbine plant (CCGT) when integrated to the cold energy released during the regasification process of liquefied natural gas (LNG). A growing number of LNG import terminals supply regasified natural gas for power generation, with an adjacent CCGT plant providing an anchor market for the facility itself. Two integration alternatives with mutual energetic gains are proposed and simulated, and compared to a reference case without any use of the LNG cold potential. The first alternative consists on exchanging heat among LNG and the Brayton cycle air intake. The second alternative adds to the first one a novel recovery opportunity by exchanging heat with the Rankine cycle condenser. On both cases, heat from the CCGT is rejected to a lower temperature level than the one of the regular dead state. From the regasification side, the process is performed without any help of extra external energy. Both integration alternatives led to an electrical efficiency enhancement when comparing to the non-integrated cycle: 6.32% and 9.09%, respectively. The energy return on investment (EROI) of each alternative was also analyzed and gains of 12.92% and 18.57% are predicted by upon the simulation data.