Case study of energy systems with gas turbine cogeneration technology for an eco-industrial park

Eco-industrial parks (EIP) are clusters of industry corporations that collaborate with reusing waste and energy-efficient use of resources with no or minor impact on the environment. This paper presents a case study that examines the feasibility of using gas turbine technology in one industrial park, located in the Dongguan city of the Guangdong province in China. A model of a gas turbine-based combined heat and power (CHP) plant with a heat recovery steam generator for absorption cooling was developed and simulated. A steam-injected gas turbine has been selected in the system to increase electricity production and to generate steam. The study includes performance analysis of the cogeneration plant in terms of thermal efficiency, cost estimation, and greenhouse gas emission. The gas turbine-based cogeneration system has been compared with a baseline reference case that is defined as if all the energy to the industrial park is supplied from the local electricity grid. The results show that the gas turbine-based cogeneration system can reach a total efficiency of 58% and reduce CO, emissions with 12 700 tons per year. A sensitivity analysis on the costs of the system has also been made based on fuel costs and the interest rate, which shows that the investigated system is economically profitable at natural gas prices below 4.4 RMB m(-3) with fixed electricity prices and at electricity prices above 736 RMB MWh(-1) with fixed natural gas prices. The sensitivity analysis based on the interest rate showed that the proposed system is economically feasible with interest rates up to 16%. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.