Energy Conversion and Management 104 (2015) 115–126

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Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

A Humid Air Turbine–Organic Rankine Cycle combined cycle

for distributed microgeneration
Ricardo Chacartegui ⇑, José A. Becerra, Maria J. Blanco, José M. Muñoz-Escalona
Department of Energy Engineering, University of Seville, Seville, Spain

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper analyses the integration of Humid Air microturbine and an Organic Rankine Cycle in a
Available online 29 June 2015 combined cycle for distributed generation. This integration concept maximizes heat recovery at the
exhaust of the micro gas turbine combining the capacities for medium temperature heat recovery of
Keywords: the Organic Rankine Cycle and low temperature heat recovery of the Humid Air Turbine.
HAT The integration analysis based on different sets of organic fluids and different recovery temperatures
Humid Air Turbine showed that the optimal combination was achieved using toluene and R245fa for medium and low tem-
ORC
perature Organic Rankine Cycles respectively. Their combination with the low temperature heat recovery
Organic Rankine Cycle
Combined cycle
at the Humid Air Turbine saturator maximizes the heat recovery profile from the exhaust gases.
Distributed generation The calculations carried out reveal a 25% improvement in net power output of the dual cycle compared
to the standalone Humid Air microturbine. Such improvement also affects to global efficiency, increasing
it up to 52% in the optimal configuration, above the 41% estimated for the standalone Humid Air Turbine
and the 33% rated efficiency of the state of art microturbine Capstone C200. The economic analysis shows
that these increases in efficiency and power values make the proposed concept highly competitive, with a
15% reduction in the Levelized Cost of Electricity compared with the standalone Humid Air Turbine and a
reduction of 30% compared with the micro gas turbine base case.
The presented results show this novel integration as a very promising solution for distributed genera-
tion applications at power range under 200 kW, due to its relative simplicity and cost.
Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction in the review on humidified gas turbines cycles by Jonsson and

The distributed generation emerged as a different approach to
traditional power generation, aiming to reduce distribution losses
and favour dispersed generation against dependency from a few
large production facilities. The idea is to generate electricity and
heat right where and when needed, avoiding long distance trans-
port from the source and its associated parasitic losses.
Furthermore, it could take advantage from local resources such
as solar, geothermal or biomass. Despite the good perspectives, it
still presents major technical challenges such as grid integration,
competitive electricity cost, higher efficiencies in small power
plants, or adequate control of local contamination.
Microturbine based power plants are currently one of the tech-
nologies with higher potential for distributed generation.
Converting them into Humid Air Turbine cycles, HAT cycle, is a rel-
atively inexpensive option that offers a significant performance
improvement for different layouts and integrations as presented
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: ricardoch@us.es (R. Chacartegui), jabv@us.es (J.A. Becerra).
Yan [1]. The improved performance of the HAT cycles is due to
their exceptional exhaust heat recovery potential, as shown in
[2]. The heat in the turbine exhaust gases is partly recovered for
liquid water heating, which is subsequently evaporated into the
main turbine inlet gases increasing the output power and effi-
ciency [3], with investment costs clearly lower than the equivalent
combined cycles [4].
The suitability of these cycles for different applications, as well
as their integration with different technologies, has been studied in
recent years in high performance systems. Its use has been pro-
posed for medium temperature fuel cells, with the integration of
Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell and HAT cycle [5], and for high temper-
ature fuel cells, integrating Solid Oxide Fuel Cell and HAT cycle [6].
These works show a very promising expected performance, with
higher efficiencies than those obtained in integrations with other
gas turbine cycles [7]. In [8], HAT cycle integration was proposed
with a solar system for methanol decomposition in syngas fuel. It
showed an improved performance due to the predicted better
combustion of syngas fuel. In [9], the study of a chemical looping
combustion (CLC) integrated with a HAT cycle for a natural

