Industrial Cogeneration India

Design & Analysis of a Cogeneration Plant using WHR

There is a more potential in a cement factory for electric power generation using waste heat recovery (WHR)
compared to other industries. The following is a case study at a cement factory having two units of 1,600 TPD and
5,500 TPD, where three waste heat rejections at 176 °C, 330 °C and 420 °C were identified and a suitable power
plant configuration was designed. In this work, an attempt was made to quantify the power generation capacity
with plant analysis. Results showed that 12.5 MW of power can be produced with the available heat recovery
against a cement factory demand of 15 MW. The available process heat for cement production and power generation
has been estimated at a capacity range of 5,000 – 9,000 TPD. The analysis recommended low steam pressure for
power generation at the above stated heat recovery gas temperature.

Introduction

A cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) system produces steam that provides thermal energy to heat
exchangers and mechanical energy through expansion to turbine units or generation of process heat and power.
The turbine units then transfer the mechanical energy to generators, which in turn produce electricity. The principle
technical advantage of cogeneration systems is their ability to improve the efficiency of fuel use in the production
of electrical and thermal energy. Less fuel is required to
Supported by produce a given amount of electrical and thermal energy in a
single cogeneration unit than is needed to generate the same
quantities of both types of energy by separate conventional
technologies.

Operation of cogeneration plants by generating steam using

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), WHR is a more economical option compared to direct
Government of India generation of steam, which is possible in steel plants and
Co-sponsored by cement factories. There is more potential in a cement factory
to generate power due to its increasing demand in building
ISGEC Heavy Engineering
Uttam Group and construction. Production of cement was reported at
MAN Turbomachinery India 161.66 million tons in 2006–2007 in India. Cement industry
Shin Nippon/Shin Thermo consumes more energy than other industries. The energy
Prumatech Services
consumption for the production of cement is approximately
Editorial Board from 4 to 5 GJ/t. About 35% of the input energy is being lost
Shri Girish Kumar, Director, MNRE with waste heat streams. By replacing diesel fuel with WHR
Mr Sanjeev Babar, Executive Director, Cogen India from kiln and cooler exhaust for drying of raw meal and fuel,
Mr SC Natu, Member Secretary, Cogen India and preheating of combustion air, the cement industry can
Editor save about 1.264 × 105 US dollars per year and increase the
Anita Khuller, Cogen India energy efficiency of their plants. Cogeneration of power,
besides mitigating the problem of power shortage, helps in
Published by energy conservation as well as reduced greenhouse gas
Cogeneration Association of India emissions. Cogeneration systems have been successfully
(Cogen India) operating in cement plants in India, China and South-east
c/o MSFCSF Ltd., 1st floor, Sakhar Sankul Asian countries. Economic evaluation shows that the payback
Shivajinagar, Pune 411 005, India
period for cement plant cogeneration is less than 1.5 years.
Tel: +91-20-25511404; Fax: +91-20-25511467
Email: cogenindia@gmail.com In existing plants cogeneration technologies based on
Web: www.cogenindia.org bottoming cycles have potential to generate up to 25-30%
of the power requirement of a plant. It has been calculated
Printed by
Innovative Designers & Printers, New Delhi that power generation per ton clinker of the waste heat is
Tel: 41811221, 46604979 30.75 kWh/t.
Email: idpdelhi@yahoo.com
Indian cement industry is yet to make a beginning for the
Disclaimer adoption of cogeneration technology due to existence of
The views expressed in the articles within are those
various technical and financial barriers. Literature survey shows
of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those
of Cogen India or the newsletter sponsors. that many cement industries are not operating on

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 Industrial Cogeneration India

cogeneration mode. Most literature is focused on energy

audits, and energy and exergy approaches with possible
improvements. The current work is aimed at the
identification of heat recovery potential from a cement
plant through a case study, design and thermodynamic
analysis with a suitable power plant configuration.

