Impact of the use of a hybrid turbine inlet air cooling system in arid climates

Cooling the air entering the compressor section of a gas turbine is a proven method of increasing turbine power output, especially during peak summer demand, and it is increasingly being used in powerplants worldwide. Two turbine inlet air cooling (TIAC) systems are widely used: evaporative cooling and mechanical chilling. In this work, the prospects of using a hybrid turbine inlet air cooling (TIAC) system are investigated. The hybrid system consists of mechanical chilling followed by evaporative cooling. Such a system is capable of achieving a significant reduction in inlet air temperature that satisfies desired power output levels, while consuming less power than conventional mechanical chilling and less water than conventional evaporative cooling, thus combining the benefits of both approaches. Two hybrid system configurations are studied. In the first configuration, the first stage of the system uses water-cooled chillers that are coupled with dry coolers such that the condenser cooling water remains in a closed loop. In the second configuration, the first stage of the system uses water-cooled chillers but with conventional cooling towers. An assessment of the performance and economics of those two configurations is made by comparing them to conventional mechanical chilling and using realistic data. It was found that the TIAC systems are capable of boosting the power output of the gas turbine by 10% or more (of the power output of the ISO conditions). The cost operation analysis shows clearly the hybrid TIAC method with wet cooling has the advantage over the other methods and It would be profitable to install it in the new gas turbine power plants. The figure below shows a comparison of the water consumption for the three different cases.