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2015.06.064
0196-8904/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
116 R. Chacartegui et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 104 (2015) 115–126
Nomenclature
a ORC1/ORC2 mass flow fraction
Eco economizer
Eta efficiency
f exhaust gases mass fraction derived to the ORC in
layouts A and B
HAT Humid Air Turbine
HRSG heat recovery steam generator
HXHT medium temperature ORC cycle heat exchanger
HXLT low temperature ORC cycle heat exchanger
IRR Internal Rate of Return
LCOE Levelized Cost of Energy
MGT micro gas turbine
NPV Net Present Value
ORC Organic Rankine Cycle
P pump
PR pressure ratio
Rec recuperator
SAT saturator unit
gas-fired power plant with CO2 capture was proposed. This work
showed that the CLC–HAT including CO2 capture reach a thermal
efficiency of 57% at an oxidizing temperature of 1200 °C and a
reducer inlet temperature of 530 °C. The integration of a modified
HAT cycle with an externally fired heater that could be used for
fuels like biomass or coal was studied in [10]. In the same line,
the study of optimized integrations for an externally fired HAT
cycle was addressed in [11]. A combined steam/CO2 gas turbine
cycle for CO2 capture, with a configuration close to the STIG and
HAT combined cycles, was proposed in [12]. Overall, the HAT cycle
is characterized by its simplicity and the low temperature heat
recovery capacity. In a previous work by Lazzaretto and Segato
[13], the optimization of a HAT cycle plant structure was analysed
aiming to maximize the total plant efficiency examining the heat
transfer flows structure. A modification of the HAT cycle layout
integrated with the inverted Brayton cycle was analysed by Wan
et al. [14].
Organic Rankine Cycles (ORC) are based on fluids with lower
boiling pressure than water, used as refrigerants and fuels among
others [15]. They are used in multiple low-grade heat recovery
applications in which the hot source temperature is too low to
make a steam Rankine cycle operate with reasonable efficiency.
They have been proposed for integration in different applications
for heat recovery at medium and low temperatures. In [16] a
biomass-fired CHP system with Organic Rankine Cycle is analysed
with three selected dry organic working fluids. In [17] a review of
small-scale and micro-scale biomass-fuelled CHP systems charac-
teristics is presented. It shows that ORCs present interesting
advantages compared with other generation technologies at this
scale. In [18], a combined thermodynamic cycle for waste heat
recovery of internal combustion engine is proposed. It consists of
two cycles: an ORC, for recovering the waste heat of lubricant
and high-temperature exhaust gas; and the Kalina cycle, for recov-
ering the waste heat of low-temperature cooling water. In [19], a
similar analysis is presented for a vehicular light-duty diesel
engine with a dual loop ORC, which recovers waste heat from the
engine exhaust, intake air, and coolant. A high temperature loop
recovers the exhaust heat, whereas a low temperature loop recov-
ers the residual heat from the high temperature loop and the waste
heat from both the intake air and the coolant. In [20] a novel con-
cept for concentrated solar power plants is proposed based on the
use of standalone supercritical carbon dioxide cycles and the use of
combined cycle with a topping carbon dioxide gas turbine and a
TIT turbine inlet temperature
W power
Subindexes
air atmospheric air stream
component each of the different species within a certain flow
evap vaporisation conditions
global total pressure of a stream
H2O water
in saturator inlet stream
liquid liquid water stream
N2 gaseous nitrogen
O2 gaseous oxygen
out saturator outlet stream
ref reference temperature for property calculations
saturationsaturation conditions
wetbulb wet bulb conditions
bottoming ORC. The combination of an ORC, with different types
of solar collectors, and a Reverse Osmosis unit for solar desalina-
tion is analysed in [21]. In [22], the potential of heat recovery in
micro-gas turbines is studied through the addition of a bottoming
Organic Rankine Cycle at the exhaust gases. An ORC integration
with fuel cells is studied in [23], where a trigeneration plant based
on Solid Oxide Fuel Cell and Organic Rankine Cycle is analysed. The
potential for installation of ORCs in cement, steel, glass, and oil and
gas industries in the European Union is estimated in [24].
In the following sections, a novel integration of a HAT microtur-
bine with an ORC cycle for distributed power generation applica-
tions is analysed. The theoretical results show an outstanding
performance of the combined cycle compared to other small and
middle size power generation systems maintaining a relative
simplicity.
2. Humid Air Turbine cycle
Humid Air Turbine cycles research goal was to increase output
power and efficiency without compromising the simple setup of
small and medium power generation. Proposed cycles, like
CHENG and STIG use the residual heat at the turbine outlet to gen-
erate steam in a set of heat exchangers. The steam is later injected
into the gas turbine, before or after the combustion chamber,
obtaining an extra flow rate for expansion in the gas turbine with-
out an extra power consumption of the compressor. With such
fairly simple setup, two goals are achieved. Firstly, an increase on
power output due to the extra flow through the turbine; secondly,
an increase of efficiency due to the recovery of low grade heat at
the turbine outlet that otherwise would be wasted. However, these
cycle setups have two main drawbacks since their heat recovery
systems are conditioned by the cycle pressure and the pinch point
in heat exchangers. The former parameter controls the steam gen-
eration pressure and hence the cycle injection point; the latter reg-
ulates the maximum amount of heat that can be recovered, taking
into account the steam generation in the different components of
the HRSG [2].
The HAT cycles are based in the same principle: generation of
an augmented mass flow rate for expansion in the gas turbine.
Nevertheless, this principle of operation does not involve heat
exchangers but a saturator unit, with preheated liquid water
instead of steam. Overall it provides a better performance than
the CHENG [25] and STIG [26] variants.
 R. Chacartegui et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 104 (2015) 115–126 117

Air/Gas

TURBINE
CC
Water

COMPRESSOR

SAT REC

ECO

Fig. 1. HAT cycle layout.

A simple HAT cycle setup for small power applications is based Water spray
on a simple regenerative cycle, including compressor, combustor, Dropplets separator
gas turbine, and regenerative heat exchanger, as shown in Fig. 1.
A saturator unit is inserted between compressor and the combus- Water inlet
tion chamber. A second heat exchanger, the economizer, is added Air exhaust
for preheating the liquid water before injecting it in the saturator
[27].
There are several builds and configurations for the saturator
unit. The most extended, and relatively simple one, is a tubular col- Heat transfer
umn in which the compressed air inlet is located in the lower sec- Packing material
tion. Preheated liquid water is sprayed from the top of the column, Air intake
producing a cross flow system between the air moving upwards
and the water droplets falling downwards. Throughout the length
of the saturator column, mass and energy exchanges take place
between the two streams similarly to those currents in a Air Intake
cross-flow system. Liquid water is evaporated and incorporated Water drainage
to the air flow due to the difference in partial pressures between Water outlet
the air flow and water droplets. Hence, the lower the relative
humidity of the inlet atmospheric air the more effective this unit Fig. 2. Saturator layout.
becomes. In contrast with STIG and CHENG setups, temperature
is not the main driving force of the evaporation but it plays an
important role. The higher the compressed air temperature is, includes packing materials in order to increase heat transfer con-
the higher the saturation limit becomes, and hence, the larger tact area between the cross flows. The water spray piping and
the amount of water that can be evaporated from the liquid water the air outlet are located in the upper section. A droplet separator
spray [4]. unit can also be added to remove the water droplets in the exhaust
A schematic of the saturator with the processes that take part in air stream that could damage combustion chamber or hamper the
each section is shown can be seen in Fig. 2. The lower part of the combustion process itself [3].
unit allows for the inlet of the compressed air flow and the drai- The main parameters for saturator operation are: water inlet
nage of the liquid water. The middle part is the section where most temperature, air inlet temperature, and the difference between
of the heat and energy transfers take place, so it frequently them [28]. Experimental works study the performance of these
118 R. Chacartegui et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 104 (2015) 115–126

