| Title | Performance Analysis of Single-Flash Geothermal Power Plants: Gas Removal Systems Point of View |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nurdan Yıldırım Özcan, Gülden Gökçen |
| Year | 2010 |
| Conference | World Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | gas removal systems, non-condensable gases, performance, power plant, Turkey |
| Abstract | Non-condensable gases (NCGs) are natural components of geothermal fluids and can affect the performance of a geothermal power plant (GPP) significantly. Therefore, the NCGs should be removed from the process to optimise the thermodynamic efficiency of the plant. GPPs require large capacity NCG removal systems and also occupies large portion in its total plant cost and auxiliary power consumption. The single-flash GPP, which is commonly used throughout the world, is a relatively simple way to convert geothermal energy into electricity when the geothermal wells produce a mixture of steam and liquid. In this study, a detailed exergy analyses of a single-flash GPP is conducted for four different gas removal systems (steam jet ejectors, hybrid systems, compressors and reboiler systems) at various NCG contents, and the power output is optimised. The obtained results show that the compressor system is the most efficient and robust system where the influence of the NCG fraction is limited. On the other hand, steam jet ejectors are highly affected by increasing NCG fraction since motive steam flowrate to the steam jet ejectors are directly related to NCG fraction. Thus this analysis shows them to be the worst case. The hybrid system responds late to the change in NCG fraction because the LRVP is more efficient since its performance lies between compressors and steam jet ejectors. |