Nowadays, the combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) is the most used technology for electricpower generation among the plants that produce electricity from fossil fuels. There are severaladvantages that made the widespread of this technology. The most important benefits incomparison with conventional thermoelectric plants are a higher efficiency, its flexibility, andacceptable NOx and CO2 emissions.However, in recent years, a power cycle has been suggested as a new choice outperforming thewidely used CCGT plants. The most recent proposal is an air breathing semi-closed recuperatedcycle (SCRC) which, although it has been proposed since the 1980s, has not been yet practicallydeveloped. Such plants have an efficiency potential similar to CCGTs. Flexibility operation,power density, its simplicity, and an increased power density could be advantages over theCCGT plants as well as being well suited for CO2 capture. Furthermore, a SCRC does notrequire any inexistent technology that has not been proved before in large CCGTs or gas turbineplants (GT).Hence, a comparison between a CCGT plant and the innovative SCRC technology has beendeveloped in this project. For achieving this objective, a SCRC was designed on the basis ofrecent studies, and a CCGT was based on theory and operating plants. The simulations of thesemodels were carried out using EBSILON®Professional. After comparing both thermodynamiccycles and seeing the advantages and inconveniences of the semi-closed cycle studied, asensitivity analysis of the SCRC was developed in order to know how determined changes inthe design point influenced on the plant. To conclude this project, the most relevant aspectsregarding potential, future work, and challenges with the SCRC technology were listed.
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