parameters for a pressurized saturator [29] and a counter flow In order to obtain force output conditions as close as possible to
spray saturator [30]. The air inlet temperature determines the real behaviour, the correction proposed in [3] is applied in Eq. (6),
stream wet bulb temperature and, therefore, the amount of water and a pressure drop of 2%, due to saturator internal packing, is
vapour that the air stream can absorb. However it also forces a implemented in Eq. (7).
higher water outlet temperature and a lower global heat recovery.
An illustration of these phenomena is shown in Fig. 3. T H2 O;out ¼ T wetbulb þ5 ð6Þ
air;in
All the thermodynamic and mass transfer processes take part
in the contact interfaces between the air and the sprayed water
droplets. However, there is heat transfer from the bulk air and pair;in ¼ pair;in  ð1  Dp2% Þ ð7Þ
water streams to and from the interface that heats up or cools
down each of the streams. In the lower region, the dry air Close to the saturation conditions, air behaviour is better
encounters the water stream and the difference in water partial described by real gas equations than by ideal gas laws. According
pressures triggers evaporation of water into the air stream. This to [28] more water than in the ideal case will evaporate so the cor-
initial mass transfer is slow due to the small temperature differ- rection of Dalton’s law by the so-called enhancement factor will be
ence between the two streams and the low energy available, so a needed Eq. (8):
slight cool down of the bulk air stream may take place. As the air
stream enters the middle part, the higher temperature of the psaturation ðT air;out Þ
xH2 O;saturation ¼ f  ð8Þ
water stream triggers a higher evaporation rate until the air pglobal
stream reaches saturation conditions. Until this point, the whole
Both wet-bulb temperature and enhancement factor have been
exchange has been predominantly based on latent heat.
taken from empirical tables published by ASHRAE [34]. With this
However in the top and final saturator stage, the two streams
set of equations and lookup tables, the problem is fully defined,
exchange sensible heat transferred from the water stream into
being output water and air stream properties the unknowns.
the air stream [31]. An adequate understanding of these mecha-
The main advantage of these cycles for small power generation
nisms allows a correct modelling of saturator performance and
(around 100 kW) is the increase of efficiency and power output
humidification process [32].
obtained in the microturbine only by the addition of the saturator
The progressive heat exchange and mass transfer during the ini-
and a heat exchanger. Its principle of operation facilitates the low
tial stages of the evaporator is more efficient in terms of energy,
grade heat recovery, which does not depend on the operation pres-
than on commons heat exchangers. Due to the nature of the flows,
sure of the heat recovery system, but on the partial pressure of
the pinch point condition does not apply and a closer match of
water within the air stream. The additional water drained from
temperature profiles is achieved, leading to an improved heat
the saturator can also be used for residential heating or side pro-
recovery with less irreversibility [33].
cesses [35].
The modelling of the cycle is based on the physical principles
HAT cycle does also have a beneficial effect on emissions. The
described in [5]. The saturator is modelled as a lumped volume
increased water content of the air stream reduces the NOx forma-
to which global and species mass conservation equations and glo-
tion in the combustion process. It dilutes the oxygen concentration
bal energy balances apply, Eqs. (1)–(3) respectively.
on the air stream leading to a lower flame temperature than in the
   simple cycle scenario [36]. That fact improves cycle power output
mair;out ¼ mair;in þ mH2 O;ev ap ð1Þ
characteristics at high atmospheric temperature. Whereas in sim-
  ple cycles there is a penalisation with increasing temperatures
mO2 ;in ¼ mO2 ;out due to the extra work required in the compressor, the presence
 
mN2 ;in ¼ mN2 ;out ð2Þ of the saturator counteracts this effect by achieving higher humid-
   ification rates [37].
mH2 O;ev ap ¼ mH2 O;liquid;in  mH2 O;liquid;out As a drawback, this cycle requires a constant clean water supply
and an optional condensate water recovery system at the exhaust.
 
mO2 ;in  CpO2 ;in  ðT air;in  T ref Þ þ mN2 ;in  CpN2 ;in  ðT air;in  T ref Þ If non-distillate water is used, the application must be then limited
 to low pressure ratios and limited turbine inlet temperatures to
þ mH2 O;in  CpH2 O;in  ðT H2 O;in  T ref Þ avoid damages and life reduction of the components.
 
¼ mO2 ;in  CpO2 ;out  ðT air;out  T ref Þ þ mN2 ;out  CpN2 ;out  ðT air;out  T ref Þ
 
þ mH2 O;ev ap  CpH2 O;in  ðT air;in  T ref Þ þ mH2 O;out  CpH2 O;out

 ðT H2 O;out  T ref Þ þ mH2 O;ev ap  Dhev ap;Tair;out ð3Þ
The calculation of specific heat capacity for each element
involves the determination of partial pressures and temperatures.
Dalton’s partial pressures law is used in Eq. (4). In addition, the
water partial pressure and temperature within the outlet air
stream verify Eq. (5). Water content is dictated by saturation pres-
sure at the temperature of the air stream, and its maximum partial
pressure must be equal to its saturation pressure.

pair;in ¼ pO2 ;in þ pN2 ;in

P air;in ¼ PO2 ;out þ P N2 ;out þ P H2 O;out ð4Þ
P component;i ¼ xcomponent;i  pglobal

pH2 O;ev ap ¼ psaturation ðT air;out Þ ð5Þ Fig. 3. Effect of air inlet temperature on the air and water outlet stream
temperatures.
 R. Chacartegui et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 104 (2015) 115–126 119

3. Organic Rankine Cycles Table 2

Organic Rankine Cycles main parameters values.

