Applied Thermal Engineering 24 (2004) 59–68

[Link]/locate/apthermeng

The study of capacity enhancement of the Chabahar

gas turbine installation using an absorption chiller
M. Ameri *, S.H. Hejazi
Combined Heat & Power Specialized Unit (CHP), Power Plant Engineering Department,
Power & Water University of Technology, P.O. Box 16765-1719, Tehran, Iran
Received 2 April 2003; accepted 21 July 2003

Abstract
The strong influence of climate conditions on gas turbine behavior it is well known. The output of gas
turbines falls to a value that is less than the rated output under high temperature conditions that often
occur during the summer season. Cooling the turbine inlet air can increase output power substantially. This
is because cooled air is denser, giving the turbine a higher mass flow rate and resulting in increased turbine
output and efficiency. This paper presents an overview of an intake air-cooling system that uses a steam
absorption chiller and an air cooler to address the above problem in the Chabahar power plant.
By using this technique the output power will increase by 11.3%. The economical studies have shown the
internal rate of return will be 23.4%. The cost of electricity is calculated to be 1.45 Cents/kW h which is less
than the current price of electricity in Iran. The payback period is estimated to be around 4.2 years.

2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Chabahar power plant; Gas turbine; Absorption chiller; Power augmentation

1. Introduction

According to a survey, there are more than 170 gas turbine units in Iran [1]. The total capacity
of these units is around 9500 MW. However, the power output of the units is about 80% of their
rated capacity in the summer. This means that around 1900 MW are lost during the hot season.
Due to the growing demand of electricity and the gas turbine power degradation in summer, it
is necessary to enhance the gas turbine power output using the inlet air cooling system.

*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +98-21-731-1446; fax: +98-21-731-0425.
E-mail address: ameri_m@[Link] (M. Ameri).

1359-4311/$ - see front matter
2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S1359-4311(03)00239-4
60 M. Ameri, S.H. Hejazi / Applied Thermal Engineering 24 (2004) 59–68

Nomenclature

h enthalpy (kJ/kg)
hfg heat of vaporization (kJ/kg)
m_ air air flow rate (kg/s)
P output w.r.t. ISO conditions (%MW)
Q heat consumption (kJ/kg)
QC cooling load (kW)
Tamb ambient temperature (C)
x humidity ratio

Chabahar city is located in the south of Iran near the Indian Ocean. Six frame-5 gas turbines
with the rated power of 16.60 MW produce electricity in this power plant. Performance curves of
the gas turbines (Fig. 1) show that for each 1 C increase in ambient air temperature, the power
output will decrease by 0.74%. They are the actual Alstom frame-5 gas turbine characteristic
curves [1]. The equations are as follows:
P ð%Þ ¼ 111:172
0:7448Tamb ðCÞ ð1Þ

m_ air ð%Þ ¼ 105:466
0:3644Tamb ðCÞ ð2Þ

The ambient temperature is higher than the ISO condition (15 C) during a year in the Chabahar
city. The variations of the temperature and the humidity during a typical day of these months are
shown in Figs. 2 and 3 [1]. These data are based on the Chabahar statistical climatic conditions.
According to Fig. 2, the maximum, the average and the minimum temperatures are 34.2, 26.8
and 17.6 C respectively [1].
It can be concluded from Fig. 2 that there is an average 11.8 C difference between the ambient
temperature and the ISO condition [1].

110

105
Percent Design

100

95

90 Inlet Flow

85 Output

80
5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Compressor Inlet Temperature (Deg. C)

Fig. 1. Gas turbine performance curves [1].

 M. Ameri, S.H. Hejazi / Applied Thermal Engineering 24 (2004) 59–68 61

36 Jan.
Feb.
33
Mar.
Temperature (Deg. C)
30 Apr.
May
27
Jun.
24
Jul.
Aug.
21 Sep.
Oct.
18
Nov.
15 Dec.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Local Time

Fig. 2. Variation of the temperature during hot months [1].

100
Jan.
Feb.
90
Mar.
Relative Humidity (%)

80 Apr.
May
70
Jun.

60
Jul.
Aug.
50 Sep.
Oct.
40
Nov.
30 Dec.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Local Time

Fig. 3. Variation of relative humidity during hot months [1].

According to Fig. 3, the maximum relative humidity is 96%, the average is 75.29% and the
minimum is 34.3%.

