Cascade utilization of chemical energy of natural gas in an improved CRGT cycle

In this paper three advanced power systems: the chemically recuperated gas turbine (CRGT) cycle, the steam injected gas turbine (STIG) cycle and the combined cycle (CC), are investigated and compared by means of exergy analysis. Making use of the energy level concept, cascaded use of the chemical exergy of natural gas in a CRGT cycle is clarified, and its performance of the utilization of chemical energy is evaluated. Based on this evaluation, a new CRGT cycle is designed to convert the exergy of natural gas more efficiently into electrical power. As a result, the exergy efficiency of the new CRGT cycle is about 55%, which is 8 percentage points higher than that of the reference CRGT cycle. The analysis gave a better interpretation of the inefficiencies of the CRGT cycle and suggested improvement options. This new approach can be used to design innovative energy systems.