CHAPTER3:

STATIONARY
COMBUSTIONSYSTEMS

 At the present time, most of the worlds electricity is produced

using combustion technologies that convert fossil fuels to

electricity.
These technologies have an application both in reducing fossil
fuel consumption and CO2 emissions in the short to medium
term, and as part of largescale combustionsequestration
systems in the future.
These technologies are situated in electrical power plants, and
consist of three main components:
(1) a means of converting fuel to heat, either a combustion

chamber for gasfired systems or a boiler for systems that use water
as the working fluid.
(2) a turbine for converting heat energy to mechanical energy.
(3) a generator for converting mechanical energy to electrical
energy.
Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

 Since fossil fuels are the leading resource for electricity

generation, the majority of all of the worlds electricity is

generated in these facilities.
By nuclear and hydro power plants use these three
components in some measure, although in nuclear power
the heat source for boiling the working fluid is the nuclear
reaction, and in hydro power there is no fuel conversion
component.
At present there exists a strong motivation to develop and
install an efficient new generation of combustionbased
generating systems.

Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

Figure61.Schematicofcomponentsofcoalfiredelectricplant,withconversionofcoal
toelectricityviaboiler,turbine,andgenerator

FundamentalsofCombustionCycleCalculation
Any discussion of combustion cycles begins with a review

of the underlying thermodynamics. Recall that both the

quantity of energy available, or enthalpy, and the quality of
the energy, or entropy, are important for the evaluation of
a thermodynamic cycle.
According to the first law of thermodynamics, energy is
conserved in thermal processes. In an energy conversion
process with no losses, all energy not retained by the
working fluid would be transferred to the application, for
example, mechanical motion of the turbine.
In practical energy equipment, of course, losses will occur,
for example, through heat transfer into and out of
materials that physically contain the working fluid.
Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

 According to the second law of thermodynamics, a

combustion cycle can only return from its initial state of

entropy back to that state with an entropy of equal or
greater value.
A process in which entropy is conserved is called
isentropic.

The Carnot cycle is the most efficient cycle operating

between two specified temperature limits but it is not

a suitable model for power cycles.

Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

THE CARNOT VAPOR CYCLE

The Carnot cycle is the most efficient cycle operating between two specified temperature
limits but it is not a suitable model for power cycles. Because:
Process 1-2 Limiting the heat transfer processes to two-phase systems severely limits the
maximum temperature that can be used in the cycle (374C for water)
Process 2-3 The turbine cannot handle steam with a high moisture content because of the
impingement of liquid droplets on the turbine blades causing erosion and wear.
Process 4-1 It is not practical to design a compressor that handles two phases.
The cycle in (b) is not suitable since it requires isentropic compression to
extremely high pressures and isothermal heat transfer at variable pressures.

1-2 isothermal heat

addition in a boiler
2-3 isentropic expansion
in a turbine
3-4 isothermal heat
rejection in a condenser
4-1 isentropic
compression in a
compressor

T-s diagram of two Carnot vapor cycles.

7

 The Carnot limit provides a useful benchmark for

evaluating the performance of a given thermodynamic

cycle.
Let TH and TL be the high and low temperatures of a
thermodynamic process, for example, the incoming and
outgoing temperature of a working fluid passing through a
turbine.
The Carnot efficiency Carnot is then defined as:
Thermal efficiency th:

Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

Quiz1
A Carnot engine operates between 300C and 40 C. What

is the efficiency of the engine?

A.
B.
C.
D.

87%
65%
45%
30%

c (T H T L ) / TH 1 TL / T H
( 40 273 ) K
.45 45 %
c 1
( 300 273 ) K
Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

10

RankineVaporCycle
The Rankine vapor cycle is the basis for a widely used

combustion cycle that uses coal, fuel oil, or other fuels to

compress and heat water to vapor, and then expand the vapor
through a turbine in order to convert heat to mechanical
energy.
It is named after the Scottish engineer William J.M. Rankine,
who first developed the cycle in 1859.
The following stages occur between states in the cycle:
12 Compression of the fluid using a pump
23 Heating of the compressed fluid to the inlet temperature of

turbine, including increasing temperature to boiling point, and

phase change from liquid to vapor
34 Expansion of the vapor in the turbine
41 Condensation of the vapor in a condenser
Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

11

Figure62.SchematicofcomponentsinsimpleRankinedevice

Figure63.TemperatureentropydiagramfortheidealRankine
cycle

14

15

16

17

 The net work for the cycle and the thermal

efficiency:
Wnet=WturbineWpump or QinQout
Thermal efficiency th =Wnet/Qin

18

Asteampowerplant (Rankinecycle)

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EXAMPLETheSimpleIdealRankineCycle
Consider a steam power plant operating on the simple ideal Rankine cycle.
Steam enters the turbine at 3 MPa and 350C and is condensed in t the
condenser at a pressure of 75 kPa. Determine the thermal efficiency of this
cycle ?