2. Selection of inlet air cooling system

Various techniques can be used to enhance the performance and the output power of gas
turbines [2–5]. The gas turbine inlet air cooling technologies are as follows:

• Evaporative cooling
• Mechanical refrigeration cooling
62 M. Ameri, S.H. Hejazi / Applied Thermal Engineering 24 (2004) 59–68

• Chilled water thermal energy storage

• Absorption chiller cooling

2.1. Evaporative cooling

These systems use the vaporization latent heat of water in an adiabatic air saturation process to
reduce the dry bulb temperature to the wet bulb temperature. Therefore, their success in reducing
the high air temperature depends on the relative humidity of the ambient air. Although, these
types of systems are economical, they are suitable for hot and dry climates rather than the hot and
humid ones [6].

2.2. Mechanical refrigeration cooling

The mechanical refrigeration cooling system involves the use of the vapor compression re-
frigeration equipment, which is commonly employed in the commercial air-conditioning or in-
dustrial refrigeration systems. The inlet air to the gas turbine is cooled in a heat exchanger using
the chilled water or the refrigeration fluid itself. The equipment is simpler and has less O&M costs
than the absorption chiller. However, its capital cost is still relatively high. The parasitic power
needed for the operation of the refrigeration system is typically 25–30% of the incremental power
obtained from the gas turbine [7].

2.3. Chilled water thermal energy storage

The chilled water storage systems use the sensible heat capacity of water to store the cooling
energy. Water is cooled by a chiller and stored in a tank for later use to meet the cooling needs.
This system is used during the peak loads when power is highly valued (5–7 h per day). Chillers
are sized to run during non-peak demand times (perhaps 17–19 h per day) [8].

2.4. Absorption chiller cooling

In this system, the hot flue gas from the gas turbine exhaust is used to generate the steam in a
heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) [9–13]. The steam is usually used in a double-effect
lithium-bromide absorption chiller to produce the chilled water. A compact heat exchanger
should be designed for installation at the compressor inlet duct. The chilled water from the ab-
sorption chiller flows through the heat exchanger and cools the inlet air.
Mohanty et al. [9] studied this system for a 100 MW gas turbine in Bankok. The increase in the
power output was 11%. Also, this system has been analysed in detail by Bies et al. [10].
Toshiba corporation has installed a hybrid inlet air cooling system for a 5.42 MW gas turbine.
This system includes an absorption chiller and a thermal energy storage system. It cools the inlet
air to the gas turbine from 38 to 15 C. The capacity of the storage system is 35% of the total
system capacity. This system cools the inlet air for 5 h during the on-peak hours.
The objective of this paper is to study the absorption chiller cooling system for the Chabahar
power plant gas turbines.
 M. Ameri, S.H. Hejazi / Applied Thermal Engineering 24 (2004) 59–68 63

3. Selection of the optimum cooling load

Absorption chiller capacity selection has important effects on the refrigeration cycle compo-
nents and economical benefits. Therefore, one should define the optimum chiller capacity.
To calculate the cooling load, one should estimate the amount of energy per hour that is used to
change the temperature and humidity from a given condition to the ISO temperature of 15 C and
the relative humidity of 100%. Therefore, the chiller capacity is a function of the temperature and
the relative humidity of the ambient air. Some of the cooling load is used to decrease the ambient
temperature till the relative humidity reaches to 100%. The remaining of the cooling load is used
to reduce the air temperature below the dew point. Fig. 4 shows the cooling process on a psy-
chometric diagram.
In this diagram point (a) shows the ambient condition which should be cooled to the final
condition of point (c). As the sensible heat of air transfers to the chilled water passing through the
cooling coil, the relative humidity rises. The air temperature decreases to the dew point (point b).
Reducing the air temperature below the dew point needs to transfer the latent heat of water vapor
in addition to the sensible heat. From point (b) to point (c), the condensation of water
vapor occurs which causes the humidity of point c to be 100% (saturated state). Some of the water
vapor is condensed on the cooling coils and the rest is separated in the inlet air duct. The lines a–b
and b–c show sensible and latent heat respectively. Therefore, the total cooling load per hour can
be calculated as the following:
QC ¼ m_ air ðqs þ ql Þ ð3Þ

qs ¼ ha
hb ð4Þ

ql ¼ hfg ðxb
xc Þ ð5Þ

Fig. 4. Air cooling process in psychometric diagram.

