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When facing combustion turbine upgrades, power generators should consider all turbine inlet cooling (TIC) technologies, including wet compression, says John Kraft, president of Caldwell Energy Company. Wet compression technology is defined on the Turbine Inlet Cooling Association website as an evaporative cooling technology in which more fog is added to the inlet air than can be evaporated under the conditions of the ambient air. The air stream carries the excess fog into the compressor section of the CT where it further evaporates, cools the compressed air and creates extra mass for boosting the CT output.
"When evaluating TIC technologies, asset managers should include wet compression as a proven technology that is not dependent on ambient conditions," says Kraft. Although there has been published concern about potential detrimental turbine effects due to the application of wet compression, Kraft notes none have been realized in the growing fleet of successfully installed systems.
"Wet compression technology is seldom compared side-by-side with other TIC technologies," he says. "Some consider it more than TIC because some of the evaporation occurs in the turbine's compressor section. But a wet compression system is installed before the turbine inlet and...