Process Integration Techniques in the Development of New Energy Technologies : Application to the Isothermal Gas Turbine

Cogeneration is one of the key technologies for CO2 reduction in the process
industry. A good integration of the cogeneration system and the process is necessary to obtain
the maximum energy saving. This requires the possibility of adapting the design parameters of
the cogeneration system to better suit the process requirements. The isothermal gas turbine is
a new concept combining partial oxidation and staged combustion inside a gas turbine to
reach electrical efficiencies as high as 58%. The use of steam in the catalytic burner allows to
expand steam directly in the gas turbine in such a way that the mechanical power production
is increased. The flue gases composition and temperature are therefore modified. New flow
sheets for combined cycles will be presented as well as their adaptation to different steam to
carbon ratios. When using isothermal gas turbine as a cogeneration system, the steam flowrate
allows adapting the flue gases of the turbine in order to match at best the process
requirements. The conceptual design of the isothermal gas turbine integration has been
performed using the « Effect Modeling and Optimization » concept that is based on process
integration techniques. This serves as a first step to identify the major flow rates to be
considered for the technology. The final configuration of the integrated technology has been
evaluated afterwards using process simulation.