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Ali Rights Reserved DESIGN, PART LOAD AND TRANSIENT OPERATION OF COMBINED CYCLE PLANTS WITH WATER FLASHING PJ. Dechamps Department of Nuclear Engineering and Power Plants University of Liege Rue E. Solvay 21 - Bat C3 - 4000 Liege BELGIUM ABSTRACT NOMENCLATURE The last decade has seen remarkable improvement in gas turbine based power generation technologies, with the increasing use of natural gas-fuelled combined cycle units in various regions of the world. The struggle for efficiency has produced highly complex combined cycle schemes based on heat recovery steam generators with multiple pressure levels and possibly reheat. As ever, the evolution of these schemes is the result of a technicoeconomic balance between the improvement in performance and the increased costs resulting from a more complex system. GT HRSG NTU ST TET VIGV IF 1P 2P This paper looks from the thermodynamic point of view at some simplified combined cycle schemes based on the concept of water flashing. In such systems, high pressure saturated water is taken off the high pressure drum and flashed into a tank. The vapour phase is expanded as low pressure saturated steam or returned to the heat recovery steam generator for superheating, whilst the liquid phase is recirculated through the economizer. With only one drum and three or four heat exchangers in the boiler as in single pressure level systems, the plant might have a performance similar to that of a more complex dual pressure level system. Various configurations with flash tanks are studied based on commercially available 150 MW-class E-technology gas turbines and compared with classical multiple pressure level combined cycles. Reheat units are covered, both with flash tanks and as genuine combined cycles for comparison purposes. The design implications for the heat recovery steam generator in terms of heat transfer surfaces are emphasized. Off-design considerations are also covered for the flash based schemes, as well as transient performances of these schemes, because the simplicity of the flash systems compared to normal combined cycles significantly affects the dynamic behaviour of the plant. : : : : : : : : : Gas Turbine Heat Recovery Steam Generator Number of Transfer Units Steam Turbine Turbine Entry Temperature Variable Inlet Guide Vanes Single pressure combined cycle with flash Single pressure combined cycle Dual pressure combined cycle INTRODUCTION In the race for fuel efficiency in power generation, the combined cycle schemes have been gradually transformed from single pressure level systems to dual pressure level system, and possibly to triple pressure systems with reheat (Bolland, 1990) (Mathieu, 1990) and (Dechamps et al., 1993). The main drawback of these efficiency improvements is of course the increased capital cost of the plant, mainly ascribed to the increased heat transfer surface within the HRSG and to the more complex multiple-section steam turbine. However, the complexity of the system is in itself a drawback although perhaps less easily quantifiable. This complexity turns into decreased availability, increased operational complexity, etc. The idea behind this study tends to reduce the complexity of these systems, while maintaining most of their efficiency advantage. If one compares the classical single pressure level combined cycle with the state-of-the-art dual pressure system, the efficiency advantage of this latter is obvious. Most of this advantage comes from the improved HRSG effectiveness, which is defined as the ratio of the heat extracted in this HRSG, over the maximum heat one could extract from the gas bringing them to room temperature. In other words, and in practical terms, the better efficiency of the dual pressure system is mainly due to the lower stack temperature that this system can achieve. Presented at the International Gas Turbine and Aeroengine Congress and Exposition Houston, Texas - June 5-8,1995 Downloaded From: https://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/pdfaccess.ashx?url=/data/conferences/asmep/82299/ on 07/31/2017 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/ab The question is then to know why the simple single pressure system cannot achieve comparable stack temperatures. The answer lies into the consideration of the heat exchange : once the pressure of the system is chosen, the steam-water mass flow is given by the energy balance above the pinch. This mass flow, and nothing more, is available to further cool the gas, below the pinch. For a fixed condensate temperature, this immediately gives the stack temperature using the energy balance below the pinch. Extracting some of the water phase from the steam drum and flashing it down to a lower pressure allows to