Multi-objective optimization and evaluation of supercritical CO_(2) Brayton cycle for nuclear power generation

The supercritical CO_(2) Brayton cycle is considered a promising energy conversion system for Generation IV reactors for its simple layout,compact structure,and high cycle efficiency.Mathematical models of four Brayton cycle layouts are developed in this study for different reactors to reduce the cost and increase the thermohydraulic performance of nuclear power generation to promote the commercialization of nuclear energy.Parametric analysis,multi-objective optimizations,and four decision-making methods are applied to obtain each Brayton scheme’s optimal thermohydraulic and economic indexes.Results show that for the same design thermal power scale of reactors,the higher the core’s exit temperature,the better the Brayton cycle’s thermo-economic performance.Among the four-cycle layouts,the recompression cycle(RC)has the best overall performance,followed by the simple recuperation cycle(SR)and the intercooling cycle(IC),and the worst is the reheating cycle(RH).However,RH has the lowest total cost of investment(C_(tot))of$1619.85 million,and IC has the lowest levelized cost of energy(LCOE)of 0.012$/(kWh).The nuclear Brayton cycle system’s overall performance has been improved due to optimization.The performance of the molten salt reactor combined with the intercooling cycle(MSR-IC)scheme has the greatest improvement,with the net output power(W_(net)),thermal efficiencyη_(t),and exergy efficiency(η_(e))improved by 8.58%,8.58%,and 11.21%,respectively.The performance of the lead-cooled fast reactor combined with the simple recuperation cycle scheme was optimized to increase C_(tot) by 27.78%.In comparison,the internal rate of return(IRR)increased by only 7.8%,which is not friendly to investors with limited funds.For the nuclear Brayton cycle,the molten salt reactor combined with the recompression cycle scheme should receive priority,and the gas-cooled fast reactor combined with the reheating cycle scheme should be considered carefully.

Performance of Gas-Steam Combined Cycle Cogeneration Units Influenced by Heating Network Terminal Steam Parameters

The determination of source-side extracted heating parameters is of great significance to the economic operation of cogeneration systems.This paper investigated the coupling performance of a cogeneration heating and power system multidimensionally based on the operating characteristics of the cogeneration units,the hydraulic and thermodynamic characteristics of the heating network,and the energy loads.Taking a steam network supported by a gas-steam combined cycle cogeneration system as the research case,the interaction effect among the source-side prime movers,the heating networks,and the terminal demand thermal parameters were investigated based on the designed values,the plant testing data,and the validated simulation.The operating maps of the gas-steam combined cycle cogeneration units were obtained using THERMOFLEX,and the minimum source-side steam parameters of the steam network were solved using an inverse solution procedure based on the hydro-thermodynamic coupling model.The cogeneration operating maps indicate that the available operating domain considerably narrows with the rise of the extraction steam pressure and flow rate.The heating network inverse solution demonstrates that the source-side steam pressure and temperature can be optimized from the originally designed 1.11 MPa and 238.8°C to 1.074 MPa and 191.15°C,respectively.Under the operating strategy with the minimum source-side heating parameters,the power peak regulation depth remarkably increases to 18.30%whereas the comprehensive thermal efficiency decreases.The operation under the minimum source-side heating steam parameters can be superior to the originally designed one in the economy at a higher price of the heating steam.At a fuel price of$0.38/kg and the power to fuel price of 0.18 kg/(kW·h),the critical price ratio of heating steam to fuel is 119.1 kg/t.The influence of the power-fuel price ratio on the economic deviation appears relatively weak.

Application of Combined Cycle in Modernized Retrofit of Old Thermal Power Plants

This article expounds the advantages and three schemes of applying combined cycle to the modernized retrofit of old thermal power plants. Through analyzing and comparing technical economics of these three schemes, it is concluded that to use feedwater heating and heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) is suitable for the units with unit capacity below 100 MW, while to use exhaust gas reburning is suitable for units with unit capacity of 125 MW, 200 MW and above.

