Economic, Exergoeconomic and Exergoenvironmental Evaluation of Gas Cycle Power Plant Based on Different Compressor Configurations

The decision-making process behind the selection of a gas turbine engine (GT) is crucial and must be made in accordance with economic, environmental, and technical requirements. This paper presents the relevant economic, exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental analyses for four GT engines with different compressor configurations. The GT engine configurations are identified according to the type of compressor: axial, axial-centrifugal, two-stage centrifugal, and centrifugal-centrifugal. The performances of the four GT engines were validated against manufacturer supplied data using specialized software. The economic analysis, a detailed life cycle costing considering the cost to be paid per unit net power obtained from the GT, and subsequent shortest payback period showed that the GT with centrifugal-centrifugal compressor was most economically feasible. This was followed, in order, by the GT-axial, GT-axial-centrifugal, and finally the GT-two-stage centrifugal configuration, where the cost of ownership for a 20 year plan ranges between 8000 USD/kW to about 12,000 USD/kW at different operational scenarios during the life cycle costing. Exergoeconomic assessment provided useful information to enhance the cost-effectiveness of all four systems by evaluating each component separately. The axial-centrifugal configuration registered the lowest CO2 emissions (about 0.7 kg/kWh); all environmental indicators confirmed it is the most environmentally friendly option.