further re-compress the liquid phase to recirculate it back to the economizer. This scheme is illustrated by Fig. 1. The steam phase resulting from the flash can be expanded into the low pressure part of the steam turbine. It could possibly be returned to the HRSG for superheating in order to prevent the transportation of droplets into the steam turbine. Energetically, however, this makes very little difference. t (°C) 600 400to the u erheater 300 and the HP 1-tx turbine 1 +t(1-Y) 200 :f to the LP tt^^-x).1 .................... ....' turbine 1 100 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 s (kJ/kgK) Fig. 2 - Flash in the (t, ․) diagram The flash system is represented in the T,s diagram on Figure 2, where all the mass flows are for 1 kg/s at the condenser. Design Characteristics compressor pressure ratio : 10.71 compressor inlet flow : 498.9 kg/s VIGV for off-design operation (flow reduced to 80% when feed water economizer All the mass flows are for 1 kg/s in the condenser 500 f=flash mass flow rate fully closed) TET : 1110°C Iso Conditions Pump evaporator gas path blow down fuel : pure methane net output : 153.6 MW net efficiency : 33.5 % exhaust flow : 506.5 kg/s exhaust temperature : 545°C flash tank Site Conditions inlet pressure loss : 10 mbar exhaust back pressure : 25 mbar conditions :15°C, 1 atm., 60% rel. humidity fuel : natural gas, 47.5 MJ/kg net output : 145.8 MW net efficiency : 32.48 % exhaust flow : 506.8 kg/s exhaust temperature : 552°C superheater LP HP superheated saturated steam steam Table I - Gas Turbine Characteristics The combined cycle operation takes a 10 mbar inlet pressure drop, a 25 mbar back-pressure, a 47.5 MJ/kg natural gas fuel into account and assumes that the control system adjusts the fuel flow so that the TET is kept at its design value. Fig. 1 - Schematic diagram of the flash system For off-design operation, this gas turbine is supposed to be VIGV-controlled in the first place, to be followed by a TET reduction when the VIGV are fully closed. This is known to give the smallest combined cycle efficiency penalty when reducing the output (Dechamps et al., 1994). THE GAS TURBINES The genuine combined cycles used for comparison purposes, as well as the flash schemes are based on commercially available 150 MW-class E-technology gas turbines. Table I gathers the most important design parameters of this machine, together with its iso-condition and site-condition performances. 2 Downloaded From: https://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/pdfaccess.ashx?url=/data/conferences/asmep/82299/ on 07/31/2017 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/ab GENUINE COMBINED CYCLES Normal combined cycles, with one pressure level and two pressure levels were studied, based on the previously described gas turbine, to provide the yardsticks for the comparison and the appraisal of the flash-based schemes. Their main design assumptions, together with the simulation results, are grouped in table 11 and III respectively. The cycle parameters (pressures and temperatures) were optimized using the GTCALC and CCCALC codes described in Dechamps, 1993. It is obvious from the previous results (table III) that the 2P system efficiency improvement is due to the progress in HRSG effectiveness (i.e. lower stack temperature). General Data condenser pressure : 50 mbar steam turbine isentropic efficiency : 85 % idem, degradation with moisture content : 1 %/% minimum stack temperature: 60°C HRSG approach temperature differences : 1°C (economizer outlet undercooling) HRSG pinch point temperature differences : 10°C superheater min. temperature difference [gas-steam] : 35°C feedwater pump efficiency : 75 % minimum steam outlet quality from the steam turbine : 0.88 Single Pressure System drum pressure : 45 bar superheat temperature : 515°C Dual Pressure System : HP drum pressure : 60 bar HP superheat temperature : 515°C LP drum pressure : 6 bar LP superheat temperature: 210°C Table II - Genuine Combined Cycle Characteristics GT power (MW) / ST power (MW) net power output (MW) net efficiency (%) stack temperature (°C) HRSG effectiveness (%) Rankine cycle efficiency (%) HRSG NTUs (-) 1P 2P 145.8 / 76.6 222.4 49.52 153 75 34 11.29 145.8 / 84.1 229.9 51.22 90 87 32 17.8 Table III - Genuine Combined Cycle Performances OPTIMIZATION OF THE SINGLE PRESSURE SYSTEM WITH FLASH Optimization of the IF system has been conducted using the GTCALC/CCCALC codes (Dechamps, 1993) which were developed at the Department and allow the multi-variable optimization of any combined cycle configuration. Results were crossed-checked with the commercially available GATE/CYCLE software (Erbes, 1988). Compared with the classical single pressure system, the IF system has two more parameters to be determined : the