Methodology

The potential to generate power from the available heat

recovery has been identified based on a case study of a
7,100 TPD capacity cement plant. A suitable plant
configuration has been designed and shown in Figure 1
to suit the temperature level and gas stream flow rate.
The plant consists of two units having 1,600 TPD and
5,500 TPD respectively. Coal has been used in the plant’s
furnace (combustion chamber) for the processing of Fig. 2 Methodology flow chart for design and analysis of a
cement. After the use of hot gases to the cement cogeneration plant
production processes, three sources are available to
generate the steam for power generation. But out of to the turbine inlet temperature. The steam from the four
these three sources, one source is at 176 °C which is lines is mixed and supplied to the turbine for power
not suitable for steam generation at the required pressure generation. The designed thermal power plant follows
level. Therefore, supplementary firing (SF) has been used the simple Rankine cycle with a deaerator. After
to raise the temperature from 176 °C to 420 °C with condensing the exhaust steam, it is pumped to the
suitable selection in coal consumption and gas mix to deaerator via a condensate preheater. The water from
meet the temperature. After mixing, it became two gas the deaerator is pumped to boiler pressure and supplied
sources at 420 °C and 330 °C to generate the steam at to four lines with flow control to recover the waste heat.
two levels to create four steam lines from the two units. The exhaust gas is used for air preheating and
The steam temperature from 330 °C gas source is low condensate preheating after steam generation. Finally,
compared to the steam temperature from 420 °C. the exhaust gas is treated in an electro static precipitator
Therefore, the low temperature steam has been mixed (ESP) and connected to a chimney stack.
with the high temperature steam line and superheated
The following are the assumptions used in the proposed
cogeneration plant. Atmospheric
condition is taken as 1.01325 bar and
25 °C. The solid fuel used in
combustion is coal. The furnace
temperature in main combustion and
SF are respectively 1,000 °C and 900
°C, which are maintained below the
adiabatic flame temperature. Terminal
temperature difference (TTD) of heat
recovery steam generator (HRSG) is
taken at 25 K. Pinch point (PP) in HRSG
is 30 K. The steam turbine inlet
temperature and pressure are 390 °C
and 15 bar respectively. The open
feed water heater (deaerator) is
located in between the boiler
saturation temperature and
condenser temperature and at 0.3
Fig. 1 Cogeneration plant layout for a cement factory with a steam power temperature ratio. The isentropic
system
efficiency of the steam turbine has
PH: Condensate preheater; ECO: Economizer; ESP: Electro static precipitator; EVA: Evaporator;
been interpolated based on the
HRSG: Heat recovery steam generator; SF: Supplementary firing; SH: Superheater
capacity or size of turbine. The

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isentropic efficiency for the pump is taken at 75%. The Table 1 Power generation capacity, kW resulted from
mechanical efficiency for the pump and turbine is cement capacity and steam pressure to simulate the
considered as 96%. Electrical generator efficiency (çeg) is steam turbine isentropic efficiency
taken as 98%. The pipe pressure and energy losses are
P, bar/
neglected. 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000
C, TPD
12 9000.54 10881.24 12789.90 14726.96 16692.88
Figure 2 outlines the methodology involved in design
16 8761.52 10590.27 12445.57 14327.87 16237.60
and analysis of a cogeneration plant. The fuel, gas and
20 8485.21 10253.78 12047.15 13865.72 15709.89
steam properties have been developed to solve the
24 8193.18 9898.38 11626.63 13378.28 15153.69
combustion and steam power cycle. The schematic 28 7894.79 9535.46 11197.46 12881.13 14586.77
material flow diagram was prepared to suit the heat 32 7594.67 9170.65 10766.32 12381.98 14017.90
recovery in a cement plant. A mathematical model using 36 7295.28 8806.92 10336.70 11884.87 13451.67
thermodynamic relations has been generated. To 40 6997.92 8445.87 9910.46 11391.93 12890.51
develop the specifications at optimized working mode, 44 6703.31 8088.32 9488.59 10904.30 12335.67
operational parameters have been identified with 48 6411.79 7734.71 9071.56 10422.52 11787.75
feasible range for variations. These operational conditions Figure 3 (a) shows the increase in process heat available
were varied to study the reflection on performance after for cement production with increase in cement plant
the simulation of the model. The simulated results were capacity from 5,000 TPD to 9,000 TPD. The coal
arranged in a proper order and analyzed. Based on the consumption rate increases from 68 t/h to 125 t/h with
best operational conditions and its results, system the capacity increase. Obviously the process heat
specifications were developed. The results have been increases linearly with an increase in cement plant size
validated with reported results in various literature. and so the coal consumption. But the power generation
The following are the observations noted from the increases more with high capacity due to increased

cement plant’s case study. The specific mass of flue gas steam turbine efficiency with turbine size. Fig. 3 (b)
from the preheater at 330 °C is 1.6 Nm3/h per kg cement. demonstrates that more power can be generated in high

