Development of a photovoltaic reverse osmosis demineralization fogging for improved gas turbine generation output

Abstract

Gas turbines have achieved widespread popularity in industrial fields. This is due to the high power, reliability, high efficiency, and its use of cheap gas as fuel. However, a major draw-back of gas turbines is due to the strong function of ambient air temperature with its output power. With every degree rise in temperature, the power output drops between 0.54 and 0.9 percent. This loss in power poses a significant problem for utilities, power suppliers, and co-generations, especially during the hot seasons when electric power demand and ambient temperatures are high. One way to overcome this drop in output power is to cool the inlet air temperature. There are many different commercially available means to provide turbine inlet cooling. This disserta-tion reviews the various technologies of inlet air cooling with a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art of inlet fogging systems. In this technique, water vapour is being used for the cooling purposes. Therefore, the water quality requirements have been considered in this thesis. The fog water is generally demin-eralized through a process of Reverse Osmosis (RO). The drawback of fogging is that it re-quires large amounts of demineralized water. The challenge confronting operators using the fogging system in remote locations is the water scarcity or poor water quality availability. However, in isolated hot areas with high levels of radiation making use of solar PV energy to supply inlet cooling system power requirements is a sustainable approach. The proposed work herein is on the development of a photovoltaic (PV) application for driv-ing the fogging system. The design considered for improved generation of Acaica power plant in Cape Town, South Africa. In addition, this work intends to provide technical infor-mation and requirements of the fogging system design to achieve additional power output gains for the selected power plant.