Power Plant Engg.

1
1.1 Power Plant
A power plant is assembly of systems or subsystems to generate electricity, i.e.,
power with economy and requirements. The power plant itself must be useful
economically and environmental friendly to the society.
1.2 Classification of Power Plant
Thermal Power Plant

Hydel Power Plant

Diesel Power Plant

MHD (Magnetic hydro dynamic) Power Plant

Nuclear Power Plant

Gas Turbine Power Plant

Combined Cycle Power Plant

Cogeneration Power Plant

Difference between Thermal Power Plant and Hydroelectric Power Plant

Both thermal power plant and hydro power plant are extensively used for producing
electricity. However, there are many differences between thermal power plant and
hydro power plant that are listed in the following table –
ydro power plant that are listed in the following table −
Basis of Thermal Power Plant
Difference
A power generating station
which converts the heat
energy of burning of fossil
Definition
fuels such as coal into
electrical energy is known as
thermal power plant.
Thermal power plant uses
Fuel or source
fossil fuels (mainly coal) to
of energy
produce heat for the operation.
Steam turbines are used to
Turbine drive the alternator in a
thermal power station.
Two types of steam turbines
viz. ‘impulse turbine’ and
Types of
‘reaction turbine’ are used in
turbines
thermal power stations.
Steam is produced in a
Production of
thermal power plant.
steam
Thermal power plant uses non-
Type of
renewable sources of energy
source of
such as fossil fuels (coal, etc.)
energy
for generating electricity.
Thermal power plants are
setup at a place where ample
supply of water and coal is
Plant site
available and the
transportation facilities are
adequate.
The initial cost of a thermal
power plant is relatively low.
Initial cost
Hydroelectric Power Plant
A power generating station
which converts the potential
energy of water stored at a
height into electrical energy is
known as hydroelectric power
plant.
Hydroelectric power plant uses
water as the source of energy.
Water turbines are used to
drive the alternators in a hydro
power plant.
In hydro power plant, three
types of water turbines, i.e.
Pelton wheel turbine, Francis
turbine and Kaplan turbine, are
used.
In hydroelectric power, there is
no need of conversion of water
into steam.
Hydroelectric power plant uses
renewable source of energy
(water) for electricity
generation.
Hydroelectric power plants are
setup where large reservoirs of
water can be obtained by
constructing a dam such as in
hill areas.
Due to construction of dam and
excavation work, the initial cost
of hydroelectric power station
is comparatively high.
 Basis of Thermal Power Plant Hydroelectric Power Plant
Difference

The operating cost of thermal Since no fuel is required,

power plant is high because of therefore the operating cost of
Operating cost
the need of large amount of hydroelectric power plant is
coal. low.

The maintenance cost of Hydroelectric power plant

Maintenance
thermal power plant is high. involves very low maintenance
cost
cost

Thermal power station needs Hydroelectric power plants can

Starting time
long time for starting be started instantly.

Thermal power plant has high There is no standby losses in

standby losses because the case of hydro power plant.
Standby
boiler remains in operation
losses
even when turbine is not
working.

Thermal power plants are less The efficiency of hydro power

efficient. The overall efficiency plant is very. For a typical
Efficiency
of a typical thermal power hydro power plant, the overall
plant is about 25%. efficiency is about 85%.

The cost of transmission is low As hydro power plants located

Transmission because these are located quite away from the load
cost comparatively near the load centers, therefore, the
centers. transmission cost is high.

The life span of thermal power Hydro power plants have

Lifespan
plants is smaller. longer life span.

The size of the thermal power Hydro plants require large area
Size of plant plant is smaller. for reservoir. Hence their size
is large.

In thermal power plant, ash, The hydroelectric power plants

Cleanliness smoke, etc. produce, hence are the most clean power
these are less clean. generation stations.

Thermal power plants pollute Hydro plants also have some

the environment due to smoke. impacts on the environment
Impact on
such as the blocking of water
environment
affect fishes and other
organisms in the water body.

Conclusion
The most significant difference is that a thermal power plant uses heat of burning of
coal into electricity, while a hydroelectric power plant converts potential energy of
stored water at a height into electricity.