20

21

Thequalityofthismixture,x,istheratio
ofthedifferencebetweenthechangein
entropyfroms4tofluid

22

23

24

BraytonGasCycle
For a gaseous fuel such as natural gas, it is practical to

combust the gas directly in the combustion cycle, rather

than using heat from the gas to convert water to vapor and
then expand the water vapor through a steam turbine.
For this purpose, engineers have developed the gas
turbine, which is based on the Brayton cycle.
This cycle is named after the American engineer George
Brayton, who in the 1870s developed the continuous
combustion process that underlies the combustion
technique used in gas turbines today.
Note that unlike the Rankine cycle, there is no fourth step
required to return the combustion products from the
turbine to the compressor.
Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

25

Figure64.ComponentsinBraytoncycle
Thefollowingstagesoccurbetweenstates:

1.12Airfromtheatmosphereisdrawnin
tothesystemandcompressedtothe
maximumsystempressure.
2.23Fuelisinjectedintothecompressed
air,andthemixtureiscombustedat
constantpressure,heatingittothesystem
maximumtemperature.
3.34Thecombustionproductsare
expandedthroughaturbine,creatingthe
workoutputintheformofthespinning
turbineshaft.

Figure65.TemperatureentropydiagramfortheidealBraytoncycle

IdealBraytonCycleAnalysis
W3 4 W1 2 h3 h4 h1 h2

th
Q23
h3 h2
T

T1 4 1
C p T3 T4 T1 T2
T1
T1 T4

1
1
th
T3 T2
T3
C p T3 T2
T2 1
T2
P2 P3 ; P1 P4

Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

28

 In the Rankine cycle, the amount of work required to

pressurize the water is small, because liquid water is

almost entirely incompressible.
Air entering the Brayton cycle is highly compressible, and
requires more work in order to achieve the pressures
necessary for combustion and expansion.
As with the Rankine cycle, calculating the cycle efficiency
requires calculation of the enthalpy values at each stage of
the cycle. Alternative approaches exist for calculating
enthalpies; here we use the relative pressure of the air or
fuelair mixture at each stage to calculate enthalpy.
The relative pressure is a constant parameter as a function
of temperature for a given gas, as found in the air tables.
Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

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CombinedCycle
The remaining energy in the exhaust from the gas turbine

can be put to some other use in order to increase overall

system output.
If the exhaust gas temperature is sufficiently high, one
innovative application is to boil water for use in a Rankine
cycle, thus effectively powering two cycles with the energy
in the gas that is initially combusted.
This process is called a combined gasvapor cycle, or
simply a combined cycle.
Oklahoma Gas & Electric in the United States first
installed a combinedcycle system at their Belle Isle
Station plant in 1949, and as the cost of natural gas has
risen, so has the interest in this technology in many
countries around the world.
Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

30

Schematicofcombinedcyclesystemcomponents
The combined cycle consists of the
following steps:
1. Gasair mixture is combusted and
expanded through a turbine, as in the
conventional Brayton cycle.
2. The exhaust is transferred to a heat
exchanger where pressurized, unheated
water is introduced at the other end. Heat
is transferred from the gas to the water at
constant pressure so that the water reaches
the desired temperature for the vapor
cycle.
3. Steam exits the heat exchanger to a
steam turbine, and gas exits the heat
exchanger to the atmosphere.
4.Steamisexpandedthroughtheturbine
andreturnedtoacondenserandpump,to
bereturnedtotheheatexchangerathigh
pressure.

Figure68.CombinedcycleTemperatureentropydiagram

Table61.Thermalefficiencyatdesignoperatingconditionsfora
selectionofcombinedcyclepowerplants

CogenerationSystem,CombinedHeatandPower(CHP)

34

Figure614.SchematicofCornellcombinedheatandpowerprojectwithgasturbine,
steamturbine,anddistrictheatingsystemforcampusbuildings

Source: Cornell University Utilities & Energy Management. Reprinted with permission.

Listoflargestpowerstationsintheworld
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_power_stations_in_the_world

Shoaiba poweranddesalinationplant
Primary fuel

fueloil

Units operational

14

Capacity

5,600 MW

36

ClassSeminarsandDiscussion
Presentation 2: Brayton Gas Cycle, Gas Turbine Technologies
Presentation 3: Combined Heat and Power Plant(CHP)
Presentation 4: Energy Software Tools

Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

37