Energy and Exergy-Based Modeling and Performance Evaluation of a Natural Gas-Fired Combined-Cycle Power Plant

This paper utilizes operational data to demonstrate the energy and exergy analysis of a 100MW combined cycle power plant. The primary objective of this paper is to examine the various components of the cycle to identify and measure the particular locations with the greatest amount of destruction and to determine the effectiveness of all components. Furthermore, the study also examines the impact of ambient temperature, compression ratio, and turbine inlet temperature. A comprehensive thermodynamic model of the entire cycle has been formulated by employing mass, energy, and exergy balance equations. The thermodynamic parameters at the inlet and outlet conditions of the components, as well as the energy, exergy losses, and efficiencies, are determined using the Engineering Equation Solver (EES) software. According to the energy analysis results, the condenser is responsible for the highest amount of energy loss, accounting for 35.72% of the total energy supplied. However, exergy analysis reveals that the main sources of irreversibilities are the combustion chamber, gas turbine, Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG) and steam turbine, which account for 37.08%, 4.26%, 3.89%, and 3.33% of the total exergy supplied, respectively. The overall exergy and energy efficiency of the combined cycle are 47.25% and 49.24%, respectively.