Difference between Thermal Power Plant and Nuclear Power Plant

Load Duration Curve

Differences are highlighted in the following table −

Basis of Thermal Power Plant Nuclear Power Plant

Difference

A power generating station A power generating station which

which converts heat energy converts nuclear energy into
Definition of coal combustion into electricity is known as nuclear
electricity is known as power plant.
thermal power plant.

In thermal power plants, The heat is produced by the

Method of heat
heat is produced by the nuclear fission of heavy
production
burning of coal. elements.

Thermal power plant is The nuclear power plants are

located at a place where
Location of huge water and coal is
plant available and the
transportation facilities are
adequate.
located quite away from the
populated areas because they
uses radioactive materials that
can harm humans and animals.
 Basis of Thermal Power Plant
Difference
The capital cost of thermal
Capital cost
power plant is low.
Thermal power plant
involves high operating cost
because it requires huge
Operating cost
amount of coal.
Fossil fuels, mainly coal, is
Fuel used used in the thermal power
plants.
In thermal power plant,
Fuel huge amount of coal is
transportation transported to the plant site,
cost which causes high cost of
fuel transportation.
The maintenance cost of
thermal power plant is less
Maintenance
than nuclear power plant.
cost
In thermal power plants, the
standby losses are very
high because the boiler
Standby losses
remains in operation even
when the turbine is not
working.
Thermal power plants
require large area for
Plant size
installation.
Thermal power plants
Starting time require a lot of time for
starting.
The lifespan of a thermal
Lifespan
power plant is small.
Environmental Thermal power plants
impact produce ash, smoke which
Nuclear Power Plant
The capital cost of nuclear power
plant is very high.
The operating cost of nuclear
power plant is comparatively
lower than thermal power plant.
It is because a small amount of
nuclear fuel can produce
relatively large amount of power.
Radioactive elements such as
uranium, thorium, etc. are used
as fuel in nuclear power plants.
Nuclear plants need small
quantity of fuel. Hence, the cost
of fuel transportation is low.
Maintenance cost of nuclear
power plant is comparatively
high because highly trained
persons are required for
maintenance.
The standby losses in a nuclear
power plant are less.
The area required to install a
nuclear power plant is
comparatively smaller than
thermal power plant.
For nuclear power stations, the
starting times is comparatively
less.
Nuclear power plant has
relatively longer life span.
Nuclear power plants cause
radioactive pollution.
 Basis of Thermal Power Plant Nuclear Power Plant
Difference

cause pollution of
atmosphere.

Conclusion

The most notable difference between a Thermal Power Plant and a Nuclear Power
Plant is that a thermal power plant uses coal to produce heat energy, whereas a
nuclear power plant uses nuclear fission of heavy elements to produce required heat
energy.

Load Duration Curve

The load duration curve is defined as the curve between the load and time in which
the ordinates representing the load, plotted in the order of decreasing magnitude,
i.e., with the greatest load at the left, lesser loads towards the rights and the lowest
loads at the time extreme right. The load duration curve is shown in the figure below.

This curve represents the same data as that of the load curve. The load duration
curve is constructed by selecting the maximum peak points and connecting them by
a curve.The load duration curve plotting for 24 hours of a day is called the daily load
duration curve. Similarly, the load duration curve plotted for a year is called the
annual load curve.
Procedure for Plotting the Load Duration Curve

1. From the data available from the load curve determines the maximum
load and the duration for which it occurs.
2. Now take the next load and the total time during which this and the
previous load occurs.
3. Plots the loads against the time during which it occurs.
The load duration curves can be drawn for any duration of time, for example, a day
or a month or a year. The whole duration is taken as 100%.

Example: Consider the daily load curve data of the power system.

Time Load in MW

6.00 am to 8.00am 8

8.00 am to 1.00 noon 20

1.00 noon to 2.00 noon 5

12.30 noon to 6.00 pm 30

6.00 pm to 6.00 am 8

Solution: The data available from the load curve are tabulated as follows. Here the
total time is 24 hours or 100%.

