Best Practices Manual For Indian Thermal Power Plants

Best Practices Manual for
Indian Thermal Power Plants

Disclaimer
© 2019, Confederation of Indian Industry
All rights reserved.
While every care has been taken in compiling this manual, CII- Godrej GBC does not accept any claim for
compensation, if any entry is wrong, abbreviated, omitted or inserted incorrectly either as to the
wording space or position in the Best Practices Manual for Indian Thermal Power Plants. Best Practices
Manual for Indian Thermal Power Plants is a store of information so that it will be useful to the plant
personnel involved in the production, operations, energy conservation and can be used by them readily.
The source bank for Best Practices Manual for Indian Thermal Power Plants is based on energy award
data, case studies shared by plants, suppliers in our conferences and through our detailed and
preliminary energy audit data.
This data is an attempt to bring out all the best practices adopted and best energy levels achieved by the
Power Plant Industry. We have taken utmost care to bring out the best operating data however, there
may be sections and some plants may operate at best levels which may be missing our notice.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or
by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written
permission from CII- Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre, Hyderabad.
Published by Confederation of Indian Industry

CII - Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre
Survey # 64, Kothaguda Post,
R R District, Hyderabad,
Telangana 500084
Foreword
Indian Power Sector have been growing at a rapid pace with an overall installed capacity of 360.46 GW as
of 31 July 2019. As of 2018 with a power generation of 1,561.1 BU in 2018, India was the third largest
producer and the third largest consumer of electricity in the world, behind China (7,111.8 BU) and the
United States (4,460.8 BU). Out of the total power generated in India coal-based power generation
contributes to more than 60% of the share. Over the years there has been a significant improvement in
energy efficiency of coal based thermal power plants but still there is a scope for improvement in this area.
There has been a paradigm shift in the use of new and efficient technologies over time with a shift towards
super critical and ultra-super critical technology being adopted for the upcoming plants.
In alignment with the goals and objectives of the government and the industry stakeholders, CII – Godrej
GBC has been promoting the concept of “Making Indian Power Plants World Class”. As a part of the
initiative, CII – Godrej GBC offers a platform for information exchange, sharing of best practices through
visits to best operating plants both in National & International level and documenting the findings in manuals
for widespread dissemination among the stakeholders. CII – Godrej GBC also organizes the “Power Plant
Summit” every year as flagship event for enabling continuous interactions among the Industry, technology
providers and the government.
This manual is the 4th in the series of Best practice manual for Indian Thermal Power Plants which intends
to document few best practices, case studies and newer technological developments in Indian Power
sector. CII - Godrej GBC has collected these best practices with support of various industries, suppliers and
with their experiences in energy audits, energy awards and energy efficiency conferences, etc.
The objective of this manual is to act as a catalyst in accelerating adoption of best practices and latest
technologies across the sector. I take this opportunity to thank the power sector fraternity for their
contribution in preparing this manual and look forward to their continued support.
D. Sarkar
Chairman, Power Plant Summit 2019 &
Executive Director (OS), NTPC limited
CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre | Confederation of Indian Industry 1