Improved Design of a 25 MW Gas Turbine Plant Using Combined Cycle Application

This paper presents the improved design of a 25 MW gas turbine power plant at Omoku in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria, using combined cycle application. It entails retrofitting a steam bottoming plant to the existing 25 MW gas turbine plant by incorporating a heat recovery steam generator. The focus is to improve performance as well as reduction in total emission to the environment. Direct data collection was performed from the HMI monitoring screen, log books and manufacturer’s manual. Employing the application of MATLAB, the thermodynamics equations were modeled and appropriate parameters of the various components of the steam turbine power plant were determined. The results show that the combined cycle system had a total power output of 37.9 MW, made up of 25.0 MW from the gas turbine power plant and 12.9 MW (an increase of about 51%) from the steam turbine plant, having an HRSG, condenser and feed pump capacities of 42.46 MW, 29.61 MW and 1.76 MW respectively. The condenser cooling water parameters include a mass flow of 1180.42 kg/s, inlet and outlet temperatures of 29.8°C and 35.8°C respectively. The cycle efficiency of the dry mode gas turbine was 26.6% whereas, after modification, the combined cycle power plant overall efficiency is 48.8% (about 84% increases). Hence, SIEMENS steam turbine product of MODEL: SST-150 was recommended as the steam bottoming plant. Also the work reveals that a heat flow of about 42.46 MW which was otherwise being wasted in the exhaust gas of the 25 MW gas turbine power plant could be converted to 12.9 MW of electric power, thus reducing the total emission to the environment.

Prediction of Electrical Output Power of Combined Cycle Power Plant Using Regression ANN Model

Recently, regression artificial neural networks are used to model various systems that have high dimensionality with nonlinear relations. The system under study must have enough dataset available to train the neural network. The aim of this work is to apply and experiment various options effects on feed-foreword artificial neural network (ANN) which used to obtain regression model that predicts electrical output power (EP) of combined cycle power plant based on 4 inputs. Dataset is obtained from an open online source. The work shows and explains the stochastic behavior of the regression neural, experiments the effect of number of neurons of the hidden layers. It shows also higher performance for larger training dataset size;at the other hand, it shows different effect of larger number of variables as input. In addition, two different training functions are applied and compared. Lastly, simple statistical study on the error between real values and estimated values using ANN is conducted, which shows the reliability of the model. This paper provides a quick reference to the effects of main parameters of regression neural networks.

Prime Energy Challenges for Operating Power Plants in the GCC

There is a false notion of existing available, abundant, and long lasting fuel energy in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries;with continual income return from its exports. This is not true as the sustainability of this income is questionable. Energy problems started to appear, and can be intensified in coming years due to continuous growth of energy demands and consumptions. The demands already consume all produced Natural Gas (NG) in all GCC, except Qatar;and the NG is the needed fuel for Electric Power (EP) production. These countries have to import NG to run their EP plants. Fuel oil production can be locally consumed within two to three decades if the current rate of consumed energy prevails. The returns from selling the oil and natural gas are the main income to most of the GCC. While NG and oil can be used in EP plants, NG is cheaper, cleaner, and has less negative effects on the environment than fuel oil. Moreover, oil has much better usage than being burned in steam generators of steam power plants or combustion chambers of gas turbines. Introducing renewable energy or nuclear energy may be a necessity for the GCC to keep the flow of their main income from exporting oil. This paper reviews the GCC productions and consumptions of the prime energy (fuel oil and NG) and their role in electric power production. The paper shows that, NG should be the only fossil fuel used to run the power plants in the GCC. It also shows that the all GCC except Qatar, have to import NG. They should diversify the prime energy used in power plants;and consider alternative energy such as nuclear and renewable energy, (solar and wind) energy.

The first power generation test of hot dry rock resources exploration and production demonstration project in the Gonghe Basin,Qinghai Province,China

Hot dry rock(HDR)is a kind of clean energy with significant potential.Since the 1970s,the United States,Japan,France,Australia,and other countries have attempted to conduct several HDR development research projects to extract thermal energy by breaking through key technologies.However,up to now,the development of HDR is still in the research,development,and demonstration stage.An HDR exploration borehole(with 236℃ at a depth of 3705 m)was drilled into Triassic granite in the Gonghe Basin in northwest China in 2017.Subsequently,China Geological Survey(CGS)launched the HDR resources exploration and production demonstration project in 2019.After three years of efforts,a sequence of significant technological breakthroughs have been made,including the genetic model of deep heat sources,directional drilling and well completion in high-temperature hard rock,large-scale reservoir stimulation,reservoir characterization,and productivity evaluation,reservoir connectivity and flow circulation,efficient thermoelectric conversion,monitoring,and geological risk assessment,etc.Then the whole-process technological system for HDR exploration and production has been preliminarily established accordingly.The first power generation test was completed in November 2021.The results of this project will provide scientific support for HDR development and utilization in the future.

