Gas Turbine Efficiency Improvement at Centralised Utility Facilities (CUF) Kertih, Terengganu

This paper project concerns an improvement of the efficiency of gas turbines at Centralised Utility Facilities (CUF) Kertih, Terengganu. It involves the selection and application of the air inlet treatment. The existing gas turbine does not achieve the expected output as designed by the manufacturer. It is due to the different temperature and pressure range of the environment. Centralised Utility Facilities is located in coastal area of Kertih, Terengganu. High humidity and temperature, tropical rain and sunny conditions are the limitations of the environment. Inlet air cooling is increasingly being recognised as one of the most cost effective means of increasing turbine efficiency and capacity. The performance of a gas turbine varies significantly with ambient air temperature. As the air temperature rises, its density decreases, resulting in reduced mass flow through the compressor and turbine, thereby causing reduction in turbine output. In this project, the available inlet air cooling systems are discussed as a treatment method to increase gas turbine efficiency. Evaluation and comparison are studied in order to analyse the best possible option to be selected and applied. The factor of selecting includes technical parameters and also general economical study. Experiment is done using fogging cooling system prototype in order to prove the temperature drops and efficiency of the cooler. The results show that by using fogging cooling method, the reduction of temperature is significant; hence increasing the mass flow of the air into compressor. Thus, the efficiency of gas turbine can be improved.