Economic Viability of Compressor Washing Methods for Maximum Power Output

It is no longer news that gas turbines deteriorates after some period in operation, and if the deterioration effect is not taken into consideration, the gas turbine operator or owner will run into huge economic loss. Availability and reliability have been very important tools to every gas turbine owner, and there are various methods by which these engines have been investigated to prolong its life span, as such, it has become imperative to use different methods such as online and offline washing so as to advise the engine operator on which of the methods that will be more beneficial economically. The engine is kept clean the often it is been washed and thus produces more power, but how economically viable will it be washing the engine for this much times in a year has been the crux, considering the cost of wash fluids, equipment cost, labour cost, and so on. Hence this research technical paper. In this technical paper, it has been investigated that though keeping power high is very important but does not necessarily means saving cost. An online compressor washing was investigated and it was a 30% power recovery on each time online compressor water wash was administered, and the washing took place ones in every 7days, which gives a total of 54 washes per annum. The offline wash took place ones in every 3 months, making a total of 4 washes per annum with 85% power recovery after each offline compressor water wash, and the maximum limit of engine deterioration never exceed 10% of the original power at each given point. The engine modelled for this study was similar to that of GE LM2500+. The performance simulation was carried out via TURBOMATCH/PYTHIA which is Cranfield University software for gas turbine performance simulation. The output result was fed into a techno-economic model where the total financial involvement was computed for both the online and the offline compressor water wash. The cost implications have shown that though more power could be saved when the engine is washed regularly, but not necessarily economically viable as any engine owner or operator would have wanted. It has been shown in financial terms that fouling actually has significant effect on gas turbine performance, and the more economically viable compressor water wash method has been investigated via the economic model.