Two-Stage Optimal Dispatching of Wind Power-Photovoltaic-Solar Thermal Combined System Considering Economic Optimality and Fairness

Aiming at the problems of large-scale wind and solar grid connection,how to ensure the economy of system operation and how to realize fair scheduling between new energy power stations,a two-stage optimal dispatching model of wind power-photovoltaic-solar thermal combined system considering economic optimality and fairness is proposed.Firstly,the first stage dispatching model takes the overall economy optimization of the system as the goal and the principle of maximizing the consumption of wind and solar output,obtains the optimal output value under the economic conditions of each new energy station,and then obtains the maximum consumption space of the new energy station.Secondly,based on the optimization results of the first stage,the second stage dispatching model uses the dispatching method of fuzzy comprehensive ranking priority to prioritize the new energy stations,and then makes a fair allocation to the dispatching of the wind and solar stations.Finally,the analysis of a specific example shows that themodel can take into account the fairness of active power distribution of new energy stations on the basis of ensuring the economy of system operation,make full use of the consumption space,and realize the medium and long-term fairness distribution of dispatching plan.

Thermo-economic Investigation of an Enhanced Geothermal System Organic Rankine Cycle and Combined Heating and Power System

As a potentially viable renewable energy, Enhanced Geothermal Systems(EGSs) extract heat from hot dry rock(HDR) reservoirs to produce electricity and heat, which promotes the progress towards carbon peaking and carbon neutralization. The main challenge for EGSs is to reduce the investment cost. In the present study, thermo-economic investigations of EGS projects are conducted. The effects of geofluid mass flow rate, wellhead temperature and loss rate on the thermo-economic performance of the EGS organic Rankine cycle(ORC) are studied. A performance comparison between EGS-ORC and the EGS combined heating and power system(CHP) is presented. Considering the CO_(2)emission reduction benefits, the influence of carbon emission trading price on the levelized cost of energy(LCOE) is also presented. It is indicated that the geofluid mass flow rate is a critical parameter in dictating the success of a project. Under the assumed typical working conditions, the LCOE of EGS-ORC and EGS-CHP systems are 24.72 and 16.1 cents/k Wh, respectively. Compared with the EGS-ORC system, the LCOE of the EGS-CHP system is reduced by 35%. EGS-CHP systems have the potential to be economically viable in the future. With carbon emission trading prices of 12.76 USD/ton, the LCOE can be reduced by approximately 8.5%.

A practical approach to improve alarm system performance: Application to power plant

Process safety in chemical industries is considered to be one of the important goals towards sustainable development. This is due to the fact that, major accidents still occur and continue to exert significant reputational and financial impacts on process industries. Alarm systems constitute an indispensable component of automation as they draw the attention of process operators to any abnormal conditi on in the plant. Therefore, if deployed properly, alarm systems can play a critical role in helping plant operators ensure process safety and profitability. How-ever, in practice, many process plants suffer from poor alarm system configuration which leads to nuisance alarms and alarm floods that compromise safety. A vast amount of research has primarily focused on developing sophisticated alarm management algorithms to address specific issues. In this article, we provide a simple, practical, systematic approach that can be applied by plant engineers (i.e., non-experts) to improve industrial alarm system performance. The proposed approach is demonstrated using an industrial power plant case study.

Monte Carlo Simulation of a Combined-Cycle Power Plant Considering Ambient Temperature Fluctuations

A combined-cycle power plant (CCPP) is broadly utilized in many countries to cover energy demand due to its higher efficiency than other conventional power plants. The performance of a CCPP is highly sensitive to ambient air temperature (AAT) and the generated power varies widely during the year with temperature fluctuations. To have an accurate estimation of power generation, it is necessary to develop a model to predict the average monthly power of a CCPP considering ambient temperature changes. In the present work, the Monte Carlo (MC) method was used to obtain the average generated power of a CCPP. The case study was a combined-cycle power plant in Tehran, Iran. The region’s existing meteorological data shows significant fluctuations in the annual ambient temperature, which severely impact the performance of the mentioned plant, causing a stochastic behavior of the output power. To cope with this stochastic nature, the probability distribution of monthly outdoor temperature for 2020 was determined using the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) method to specify the range of feasible inputs. Furthermore, the plant was accurately simulated in THERMOFLEX to capture the generated power at different temperatures. The MC method was used to couple the ambient temperature fluctuations to the output power of the plant, modeled by THERMOFLEX. Finally, the mean value of net power for each month and the average output power of the system were obtained. The results indicated that each unit of the system generates 436.3 MW in full load operation. The average deviation of the modeling results from the actual data provided by the power plant was an estimated 3.02%. Thus, it can be concluded that this method helps achieve an estimation of the monthly and annual power of a combined-cycle power plant, which are effective indexes in the economic analysis of the system.

