Topic3: INTERCONNECTED GRID - ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND ADVANCED GENERATING PLANT ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES Atmospheric Pollution pollutants are sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon oxides and particulate matter. Sulphur Oxides These result from the sulphur content of te fuel. For coal ths is typically between 0.3% and 5%. These react with the atmosphere to produce acid ran causing environmental damage and structural damage. Nitrogen Oxides Nitrogen oxides are generated by the fixing of the atmospheric nitrogen with oxygen at flame temperatures in the range of 1600C to over 2000C. These gases are poisonous and are a major constituent of photochemical smog. Carbon Oxides ‘These consist of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide and result from the burning of fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide is a "greenhouse" gas. The effect on the environment whilst debateable is generally accepted as undesirable, Particulate matter ‘This consists mostly of ash resulting from the combustion of pulverised fuels. These are damaging to the respiratory system, reduce the solar radiation and cause a general build up of dir, ‘Thermal Pollution To condense steam in an effort to improve the efficiency of the thermal cycle of steam turbines large quantities of water for cooling must be used. This water may come from the ocean or from a river. ‘The ability for oxygen to dissolve in water decreases with increasing temperature so the result on marine life may bbe devastating. Where river or sea water cannot be used, large cooling towers are used. An evaporative type cooling tower on a 1000MW(e) power station could emit 75 000 litres‘min of water into the atmosphere. Hence local humidity increases could be come apparent. ‘They are often considered ugly - a source of visual pollution, Land is allocated that cannot be used for other purposes, ‘They produce interference over a wide range of the radio frequency spectrum. ‘There are safety considerations to people and wildlife, particularly migrating birds. REDUCI HE IMPACT - Conventional Technology ‘This can be done using a variety of techniques. These include settling chambers, cyclones and filters. The first two methods use litle energy but are not very good at removing very fine material, Fikers remove the fine material but have problems with the material ofthe filter and use a considerable amount of energy. y « bes) | cmon) Ni 13 - y Eee t oe woe f we ¥ ialElectrostatic Precipitators If vertical wire is suspended in the flue stack and connected to a high negative voltage source then the electrons emitted by the wire will be gathered by the flue gas particles and gases. Under the influence of the charge these will move to the stack wall where they are neutralised and fall to the bottom for collection. Precipitators have an efficiency of around 99% (by weight). This is misleading since the efficiency is poor for small particles (< 0. lim). Unfortunately the efficiency drops off as the sulphur content falls. Ifthe efficiency is 99% with 3% sulphur coal then it will be only be 83% for 0.5% sulphur coal. — Metal plate Gasesin Wire at high negative voliage Glow discharge’ Panicle acquites regatwe cnarge \ regatve charge Necatve particle atvacted towards positive pate Wet Scrubbers ‘This involves passing the flue gas through fine mist of water. ‘The water may also contain calcium carbonate to react with the SO, to produce insoluble ealcium sulphate, The mist will also remove fine particulate mate. ‘The end result is a wet sludge that must be disposed of. These systems are considered expensive and energy imensive. Cleaned gas | Sprays Gases in—> Sludge out 4REDUCING THE IMPACT - New Technology Combined Cycle Systems ‘The second law of thermodynamics limits the maximum efficiency that can be achieved using a thermal cycle for power production. This theoretical maximum efficiency of conversion of thermal energy into mechanical (or electrical) energy is given by (absolute temperatures are used, ic in degrees Kelvin): Maximum efficiency = Tseurce ~ Tank Tsource Ideally we need high input temperatures and low exhaust temperatures to improve the efficiency. A combined ceycle system uses a gas turbine and a steam turbine. The gas turbine runs at a very high input temperature and relatively high output temperature. This