Abstract
Cogeneration of electrical energy and heat has become a steadily growing and flourishing segment of energy industry. Application potential of microturbines moved from back-up sources for electrical energy and island operation systems, and expended as a combined source for electrical energy and heat in commercial facilities and residential premises. In this paper, we wish to present an analysis of gas microturbine integration in a commercial laundry. We opted for a professional laundry care since it is a common representative of a well-known process which requires a lot of energy input. We focus on commercial laundries with a capacity over 1000 kg of processed laundry per shift. This type of laundries is very common and has a large innovation potential. The gas microturbine was considered as a cogeneration unit as it has a process-adequate performance (30 kWe). Its flue gas helps heat main laundry input flows: hot water for the washing machines and hot flue gas for the dryers. Incorporation of a progressive technology with a common commercial process gives us a promising application potential for our work. Prices of commercial microturbines are still rather high and short payback period may be expected only if very specific conditions are met.
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Abbreviations
- cp :
-
Specific heat [kJ/(kg.K)]
- \(\dot{m}\) :
-
Mass flow (kg/s)
- \({\dot{\text{Q}}}\) :
-
Heat flow (kW)
- P:
-
Cost ($/kWh)
- T:
-
Temperature (K, °C)
- DL:
-
Dry linen
- e:
-
Electricity
- f:
-
Flue gas
- g:
-
Natural gas
- h:
-
Heat
- H2O:
-
Water
- AC:
-
Alternating current
- CCHP:
-
Combined cooling, heating and power
- CHP:
-
Combined heat and power
- DC:
-
Direct current
- GMT:
-
Gas microturbine
- GT:
-
Gas turbine
- HE:
-
Heat exchanger
- ICE:
-
Internal combustion engine
- LHV:
-
Low heating value
- NG:
-
Natural gas
- O and M:
-
Operating and maintenance
- RH:
-
Relative humidity
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Acknowledgments
The research leading to these results has received funding from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic under the National Sustainability Programme I (Project LO1202).
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Máša, V., Bobák, P. & Vondra, M. Potential of gas microturbines for integration in commercial laundries. Oper Res Int J 17, 849–866 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12351-016-0263-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12351-016-0263-8