Abstract
Gas turbine inlet air-cooling (TIAC) is an established technology for augmenting gas turbine output and efficiency, especially in hot regions. TIAC using evaporative cooling is suitable for hot, dry regions; however, the cooling is limited by the ambient wet-bulb temperature. This study investigates two-stage evaporative TIAC under the harsh weather of Riyadh city. The two-stage evaporative TIAC system consists of indirect and direct evaporative stages. In the indirect stage, air is precooled using water cooled in a cooling tower. In the direct stage, adiabatic saturation cools the air. This investigation was conducted for the GE 7001EA gas turbine model. Thermoflex software was used to simulate the GE 7001EA gas turbine using different TIAC systems including evaporative, two-stage evaporative, hybrid absorption refrigeration evaporative and hybrid vapor-compression refrigeration evaporative cooling systems. Comparisons of different performance parameters of gas turbines were conducted. The added annual profit and payback period were estimated for different TIAC systems.