Thermodynamic analysis and combined cycle research on recoverable pressure energy in natural gas pipeline

Current research and ways of capturing mechanical energy are discussed in this paper. By the aid of the comprehensive thermodynamic analysis and Aspen simulation tool, the amount of a vailable work that can be produced from capturing the pressure energy has been calculated. Based on the comprehensive thermodynamic analysis, two systems have been proposed to capture pressure energy of natural gas to generate electricity. In this study, the expression of exergy is given which can be used in evaluating purposes. A problem with this multidisciplinary study is the complicated boundary condition. In conclusion, a technical prospect on recoverable natural gas pressure energy has been presented based on total energy system theory.

DESIGN OF COMBINED CYCLE GENERATION SYSTEM WITH HIGH TEMPERATURE FUEL CELL AND STEAM TURBINE

For environment protection and high efficiency, development of new conceptpower plant has been required in China. The fuel cell is expected to be used in a power plant as acentralized power Station or distributed power plant. It is a chemical power generation device thatconverts the energy of a chemical reaction directly into electrical energy and not limited by Carnotcycle efficiency. The molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) power plant has several attractive featuresi.e. high efficiency and lower emission of NO_x and SO_x A combined cycle generation system withMCFC and steam turbine is designed. Its net electrical efficiency LHV is about 55 percent.

Assessment of Site Parameters and Heat Recovery Characteristics on Combined Cycle Performance in an Equatorial Environment

This paper investigates the effects of site based parameters such as ambient temperature, humidity, altitude and heat transfer characteristic of a dual pressure heat recovery system on the performance of the combined cycle power plant within an equatorial environment. The bulk heat utilization and configuration of a dual pressure heat recovery system are investigated. It is observed that the heat system configuration play a vital role in optimizing the combined cycle overall performance, which has proportionality relationship with the operating ambient temperature and relative humidity of the gas turbine. The investigation is carried out within the ambient temperature range of 24℃ to 35℃, relative humidity of 60% to 80%, and a high level steam pressure of 60 bar to 110 bar. The results show that at 24℃ ambient temperature, the heat recovery system has the highest duty of 239.4 MW, the optimum combined cycle power output of 205.52 MW, and overall efficiency of 47.46%. It further indicates that as the ambient temperature increases at an average exhaust gas temperature of 530℃ and mass flow of 470 kg/s, the combined cycle power output and efficiency decrease by 15.5% and 13.7% respectively under the various considerations. This results from a drop in the air and exhaust mass flow as the values of the site parameters increase. The overall results indicate that decreasing the ambient temperature at optimum exhaust gas flow and temperature increases the heat recovery system heat duty performance, the steam generation, overall combined cycle power output and efficiency, which satisfies the research objective.

Multi-Objective Optimization Based on Life Cycle Assessment for Hybrid Solar and Biomass Combined Cooling,Heating and Power System

The complementary of biomass and solar energy in combined cooling,heating and power(CCHP)system provides an efficient solution to address the energy crisis and environmental pollutants.This work aims to propose a multi-objective optimization model based on the life cycle assessment(LCA)method for the optimal design of hybrid solar and biomass system.The life-cycle process of the poly-generation system is divided into six phases to analyze energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.The comprehensive performances of the hybrid system are optimized by incorporating the evaluation criteria,including environmental impact in the whole life cycle,renewable energy contribution and economic benefit.The non-dominated sorting genetic algorithmⅡ(NSGA-Ⅱ)with the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution(TOPSIS)method is employed to search the Pareto frontier result and thereby achieve optimal performance.The developed optimization methodology is used for a case study in an industrial park.The results indicate that the best performance from the optimized hybrid system is reached with the environmental impact load reduction rate(EILRR)of 46.03%,renewable energy contribution proportion(RECP)of 92.73%and annual total cost saving rate(ATCSR)of35.75%,respectively.By comparing pollutant-eq emissions of different stages,the operation phase emits the largest pollutant followed by the phase of raw material acquisition.Overall,this study reveals that the proposed multi-objective optimization model integrated with LCA method delivers an alternative path for the design and optimization of more sustainable CCHP system.

