Implementation of a Waste Heat Recovery Combined Cycle System Employing the Organic Rankine Cycle for a Gas Turbine

A 1/9 scale prototype unit for a GT-ORC Waste Heat Recovery Combined Cycle plant was successfully installed in the Gas Turbine Laboratory at the US Naval Academy. The plant uses a Rolls Royce M250 turbine, an Electratherm Power +4400 ORC unit and a Creare exhaust gas heat exchanger (EHX). The ORC component boosted the shaft power by 20% of the gas turbine engine by 40 kW over baseline (no ORC) power (200 kW). The GT-ORC Combined Cycle Plant showed an overall thermal efficiency rise over the GT engine alone by 4%. The exhaust gas heat exchanger had an overall effectiveness of 0.6 and there was a reduction in brake specific fuel consumption of 18% for the GT-ORC system over the base GT engine. The GT-ORC Combined Cycle Plant is a viable way to utilize US Navy gas turbine powered ship exhaust for extra useful power thereby reducing greenhouse gasses to produce increased power through conventional fuel supplied processes.