Organic Rankine Cycles (ORC) use low boiling temperature Organic fluid Tmax (K) Tcrit (K) Pcrit (bar) P3max (bar) P1 (bar)
working fluids whose low boiling temperature allows for a higher Toluene 671.9 591.7 41.26 31.16 0.05
efficiency at low/middle temperatures than those obtained with a Cyclohexane 560.7 553.6 40.75 32.67 0.16
conventional steam Rankine cycle. The majority of these fluids are n-Hexane 491 507.9 30.58 26.63 0.25
Isopentane 448 460.4 33.7 27.87 1.09
classified as refrigerants or hydrocarbons [38]. Two main groups of
R245fa – 427.2 36.51 23.33 1.77
organic fluids were selected in this work: one set for medium tem- Isobutane 413.3 407.8 36.4 22.5 4.05
perature applications with Toluene n-heptane, Pentane, Benzene, MDM 561 564.5 14.4 13.75
Cyclopentane, Cyclohexane and MDM Syloxane, and other one
for low temperature applications with R245fa, R134a, R152a,
Isobutene, R113, R1234yf, R1234ze, n pentane and isobutene. The
properties of the organic fluids selected for this study are pre- mix before the low temperature ORC, which is placed before the
sented in Table 1. HAT economizer. This configuration, depending on the derived
The operating limits for the fluids and the cycle used in this fraction of exhaust gases, maximizes the heat exchange recovery,
work are presented in Table 2. These ranges have been set taken taking maximum advantage of the medium temperature ORC
into account the stability limits of the fluids. Information about cycle. The low temperature ORC cycle recovers part of the available
organic fluids selection and performance in ORC can be seen in pre- heat constrained by the heat exchangers design and, with the econ-
vious works applied to solar applications [20], combined cycles omizer, they compensate efficiency decreases in the upstream heat
[41], fuel cells hybrid systems [42] , to low grade thermal energy exchangers.
recovery [43], focused on the fluid properties [44] and their effect The whole system has been modelled and simulated using EES
on cycle’s performance[45]. The critical temperature and T–s dia- (Engineering Equation Software), which also allows for optimiza-
gram shape are the most important parameters in the selection tion procedure implementation where needed. The optimization
of the organic fluid for a particular application with a given tem- method selected and applied here is a genetic algorithm, whose
perature. The T–s diagram dictates the behaviour of the fluid dur- objective function is the maximization of global efficiency. The val-
ing the expansion on the turbine, particularly the slope of the ues assumed for each of the cycle parameters are expressed in
curve that separates de liquid–vapour phase from the superheated Table 3. They have been taken within the usual commercial ranges
vapour one. If that slope is negative, the fluid is named a wet fluid for the integrated technologies. It is worth mentioning that this
as it is likely to get in the liquid–vapour phase in the last stages of kind of algorithms classifies within the exhaustive methods of
expansion originating droplets that might damage the turbine. If searching, so they take to either a global or a local optimum. For
the slope is positive, then the fluid is named a dry fluid, meaning that reason, sensitivity analyses have been performed to cover
that the expansion will end in the superheated vapour region. any possible exogenous case.
In the following analyses, the majority of results are shown for
toluene and R245fa. Among the selected fluids, the toluene, a
4. Power plant. Systems integration
hydrocarbon, was the one that gives a better performance for this
application in its stability range. The R245fa, a refrigerant, was
The plant layout proposed here comprises a microturbine based
selected because of its commercial availability, its stability within
HAT cycle with a bottoming ORC cycle for low grade heat recovery,
the cycle operation range, and its vapour pressure over the atmo-
and an economizer for heating the water before it enters the satu-
spheric pressure at ambient temperature. They are dry fluids [39]
rator. The energy carried out by microturbine exhaust gases will
and their critical temperature and pressure allow exploration of
need to be distributed between both cycles: regeneration and liq-
the heat recovery ranges of interest in this study [40].
uid water preheating in the HAT case, and additional energy pro-
The compressor inlet mass flow is assumed to be constant and
duction in the ORC case. There are four heat exchangers,
equal to 1 kg/s for the whole analysis. The composition of the com-
recuperator (R1) and economizer (R2) in the HAT cycle and two
pressor inlet air is assumed to be that of standard atmospheric air
heat exchangers (HXHT, HXHT) for the ORC cycles.
with a 60% relative humidity.
The integration layout presented in this paper is shown in
Combinations of organic fluids following the proposed layout
Figs. 4 and 5. It locates the heat exchangers to reduce the gap tem-
and operating under different sets of optimized parameters were
perature between the fluid streams, maximizing the heat transfer
checked to identify those with a better integration with the HAT
efficiency and hence the global cycle performance. Exhaust gases
cycle. Figs. 6 and 7 show the effect of the derived fraction of
stream is divided in two streams downstream the microturbine
exhaust gases towards the ORC cycle, with fixed pressure ratio
and before the HAT regeneration unit. The derived fraction evolves
and TIT on the HAT cycle, for different combinations of organic flu-
by the medium temperature ORC heat exchanger and the main
ids in medium and low temperature ORC. The values of PR and TIT
fraction is directed to the recuperator. Both exhaust gases streams
for the analyses have been selected within the commercial ranges
for radial air compressors and turbines. The exhaust gases derived
Table 1 fraction towards the ORC cycle (f) has been identified as the main
Organic Rankine Cycles working fluids properties. parameter for heat recovery systems integration. Derivation of part
Organic M Autoignition LFL UFL GWP ODP of the flue gas after the regenerator implies that less heat is avail-
fluid (g/mol) (K) (%v) (%v) able for saturator hot water generation and a lower humidity grade
Toluene 92.14 695 1.1 7.1 na na in the air stream is achieved. That is reflected in Figs. 6 and 7,
Cyclohexane 84.16 518 1.3 8.4 na na where a decaying HAT efficiency with increasing exhaust gases
n-Hexane 86.18 496 1.1 7.5 fraction derived to the ORC in the toluene case is shown. The
Isopentane 72.15 693 1.4 7.6 HAT efficiency decay can be as high as 50% for the highest of the
R245fa 134 – – – 950 0
Isobutane 58 693 1.8 8.4 3 0
considered temperatures, dropping to 20% from an initial value
R134a 102 NF (770) 1300 0 of 40%.
R152a 66 3.9 16.9 140 0 The global cycle, however, does not follow the same trend. The
R1234yf 114 678 6.5 12.3 4 ORC contribution compensates partially the HAT cycle decreasing
120 R. Chacartegui et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 104 (2015) 115–126

Fig. 4. Micropower plant. Proposed layouts.

