Indirect evaporative combined inlet air cooling with gas turbines for green power technology

•Novel Inlet Air Cooling (IACS) System for gas turbine is presented (IECS).•Different weather conditions were considered.•Performance including power, efficiency, condensed water and SFC are evaluated.•Thermo-economic analysis for payback period is carried out.

Different inlet air cooling systems are usually used with gas turbines. A new form of inlet air cooling called the indirect evaporative cooling system (IECS) has been investigated in this work. This system is a combination of a humidifier with a vapor compression or absorption cooling system for part of the total air i.e. the secondary air stream. The net power produced from the gas turbine on a hot day (45 °C) by using combined (IECS) with absorption chillers showed an increase in power and efficiency by 15% and 9%, respectively; its recovery period is suitable for all environmental conditions. For IECS combined with vapor compression mechanical chillers showed an increase in power and efficiency by about 7.81% and 2.24%, respectively, but its recovery period made it suitable only for hot and humid conditions. The IECS has lower chiller's capital cost by about 25% (mechanical chiller) and 40% (absorption chiller).