Similarly the specific mass of mixed gas is 1.25 Nm3/h capacity cement plants. It also shows the relationship
per kg cement. The gas at 176 °C is mixed with SF of steam turbine efficiency with the steam turbine size,

products to form 420 °C mixed gas. This mixed i.e. its power generating capacity.
gas is again mixed with gas at 420 °C. The ratio
of mixed gas from SF and hot gas at 420 °C is
0.44:0.56. The proximate analysis of coal is C
= 47, H = 3.17, O = 8.7, N = 1.5, S = 0.91 and
ash = 33. The moisture content in the coal is
taken at 11.7%. The higher heating value of coal
is 14,871 kJ/kg coal with a stiochiometric air
fuel ratio of 9.17. It also results in an adiabatic
flame temperature of 1,100 °C.

Results & Discussions

Fig. 3 (a) Variation in process heat for cement production with coal
The performance characteristics of the consumption and (b) Variable steam turbine isentropic efficiency
with the size
cogeneration plant have been plotted to identify
efficient operational conditions. As stated in the previous Figure 4 shows the influence of cement plant capacity
section, the steam turbine isentropic efficiency has been (5,000 TPD – 9,000
interpolated based on the size of the turbine. The size TPD) and steam
of steam turbine depends on cement plant capacity and pressure (12 bar –
steam pressure. In the first stage, Table 1 has been 48 bar) on power
developed for power plant capacity at different cement cycle thermal
plant capacities and steam pressures at fixed steam efficiency, net
turbine efficiency. At known cement plant capacity and power output, plant
steam pressure, the steam turbine output can be read EUF and steam
from Table 1 and the corresponding isentropic efficiency g e n e r a t i o n
can be interpolated between 1 MW (70%) to 50 MW capacity. Figure 4 (a)
(85%). shows the

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 Industrial Cogeneration India

variations in steam ratios, flue gas production and steam generation. The
power cycle heat balance results the fuel energy supply, process heat,
efficiency with net power output, cycle thermal efficiency and plant EUF.
power with the For Unit 1 (1,600 TPD) and Unit 2 (5,500 TPD), the steam
above stated generation is also in the same proportion. In this
changed. Since the cogeneration plant, it has been observed that the power
steam turbine generation and process heat share is 0.05:0.95. If there
efficiency increases is no power generation and the heat has been used only
with an increase in for process, out of 389.25 MW, 232.45 MW alone can
its size, the cycle be used. It results in 0.60 EUF. By adding a power plant
efficiency is capacity of 12.54 MW, the EUF is increased from 0.60
Fig.4 Performance curves of increased with the to 0.63, i.e. there is a 3% improvement in the energy
cogeneration plant with a change
capacity of the conversion efficiency. The proposed cogeneration results
in cement factory capacity and
boiler steam pressure cement factory. in 4.74 GJ/t of gross heat energy consumption to
Obviously the coal generate power and process heat. Also 23% was the
consumption, heat recovery and power generation power generating efficiency reported.
values increases with increase in cement plant size. The
Table 3 Specifications of cogeneration plant generated
influence of steam pressure on cycle efficiency is well
from mass and heat balances
established. But the role of steam pressure on
cogeneration plant performance is different compared S. Description Result
to the cycle. In a conventional thermal power plant, No.
power output increases with an increase in steam
pressure due to absence of pinch point maintenance. 1. Total coal consumption, t/h 94.00
But in a heat recovery steam generator, pinch point plays 2. Total air consumption to
an important role to ensure positive heat transfer. cogeneration plant, Nm3/h 718,170.00
Therefore the power output in a typical steam power 3. Total flue gas flow rate at
plant with a steam boiler is different from the power the exit of CPH, Nm3/h 764,390.00
generation with a heat recovery component. 4. Air fuel ratio in main
combustion, kg/kg coal 9.81
Since the steam power plant is working on heat recovery 5. Air fuel ratio at SF, kg/kg coal 10.28
basis, pinch point and terminal temperatures are to be 6. Total flue gas temperature at
maintained at minimum level to ensure heat transfer the exit of CPH, °C 157.00
from hot fluid to cold fluid. The increase in steam pressure 7. Steam generation in Unit I
increases the hot gas exit temperature at the evaporator (m20 + m24), kg/h 14,906.00
at a fixed pinch point. It drops the heat recovery in the 8. Steam generation in Unit II
superheater and evaporator. The steam flow rate has (m10 + m14), kg/h 51,239.00
been determined from the mass and energy balance 9. Total steam generation, kg/h 66,145.00
equations applied to the superheater and evaporator. 10. Circulating water in
Therefore, the amount of steam generation decreases condenser, kg/h 4,443,500.00
with an increase in steam pressure in HRSG. So the net 11. Fuel energy supply, MW 389.25
power decreases with an increase in steam pressure. 12. Process heat, MW 232.45
Figure 4 (b) depicts the plant EUF and steam generation 13. Heat supplied for power
rate with cement generation capacity and steam generation, MW 54.34
pressure. An increase in cement plant capacity increases 14. Heat supplied for air preheating, MW 5.40
the process heat and heat recovery. It increases the steam 15. Condenser heat losses, MW 41.27
generation rate with increase in cement plant size. An 16. Exhaust gas losses, MW 44.07
increase in steam pressure decreases steam generation 17. Total heat losses, MW 85.34
production and plant EUF. Therefore, the cogeneration 18. Power generation, MW 12.54
plant has been suggested to operate on lower steam 19. Electricity, kWh/t 42.00
pressure suitable to gas temperature. 20. Unit gross heat energy
consumption, GJ/t 4.74
Table 3 shows the cogeneration plant specifications
21 Cycle thermal efficiency, % 23.07
developed from thermodynamic evaluation. The mass
22. Plant EUF 0.63
balance results coal consumption, air supply, air fuel
contd on pg 17

