Performance improvement of a gas turbine cycle by using a desiccant-based evaporative cooling system

This paper focuses on power augmentation of a typical gas turbine cycle by using a desiccant-based evaporative cooling system. This technique requires a desiccant-based dehumidifying process be used to direct the air through an evaporative cooler, which could be either media-based or spray type. This could assist the evaporative cooling cycle to make necessary adjustment for any possible installation defects in a hot and humid climate. We make a comparison between performance improvement achieved by this technique and those of other evaporative cooling systems in different climatic conditions. We will show that our proposed technique, at least for hot and humid climates, is more effective than other evaporative cooling techniques. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.