Microturbines: Applications for Distributed Energy Systems

301 Pages·2007·2.49 MB·English

by  Claire Soares

Microturbines
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Microturbines
Written and Edited by
Claire Soares, P.E.
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Contents
Preface ix
Author’s Notes xii
Introduction and Background Glossary xiii
Glossary xiii
Battery, Electric xiv
Fuel Cell xvi
Gas Turbine xxiii
Microturbines xxvii
Abbreviations and Acronyms xxix
PART 1: BASIC MICROTURBINES
Chapter 1 Distributed Generation and Microturbines 3
Chapter 2 Design and Components of Microturbines 9
Thermodynamic Heat Cycle 10
Microturbine Package 10
Recuperators 12
Bearings 16
Generator 17
Inlet Air Cooling 17
Firing (Turbine Inlet) Temperature 18
Fuel Gas Compressors 18
Combined Heat and Power Operation 18
Chapter 3 Microturbine Application and Performance 21
Power-Only 21
Combined Heat and Power 23
Cost and Performance Characteristics 23
Microturbine Design Considerations 26
Part-Load Performance 28
Effects of Ambient Conditions on Performance 28
Combined Heat and Power Performance 30
Chapter 4 Microturbine Economics and Market Factors 31
Sample Cost Data: Microturbine CHP Systems 31
Sample Cost Data: Microturbine Power-Only Systems 32
Case-Study 4-1: Determining Project Economics and ROI 34
v
vi Contents
Chapter 5 Microturbine Fuels and Emissions 37
Fuels 37
Emission Characteristics 37
System Emissions 39
Chapter 6 Microturbine Performance Optimization and Testing 41
Technology Paths to Increased Performance 41
Ceramic Materials 43
Case 6-1 45
Case 6-2 46
Case 6-3 52
Case 6-4 54
Chapter 7 Microturbine Installation and Commissioning 63
Site Selection 63
Floor Planning 67
Recommended Service Clearances 68
Factors Affecting Performance 68
System Airflow Requirements 70
Indoor Installation 71
Chapter 8 Microturbine Maintenance, Availability, and Life Cycle Usage 77
Maintenance 77
Availability and Life 77
PART 2: MICROTURBINE SYSTEM APPLICATIONS AND CASE STUDIES
Chapter 9 Microturbines Operating in Power-Only Applications 81
Case 9-1: Chemical Plant 82
Case 9-2: Factory Commissary 82
Case 9-3: Hospital 82
Case 9-4: Dairy Farm 82
Case 9-5: Mass Transit HEV Buses 82
Case 9-6: Office/Factory Building 83
Case 9-7: University 83
Case 9-8: Consumer Electronics Manufacturing 83
Project Development 88
Chapter 10 Combined Head and Power With Microturbines 91
Types of Plants 92
MicroCHP 92
What Makes a Plant a Good Candidate for CHP? 92
Microturbine CHP Systems 92
CHP Funding Oportunities 112
Economics of CHP 113
Contents vii
Chapter 11 Unconventional Microturbine Fuels 121
Case 11-1: Microturbine Generator Running on
Landfill Gas in Florida 123
Case 11-2: Fuel Gas from Cow Manure 126
Case 11-3: Extracts from “Economic and Financial Aspects of
Landfill Gas to Energy Project Development in California 131
Chapter 12 Competition for the Microturbine Industry 179
Competing Distributed Energy Systems 183
Wind Hybrids and Other Sources 186
Biodiesel Fueled Wind-Diesel Hybrids 193
Producer Gas Hybrids 195
Biogas Hybrids 196
Solar Hybrids 198
Micro-Hydroelectric Hybrids 199
In General 201
Annex 1 201
Chapter 13 Microturbines in Integrated Systems, Fuel Cells, and
Hydrogen Fuel 203
1-MW Solid Oxide Fuel Cell–Hybrid Fuel Cell/
Microturbine System 205
Microturbine-Wind Hybrids 206
Fuel Cells 209
Biofuels for Fuel Cells 221
Fuel Reforming 226
Stationary and Transport Applications of Fuel Cells 226
Fuel Cell Case Studies 228
The Hydrogen Energy Vector 230
Chapter 14 Microturbine Manufacturing and Packaging 235
Component Development 235
Chapter 15 Business Risk and Investment Considerations 239
Internet Purchase and Internet Paid-Membership Sites 239
Stock Offerings 240
Government Support and New Legislation 243
Cultural Considerations 247
Federal Life-Cycle Costing Procedures 247
Chapter 16 The Future for Microturbine Technology 249
“Thumbnail”-Sized Personal Turbines 250
References 255
Index 259
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Preface
The power industry is poised at the brink of major restructure. What used to be “large
power” (i.e., massive corporations that produced power and sold it via international
and national transmission networks) is now a swelling, increasingly mixed bag of play-
ers. The age of distributed power advances. None too soon, if one considers the cur-
rent potential losses in power transmission (up to 30% of power generated in some
less industrialized countries) and the huge amount of deforestation (with consequential
increased greenhouse gas loads) that transmission lines often require.
Today’s independent power producers, which may be consortiums of governments,
private corporations, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of power-generation
machinery, grow in numbers and increasingly take over inefficient government-only
power corporations. They may also construct and own their own transmission lines and
distribution terminals.
Contemporary power producers today also include merchant power producers
(MPPs). MPPs may own smaller generator units that are portable and can provide
enough power for a mid-sized factory or small village. They may also operate stationary
facilities for limited durations that are expected to yield adequate return on investment.
Just 30 years ago, “small power production” (SPP) was carried out mainly by
massive process plants in locations so remote that conventional grids could not supply
all their needs. Such plants, like the first Syncrude tar sands plant in northern Alberta
(120,000 to 170,000 barrels of crude a day), produced most of its power consumption.
The power machinery available at that time included gas and steam turbines that were
about 20 megawatts (MW) in size, and that physically took up as much room as a 100-
MW (and larger) gas turbine might today. Turbine technology, and especially controls
technology, was still in its relative infancy. Similar small power production (other than
that from small stand-alone systems like some wind turbines) usually required power
lines to be brought to their doorstep for backup and peak power requirements.
However, in ice storms and hurricane seasons, downed power lines and poles crip-
ple power reliability. Ultimately, everyone dreams of not being dependent on power
lines of any sort or size. That day approaches—faster for those who practice distributed
generation.
Meanwhile, small power producers (SPPs) today describes a quickly growing
motley that includes large refineries, plastic conglomerates, and steel mills that may
produce a waste fluid or flue gas that suffices as power-generation fuel. An SPP may be
a village residents’ co-op in Denmark that owns and shares the power from one 1.5-MW
wind turbine. It may be a remote hospital or mid-sized factory that owns its own micro-
turbine, which then allows them to be power independent. SPPs frequently maintain a
grid interface to sell power back to that main grid when they produce in excess of their
own requirements.
SPP equipment options are varied and several. However, the equipment item that
is probably best suited in current day conditions, to extend the world of distributed
(i.e., decentralized, non-megasized national company power model) power may be
the microturbine. There are several reasons for this. The order of importance of those
reasons is arguable, but they include the fact that as a small gas turbine, the micro-
turbine is more like the conventional large turbines than say, wind turbines or solar
ix