How to reduce gas turbine running costs as energy prices soar

It’s well-known but extremely concerning the fact that energy prices are very much on the rise. This is particularly worrying when your business depends on a which requires enormous amounts of energy to run.

Naturally, you want to find ways to reduce costs and that can be done by minimising energy usage and maximising power output. While that may sound too good to be true, we’re here to show you how we’ve helped countless gas turbine sites around the world do just that.

It’s all about improving .

How to minimise energy usage

Unfortunately, you are probably wasting precious energy at your gas turbine site. It is likely that you are pumping gas into your gas turbine compressor that never fully combusts due to a system blighted by fouling.

At Rochem, we specialise in equipment and that specifically target this problem. We enable customers with the cost-efficient products they need to effectively clean their gas turbine compressors and restore lost power. Our customers know that every molecule of the increasingly expensive gas they use is given the best chance to generate the greatest profit.

Case study on reducing energy usage with FYREWASH®

We recently worked with a plant in Spain which utilises two small 3MW gas turbines to provide electricity and steam for coffee production. Excess electricity is sold back to the network. The client wanted to improve gas turbine efficiency to cut costs, maximise output and minimise downtime.

The problem

Realising that foulants (most likely predominantly coffee grounds) were building up on gas turbine compressor blades, the engineers purposefully shut down the turbine every 40 days to carry out manual cleaning. During this time the client was:

• Having to carry out time-consuming, labour-intensive manual cleans
• Also having to buy energy from the network rather than generating their own and selling the excess

It was calculated that the washes were essential to recover 7% of the lost power, representing a €140,000 annual loss unless a cost-effective alternative could be found.

The solution

Although one of the turbine compressors was already installed with , they were not working at peak performance, and we recommended better nozzle positioning to facilitate more efficient washing. We also suggested investing in a Rochem Demi Water system, (integrated into a new “all in one” washing equipment design) to stop the need to buy expensive demineralised water for washing.

We also recommended a new washing regime incorporating numerous online washes which do not interfere with production but reduce fouling considerably.

The results

Following the implementation of our recommendations, immediate improvements were noticed by the client’s engineers:

• 81% improvement in performance degradation tendency (fewer power losses)
• More energy can be sold/not bought from the network
• Longer operating periods

When directly comparing the original, off-line only washes to the new regime of on-line and offline washes, the data speaks for itself:

The performance degradation tendency has been radically improved and off-line washes are now around 100 days apart instead of 40. Maximum power loss has been reduced from 7% to 3%.

However, perhaps most relevant to the customer is the savings/extra income they’ve achieved by implementing an online wash regime:

• Savings of €79,921
• Extra annual revenue of €69,784.06

Get in touch

As energy prices soar, it’s more important than ever to find ways to cut costs and improve efficiency at gas turbine sites. The Nestlé case study is one example of how Rochem creates bespoke solutions to plants’ problems, helping customers save on bills while making greater profits.

Our specially designed equipment can be retrofitted in almost every case and is approved by major OEMs. Meanwhile, our range of FYREWASH® cleaning chemicals includes products for use in environmentally sensitive environments; heavily fouled gas turbine compressors; and even a specialist product for Rolls Royce gas turbines.

If you’ve got any questions about Rochem or our products and how we could help at your site, don’t hesitate to . Our friendly, expert team will be happy to help.