64 M. Ameri, S.H. Hejazi / Applied Thermal Engineering 24 (2004) 59–68

22000
20000 20711.1
19735.5
18000 18394.4
16000 16846.6
14000 15188.2
dMWh

12000 13397.1

10000 11497.5

8000 9485.7
4889.3 7355.3
6000
4000
e) e) e) ax
)
)

)
ve

ve

ve

ve

ve

ve
( av ( av ( av m
(a

(a

(a

(a

(a

(a
2q 6q 8q q(
4q

0q

2q

4q

6q

8q
0. 0. 0.
0.

1.

1.

1.

1.

1.
Cooling Load (kW)

Fig. 5. The produced MW h versus the cooling load diagram.

The maximum cooling load (Qc;max ) which is needed to cool the air to 15 C is about 7500 kW
throughout the year. To select the optimum load of chiller among the different calculated values,
the average (Qc;ave ) was used. This load is the average of the different cooling loads that are
calculated for the different working hours during a year. The calculated average cooling load is
3700 kW.
The gas turbine power output augmentation and the decrease in the inlet air temperature are
calculated (Fig. 1).
Fig. 5 shows the variation of produced electricity using the absorption chiller system versus the
chillerÕs cooling load. It is clear that the slope of the curve decreases as the cooling load increases.
The optimization study has shown that the optimum cooling load is 4450 kW [1].
The power output of the gas turbine will increase by 11.3% in a typical hot day. This value is
obtained from the given equations based on the optimum cooling load. The generated electricity is
around 15 190 MW h during a year based on this cooling load [1].

4. Inlet air cooling equipment

Fig. 6 shows the flow diagram of inlet air cooling using the absorption chiller. There are three
basic components in this system as follows:

(1) Absorption chiller

(2) Compact heat exchanger
(3) Heat recovery steam generator (HRSG)

Two lithium-bromide absorption chillers are selected for each gas turbine unit. The capacity of
each chiller is 2460 kW. The Chabahar city is near the Oman Sea. Therefore, seawater is used for
the absorption chiller cooling system.
A compact heat exchanger is designed for the installation at the compressor inlet duct. The heat
exchanger is made of the fin-tube configuration. The heat transfer surface is around 450 m2 . The
 M. Ameri, S.H. Hejazi / Applied Thermal Engineering 24 (2004) 59–68 65

Fuel
16.6 MW
G
Gas Turbine Heat
Chilled Recovery
Air Boiler
T=15 °C 10.355
Phi=100% bar
6.16 t/h
Chilled Water Header Header 175.38 °C
Pump
Absorption 9 bar

Air 7 °C Chiller A 0.58 t/h

Cooler 846 t/h 3.5 1.5 bar
bar 1.5 bar Reduce
P=1atm Dearator
12 °C Pressure
T=30°c 95 °C
phi=78% Absorption 1 atm
m=117.53kg/s Chiller B 1.5 bar
Header Header 111.37 °C
Inlet 6.89 t/h
Air
Condensate Feed Water
32 °C Pump Pump
37.5 °C 1400 t/h
AIR
STEAM Cooling Water
Pump
WATER
SEA

Fig. 6. Flow diagram of inlet air cooling system.

cooling coil is designed in order to make the minimum pressure drop. The inlet air pressure drop
in this heat exchanger is calculated to be 114.2 mm H2 O. This pressure drop has not any sensitive
effect on the gas turbine power output.
A HRSG is designed for the installation at the gas turbine exhaust. The HRSG provides the
saturated steam. The steam pressure is 9 bar. The HRSG components are economizer, evaporator
and drum. Based on the calculation, the heat transfer surfaces of economizer and evaporator are
50 and 135 m2 respectively.
The pressure drop in the HRSG is calculated to be 128 mm H2 O. There are cooling water
pumps, chilled water pumps, condensate pumps and feed water pumps for the heat recovery and
the refrigeration cycles.
This method requires a suitable control system to keep the inlet air temperature at the
stable temperature. Also, it needs a transformer to provide the necessary electricity for the
system.