2 Confederation of Indian Industry | CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre
Table of Contents
1.0 Executive Summary�� 9
2.0 How to Use this Manual��11
3.0 Best practices in power plant��12
3.1 Best Practices for Improving Boiler Performance��12
Case Study No – 1 Use Of Dynamic Classifiers For Coal Mills�� 12
Case Study No – 2 In house Development of Coal Blending Software for Fuel Cost Optimization�� 15
Case Study No – 3 Replacement of Air Preheater Baskets and Addition of Soft Touch Seals�� 17
Case Study No – 4 Air Preheater Primary Air Sector Modification�� 19
Case Study No – 5 Installation of additional tubes in Economiser�� 21
Case Study No – 6 Use of sonic soot blowers in APH�� 22
Case Study No – 7 Online Coal GCV Analyser�� 24
Case Study No – 8 Optimization of soot blowers and smart wall blowing systems�� 25
3.2 Best Practices for Turbine Heat Rate��27
Case Study No – 9 Reduction of Superheater Spray�� 27
Case Study No – 10 Advancement in LJUNGSTRÖM Air Pre-Heater�� 28
Case Study No – 11 Improving Cooling Tower Performance by Design Modifications�� 30
Case Study No – 12 Use of Eltrix - A tool for Power Plant Optimisation�� 36
3.3 Best Practices for Improving Auxiliary Power Consumption��39
Case Study No – 13 O
ptimizing Boiler Feed Pump Power Consumption by
optimizing gear train ratio in hydraulic coupling �� 39
Case Study No – 14 Installation of Variable Frequency Drive in Condensate Extraction Pump�� 40
Case Study No – 15 Intelligent Flow Controller (IFC) for Main Plant Compressor Network�� 41
Case Study No – 16 Installation of VFD in ID fan (by replacing hydraulic coupling to spacer coupling)�� 42
Case Study No – 17 Reduce pressure drop across the flue gas path in all boilers�� 43
Case Study No – 18 Optimize Power Plant Operation by PID Loop Performance Improvement�� 47
Case Study No – 19 Machine Monitoring by Use of Oil Analysis on Industrial Steam Turbines�� 51
Case Study No – 20 U
tilizing centrifugal compressor for baseload requirement and
install a screw compressor with VFD�� 54
3.4 Reliability Improvement in Boiler��55
Case Study No – 21 Monitoring of furnace metal temperature by thermography�� 55
Case Study No – 22 Artificial Intelligence to achieve reliable operations at thermal Power Plants�� 57
3.5 Case Study on Best Practices in Maintenance��64
Case Study No – 23 Modular Maintenance Concept�� 64
3.6 Case Study on Improving Water Utilization in Cooling Tower��66
Case Study No – 24 Use of Scaleban in Power Plant Cooling Tower�� 66
3.7 Case Study on Use of Benchmarking as a Tool��70
Case Study No – 25 Optimize ACW Pump performance – Relocation of Pumps�� 70
4.0 Major causes & recommended corrections of power plant losses��72
5.0 Annexures��80
5.1 Contact details of Technology providers/ Suppliers��80
5.2 References��82

List of Figures
Figure 1 HP Pulveriser Schematic�� 12
Figure 2 Coal Flow through Classifier in Coal Mill�� 12
Figure 3 Internals of Coal Mill with Classifier�� 13
Figure 4 Unburnt in Fly Ash compared for year 2017-18 to benchmark in similar-sized units�� 14
Figure 5 Unburnt in Bottom Ash for FY 2017-18 compared to benchmark in similar-sized units�� 14
Figure 6 Factors governing cost of generation�� 15
Figure 7 Fuel cost optimization model using Microsoft software�� 16
Figure 8 APH radial, axial and circumferential seals�� 17
Figure 9 Soft-touch seals upgradation in a plant�� 18
Figure 10 APH A and APH B PA Differential Pressure in 2016 and 2017�� 19
Figure 11 APH Primary Air side old and new sector plate�� 20
Figure 12 Installation of additional tubes in Economizer�� 21
Figure 13 Parts of sonic soot blowers�� 22
Figure 14 Before and after sonic cleaning�� 23
Figure 15 Online Coal GCV Analyser�� 24
Figure 16 Smart Wall Blowing System (SWBS)�� 25
Figure 17 Boiler 1st and 2nd Pass�� 27
Figure 18 AdvX™ Heat Recovery system �� 28
Figure 19 Benefits of AdvX™ LJUNGSTRÖM Air Pre-Heater�� 29
Figure 20 Hot water manifold before modification�� 30
Figure 21 Unit 3 CT Performance Test Results before Hot water manifold modification�� 30
Figure 22 P erformance curves of CT at 90, 100 and 110% of design water flow and
Thermal Capability cross plots before modification�� 31
Figure 23 H
ot water manifold existing and proposed layout; %Area of CT Cell Air entry
blocked by Hot water manifold�� 32
Figure 24 Hot water manifold before and after modification�� 33
Figure 25 Thermal capability cross plots after modification�� 34
Figure 26 Unit 3 CT Performance Test Results after Hot water duct modification�� 35
Figure 27 Plant status without Eltrix�� 36
Figure 28 Plant status interpreted by Eltrix�� 36
Figure 29 Operating condition parameters from DCS�� 37
Figure 30 Comparing two Actual readings�� 37