Fig. 5. Micropower plant. ORC schematic.

performance, making the overall cycle efficiency grow slightly
when the ORC fraction is between 0.15 and 0.3 depending on the
temperature. After that point, it stabilises as the ORC effect barely
compensates for the poor performance of the HAT cycle.
In Fig. 6, the global efficiency of the cycle with toluene as ORC
topping cycle and three different organic fluids at the ORC bottom-
ing cycle, R245fa, R152a and R134a, is represented. It shows that
the R245fa is the organic fluid, of those analysed in this work,
which better performs for the ORC bottoming cycle. This behaviour
is repeated under different fluids and combinations of parameters
(TIT, PR, ORC pressures. . .).
The effect of the flue gas derived fraction on global efficiency
with R245fa as bottoming ORC fluid and toluene, cyclohexane,
and MDM Syloxane as ORC topping cycle fluids, is represented in
Fig. 7. The toluene is the organic fluid, in this study, which better
performs in the integration for the ORC topping cycle. This beha-
viour is repeated under different fluids and combinations of
parameters. Therefore, for the rest of analysis presented in this
 R. Chacartegui et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 104 (2015) 115–126 121

Table 3 0,52
HAT and ORC cycles design parameters. HAT+Toluene+R245fa
Variable Value
0,5

DPHeat Exchangers (%) 2 0,48

DPSaturator (%) 0.7
gTurbine, mechanical loss (%) 99.5
0,46 HAT+Cyclohexane+R245fa

η (%)
gTurbine, isentropic (%) 87.5
HAT+MDM+R245fa
gCompressor, mechanical loss (%) 99.5
0,44
gCompressor, isentropic (%) 87.5
gPump, mechanical loss (%) 96
gPump, isentropic (%) 76 0,42
eNTU 0.9
0,4
ORC maximum TIT (°C)
Toluene 218
0,38
R245fa 139 0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4
forc

paper, only results for a toluene ORC topping cycle and R245 ORC Fig. 7. Working fluids selection. Effect on global efficiency of the derived exhaust
gases fraction with different organic fluids combinations for the ORC topping cycle
bottoming cycle will be shown.
at TIT 1323 K and PR 2.5.
In Fig. 8, the effect of the exhaust gases fraction derived to the
medium temperature ORC (fORC) with respect to HAT pressure ratio
is shown for the ORC configuration toluene/R245fa and for config-
0,52
uration R245fa/R245fa. The latter was introduced to show the
results obtained operating with a single ORC fluid have some
0,5 Toluene+R245fa
advantages from the point of view of the integration design and
PR 3
management. On the last configuration, global efficiency values 0,48
are a 5% lower than the obtained with the combination PR 4
toluene/R245fa. 0,46 PR 2
Due to the recuperative configuration of the microturbine, with η PR 2.5

lower pressure ratios within the range under study, a higher cycle 0,44 PR 3
performances are obtained. The smaller pressure ratio increases R245fa+R245fa
0,42
the available heat at the turbine exhaust, the air temperature at PR 2
the recuperator exhaust, and also the ORC available temperature. 0,4
The global efficiency has a clear fORC optimum value around 0.16,
where differences in global efficiency at different pressures are 0,38
more relevant. For the pressure ratio, the maximum differences 0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4
are of 4 and 5 percentage points for the toluene and the R245fa forc
based ORC cycle respectively. The performance with the derived
Fig. 8. Effect on global efficiency of the exhaust gases fraction to ORC at different PR
mass fraction is triggered by the simultaneous effect of a slight
and TIT 1323 K.
drop in HAT cycle performance and a steady rise in ORC cycle con-
tribution at low derivation fractions.
Fig. 9 illustrates pressure ratio effect on HAT and combined ORC
0,45 0,4
efficiency for the whole range of fORC. The higher the pressure ratio
PR 4 PR 4
is, the more efficient the cycle becomes, rising from a 34% with a PR 3
0,4
pressure ratio of 2 to a 41%, just by increasing the ratio to 4. The PR 3 PR 2.5
PR 2
efficiency variation of the HAT cycle with pressure ratio is higher PR 2.5
0,35 0,3
than for the combined ORC. The global efficiency of the combined
η HATturbine

PR 2

0,3 η ORC

0,52 0,25 0,2

HAT+Toluene+R245fa
0,5
0,2
HAT+Toluene+R152a
0,48
0,15 0,1
0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4
0,46
η (%)

HAT+Toluene+R134a forc
0,44
Fig. 9. HAT parameters. Effect on the HAT cycle efficiency and the combined ORC
efficiency of the exhaust gases fraction to ORC at different PR and TIT 1323 K.
0,42

0,4
ORC cycle reaches similar values to the HAT cycle, compensating
0,38 the decrease of efficiency of the HAT cycle. Overall, with this con-
0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 figuration the cycle efficiency improves from a 38% to values above
forc 50% by addition of the double ORC cycle integration.
The behaviour of the curves for the global ORC is explained via
Fig. 6. Working fluids selection. Effect on global efficiency of the derived exhaust
gases fraction with different organic fluids combinations for the ORC bottoming
the relative contribution of the topping and bottoming ORC cycles,
cycle at TIT 1323 K and PR 2.5. depending on the fraction of the exhaust gases derived. In Fig. 10,
122 R. Chacartegui et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 104 (2015) 115–126

200 35 550

30 500
150
PR 2
25 Teg;HXHT;out

W ORC;HXLT
W ORC;HXHT
PR 2.5 450

T (K)
Teg;HXLT;in
100 PR 3
20
400
PR 4
15 Teg;HXHT;out
50 PR 4
350
PR 2.5
PR 3 10 Teg;HXLT;out
PR 2

0 5 300
0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4
forc forc

Fig. 10. ORC parameters. Effect of the exhaust gases fraction to ORC in the net shaft work of the topping and bottoming ORC cycles (left) and HXLT and HXHT exchangers
temperatures at different HAT PR and TIT 1323 K.

