Advanced Waste-to-energy Power Plant: Integration With Gas Turbine

This paper focuses on a thermodynamic and parametric analysis for a steam/water side integrated “hybrid cycle” made up of a Waste‐To‐Energy and Gas Turbine (WTE‐GT) power plants. Municipal solid waste (MSW) grate combustor generates saturated steam which is sent to the heat recovery steam generator (HRSG), fed by GT discharged heat, to be superheated and then fed to a steam turbine serving both the HRSG and WTE sections. Among all potential advantages for a WTE‐GT steam/water side integrated configuration, one of the most important is the increase in steam cycle maximum temperature transferring superheater, the most problematic component for what concern high temperature corrosion, from the WTE to HRSG section. In order to maximize the electric power output and energy recovery efficiency of the integrated WTE‐GT power plant, it is of primary importance to understand systems interaction in water preheating, steam generation and superheating. Starting from a simple WTE‐GT integrated plant layout, the carried out analysis investigate the logic governing plants match in terms of steam production as function of the thermal powers introduced. Steam generation, heat exchangers inlet and outlet conditions, as a consequence of systems integration, are analyzed and explained. A sensitivity analysis, varying evaporative pressure and HRSG inlet conditions, is also presented in order to investigate the influence of operative parameters on steam mass flow rate. The paper assesses and defines, for a given layout and several operative conditions, the optimum WTE‐GT plant match in terms of system’s input thermal powers, to maximize steam generation, plant performance and to minimize discharged outlet temperature. According to Authors’ knowledge, these aspects have not yet been deeply investigated in literature.