Chemically recuperated gas turbines for offshore platform: Energy and environmental performance

Abstract

Currently, offshore areas have become the hotspot of global gas and oil production. They have significant reserves and production potential. Offshore platforms are energy-intensive facilities. Most of them are equipped with gas turbine engines. Many technologies are used to improve their thermal efficiency. Thermochemical recuperation is investigated in this paper. Much previous research has been restricted to analyzing of the thermodynamic potential of the chemically recuperated gas turbine cycle. However, little work has discussed the operation issues of this cycle. The analysis of actual fuel gases for the steam reforming process taking into account the actual load of gas turbines, the impact of steam reforming on the Wobbe index, and the impact of a steam-fuel reforming process on the carbon dioxide emissions is the novelty of this study. The obtained simulation results showed that gas turbine engine efficiency improved by 8.1 to 9.35% at 100% load, and carbon dioxide emissions decreased by 10% compared to a conventional cycle. A decrease in load leads to a deterioration in the energy and environmental efficiency of chemically recuperated gas turbines.