420
1200
400

T i0;HXLT[i], T i;HXLT[i]
Exhaust Gases
1000 380
Exhaust Gases
360 P3 20 bar
800
T (K)

P3b 8,7 bar

340
P3 20 bar P3 40 bar
P3 70 bar
P3 70 bar
P3 40 bar
600 P3 70 bar 320
P3 40 bar
P3 20 bar 300
HRVG
400 280
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 20 40 60 80 100 120

QHRVG [%] Q HRVG%;HXLT[i]

Fig. 11. T–Q diagrams for the medium (left) and low (right) temperature ORC exchangers (HXLT, HXHT) at different ORC topping cycle pressures PR 2.5 and TIT 1323 K.

Table 4
Effect of PR on the HAT/ Toluene/ R245fa at TIT 1323 K and fORC 0.16.

PR aORC 100 gGlobal (%) gORC (%) gHAT (%) WSystem (kW) WHAT (kW) WORC (kW) H2Om (g/s) WORC1 (kW) WORC2 (kW)
1.5 45.23 51.06 32.85 21.6 130.7 55.28 75.43 30.72 66.58 8.85
1.83 44.21 52.1 32.62 29.93 169.1 97.13 71.93 38.62 63.18 8.75
2.17 43.11 52.3 32.37 34.11 199.1 129.9 69.24 45.61 60.48 8.76
2.5 40.98 51.98 31.86 36.32 223.9 156.5 67.47 51.99 58.27 9.21
2.83 39.11 51.62 31.39 37.69 244.7 178.7 66.03 57.81 56.39 9.63
3.17 37.45 51.26 30.96 38.6 262.4 197.6 64.82 63.16 54.78 10.04
3.5 35.96 50.89 30.56 39.21 277.8 214 63.79 68.14 53.36 10.43
3.83 34.61 50.54 30.18 39.63 291.4 228.5 62.91 72.79 52.11 10.8
4.17 33.37 50.21 29.83 39.92 303.4 241.3 62.15 77.17 50.98 11.17
4.5 32.24 49.89 29.49 40.13 314.2 252.7 61.48 81.32 49.96 11.52

the shaft power for the bottoming and topping ORC cycles on the
0,55 350
left hand side scale, and the flue gases temperatures at the ORC
HAT+Toluene+ R245fa
0,5 heat recovery exchangers (HXLT and HXHT) on the right hand side
one are presented. The trends shown in these figures explain the
300
0,45 HAT+Toluene relatively flat shape of the global efficiency and the increase of
Wcycle (kW)

HAT+Toluene+ R245fa the combined ORC cycle efficiency when the flue gases derived
0,4
η HAT+ R245fa 250 fraction is increased until it saturates. This can be explained by
HAT+Toluene
0,35 the temperature evolution and mass flow constrained by pinch
point in the low temperature ORC cycle and by the inlet gases, as
0,3 in a conventional vapour generator, for the medium temperature
200
OCR cycle.
0,25 HAT+ R245fa
The temperature–percentage of heat exchanged, T–Q diagrams,
0,2 150 of the HRVGs are presented in Fig. 11, medium temperature ORC
0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4
heat exchanger (HXHT) on the left and low temperature ORC heat
forc exchanger (HXLT) on the right. In the case of medium temperature
ORC, pressures above critical pressure are allowed by the inlet flue
Fig. 12. Effect on Global Efficiency of the exhaust gases fraction to ORC at PR 2.5
and TIT 1323 K. gas conditions. In the figure, the T–Q diagrams for 20, 40 and 70 bar
 R. Chacartegui et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 104 (2015) 115–126 123

0,55 The PR and TIT values correspond to those used in commercial

0,5 TIT 1323 K
0,45 TIT 1273 K
TIT 1173 K
0,4
η TIT 1323 K
0,35 TIT 1273 K
TIT 1173 K
HAT Efficiency
0,3 TIT 1023 K
0,25
0,2
0 0,1 0,2
forc
Fig. 13. Effect on global efficiency and HAT efficiency of the exhaust gases fraction
to ORC at different TIT and PR 3.
are represented. The low temperature ORC inlet temperatures are
conditioned by the upstream heat exchange, only allowing subcrit-
ical operation, at an optimum pressure of 8.7 bar. In this case, the
mass flow is imposed by the pinch point at the evaporator inlet.
In Table 4, the main parameters as function of the HAT cycle
pressure ratio are presented.
Table 4 shows that there is a pressure ratio that maximizes the
global efficiency. Pressure ratios above this optimum value reduce
the heat recovery efficiency in the HAT cycle recuperative heat
exchanger, R1, due to the lower turbine exhaust temperature,
while pressure ratios values below the optimum penalises the
HAT cycle efficiency.
In Fig. 12, the global efficiency and the net shaftwork of the
cycle are presented, comparing the effect of different integrations
for the HAT and ORC cycles: HAT and medium temperature ORC
with Toluene, HAT and low temperature ORC with R245fa, and
the three of them integrated together. The analysis focuses on
the relative improvement of incorporating heat recovery with
radial air compressors and radial turbines. The effect of the TIT On
the global and HAT efficiencies is presented in Fig. 13.
Global Efficiency
This figure shows a tendency to lower values of the optimum
mass flow fraction with lower TIT. Fig. 13 also shows that whereas
the optimum is clear for a HAT turbine inlet temperature of 1323 K,
with an efficiency value above 52%, for a TIT of 1023 K the curve is
TIT 1023 K
flatter around the optimum value with value around 40%.
The presented global efficiency values are highly competitive
compared to other thermal engines of similar power range. The
efficiency improvement is clear when compared with the state of
the art microturbine Capstone C200 (similar rated power output
200 kW) and 33% rated efficiency value. In comparison with stan-
0,3 0,4 dalone HAT cycle the efficiency improvement is around 10%,
obtaining an optimum global system efficiency around 52%.
Although similar efficiencies can be obtained with other dis-
tributed generation systems, such as hybrid fuel cells, the proposed
integration is clearly a less complex and is based on less expensive
technology.
Table 5 shows the main parameters as a function of the HAT
cycle turbine inlet temperature.
From this table, it can be appreciated how the combined cycle
efficiency is high even for relative low temperatures, reaching val-
ues that are competitive with other applications of distributed
generation.
These good performance capabilities of the proposed layout
triggered an extra analysis on one of the main drawbacks of real
implementation of this cycle: the high quality of water needed
for saturator operation. In [5] some options were analysed, but
0,08
H2O exhaust gases 1223 K
0,06
mH2O (kg/s)