flash pressure and the flash mass flow. recirculation when the economizer temperature difference is constant from inlet to outlet. We will therefore define the recirculation ratio as the recirculated mass flow over this maximum value. A recirculation ratio of 0 gives the classical single pressure system, whilst a recirculation ratio of 1 is the maximum that can be done to increase the HRSG effectiveness. We will first concentrate on choosing the right parameters for the system with a recirculation ratio of 1. This latter is linked to the mass flow which is recirculated back to the economizer inlet. There obviously exists a maximum Downloaded From: https://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/pdfaccess.ashx?url=/data/conferences/asmep/82299/ on 07/31/2017 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/ab Fig. 3 presents the influence of the drum pressure, for both the normal system and the flash system. Both curves exhibit the same behaviour, with an optimum pressure around 60 bars for the 1F, higher for the flash system than for the conventional one at 45 bars. This optimum for the classical system is the result of a compromise between the HRSG effectiveness and the Rankine cycle efficiency which show opposite trends when increasing the drum pressure. It is then normal that the flash system, with its higher HRSG effectiveness has its optimum drum pressure shifted towards higher values. Fig. 4 shows the influence of the flash pressure on the cycle efficiency and the stack temperature for a fixed value of the drum pressure (60 bars, the optimum value). The ideal flash pressure from the efficiency point of view is 6 bars, which happens to be 10% of the drum pressure. This is not too surprising as a 10% value is classical between the LP drum pressure and the HP drum pressure in dual pressure systems. In the whole range, the stack temperature achieved by the flash systems with a recirculation ratio of 1 is remarkably low, comparable to that of multiple pressure systems. Plant efficiency (%) 51.5 Fig. 5 shows the evolution of the HRSG NTUs with the same parameter. Whatever the variations, the numbers are typically 3 times higher than those of the 1P system (see table III). It is therefore unlikely that the flash system with a maximum recirculation ratio will be an economically sound alternative. The huge HRSG transfer surface is required by the economizer, which has a "constant pinch" all along its tube banks within the boiler. -With flash (recirculation ratio = 1) 51 50.5 50 Without flash 49.5 49 1r 20 30 40 50 60 70 There is therefore an interest in varying the recirculation ratio. Before this, table IV presents the main characteristics of the system optimized with a recirculation ratio of 1. Most design assumptions are kept similar to those of the genuine systems to ease the comparison. so Drum pressure (bar) Fig. 3 - Optimization of single pressure systems Plant efficiency (%) Total HRSG NTU5 Stack temperature (°C) 51.3 51.25 90 51.15 35 51.1 30 51.05 17 4 31 16 30 14 29 12 28 1 2 10 1s 13 75 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 70 11 Flash pressure (bar) Fig. 18 95 51.2 51 1 2 LP steam mass flow (kg/s) 32 100 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Flash pressure (bar) - The influence of the flash pressure Fig. 5 - Varying the flash pressure General condenser pressure : 50 mbar steam turbine isentropic effic. : 85 % idem, degradation with moisture : 1 %/ % HRSG approach t° differences : 1°C HRSG pinch point t° differences :10°C drum pressure : 60 bar superheat temperature : 515°C flash pressure : 6 bar flash mass flow : 54 kg/s recirculation mass flow : 39.9 kg/s LP saturated steam mass flow : 14.1 kg/s Performances GT power: 145.8 MW ST power: 84.1 MW net power output: 229.9 MW net efficiency : 51.19 % stack temperature : 85°C HRSG effectiveness : 88 % Rankine cycle efficiency : 32 % HRSG NTUs : 29.8 steam outlet quality : 0.88 Table IV - IF System with Maximum Recirculation 4 Downloaded From: https://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/pdfaccess.ashx?url=/data/conferences/asmep/82299/ on 07/31/2017 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/ab VARYING THE RECIRCULATION RATIO Plant Efficiency (%) Temperature ("C) 51.5 Fig. 6 shows the heat transfer curves for the single pressure systems when the recirculation ratio is varied from 0 to 1. The recirculation ratio of 1, which corresponds to the maximum recirculation is when the economizer has a constant temperature difference along its length. F13 50.5 econo cold endl pinto 400 ^11 D ^10 0 90 r ao 50 60 so fcedwstcr 40 49.5 1-1' : without recirculation 2-7 : with recirculation ratio = 0.! 