Industrial turbines burn fuel and air at high pressure and temperature to generate electric power. Turbines operate on the thermodynamic cycle known as the Brayton cycle. In this cycle, atmospheric air is compressed, heated, and then expanded, with the excess power produced by the turbine (over that consumed by the compressor) used for power generation or mechanical drives.
Gas turbines are often used in industrial or large commercial cogeneration applications greater than 1 MW. When used in cogeneration, the exhaust heat is recovered during the production of steam or hot water. In some cases the exhaust stream is directly used to provide process heat. Excluded are the applications that use gas turbines for central station power production.
III Equipment Options
Gas turbines can be used in a variety of configurations. Simple cycle operation features a single turbine producing power only. Combined heat and power (CHP) operation adds a heat exchanger to recover heat from the turbine exhaust for the production of process steam, hot water, or process heat. Combined cycle operation recovers high-pressure steam from exhaust, that is then used to generate additional power in a steam turbine. Some combined cycles also extract steam at an intermediate pressure for use in industrial processes.
1. Equipment Manufacturer Database
2. Distributed Generation Consortium