Recent Developments in Integrated Solar Combined Cycle Power Plants

Global concern for depleting fossil fuel reserves have been compelling for evolving power generation options using renewable energy sources. The solar energy happens to be a potential source for running the power plants among renewable energy sources. Integrated Solar Combined Cycle(ISCC) power plants have gained popularity among the thermal power plants. Traditional ISCC power plants use Direct Steam Generation(DSG) approach. However, with the DSG method, the ISCC plant’s overall thermal efficiency does not increase significantly due to variations in the availability of solar energy. Thermal Energy Storage(TES) systems when integrated into the solar cycle can address such issues related to energy efficiency, process flexibility, reducing intermittency during non-solar hours. This review work focuses and discusses the developments in various components of the ISCC system including its major cycles and related parameters. The main focus is on CSP technologies, Heat Transfer Fluid(HTF), and Phase Change Material(PCM) used for thermal energy storage. Further, study includes heat enhancement methods with HTF and latent heat storage system. This study will be beneficial to the power plant professionals intending to modify the solar-based Combined Cycle Power Plant(CCPP) and to retrofit the existing Natural Gas Combined Cycle(NGCC) plant with the advanced solar cycle.

New generation traction power supply system and its key technologies for electrified railways

Unlike the traditional traction power supply system which enables the electrified railway traction sub- station to be connected to power grid in a way of phase rotation, a new generation traction power supply system without phase splits is proposed in this paper. Three key techniques used in this system have been discussed. First, a combined co-phase traction power supply system is applied at traction substations for compensating negative sequence current and eliminating phase splits at exits of substations; design method and procedure for this system are presented. Second, a new bilateral traction power supply technology is proposed to eliminate the phase split at section post and reduce the influence of equalizing current on the power grid. Meanwhile, power factor should be adjusted to ensure a proper voltage level of the traction network. Third, a seg- mental power supply technology of traction network is used to divide the power supply arms into several segments, and the synchronous measurement and control technology is applied to diagnose faults and their locations quickly and accurately. Thus, the fault impact can be limited to a min- imum degree. In addition, the economy and reliability of the new generation traction power supply system are analyzed.

Numerical Calculation of a 3000MWt MHD-steam Combined Cycel System with Tail Gasification

A numerical calculation of a 3000MWt MHD steam combined cycle system with tail gasification is described . The research scheme has been set up and the parameters of this system have been designed. Then the efficiency of the combined cycle system has been calculated which is up to 53.9%.

Optimization Potentials for the Waste Heat Recovery of a Gas-Steam Combined Cycle Power Plant Based on Absorption Heat Pump

A new waste heat recovery system is presented to recover exhausted steam waste heat from the steam turbine by absorption heat pump(AHP) in a gas-steam combined cycle(GSCC) power plant. The system can decrease energy consumption and further improve the energy utilization. The performance evaluation criteria are calculated, and exergy analysis for key components are implemented in terms of the energy and exergy analysis theory. Besides, the change of these criteria is also revealed before and after modification. The net power output approximately increases by 21738 kW, and equivalent coal consumption decreases by 5.58 g/kWh. A 1.81% and 1.92% increase in the thermal and exergy efficiency is respectively obtained in the new integrated system as the heating load is 401095 kJ at 100% condition. Meanwhile, the appropriate extraction parameters for heating have been also analyzed in the two systems. The proposed scheme can not only save energy consumption but also reduce emission and gain great economic benefit, which is proven to be a huge potential for practical application.

An Improved Combined Power System Utilizing Cold Energy of LNG

In order to improve efficiency of a combined power system in which waste heat from exhaust gas could be efficiently recovered and cold energy of liquefied natural gas(LNG) could be fully utilized as well. A system simulation and thermodynamic analysis were carried out,the Kalina cycle was reorganized by changing the concentration of "basic composition",so that a better thermal matching in the heat exchanger could be obtained and the irreversibility of the system was decreased. It was found that the Kalina cycle generally used in the bottom of combined power cycle could also be used to recover the cold energy of LNG. The results show that the exergy efficiency of 42.97% is obtained. Compared with the previous system attained the exergy efficiency of 39.76%,the improved system has a better performance.