Figure 31 Degradation break up�� 38
Figure 32 Modification of gear train ration of boiler feed pump�� 39
Figure 33 Comparison of BFP power consumption before and after modification of gear ratio�� 39
Figure 34 Schematic before installation of VFD in CEP�� 40
Figure 35 IFC Online graphs�� 41
Figure 36 Installation of spacer coupling in a plant�� 42
Figure 37 CFD simulation in software�� 43
Figure 38 Existing and Modified Duct�� 44
Figure 39 Reduction in pressure drop after CFD study�� 44
Figure 40 Duct testing pre and post-installation�� 45
Figure 41: Working of PID controller�� 47
Figure 42: Working of PID controller�� 47
Figure 43: Trend analysis of PID loops�� 48
Figure 44: Impact on major parameters of PA Fan�� 49
Figure 45: ID Fan loop trend before and after stabilisation�� 50
Figure 46: Effect of VFD setting optimisation for compressor�� 50
Figure 47: The Ruler test�� 52
Figure 48: The FZG test�� 52
Figure 49: ESP Process�� 52
Figure 50: Trend of Oil Analysis�� 53
Figure 51: SEC of different compressors�� 54
Figure 52 Location for thermography�� 55
Figure 53 High metal temperature observed during thermography of tubes during sample inspection�� 55
Figure 54 Picture showing choked orifice in boiler tube�� 56
Figure 55 Improved Boiler Metal Temperature after necessary changes�� 56
Figure 56: Layers of an integrated data processing platform for applying artificial intelligence�� 58
Figure 57: Initial change in Turbine Vibrations level�� 61
Figure 58: A 30-day view of Turbine vibrations after initial increase�� 61
Figure 59: Sharp spikes and overall increase in vibration level from Day 30 onwards�� 61
Figure 60: Changes in Oil Pressure and Temperature�� 62
Figure 61: Vibration and Control Oil Pressure positively correlated with a 1-minute lag�� 62
Figure 62: Drop-in Vibrations after change in Oil pressure and temperature as
recommended by the system�� 63

Figure 63: D
rop-in Vibrations after change in Oil pressure and temperature as
recommended by the system�� 63
Figure 64: BFP Catridge�� 64
Figure 65: HP Turbine Module�� 64
Figure 66: Steam Turbine System�� 64
Figure 67: Scaleban System�� 66
Figure 68: ACW Pump System�� 70
Figure 69: Benchmarking data�� 70
Figure 70: Air ingress across flue gas system�� 80

Abbreviations
O&M - Operation & Maintenance
R&M - Renovation & Modernisation
GHG - Greenhouse Gas
CFPP - Coal fired power plant
APC - Air pollution control
APH - Air preheater/ Air heater
GCV - Gross Calorific Value
SWBS - Smart wall blowing system
R&D - Research & Development
SPA - Steam path audit
GRP - Glass Reinforced Plastic
CFD - Computational fluid dynamics
ESP - Electro Static Precipitator
HOC - Heat of Compression
OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer
IFC - Intelligent Flow Controller
VFD - Variable Frequency Drive

Acknowledgement
CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre would like to express sincere and special gratitude to the entire
Indian power plant industry for their continuous support in various initiatives taken by CII- Godrej GBC by
providing the support and required data which makes this manual more useful to all stakeholders.
CII-Godrej GBC acknowledges with thanks the co-operation and the support extended by all the suppliers
for sharing their technology advancements and case studies implemented in the power plant industry.
We would like to place our vote of thanks for the entire national and international power plant technical
experts and associations for sparing their valuable time in offering inputs and suggestions in bringing out
this manual.
The interactions and deliberations with the industry, suppliers and sector experts and the whole exercise
were a thoroughly rewarding experience for CII.