5. Calculation of the fuel consumption

Gasoil is used for the gas turbines in the Chabahar power plant. Fig. 7 shows the produced
power versus the fuel consumption for the frame-5 gas turbine. Based on this curve the fuel
consumption will be increased by 4 340 000 l during a year. It should be noted that as the efficiency
enhancement is small, its effect on the fuel consumption reduction is negligible.
66 M. Ameri, S.H. Hejazi / Applied Thermal Engineering 24 (2004) 59–68

30

25

Power Output (MW)

20

15

10

5
0
4 6 8 10 12
3
Fuel Consumption 10 Lit/hr

Fig. 7. The produced power versus fuel consumption diagram.

6. Economical analysis

The cost of an inlet cooling system is often evaluated in terms of $/kW. This can be misleading
because the output power enhancement as the result of the inlet air cooling method varies with the
ambient temperature. A better way for the evaluation of the economic feasibility of a cooling
system is through the cost-benefit analysis. In this method the additional revenues are calculated
as a result of additional electricity production in MW h.
The net electricity production increase is around 14 000 MW h in a year.
The benefit of this electricity production is calculated to be 350 000 US$ based on the current
electricity price in Iran which is 2.5 Cents/kW h for off-peak hours [1].
For the economical calculation we have considered 17% for the domestic interest rate, 7% for
the foreign interest rate and 20 years for the equipment life.
Table 1 shows the capital cost for the absorption chiller inlet air cooling system. It includes the
cost of components and the installation cost.
Table 2 shows the auxiliary power consumption and Table 3 shows the annual operating and
maintenance costs of the system components. Also Table 4 shows the final economic results [1].

Table 1
The capital cost of inlet air cooling system [1]
Component Units Price (US$)
Absorption chiller 2 400 000
Cooling tower 2 39 600
Compact heat exchanger 1 46 000
HRSG 1 331 300
Cooling water pump 2 8900
Chilled water pump 2 1500
Condensate pump 2 1000
Feed water pump 2 1200
Control & Electric system 1 350 000
Transformer 1 5500
Total capital cost 1 185 000
 M. Ameri, S.H. Hejazi / Applied Thermal Engineering 24 (2004) 59–68 67

Table 2
Auxiliary power consumption (kW) [1]
Component Consumption (kW)
Absorption chiller 8
Cooling water pump 88
Chilled water pump 40
Condensate pump 5
Feed water pump 9
Total auxiliary power 150

Table 3
The annual O&M costs [1]
Component O&M costs (US$)
Absorption chiller 20 000
Cooling tower 800
Compact heat exchanger 500
HRSG 10 000
Cooling water pump 270
Chilled water pump 100
Condensate pump 65
Feed water pump 50
Control & Electric system 15 000
Transformer 115
Total capital cost 46 900

Table 4
Final economical evaluation results [1]
Total capital cost 1 185 000 US$
Annual O&M costs 46 900 US$
Annual fuel consumption increased costs 23 900 US$
Annual benefit 350 000 US$
Capital cost per maximum increased kilowatt 494 US$/kW
Cost of electricity (COE) 1.45 Cents/kWh
Payback period 4.2 years
Rate of return (ROR) 23.4%

7. Results and discussion

In this study, the absorption chiller system has been selected to cool the inlet air to the
Chabahar power plant gas turbines and to enhance their output. It has been shown that the
average power output can be increased by as much as 11.3%. The maximum power augmentation
is around 2.4 MW. The electricity production is increased by 14 000 MW h per year.
The economical analysis has shown that the capital cost of the system is estimated to be around
494 US$ per maximum increased kilowatt compared to the gas turbine installation cost of 275
68 M. Ameri, S.H. Hejazi / Applied Thermal Engineering 24 (2004) 59–68

US$/kW in Iran. The cost of electricity (COE) is calculated to be 1.45 Cents/kW h. This cost is less
than the current cost of industrial electricity in Iran which is 2.5 Cents/kW h for off-peak hours.
The internal rate of return (ROR) is 23.4% for this project. The payback period is calculated to be
4.2 years.

8. Conclusions

(1) Cooling the inlet air to the gas turbine increases the mass flow rate and improves its output
power.
(2) Inlet air chilling method is a viable means to enhance the gas turbine performance, provided
that the revenues associated with the incremental output are cost-effective.
(3) This study has shown that using the absorption chiller system for the inlet air cooling of the
Chabahar gas turbine will increase the peaking capacity of the gas turbines during the hot am-
bient operation.
(4) As there are many gas turbines in Iran with the same ambient conditions, using the absorption
chiller system inlet air-cooling to provide the peak demand would be very useful.

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