3-3' : with recirculation ratio = 1 (constant econo pinch) D L12 D Temperature (C) 500 r 14 D 51 The progression of points 1-2-3 indicates how the stack temperature and hence the HRSG effectiveness can be improved. 600 to 0 15 D stack paaas 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 an Recirculation Ratio Fig. 8 - Varying the recirculation ratio 300 200 1 . The main result of this section is that the linear evolution of the efficiency, combined with the exponential-like evolution of the transfer surface, might make the 0.7-0.8 range the optimum for the recirculation ratio. 2 `1 3 100 0 i^ 2• 3; 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 COMPARISON WITH GENUINE SYSTEMS Heat transferred / maximum heat transferred The consideration of the flash schemes only makes sense if they are compared with the classical systems. Fig. 6 - Heat exchange diagrams Fig. 9 shows the situation of the 1P, 2P, and iF systems in terms of efficiency and HRSG NTUs. The recirculation ratio is plotted on the curves for the IF system. Fig. 7 illustrates how the heat transfer surface depends on the recirculation ratio. The levels marked 1P and 2P indicate what are the heat transfer surfaces of these systems. The 1P and 2P systems are the optimized cases described above. It is obvious from this graph that the region of interest for the IF system is with recirculation ratios in the vicinity of 0.60.8, when some of the performance of dual pressure systems is achieved at the expenses of a reasonable transfer surface increase. The maximum recirculation ratio of 1 appears non-attractive because of its heat transfer surface requirement. Total HRSG NTUs 30 25 20 NTU level of the 2P system 1s 10 5 cycle efficiency (%) NTU level of the 1 P system 51.5 2P ^► 5 0 i 1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 o 1F o-e 0-7 Recirculation Ratio 50.5 0- o- 0. Fig. 7 - HRSG NTUs versus the recirculation ratio 4 Constant pinch at the i economizer Recirculation Ratio 0.3 50 o. Most of the increase in transfer surface takes place above a recirculation ratio of 0.6-0.8. For this reason it could be that this sort of recirculation rate gives the best compromise between the efficiency and the surface. The efficiency is on Fig. 8 and hopefully exhibits a nearly linear behaviour with the recirculation ratio. The temperatures of both the stack gas and the feedwater are indicated on the left-hand scale, with their difference showing the evolution of the temperature difference at the economizer cold 49.5 49 10 15 20 25 30 35 Total HRSG NTUs Fig. 9 - Comparison of flash and conventional systems end. 5 Downloaded From: https://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/pdfaccess.ashx?url=/data/conferences/asmep/82299/ on 07/31/2017 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/ab OFF- DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS Recirculation Ratio Reducing the power output of combined cycle systems is usually achieved first by closing the variable inlet guide vanes on the gas turbine compressor. This enables to reduce the gas mass flow, while keeping the exhaust temperature from the gas turbine constant. On most recent machines, the exhaust temperature is even increased when the VIGVs are closed, because the control system maintains the TET constant. Once the VIGVs are fully closed, the only option left is to reduce the fuel flow, and hence the TET. This power reduction strategy is accompanied by a more rapid drop in efficiency (Dechamps et al., 1994) Approach Delta T (°C) 1.25 t0 1.2 I8 1.15 16 1.1 14 1.05 12 10 0.95 0.9 0.85 0.8 0.75 J o 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 Power Output (MW) The off-design performance can be greatly improved by the use of schemes with two gas turbines and two HRSGs for one steam turbine, or by the juxtaposition of several single shaft units. For reasons of simplicity, we will concentrate here on the basic unit composed of one gas turbine, one HRSG and one steam turbine. Fig. 10 shows the decrease in efficiency experienced when reducing the output both for the classical single pressure plant (1P) and for its counterpart flash-based system (1F), with a recirculation ratio of 0.8. Fig. 11 - Maintaining the approach off-design design point approach of 1°C, the VIGV-controlled part of the range sees a increased approach, due to the increase in gas turbine exhaust temperature under these conditions. However, further down the operating range, the TET control decreases the approach until it reaches its design value of 1°C. At this point, the recirculation ratio is deliberately increased to keep it constant. cycle efficiency (%) 47.5 Regulation 45 42.540 37.5 TRANSIENT CONSIDERATIONS TET Reg 50 1 F System Introduction The transient behaviour of combined cycle plants is of primary interest to the users. Most of them will have to operate the plant on load following or on a daily load schedule. 