Load in MW Hours in a day Time in percentage

30 4 4/5×100=16.67%

20 4+5 9/24×100=37.5%
 Load in MW Hours in a day Time in percentage

8 2+4+5+12 =23 23/24×100=95.83%

5 4+5+2+12+1 = 24 24/24×100=100%

Information Available Form Load Duration Curve

1. The load duration curve gives the minimum load present throughout the
specified period.
2. It authorises the selection of base load and peak load power plants.
3. Any point on the load duration curve represents the total duration in hours
for the corresponding load and all loads of greater values.
4. The area under the load duration curve represents the energy associated
with the load duration curve.
5. The average demand during some specified time periods such as a day
or a month can be obtained from the load duration curve.

What is boiler?

It is an enclosed pressure vessel in which water is converted into steam by

gaining heat from any source (coal, oil, gas etc).

Boiler in thermal power plant accumulates the steam and build up a pressure
to expend it in turbine and convert thermal energy to mechanical energy. The
generator which is connected to turbine converts the mechanical energy into
electric energy.

Types of boiler

1. Based on Tube Content

• Fire Tube
• Water Tube

2. Base on Operating Pressure

• Ultra-supercritical boiler: Pressure ≥ 27.0MPa or rated outlet temperature

≥ 590 ℃ boiler
• Supercritical boiler: 22.1MPa ≤ Pressure ≤ 27.0MPa
• Subcritical boiler: 16.7MPa ≤ Pressure ≤ 22.1MPa
• Ultra-high pressure boiler: 13.7MPa ≤ Pressure ≤16.7MPa
 • High pressure boiler: 9.8MPa ≤ Pressure ≤ 13.7MPa
• Sub-high pressure boiler: 5.4MPa ≤ Pressure ≤ 9.8MPa
• Medium pressure boiler: 3.8MPa ≤ Pressure≤ 5.4MPa

3. Base on Fuel Used

• Solid Fuel Fired

• Stoker Fired Boilers
o Pulverized Fuel Boilers
o Fluidized Bed Combustion (FBC) Boilers
• Oil Fired
• Gas Fired Boilers

4. Based on Draught System

• Natural Draught
• Mechanical Draught
o Forced Draught System
o Induced Draught System
o Balanced Draught System

There are two types of boilers are used in sub critical, super critical and
ultra-super critical coal fired thermal power plant:

1. Pulverized coal-fired Boiler

2. Fluidized Bed combustion (FBC) boiler

Note: Both types of boiler are water tube boiler

Pulverized coal-fired Boiler or Pulverized fuel Boiler

A pulverized coal-fired boiler is an industrial boiler that generates thermal

energy by burning pulverized coal.

How does a steam boiler work?

In pulverized coal fired boiler,The coal is pulverized to a fine powder, so that less
than 2 % is +300 micro meter and 70 – 75 % is below 75 microns. The pulverized
coal is blown with part of the combustion air into boiler plant through a series of
burner nozzles. Combustion takes place at temperature from 1300 – 1700 °C,
depending largely on coal grade.

The flue gas formed in the furnace passes over the superheater, economizer,
air-preheater, ESP and finally is evacuated by the induced draft fan into the
chimney.

The ash from the combustion chamber, which falls down is collected in the
bottom ash hoppers. The ash which is fine & flies with the flue gas is separated
by ESP and collected in ESP hoppers.

The Feed water enters the boiler through the economizer tubes provided in the
path of the flue gas. The feed water is heated in the economizer and then enters
the boiler drum situated outside the furnace at the top of the Boiler.

The water is circulated in the tubes and converted into steam by gaining heat
inside the furnace.The dry and saturated steam from the boiler drum then
passes through the superheater section and finally available at the boiler outlet
header.

Advantage of Pulverized Coal-Fired Boiler

• Ability to burn all ranks of coal.

• It permits combination firing (i.e. can use coal, oil and gas in same burner)

Disadvantage of Pulverized Coal-Fired Boiler

• High power demand for pulverizing.

• Require more maintenance.
• Fly ash erosion
• Pollution complicate unit operation

Fluidized Bed combustion boiler (FBC)

Pulverized coal fire boiler has been the preferred method for solid fuel firing but
in the last few years, fluidized bed combustion boilers have begun to disturb this
equilibrium by offering reliable solutions in the areas not served well by
pulverized fuel boiler.

