US 12,078,088 B2
Combined cycle power plants with exhaust gas recirculation
Raub Warfield Smith, Ballston Lake, NY (US); and Majed Sammak, Dubai (AE)
Assigned to GE INFRASTRUCTURE TECHNOLOGY LLC, Greenville, SC (US)
Filed by GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, Schenectady, NY (US)
Filed on Jul. 1, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/856,401.
Prior Publication US 2024/0003270 A1, Jan. 4, 2024
Int. Cl. F01K 23/10 (2006.01); F01K 23/08 (2006.01); F02C 6/04 (2006.01)
CPC F01K 23/08 (2013.01) [F01K 23/10 (2013.01); F02C 6/04 (2013.01); F05D 2220/31 (2013.01); F05D 2220/32 (2013.01); F05D 2220/72 (2013.01); F05D 2220/74 (2013.01); F05D 2260/213 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A combined cycle power plant comprising:
a gas turbine engine comprising a compressor inlet and a turbine outlet that discharges a first exhaust gas stream therefrom;
a heat recovery steam generator downstream from the turbine, the heat recovery steam generator configured to:
receive the first exhaust gas stream;
extract heat from the first exhaust gas stream to generate steam; and
discharge a second exhaust gas stream therefrom; and
a steam turbine oriented to receive steam from the heat recovery steam generator and discharge a steam stream therefrom;
a carbon capture system downstream from the steam turbine and oriented to receive the steam stream;
a recirculation blower coupled downstream from the heat recovery steam generator and configured to pressurize a portion of the second exhaust gas stream for recirculation towards the compressor inlet;
an air inlet blower configured to pressurize an airflow stream channeled towards the compressor inlet, creating a pressurized mixed flow stream formed from the pressurized portion of the second exhaust gas stream combined with the pressurized airflow stream; and
a controller configured to:
monitor power consumption of the recirculation blower;
monitor power consumption of the air inlet blower;
determine steam cycle losses from discharging steam to the carbon capture system; and
modulate the flow of the exhaust gas stream recirculated towards the compressor inlet based on the monitored power consumption of the recirculation blower, the monitored power consumption of the air inlet blower, and the determined steam cycle losses to facilitate increasing the total power output of the combined power plant.