1 P System - 35 32.5 30 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 Power Output (MW) Fig. 10 - Off-design performances Clearly, the flash-based system retains its efficiency advantage over the classical plant in the whole operating range. In both cases, the higher part of the range, when the VIGVs are used, exhibits a smaller efficiency drop with power than the lower part of the range when the TET is used to control the output. Quite interestingly, the flash-based system offers some more flexibility when operating in off-design conditions. The recirculation ratio can indeed be varied freely. Its design value determines the economizer transfer surface and cold end temperatures; but once this is done, the recirculation ratio can further be varied in the actual plant, with a fixed economizer surface. A recirculation is usually introduced in genuine combined cycle plants at part load conditions to control the economizer steaming. In the flash-based system, a slight increase of the flash mass flow, which turns into an increase of the mass flow recirculated to the economizer inlet provides the same effect. Fig. 11 shows the variation of the economizer approach (i.e. the economizer outlet undercooling) and of the recirculation ratio with the power output for the flash-based plant. Starting with the A fast start-up procedure is essential to maximize the integrated efficiency of the plant over a given load schedule. This fast start-up depends on the boiler inertia if the steam turbine can be loaded without restriction. It is therefore interesting to compare the behaviour of a dual pressure combined cycle plant with the flash system because they have different boiler arrangements. Dynamic Simulation The CCDYN code (Dechamps, 1994) has been used to simulate a cold start for the dual pressure combined cycle plant and for the single pressure plant with a flash system and a recirculation ratio of 0.8. From fig. 7, it can be seen that these two systems have approximately the same heat transfer surface requirement, but with a basically different splitting between the economizers on one side and the evaporators/superheaters on the other. Fig. 12 presents the evolution with time of the reduced power outputs for both plants during a cold start-up (cold meaning that the boiler was at room temperature). The flash system exhibits a more rapid loading capability in the 20-30 min. after the gas turbine start. This is essentially because the dual pressure system relies on the second pressure level start-up, depending on the boiler inertia; whilst the flash and recirculation can be started as soon as the pressure is established in the HP drum. Downloaded From: https://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/pdfaccess.ashx?url=/data/conferences/asmep/82299/ on 07/31/2017 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/ab HP drum level (m) Output / design output 1.4 1 1.2 0.8 0.8 0.6 0.6 0.4 0.4 0.2 - dual pressure system (2P) 0 — dual pressure system (2P) 0.2- ......... flash system (1F) flash system (19 0- 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 10 20 30 40 50 60 Time (min) Time (min) Fig. 14 - HP drum levels during start-up Fig. 12 - Output J design output during cold start-up Fig. 13 presents the evolution with time of the HP drum pressures. They show similar trends to the previously discussed power outputs. ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS The concept of incremental investment cost is helpful in estimating the economic viability of power generation projects. The incremental investment cost can be simply defined as the amount of money to invest in order to increase the plant output by one kW, without changing the fuel input. HP pressure / design HP pressure 0.8 As far as the recirculation ratio is concerned, the main parameter is the boiler heat transfer surface requirement from which the boiler price can be estimated. 0.6 0.4 0.2 Fig. 15 shows this incremental investment cost as a function of the recirculation ratio. On the same figure is the range of incremental costs in use for the appraisal of power generation projects. This range is from 1000 to 3000 5/kW. One has to remember that this number is substantially higher than the overall plant capital cost expressed in the same units, because it is a incremental parameter, corresponding to a situation when the plant output is varied without any modification in the fuel input. — dual pressure system (2P) flash system (19 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Time (min) Fig. 13 - HP pressures during cold start-up This commonly used range of incremental costs corresponds to recirculations ratios in the 0.5 - 0.8 range, already mentioned as the more interesting, from technical