Microturbine Design Point Evaluation and Optimization Considering Pollutant Emissions and Thermoeconomic Approach

Abstract

Nowadays the environmental and economic aspects emerge as essential alternatives in the design phase of microturbines. In design point definition for micro gas turbine cycles, not only engine performance requirements are necessary to have competitive microturbines but also external requirements, as cost and environmental issues must be in agreement simultaneously. To support engineers in defining the engine design point considering thermodynamic, economic, and environmental aspects, a gas turbine code was developed. The code uses a methodology that includes the sum of microturbine costs as power plant, fuel, and environmental emissions. The developed computer program was written in MATLAB® and is able to simulate the economic and thermodynamic performance of a given micro gas turbine cycle through an optimization process using genetic algorithm. The code is capable of calculating the suitable design point for a specific application. In this work, a 200 kW micro gas turbine recuperated cycle was chosen to study. As initial analysis, a parametric study was made to investigate the behavior of the main decision variables, considering costs and emissions. Afterward, single-objective and multiobjective optimizations were carried out using the objective function according to the proposed methodology. In sequence, a comparison was presented between the design point of a reference available microturbine and the same optimized by the code. The results reveal the importance of the cost optimization, showing how much savings can be achieved in choosing an appropriate design point for microturbines using the methodology implemented in the present work.

Characterisation of micro turbine generator as a range extender using an automotive drive cycle for series hybrid electric vehicle application

“…The compressed air flows into a heat exchanger (recuperator) and increases the temperature of compressed air. Kolanowski [19] and Cavalca et al [20] explain that the use of a recuperator can increase the performance efficiency by 10-15%. The compressed air enters a combustion chamber, where a fuel is injected continuously and the mixture ignited.…”