Working Principle of fluidized bed combustion boiler

When gas or air is passed through an inert bed of solid particles such as sand or
limestone supported on a fine grid or mesh, the particle are undisturbed at low
velocity. As air velocity is gradually increased, a stage is reached when the
individual particle are suspended in the air stream. With further increase in the
velocity of the air, the particles attain a state of high turbulence. Under such
conditions, the bed assumes the appearance of a fluid and exhibits the
properties associated with a fluid and hence the name “Fluidized Bed
combustion”.

If the sand or limestone in a fluidized state is heated to the ignition temperature

of the coal and the coal is injected continuously into the bed, the fuel will burn
rapidly and the bed attains a uniform temperature due to effective mixing.

The fluidized bed combustion takes place at a temperature of 840°C to 950 °C.
Since the temperature is below the ash fusion temperature, melting of ash and
associated problems are avoided.

There are three types of fluidized bed combustion boilers:

1. Atmospheric fluidized bed combustion system (AFBC) or Bubbling fluidized
bed combustion (BFBC)

AFBC is atmospheric fluidized bed combustion, where the furnace pressure is

atmospheric pressure and velocity of fluidized air is in the range of 1.2 to 3.7
m/sec. The in-bed tubes carrying water generally act as the evaporator. The flue
gas from the furnace pass over the superheater sections of the boiler flow past
the economizer, the dust collector and the air preheater before being exhausted
to atmosphere.

2. Circulating fluidized bed combustion (CFBC)

In this system, the fluidized velocity in circulating beds ranges from 3.7 to 9
m/sec and the flue gas is recirculated with a cyclone to capture the unburnt
carbon. There are no steam generation tubes immersed in the bad. Generation
and super heating of steam takes place in the convection section, water wall and
at the exit of the riser.

3. Pressurised fluidized bed combustion system (PFBC)

In PFBC, a compressor supplies the forced draft (FD) air and the combustor is a
pressure vessel. The heat release rate in the bad is proportional to the bed
pressure and hence a deep bed is used to extract large amount of heat. This will
improve the combustion efficiency. Steam generated from the heat in the
fluidized bed is sent to a steam turbine and hot flue gases drive a power
generating gas turbine.

The PFBC system can be used for combined cycle operation (gas turbine and
steam turbine). This improves the overall conversion efficiency by 5 to 8 %.

Advantages of fluidized bed combustion (FBC) boilers

• Reduce emission of NOx due to lower temperature.

• Reduce emission of SOx due to capture by limestone.
• Low corrosion and erosion.
• Easier ash removal i.e. no clinker formation
• Simple operation and quick start up.
• Reduce maintenance
• High efficiency of power generation

Heat Transfer In Steam Boiler

A steam boiler is designed to absorb the maximum amount of heat released
from the process of combustion. There are three way (Radiation, convection &
Conduction) that heat is transfer in the boiler and relative percentage of each
heat transfer within system boiler is dependent on the type of steam boiler,
fuels and the designed transfer surface.

1. Radiation

Radiation is the process of continuous interchange of energy by means of

electromagnetic waves without a change in the temperature of the medium
between two bodies involved.

The heating surface in the furnace are receives heat primarily by radiation. The
steam boiler tubes absorb the radiant heat from flame and radiate a small
portion of the heat back to the furnace.

2. Convection

Convection is the process of transferring heat by movement energy through a

material.

Example of heat transfer by convection in steam boiler:

• Heating surface in the steam boiler receives heat by convection from the
hot flue gases.
• water or steam in the steam boiler receive heat by convection from the
heating surface.
• When any fluid in a steam boiler is heated, its density is decreases and
fluid become lighter. Then the heavier or cooler fluid will flow and replace
the heated portion of the fluid. In turn the cooler portion become heated
are example of convection.

3. Conduction

Conduction is the transfer of the heat from one part of a body to other or from
one body to another in physical contact.

Heat received by the heating surface travels through the metal by conduction.

Steam Boiler Mountings

Boiler Mountings are the safety devices which are fitted on the boiler for its safe
& efficient working. The following mountings are usually installed on the boiler:
Safety Valve, Water Level Indicator, Pressure Gauge, Steam Stop Valve, Feed
check Valve, Blow of Cock, Man and Mud Hole.

Steam Boiler Accessories

Boiler accessories are the components which are installed to increase the
efficiency of the steam power plant. The following accessories are given below:

Air Preheater, Economiser, Superheater, Feed Pump, Injector