April 2016

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ExpertSpeak

Need clean coal technologies to

combat CO2 challenge
Pratosh Saxena, General Manager- Engineering, Tata Projects
Limited, discusses various clean coal technologies that may be
employed by India in future to curtail carbon emissions by thermal
power plants.
Coal is the cheapest available fuel and
its reserves are vastly distributed in
India and around the world, and these
reserves are cheap to extract compare
to other energy sources. Usage of coal
in thermal power generation allows
the electricity utilities to produce large
quantity of electric power reliably.
Thus over 40% of the worlds electric power is being produced through
coal fired power plants. Demand for
electricity is growing at a very fast rate
in developing countries like China and
India. Unfortunately coal-fired power
generating stations are also guilty of
emitting greenhouse gases. Technology
can play a big role in curbing the CO2
emission by improving the efficiency
of the existing and upcoming coal
fired power projects. Since coal will
continue to be a global energy solution provider, so future of all existing

and upcoming thermal power projects

rest on the foundation of elements like
modern cutting edge technology for
enhancing efficiency in all coal fired
plants and uncompromising commitment towards safety, reliability and
availability.

Evolution of coal fired power

plants
Coal fired power plants are broadly
classified depending upon the pressure
of the steam produced by the steam
generator: Sub-critical pressure (pressure is below the critical pressure of
22 MPa) and Super-critical pressure
(pressures greater than the critical pressure of 22 MPa). Among supercritical
plants, those plants using the high
steam temperatures (around 580C
and above) are termed as USC (ultrasupercritical) power stations, while

Pratosh Saxena, General Manager- Engineering,

Tata Projects Limited

plants using further higher pressure and

temperature 35.2MPa & SH /RH temperature of 700/730 C are termed as
Advanced Ultra supercritical (A-USC)
power stations.

USC Steam Parameters and

Cycle Efficiency (30 MPa600C/600C)
The thermodynamic efficiency of the
conventional (subcritical) single reheat
cycle can be improved significantly by
increasing the temperature at which
heat is added to the cycle (i.e. by
increasing main and reheat steam temperatures). For every 20K rise in both
main and reheat steam temperatures
will improve relative cycle efficiency
by approximately one percentage point
over a wide range of temperatures and
pressures, as shown in the figure.
In a reheat cycle, increasing the
main steam pressure will always
improve the cycle efficiency and this
is the incentive for using supercritical
steam conditions (>222 bar). However,
it will be recognized from the Figure
that the thermodynamic benefit of

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April 2016
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ExpertSpeak
Steam Parameters and cycle efficiency

of temperatures, pressures and corrosive atmospheres, and oxidation conditions, and the range of alloys necessary
to best meet the design demands covers
the simple carbon manganese (CMn)
steels, low alloy steels, advanced low
alloy steels, the 9-12Cr martensitic
family and the austenitic range with
chromium varying from 18% to in
excess of 25%. As per Mitsui Babcock
preferred alloys for boiler heating
surfaces are given in the table.

Design features of existing

high efficiency USC turbines

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increased main steam pressure at

a given temperature is subject to
diminishing returns. It is therefore
generally accepted that increasing the
main steam pressure at superheater
outlet above 300 bar with the BAT
main/reheat temperatures of 600C
/ 620C does not offer any further
practical economic benefits.
The overall improvement in relative
cycle efficiency obtained purely from
increasing steam conditions at turbine
inlet from 160 bar / 540C / 540C
to 290 bar / 600C / 620C will be in
excess of 7%. This corresponds to a
reduction in both fuel burned and boiler
emissions of about 18% for a 46%
net efficiency ASC plant compared
to a 38%net efficiency subcritical

plant. From A-USC cycle(not yet

commercially available) would offer
a further step benefit in relative
efficiency improvement of about seven
percentage points, giving a further
reduction in fuel burned and boiler
emissions of about 15% compared with
USC plant.

Design Features of the

existing high efficiency USC
Boilers
The best commercially available steels
allow the construction of boiler plant
for steam conditions of 300 bar / 600C
/ 620C, for a wide range of coals, even
those producing an aggressively corrosive flue gas. The various components
of the boiler are employed over a range

Ultra Supercritical Tube Material (300 bar/600/600 Deg C)

New power plants designed for operation at these elevated steam conditions
can also take advantage of advanced
turbine blading technology and stateof-the-art condenser configurations,
providing very low turbine exhaust
pressures (i.e. high vacuum conditions
in the heat sink) to provide maximum
power generation from the energy
input, with the potential to provide
large quantities of low pressure process
steam extracted from the turbine for
district heating, industrial use.

Technology comparison
A comparison of the key features of
Super-critical, USC and A-USC are
given in Table-2
Most of the A-USC features are the
same as for USC with particular exceptions related to the following:
i) Final superheater and reheater tube
banks will use materials like 740H
and 230 nickel.
ii) Steam piping is 740H nickel or
better.
iii) Minimum circulation flow load
is more likely 5% to 10% higher
than USC which limits temperature
control range.

Future of technology
Advanced Ultra-Super-critical (AUSC) technology is one in which the
steam temperature is raised to 700C
in order to increase the efficiency of
coal fired power generation and to

April 2016
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production and to achieve major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by

2050. This development continues with
the aim being to construct a 550-MW
demonstration plant with steam parameters of 35 MPa/700C/720C.

