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HOW GAS TURBINE POWER PLANTS WORK
4. Inlet Section
2. Compressor
‘3. Combustion System
4, Turbine
‘5, Exhaust System
6. Exhaust Diffuser
‘Courtesy of Siemens Westinghouse
The combustion (gas) turbines being installed in many of today's natural-gas-fueled power plants are complex
machines, but they basically involve three main sections:
+ The compressor, which draws air into the engine, pressurizes it, and feeds it to the combustion chamber at
speeds of hundreds of miles per hour.
+ The combustion system, typically made up of a ring of fuel injectors that inject a steady stream of fuel into
combustion chambers where it mixes with the air. The mixture is bumed at temperatures of more than 2000
degrees F. The combustion produces a high temperature, high pressure gas stream that enters and expands
through the turbine section,
+ The turbine is an intricate array of altemate stationary and rotating aerofoil-section blades. As hot combustion
gas expands through the turbine, it spins the rotating blades. The rotating blades perform a dual function: they
drive the compressor to draw more pressurized air into the combustion section, and they spin a generator to
produce electricity
Land based gas turbines are of two types: (1) heavy frame engines and (2) aeroderivative engines. Heavy frame
engines are characterized by lower pressure ratios (typically below 20) and tend to be physically large. Pressure
ratio is the ratio of the compressor discharge pressure and the inlet air pressure. Aeroderivative engines are derived
from jet engines, as the name implies, and operate at very high compression ratios (typically in excess of 30).
‘Aeroderivative engines tend to be very compact and are useful where smaller power outputs are needed. As large
frame turbines have higher power outputs, they can produce larger amounts of emissions, and must be designed
to achieve low emissions of pollutants, such as NOx.
hpslonergy.govehow-gas-urbine- pover-pants- work 18amete9Hi22H How Gas Turbine Power Planis Work| Deparment of Energy
One key to a turbine’s fuel-to-power efficiency is the temperature at which it operates. Higher temperatures
generally mean higher efficiencies, which in tun, can lead to more economical operation. Gas flowing through a
\ypical power plant turbine can be as hot as 2300 degrees F, but some of the critical metals in the turbine can
withstand temperatures only as hot as 1500 to 1700 degrees F. Therefore, air from the compressor might be used
for cooling key turbine components, reducing ultimate thermal efficiency.
One of the major achievements of the Department of Energy's advanced turbine program was to break through
previous limitations on turbine temperatures, using a combination of innovative cooling technologies and advanced
materials. The advanced turbines that emerged from the Department's research program were able to boost turbine
inlet temperatures to as high as 2600 degrees F - nearly 300 degrees hotter than in previous turbines, and achieve
efficiencies as high as 60 percent.
Another way to boost efficiency is to install a recuperator or heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) to recover
energy from the turbine's exhaust. A recuperator captures waste heat in the turbine exhaust system to preheat the
compressor discharge air before it enters the combustion chamber. A HRSG generates steam by capturing heat
from the turbine exhaust. These boilers are also known as heat recovery steam generators. High-pressure steam
‘from these boilers can be used to generate additional electric power with steam turbines, a configuration called a
combined cycle.
A simple cycle gas turbine can achieve energy conversion efficiencies ranging between 20 and 35 percent. With
the higher temperatures achieved in the Department of Energy's turbine program, future hydrogen and syngas fired
gas turbine combined cycle plants are likely to achieve efficiencies of 60 percent or more. When waste heat is
captured from these systems for heating or industrial purposes, the overall energy cycle efficiency could approach
80 percent.
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