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 Industrial Cogeneration India

f) Boiler auxiliary power: Besides reduction in FD the maximum mileage. This unique design would also
(forced draft) fan power by over 10%, power saving provide an opportunity to boiler manufacturers to
was also observed in the reduce substantial capital cost on APCD and flyash
SA (secondary air) fan and handling.
feeders.
g) Allowable steam load:
Author:
The average boiler steam
Rajesh Verma is the CEO and Director of Enviropol
load went up by near 10%
Engineers Private Limited, India. He has over 26 years
on continuous basis with
of experience in the environment and energy sector.
stable boiler operation.
Rajesh has been servicing the industry across the
Conclusion globe by providing innovative designs of Flash Dryers,
Fluidized Bed Scrubbers, Wet Electrostatic Precipitators
The multiple advantages and Mechanized Slurry Dewatering (for more details,
drawn from bagasse drying visit www.enviropolengineers.in)
have encouraged Team
Enviropol to develop a Hybrid Rajesh Verma
Design of Flash Dryer, which Email: ceo@enviropolengineers.in
can be used as a Dryer and Air Enviropol Engineers Pvt. Ltd., A-50, Sector-65, Noida,
Hybrid design of Flash
Pollution Control Device India
dryer
(APCD) simultaneously to drive

Hybrid design of
flash dryer

contn from pg 6 (Design & Analysis)

Conclusions Authors:

The designed power plant configuration and its
evaluation based on the identified potential in a typical
cement factory results in 12.5 MW of electrical output
from the WHR. A detailed thermodynamic methodology
has been outlined to solve the cogeneration plant for
estimation of power output. The analysis suggested a
reasonable low pressure for steam generation with
reference to gas temperature. The work also suggested
an erection of a 2.5 MW power plant to meet the total
demand of 15 MW. Shifting from the industry mode
(process heat only) to cogeneration mode (both process
heat and power generation) thus increases the EUF from
0.60 to 0.63.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to express their thanks to Sagar
Cements, India for the warm consideration and data
support in this research work.
GV Pradeep Varma1, T Srinivas*2
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Coastal
Institute of Technology and Management Engineering,
Vijayanagaram, India
2
CO2 Research and Green Technologies Centre, School
of Mechanical and Building Sciences, VIT University,
Vellore, India 632 014
*
Author for correspondence - email:
srinivastpalli@yahoo.co.in
The above is an excerpt of the main paper (also
published courtesy Elsevier Ltd) printed with
permission from the author. For details on the
formulae developed for thermodynamic evaluation of
cogeneration plant, material flow details obtained
from mass and energy balance solutions, references,
and the complete article, please contact the author
directly.

VOL. 41 APRL 2016 17