Techno-economic and Performance Analysis of Associated Gas Utilization in Gas Turbines

This study focuses on the economic viability of using associated gas (A-gas) as a fuel in gas turbines for power generation applications. GASTURB simulation software was employed in modelling the natural gas and associated gas. Also, it was used for simulating the performance of the gas turbine using the two fuels. When natural gas and A-gas were compared for clean condition, the heat rate of natural gas was found to be 9923 kJ/kWh as against 9974kJ /kWh for an A-gas Fuel. Also, the plots of clean and degraded conditions for natural gas showed that heat rate increased from a clean case of 9923 kJ/kWh to 10178 kJ/kWh for a degraded condition. Techno economic analysis conducted showed that the annual cost saving for utilizing the A-gas, when obtained at no cost is about $14.1million over the annual cost of natural gas.