H2O exhaust gases 1023 K

ORC at medium temperature, low temperature or both of them.
In Fig. 12, can be clearly appreciated the interest of the double
ORC integration and the effect of the mass flow derivation. The glo- H2O saturator 1223K
bal efficiency is increased compared to the simpler options in more 0,04
than 4 percentage points. The integration with a derived fraction of
exhaust gases increases the efficiency in more than 15% compared H2O saturator 1023K

with the HAT and low temperature ORC cycle operating with
R245fa. This is due to the heat recovery chain that results from this 0,02
integration: recuperative heat exchanger of the HAT cycle R1 in 1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5 4
PR
parallel with the medium temperature ORC heat exchangers
(HXHT) followed by the low temperature ORC heat exchanger Fig. 14. Effect on evaporated water in the saturator and generated water in the
(HXLT), and the low temperature heat recovery at the HAT cycle absorption as function of PR at different TIT.
economizer R2.

Table 5
Effect of TIT on the HAT/Toluene/R245fa at PR 3 and fORC 0.16.

TIT (K) aORC 100 gGlobal (%) gORC (%) gHAT (%) W System (kW) WHAT (kW) WORC (kW) H2Om (g/s) WORC1 (kW) WORC2 (kW)
1323 40.98 51.98 31.86 36.32 223.9 156.5 67.47 51.99 58.27 9.21
1290 41.52 50.76 31.99 35.52 214 149.8 64.26 51.63 55.66 8.60
1256 42.14 49.52 32.14 34.71 204.2 143.1 61.06 51.27 53.07 7.99
1223 42.85 48.27 32.31 33.89 194.3 136.4 57.89 50.89 50.5 7.39
1190 43.67 47.01 32.5 33.06 184.5 129.7 54.74 50.5 47.96 6.79
1156 44.62 45.72 32.72 32.21 174.7 123.1 51.62 50.1 45.43 6.19
1123 45.75 44.41 32.97 31.35 164.9 116.4 48.52 49.69 42.93 5.59
1090 47.09 43.08 33.26 30.46 155.2 109.7 45.45 49.28 40.46 4.99
1056 48.71 41.71 33.60 29.55 145.5 103.1 42.41 48.85 38.01 4.39
1023 50.70 40.29 34.01 28.60 135.8 96.41 39.39 48.41 35.59 3.79
124 R. Chacartegui et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 104 (2015) 115–126

Table 6
Economic analysis data.
Economic data
Plant expected lifetime
Tax rate
Discount rate
Inflation rate
Interest rate
Loan return period
Loan fraction
Amortization fraction
Electricity price reference
Fuel cost reference (natural gas)
Plant O&M cost
Assembly costs
for this setup an absorption refrigerator with an operation temper-
ature around 380 K seems adequate. The additional equipment
would allow the condensation of part of the required water vapour
in the exhaust gas flow and its recirculation into the main HAT liq-
uid water loop. An initial analysis in Fig. 14 shows the total amount
of water evaporated in the saturator at different HAT compression
ratios within the TIT range and compared to the maximum water
available in the exhaust gases. This can be considered as an upper
limit for water recovery using the absorption refrigerator unit.
5. Economic analysis
In order to assess the economic feasibility of this new plant set
up for distributed power generation, an economic analysis for the
estimated lifetime of the plant in terms of Levelized Cost of
Energy, Internal Rate of Return and Net Present Value is produced.
Although this is a non-commercial technology, the equipment
costs of the HAT cycle components have been calculated using
the approximations presented in [46,47], with reference values
from microturbine and ORC technologies. Each one of the ORC
cycles is estimated globally with regard to their nominal power
output as described in [48]. The financial and economic indicators
used for the analysis are presented in Table 6. Assembly and O&M
costs have been estimated as percentages of the total investment
cost.
Three base case scenarios have been taken for comparison:
Microturbine based HAT cycle with two level temperature ORC
as described in Table 4 (HAT–ORC); Microturbine based HAT cycle
without ORC bottoming cycle (HAT) and, Simple regenerative
microturbine (MGT). This case is based on the microturbine
Capstone C200. For cost estimation of the two former cases, the
MGT case costs were taken as reference for the microturbine com-
ponent costs yielding 987 €/kW. The conversion cost of microtur-
bine to micro HAT including all equipment (saturator,
economizer, pump) and installation was estimated at 1720 €/kW
based on HAT extra power. ORC costs were taken from [47] where
an estimation of the ORC cost per installed kW is given as function
HAT ORC/MGT
HAT+ORC
MGT
0,26
0,24
of the size of the ORC. Based on the power output and temperature
levels the estimated costs are 1660 €/kW for the middle tempera-
ture ORC and 4100 €/for kW the low temperature ORC. They
Years 25 include heat exchangers and assembly costs.
% 30 In Fig. 15 two economic analyses on the three aforementioned
% 10.00 technologies are presented. In this analysis LCOE is regarded as
% 2.50 the cost at which electricity must be generated in order to
% 8
Years 15
break-even over the lifetime of the project. The figure on the left
% 50 shows LCOE values for the three technologies and LCOE ratios as
% 100 function of natural gas price. The natural gas price range has been
€/kW h 0.12 taken from EU electricity and natural gas costs evolution [49]. In
€/kW h 0.042
the figure on the right the effect of gas turbine cost on the IRR
% 2
% 3 and NPV is presented.
Fig. 15 shows the improvement of the economic performance
for the proposed layout compared with the micro gas turbine case,
based on the Capstsone C200 microturbine as reference. The HAT–
ORC integration decreases the LCOE of microturbine up to 30 per-
centage points in the range of analysis, while compared with the
HAT integration the LCOE is decreased up to 15 percentage points.
The obtained LCOE values makes the integration profitable with
current electricity prices in most of EU 28 countries [49], with a
clearly improvement from the microturbine despite of its higher
investment. The analysis of the gas turbine cost impact on the
Internal Rate of Return and Net Present Values shows that for this
economic scenario the IRR of the HAT–ORC integration yield values
higher than the 8% rate estimated for the loan and the financial
costs in all the range of gas turbine costs under analysis. Taken into
account the high prices estimated for ORC, the economic interest of
the concept of the proposed integration is established.
6. Conclusions
In this paper a novel cycle configuration is presented by integra-
tion of a Humid Air Turbine as topping cycle with a combined
Organic Rankine Cycle with a medium temperature ORC cycle
and low temperature ORC bottoming cycle. Exhaust gases from
the HAT cycle are used to run the ORC, in the recuperative HAT tur-
bine, and to preheat the liquid water needed on the HAT saturator
unit. The following conclusions have been reached:
 HAT cycles are a relatively simple and not expensive option of
improving the performance of existing microturbine plant lay-
outs. The simulations from the implemented models yield
HAT efficiencies of around 40% in standalone operation.
 The Organic Rankine Cycle technology is currently at commer-
cial stage. Significant performance improvements for low and
middle temperature heat recovery can be achieved with an ade-
quate fluid selection and design. Depending on the temperature
range, different organic fluids will give a better performance. In
this study, a set of different working fluids was analysed and the
results from the integrations were presented.
HAT/MGT
NPV HAT NPV HAT ORC
HAT
30% IRR HAT ORC IRR HAT 300 k€
90% 250 k€
25% 200 k€
LCOE /LCOE MGT

