Performance and exergy analysis of solid-fueled combined cycles

The world's energy need occupies an important place at the international level. Increasing industrialization and rapid development of technology increase the need for energy day by day. The exhaustibility of energy resources in the world brings to the fore the use of resources with high efficiency. In this study, the performance and exergy analysis of the GT-MHR type nuclear power plant with high thermal energy was modeled in the NIST Chemistry book. GT-MHR offers a structure that, on the one hand, produces electricity using helium gas with the Brayton cycle, and on the other hand, utilizes the waste heat of the system with the Rankine cycle. The Brayton cycle allows helium gas to be heated to high temperatures in the reactor core, then converted into mechanical energy with the help of a gas turbine. This hybrid structure in the design of GT-MHR allows the combined use of nuclear and renewable energy sources. It was determined that exergy efficiency reached its maximum level between approximately 14,000 - 16,000 kPa. At this point, the exergy losses of the system approach their lowest level and the components reach the most ideal operating conditions. If the system is operated below or above this range, the total exergy efficiency will decrease. Therefore, the compressor pressure must be determined carefully to ensure optimum operating conditions. The net work generation, which is around 570,000 kW when the compressor pressure is at 12,000 kPa, drops to approximately 535,000 kW at 22,000 kPa. This trend shows that increasing the compressor pressure has a negative impact on the total work output of the system. The exergy efficiency, which is initially approximately 0.745 (74.5%) at 500 kPa pump pressure, increases to 75.1% at 1000 kPa pressure level. While the pump pressure at 500 kPa produces a net work of approximately 532,000 kW, at 1000 kPa it increases to 560,000 kW. Thus, GT-MHR pioneers the energy technologies of the future by combining both high efficiency and environmental sustainability.