Masters Theses

Date of Award

12-1994

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Mechanical Engineering

Major Professor

Harold J. Schmidt

Committee Members

James Chapman

Abstract

Combined cycle base load power plants are an alternative concept for future commercial electricity production. Magnetohydrodynamic power generation in a combined cycle has been shown to be an efficient and cost effective process for such applications. In any large scale endeavor, it is necessary to establish the economic viability of the concept before any serious pursuit of its implementation can be considered. The economic viability for coal fired magnetohydrodynamic/steam combined cycle systems has been extensively studied and shown to be cost effective.

Natural gas as a primary fuel has several advantages over coal in magnetohydrodynamic power generation including the absence of slag forming compounds. Slag not only can have detrimental effects in combustion derived flow streams but also is an undesirable solid waste product. Natural gas is an environmentally acceptable fuel because the exhaust products are less destructive to the environment. A benefit for using natural gas in MHD operation involves the absence of any slag forming compounds.

This document describes a study of the feasibility of using natural gas as an alternate fuel for the highly efficient MHD/steam combined cycle power plant. The analysis was conducted by modifying an existing coal fired MHD/steam combined cycle computer modeling program. The results obtained, following parametric analysis for optimization, suggest that natural gas fired operation can produce electricity at a lower cost than present conventional steam generators operating on coal.

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