ABSTRACT
Combined power plants are among the most attractive options to optimally utilise conventional fuel energy with respect to energy conversion and the environment. In the present study, a dual-pressure heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) used in a gas/steam combined cycle power plant is investigated. This paper presents exergy and economic analysis of a dual-pressure HRSG. The parameters used for the investigation of the exergo-economic study are pinch point, fuel price, cost of exergy losses, gas turbine inlet temperature and cycle pressure ratio. A parametric study shows that the considered parameters have a huge impact on the total annual cost per unit exergy of steam produced in the HRSG. It is seen that best exergo-economic conditions are obtained at the pinch point value of 10 K to get the total annual cost per unit exergy of steam produced to be the minimum.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.