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Thermodynamic Modeling and Validation of a 210-MW Capacity Coal-Fired Power Plant

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Abstract

This paper presents the thermodynamic modeling and validation of a 210-MW subcritical coal-fired power plant situated in North India. In the era of high computing facilities available, modeling and simulation have become a very pertinent tool for design and development. As such, the objective of the present work is not to enhance the thermal conversion efficiency, but to represent the thermal system in a simplistic yet functional manner. The thermal performance module consists of the following main sections such as steam boiler, economizer, superheater, reheater, steam turbine, condensate extraction pump, boiler feed pump, feedwater heaters and condenser. Thus, a semi-empirical module has been developed to predict thermal performance of coal-fired power plant. It includes the mass balance, energy balance, thermodynamic property relations for working substance followed by empirical correlations for steam bled pressure and thermodynamics of a steam power cycle. By using the MATLAB calculation tool, a process-based computer program of the coal-fired power plant has been successfully validated for thermal efficiency, steam flow rate and coal consumption rate at wide plant load range. The predictions were compared with operating data of 210-MW thermal power plant at different power output levels. The predicted results agree with plant operating data.

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Abbreviations

BF:

Boiler feed pump

CEP:

Condensate extraction pump

CM, GM:

Gland steam leakage collector

COND:

Condenser

C pw :

Specific heat capacity of working substance

Cina:

Carbon content in ash

DR:

Deaerator

DC:

Drain cooler

ECO:

Economizer

EJE:

Ejector

ETD:

Entry temperature difference

FW:

Feedwater

GSC:

Gland steam condenser

GCVcoal :

Gross calorific value of coal (kJ kg−1)

HPT:

High-pressure turbine

HPH:

High-pressure feedwater heater

h :

Enthalpy (kJ kg−1)

h s(i) :

Enthalpy of superheated steam (kJ kg−1)

h f(i) :

Enthalpy of feedwater at exit (kJ kg−1)

h f(i+1) :

Enthalpy of feedwater at entry (kJ kg−1)

h c(i) :

Enthalpy of condensate (kJ kg−1)

IPT:

Intermediate pressure turbine

IPH:

Intermediate pressure feedwater heater

LPT:

Low-pressure turbine

LPH:

Low-pressure feedwater heater

m coal :

Coal consumption rate (ton h−1)

m uw :

Unit mass flow rate of water (ton h−1)

MWe:

Net power output

MW:

Plant capacity

NCVcoal :

Net calorific value of coal (kJ kg−1)

P :

Pressure in bar

P i :

Pressure of bled steam at various locations from turbine

P op :

Power output of turbine

Q i :

‘ith’ loss in boiler

RH:

Reheater

SH:

Superheater

T f :

Temperature of flue gas at air preheater outlet

T a :

Forced draft fan inlet temperature

TTD:

Terminal temperature difference

W t :

Work done by turbine

x i :

Fractional mass flow rate of steam at ‘ith’ state

η plant :

Overall thermal efficiency of the plant

η boiler :

Boiler efficiency

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Mullana, India

    Ravinder Kumar

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  1. Ravinder Kumar
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Correspondence to Ravinder Kumar.

Appendix: Properties Modeling of Working Substance

Appendix: Properties Modeling of Working Substance

The thermodynamic properties of water in unsaturated, saturated and superheated conditions have been obtained from a curve fit to the thermodynamic data originally by Keenan and Keyes Steam Tables.

The enthalpy of saturated water is obtained in the following form

$$hu = - 1.40069 \times 10^{ - 09} \,p^{6} + 9.91868 \times 10^{ - 07} \,p^{5} - 2.68248 \times 10^{ - 04} \,p^{4} + 3.47195 \times 10^{ - 02} x^{3} - 2.21241\,p^{2} + 69.1350\,p + 244.324$$
(35)

The graphical presentation is given in Fig. 11.

Fig. 11
figure 11

Comparing pressure–enthalpy (P–h) relation of saturated water

Full size image

The empirical fit of entropy in terms of pressure of saturated water is graphically presented in Fig. 12.

Fig. 12
figure 12

Pressure–entropy (P–S) of diagram of coal-fired power plant

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Enthalpy of water vapor in superheated conditions is obtained from a curve fit to the thermodynamic data originally by Keenan and Keyes Steam Tables in the following form

$$h = a_{1} + a_{2} p^{0.25} + a_{3} s^{2} + a_{4} ps^{1.5} + a_{5} p^{2} s + a_{6} ps^{2.25} + a_{7} p^{2.05} s^{1.05}$$
(36)

The values of constants are listed in Table 4.

Table 4 Values of constants as given in Eq. (36)
Full size table

Equation 36 is valid in the pressure range of 0.1–175 bar and entropy in the range of 5–11.6 (kJ kg K) with coefficient of determination of 0.9198 and with percentage error (average) of 3.0258 and RMS error of 0.1888.

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Kumar, R. Thermodynamic Modeling and Validation of a 210-MW Capacity Coal-Fired Power Plant. Iran J Sci Technol Trans Mech Eng 40, 233–242 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40997-016-0025-5

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