output temperature is used to raise steam for a turbine operating with a low output temperature. An example of the ideal case would be Gas Stage ‘Steam Stage Eff = 1100 - 480 = 45% Ef = 480 - 30 = 60% 1100 + 273 480 + 273 Overall efficiency = 78% ‘More typically this would be Gas Turbine Boiler Steam Turbine 100 units —> 33% ——>> 67 —>> 85% ——> 57 — 35% 4 wo ~~ — units of electricity Advantages Have reduced pollutants by increasing the efficiency of the system. Careful control of burners in gas stage reduces NOx emissions. Disadvantages. [Needs clean fuel. The gas turbines need protection both chemically and physically against contaminants in the exhaust gas. Parallel Power systems. Use a combination of gas turbines and steam turbines, gas and coal burners to produce a flexible ‘arrangement of steam and gas systems with advantages of improved efficiency and flexibility of operation using multiple fuel sources. 8This diagram shows typical energy flows in a Combined Cycle System FUELGAS 13837 MW AIR 37.6MW WATER (-91.1MW) TOTAL 1330.2MW RADIATION, MECHANICAL. AND GENERATOR LOSSES | 9X GT 13E GAS TURBINES ENTHALPY INCREASE 12.1MW STEAM TURBINE] RADIATION AND GENERATOR | OTHERLOSSES RADIATION FEEDWATER] PUMPS GROSS ELECTRICAL OUTPUT GAS TURBINE STEAM TURBINE CONDENSERLOSS 432.9 MW. 224.49 MW 472MW GROSS" 657.39MW AUXILIARIES 8.79 MW NET 608.6 MW Sankey diagramCLEAN COAL Coal; there isa lot of it and it’s not much good for anything else!! ‘The problems with coal are the high SOx and NOx emissions during burning and also the problems associated with high ash content. Work has proceeded to reduce several of the problems by using advanced combustion chambers. A conventional coal burning combustion chamber uses pulverised coal blown into the combustion area where it combusts very rapidly at high temperatures, The heat is absorbed as radiant heat around the combustion region and through conduction at the top of the chamber as the exhaust gases pass over heat ‘exchangers. The temperatures are typically of the order of 2000°C. AA bed of particles can be made to exhibit many of the properties of fluid by passing a steady stream of gas upwards through the bed. The flow rate must be sufficient to induce the fluid like motion but not actually transport the material ‘The heat exchanger is inserted into the fluidised bed keeping the temperature of combustion down. Typically the temperature is between 850° and 950°C, ‘The combustion is very complete due to the long interaction time between the particles and the air flow. Ash collection in be readily achieved throughout the bottom of the unit At these lower temperatures NOx production is negligible. ‘The low temperatures also allow the injection of Calcium Carbonate into the bed to react with the sulphur. ‘The sulphate material can then be removed with the ash as a solid. Thus SOx production is minimised ‘The final ash product has been used for road making material PERC - Pressurised Fluidised Bed Combustion Of the different types of fluidised beds the pressurised type is the most promising. This is for several ‘The combustion gases can be cleaned using cyclones and then fed through a gas turbine to further enhance the energy efficiency. Combustion is enhanced at higher pressures to the level where only 0.5% of the bed needs to be fuel Pressure drops through the bed are relatively low allowing the use of deep beds and low fluidising velocities leading to longer gas residence times. This also leads to better combustion efficiency and sulphur removal, For reasons not fully understood the NOx emissions are also reduced significantly at higher pressutes. The turbines used do not have to be significantly more robust since it has been found that at the lower temperatures the dust particles are much sofier and do not have a glassy consistency, ‘The combustion unit is smaller than similar rated conventional units 7Cyclone PREC Power plant ‘Transmission Lines ‘Underground lines cost 10 to 20 times the cost of overhead transmission lines. Regulations are tighter on the equipment connecting to power lines to minimise the radio frequency interference. AL this stage there appears to be no effect of low frequency magnetic or electric fields despite considerable research in this field Nuclear Appears to have fizzled due to bad environmental record. Hydro [New schemies meet large environmental resistance in many countries 18