0,22 85%
LCOE (€/kWh)

150 k€
NPV (k€)

20%
IRR (%)

0,2 100 k€
80%
0,18 15% 50 k€
0,16 0 k€
75% 10%
0,14 -50 k€
0,12 70% 5% -100 k€
0,1 -150 k€
0,08 65% 0% -200 k€
0,032 0,037 0,042 0,047 0,052 0,057 0,062 700 900 110013001500170019002500
Natural Gas cost [€] MGT cost (€/kW)

Fig. 15. Economic analysis. Effect of natural gas price on Levelized Cost of Electricity (left). Effect of gas turbine costs on Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return (right).
 R. Chacartegui et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 104 (2015) 115–126
 Among the studied integrations, the best results were obtained
for an integrated system composed by the recuperative HAT
cycle, a medium temperature toluene ORC cycle, where a frac-
tion of the turbine exhaust gases is derived, and a low temper-
ature R245fa ORC cycle, that recovers heat from both the
exhaust gases of the HAT recuperative heat exchanger and the
medium temperature ORC cycle. The goal of this integration is
to obtain the maximum efficiency in the heat exchange cover-
ing the temperature gaps in the most efficient way.
 The higher the HAT turbine inlet temperature, the higher the
efficiency, and the optimum value of the exhaust gases derived
mass flow is increased, giving a relative greater contribution of
the medium temperature ORC. Efficiency values above 50% are
expected, what is highly competitive compared to other ther-
mal engines for distributed generation and equals the obtained
with fuel cells, but with a simpler and less expensive
technology.
 By means of the saturator, the HAT cycle overcomes the limita-
tions of the pinch point present in heat recovery steam genera-
tors. The use of a regenerator in series with the ORC and the
economizer allows a heat recovery at four different grades,
being the economizer one of the lowest of them. With this
setup, the efficiency is as high as the one obtained within larger
power plants.
 This optimal combination obtains a better performance at lower
pressure ratios, due to the increased heat recovery capacity of
the HAT–ORC combined cycle. The efficiency decay on the
HAT cycle is compensated by the ORC efficiency increase,
resulting in a well part load performance of the integrated
system.
 The system is applicable to the existing microturbine technolo-
gies with radial turbomachinery and relative low turbine inlet
temperatures as the existing currently without blades
refrigeration.
 Both ORC cycles can be integrated in a single alternator and
share the condenser structure. For the toluene and R245 fa,
mass flows volumetric expanders can be used.
 Despite its higher capital costs, the case HAT + ORC presents a
lower levelized cost of energy and better economic indicators
compared the HAT cycle, with a LCOE reduction of 15 percent-
age points or the original microturbine, with a LCOE reduction
of 30 percentage points. In the current market situation the
energy prices in EU 28 are just enough for the economic
break-even of the plant.
 The system requires a water source. An option for recovering
part of the water in the exhaust could be a condensation in an
absorption refrigeration system. This condensate water would
not require any additional treatment, due to the pressure ratios
and temperatures reached in the cycle, as well as the radial
machine technology currently used in microturbines.
 As a non-mature technology, research advances in the saturator
technology are necessary. Research open issues are new satura-
tor configurations, with increased surface exchange and air/-
droplets interaction control.
 In the gas microturbine side, reliability issues should be
assessed. Effect of water quality in the performance and main-
tenance of existing combustion chamber and radial turbine
are key issues that must be tested in a demonstration facility.
 Due to the relatively low cost needed to implement the modifi-
cations in a commercial gas microturbine facility, the challenge
for its further commercial implementation is the assessment of
the whole system performance and new operation modes with
the saturator integrated. It includes the determination of the
water quality ranges for a reliable and low maintenance cost
operation. It will determine the validity for its use at different
locations.
125
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