points of view. System Stability System stability is of primary importance for the transient operation of power plants. The main concern is the behaviour of the feedwater mass flow control loop which controls the feedwater flow to maintain the drum level at its set-point. Incremental capital cost 14 This system contributes to the drum level evolution after the so-called swell effect resulting from the heating of the evaporators during a cold start. (S /kw) (thousands) 12 10 6 Fig. 14 shows the HP drum levels as a function of time. The same control system settings have been used in both cases. The similarity of the behaviour of the two systems demonstrates that the important recirculation mass flow through the economizer does not affect the feedwater mass flow control loop. 6 4 2 0 Some more severe tests have been performed involving the sudden start or sudden stop of the flashed and recirculated flows and have shown that the standard controls systems were able to maintain the drum level within safe margins. 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 0 Recirculation Ratio Fig. 15 - Incremental capital cost 7 Downloaded From: https://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/pdfaccess.ashx?url=/data/conferences/asmep/82299/ on 07/31/2017 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/ab 1P recirculation ratio 2P iF - 0.6 0.8 1.0 - 45 60 60 60 60 - 6 6 6 6 gas turbine output (MW) 145.8 145.8 145.8 145.8 145.8 steam turbine output (MW) 76.6 81.3 82.7 84.0 84.1 plant output (MW) 222.4 227.1 228.5 229.8 229.9 plant efficiency (%) 49.52 50.59 50.90 51.19 51.22 HRSG total NTU 11.3 14.5 17.8 29.8 17.8 (-) HP drum pressure (bar) LP drum pressure (bar) or flash pressure (-) Table V - Final comparison of the various systems FINAL COMPARISON REFERENCES Table V gathers information from all the previous tables and shows clearly the trends between the efficiency and the heat transfer surface requirements for all the considered systems. The advantage of the 0.6-0.8 reciculation ratio appears; with an efficiency close to the dual pressur system, at the expense of no increase in transfer surface, and with a reduced complexity for the plant. Bolland 0., 1990, "A Comparative Evaluation of Advanced Combined Cycle Alternatives", ASME paper 90-GT-335, Gas Turbine and Aeroengine Congress and Exposition, Brussels. Dechamps P.J., 1993, "GTCALC & CCCALC User's Guide - Second Edition", University of Liege, Department of Nuclear Engineering and Power Plants. Dechamps P.J., Magain D. and Mathieu Ph., 1993, "Advanced Combined Cycle Alternatives with Advanced Gas Turbines", ASME Cogen Turbo Power '93, Bournemouth, UK IGTI Vol. 8. Dechamps P.J., Pirard P. and Mathieu Ph., 1994, "Modelling the Part Load Performance of Supplementary Fired Combined Cycle Plants", ASME Cogen Turbo Power '94, Portland (Oregon), IGTI Vol. 9. Dechamps P.J., 1994, "Modelling the Transient Behaviour of HRSGs", paper submitted for publication in the IMechE Journal of Power and Energy. Erbes, M. and Gray, R., 1989, "Gate/Cycle Predictions of the Off-design Performance of Combined-Cycle Power Plants", ASME WAM paper. Mathieu Ph., 1990, "Future of Combined Cycle Plants in Belgium", ASME paper 90-GT-379, Gas Turbine and Aeroengine Congress and Exposition, Brussels. CONCLUSIONS This paper has considered simplified combined schemes comprising flash systems with a recirculation of the water phase back to the economizer. Such systems were found to increase the HRSG effectiveness in a similar way to the addition of a second pressure level, without the structural complexity of the boiler that usually goes with multiple pressure systems. Consideration of the HRSG transfer surface as a function of the recirculation ratio has lead to the conclusion that the maximum recirculation rate is not the most sensible solution. The consideration of off-design (especially part load) shows that the flash and recirculation concept can be used to control the economizer steaming at reduced loads. The transient behaviour of flashed systems appeared attractive compared to classical dual pressure systems, allowing a more rapid output increase in cold starts when the steam turbine can be loaded without restriction. The flash systems exhibited stable operation characteristics in all the envisaged situations. The economics of flash systems make sense in the 0.6-0.8 recirculation ratio range, when the incremental cost is in the usual values for combined cycle power generation projects. With these considerations, the single pressure system without reheat, and a recirculation ratio of 0.6 to 0.8 appears as an interesting alternative to classical dual pressure systems, or as an upgrade to genuine single pressure solutions. 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