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Heat transfer analysis of energy and exergy improvement in water-tube boiler in steam generation process

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Abstract

Steam generation is an essential process in steel production. Saturated steam is used in the cold-rolling mills of sample steel company to raise the acid pool temperature. The studied water-tube boiler had a rated saturated steam generation capacity of 47 tons per hour. This study used energy and exergy balance equations for each of the components in the cycle to calculate exergy efficiency and irreversibility rate. Results from the exergy analysis along with the exergy dissipation rate of the cycle were obtained. Based on the literature results, it was recommended to increase the input air temperature by means of a preheater. First, the exergy dissipation in the boiler was reduced by 68 kJ kg−1 with the installation of an economizer. The most important cause of exergy destruction was then presented, and some recommendations were provided on how to increase the temperature of the makeup water in order to increase the boiler efficiency and exergy.

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Acknowledgements

This research is partially supported by the Technical Innovation Project of Hubei Province (No. 2017AAA133), Hubei Superior and Distinctive Discipline Group of “Mechatronics and Automobiles” (No. XKQ2018002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hubei Key Laboratory of Power System Design and Test for Electrical Vehicle, Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang, 441053, China

    Huawei Wu

  2. School of Automotive and Traffic Engineering, Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang, 441053, China

    Huawei Wu

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran

    Mahdi Hashemi Beni, Iman Moradi, Arash Karimipour & Rasoul Kalbasi

  4. Laboratory of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, Advanced Institute of Materials Science, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Sara Rostami

  5. Faculty of Applied Sciences, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Sara Rostami

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  1. Huawei Wu
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  2. Mahdi Hashemi Beni
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  3. Iman Moradi
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  4. Arash Karimipour
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Correspondence to Sara Rostami.

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Wu, H., Beni, M.H., Moradi, I. et al. Heat transfer analysis of energy and exergy improvement in water-tube boiler in steam generation process. J Therm Anal Calorim 139, 2791–2799 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-019-09034-6

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