Compressor inlet air cooling is an effective method for
enhancing the performance of gas turbine plants. This
paper presents a comparative analysis of different
solutions for cooling the compressor inlet air for the
LM6000 gas turbine in a cogeneration plant operated in
base load. Absorption and evaporative cooling systems are
considered and their performance and economic benefits
compared for the dry low-NOx LM6000 version.
Reference is made to two sites in Northern and Southern
Italy, whose climatic data series for modeling the variations
in ambient temperature during the single day were used,
to account for the effects of climate in the simulation. The
results confirmed the advantages of inlet air cooling
systems. In particular, evaporative cooling proved to be
cost-effective, though capable of supplying only moderate
cooling, while absorption systems have a higher cost but
are also more versatile and powerful in base load
operation. An integration of the two systems proved to be
able to give both maximum performance enhancement and
net economic benefit.