Development of A-USC
steam turbine

reduce its CO2 emissions. This higher

temperature requires the materials like
austenitic steels or Ni (nickel) alloys.
But austenitic steels are subject to a
significant degree of deformation at
high temperatures owing to their high
coefficient of linear expansion resulted
in manufacturing difficulties and problems with thermal strain.
The problem with Ni alloys, on
the other hand, is that segregation
(changes in the materials internal
structure) can occur in the manufacturing of large parts because the mate-

rials microstructure is sensitive to

changes in temperature during in the
manufacturing process. This means
that, even if a high level of strength
characteristics are obtained at the test
piece level, ensuring that the strength
satisfies the target throughout a large
work piece is difficult
There is also the problem of cost,
since austenitic steels and Ni alloys
are more expensive than high-Cr
steel development of A-USC aimed
at resolving the above issues related
to materials development and trial

The commercialization of 700C-class

turbines required the development of
a new Ni alloy for use in the rotors,
vanes, bolts, and other parts that would
be subjected to 700C temperatures.
The steam turbines also need to counter
factors like corrosion resistance and
weldability issues of the Ni alloy. To
overcome these challenges, a new NiFe base superalloy was developed by
improving the composition of a base
alloy (Alloy706), through the removal
of Nb (niobium) and addition of Al
(aluminum). Alloy706 contains a high
proportion of iron and does not include
high-priced elements such as Mo
(molybdenum), W (tungsten), or Co
(cobalt). The advantage of this is that it
makes the material one of the cheaper
forms of high-strength Ni alloy.

Table 2: Supercritical Technology Comparison

S.
No.

Feature

Super-Critical
(SC)Plant

Ultra-Super-Critical
(USC)Plant

Advanced Ultra SuperCritical (A-USC)Plant

Load Control

Unit Load Master feed

forward to firing and feed
water flow

Firing rate demands some use of

frequency control

Firing rate demands some use of

frequency control

Pressure Control

Constant Pressure
Control

Variable Pressure Control

Variable Pressure Control

Steam Temperature
Control

Feed water: firing rate

ratio, nominal single
stage spray attemperator

Multiple stage spray Attemperation vs

Load Program

Multiple Stage Spray Attemperation vs

Load Program

Feedwater Control

Feed forward with Unit

Load Master

Furnace Enthalpy Differential Pick

up Vs Load and Trim with First Stage
Attemperator Differential Temperature

Furnace Enthalpy Differential Pick

up Vs Load and Trim with First Stage
Attemperator Differential Temperature

Water Treatment
Chemistry

All Volatile Treatment

(AVT) with full
condensate Polising

Oxygenated Water Treatment (OWT)

with full condensate polishing, AVT
used in early operation

Oxygenated Water Treatment (OWT)

with full condensate polishing, AVT
used in early operation

Arrangement
Configuration

Tower and Two-pass

Two Pass

Two pass, Tower and Modified Tower

Piping Material

P22

P22

740H Nickel

Super heater
Material

T-22, 304H

T-22, 304H, T-91,T92,347HFG,310HCbN

T-22, 304H, Super 304h,230,740H

1
2
3

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ExpertSpeak
Integrated gasification
combined cycles (IGCC)
IGCC is similar to NGCC, but the
fuel gas is first produced from coal,
in a gasifier, and then cleaned before
firing in the gas turbine (see Figure 3).
Gasification of coal is achieved through
partial combustion at pressure in a
limited supply of air or oxygen, with or
without added steam. Heat from the gas
production and cooling stages is used
in the steam cycle.
There are different possible configurations of IGCC, depending on the type
of gasifier and also on the degree of
integration of sub-systems, particularly
oxygen production. IGCC is notable
for low NOx emissions and very low
SO2 and dust emissions. Efficiency is
high and can be comparable with that
of supercritical PCC plants.

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Development of A-USC
steam generator
The development of steam generators
for A-USC steam conditions is a real
challenge. Major components, such as
in-furnace tubing for the waterwalls,
superheater/reheater sections, headers,
external piping, and other accessories
require development and advancements in materials technology to allow
outlet steam temperatures to reach
above 700C.
The U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) and the Ohio Coal
Development Office (OCDO)

Materials Development Program for

A-USC technology includes task
categories for conceptual design
and economics, material properties
testing, steam-side oxidation, fireside
corrosion, welding and fabrication
techniques, coating development, and
testing. Ni alloy tubing with excellent
creep rupture strength is essential
for the high-temperature parts of
a 700C-class A-USC boiler using
Alloy617, Alloy263, and Alloy740 as
a base.

Conclusion
Today most people admit that coal
must remain a backbone of the
countrys fuel mix in order to avoid
any potentially devastating economic
consequences. The same rational
people express concern about the
climate change. Thus it creates a
difficult equation. Solution lies in
usage of less coal, reduce greenhouse
gas emission and keeping electricity affordable not by reducing the
amount of electricity produced with
coal. Through the implementation
of advanced coal-fueled generating
technologies can be seen as an immediate solution in all the upcoming
projects. These ultra-supercritical
coal-fired plants consume less coal
and emit less CO2 per kilowatt
generated. In short we must adopt
advanced technologies to capture the
positives of coal like lower electricity
costs, plentiful domestic fuel source,
while addressing the environmental
negatives.

The views in the article of the author are personal

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