1.0 Executive Summary
India has the fifth largest power generation capacity in the world. The country ranks third globally in terms
of electricity production. In May 2018, India ranked 4th in the Asia Pacific region out of 25 nations on an
index that measures their overall power. Electricity production in India reached 108.90 Billion Units (BU) in
April 2019.
India’s power sector is one of the most diversified in the world. Sources of power generation range
from conventional sources such as coal, lignite, natural gas, oil, hydro and nuclear power to viable non-
conventional sources such as wind, solar, and agricultural and domestic waste. Electricity demand in the
country has increased rapidly and is expected to rise further in the years to come. In order to meet the
increasing demand for electricity in the country, a massive addition to the installed generating capacity
is required. The total installed capacity of power stations in India stood at 356.82 Gigawatt (GW) as of
May 2019.
Source: ibef.org
The electricity production is increasing at CAGR of 5.50% from the past 10 years. The peak power deficit
stood at 0.8 percent and the overall energy deficit remained 0.6 percent in 2018-19. The per capita
electricity consumption (kWh) stood at 1149 kWh in 2018.

The following are the advantages for the Indian power sector:
Growing demand: Growing population along with increased electrification and per-capita usage to drive
growth in power consumption to 1894.7 TWh in 2022.
Attractive opportunities: Between April 2000 and March 2019, the industry attracted US$ 14.32 billion in
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), accounting for 3.41 percent of total FDI inflows in India.
Policy support: Electrification in the country is increasing with the support of schemes like Deen Dayal
Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS)
Higher investments: Total FDI inflows in the power sector reached US$ 14.22 billion from April 2000 to
December 2018.*(Source: ibef.org)
In the present scenario, apart from capacity augmentation, there is an immense need to improve the
performance of the individual thermal power generating units. The performance improvement of individual
thermal power generating units will help in achieving
ff Increased power generation and thereby reducing the demand-supply gap
ff Reduction in power generation cost and thereby improving the competitiveness of Indian industry
ff Reduction in Greenhouse gas emissions and Global warming
Hence, to catalyze and facilitate performance improvement of power generating units CII-Godrej Green
Business Centre has initiated the project “Make Indian power plants world Class”.
It is a fact that the Indian power industry has power generating units with various capacities, different fuel
firing, and vintages. However, these identified best operating parameters will provide a broad guideline for
improving the performance.
The best practices and the performance improvement projects highlighted in the report need to be suitably
fine-tuned to meet the requirements of individual power plants.
CII-Godrej GBC will disseminate the information amongst the Indian power plants. CII-Godrej GBC will render
all possible assistance in carrying out detailed energy audits, identification of performance improvement
projects to achieve the targets.

2.0 How to Use this Manual
ff The objective of this manual is to act as a catalyst to promote activities in Indian Power Plants towards
continuously improving the performance of individual units and achieving the World-class Energy
Efficiency.
ff These best practices may be considered for implementation after suitably fine-tuning to meet the
requirements of individual units.
ff Apart from the best practices from Indian power plants, the details about the state of the art
technologies from the International Power Plants have also been included.
ff Suitable latest technologies may be considered for implementation in existing and future power plants
for achieving world-class energy efficiency. Further investigation and statutory requirements need to
be verified for the suitability of these technologies for Indian Power Plants.
ff The collated best operating parameters and the best practices identified from various plants need not
necessarily be the ultimate solution. It is possible to achieve even better energy efficiency and develop
better operation and maintenance practices.
Therefore, Indian Power Plants should view this manual positively and utilize the opportunity to improve
the performance and to achieve World-class Energy Efficiency.

3.0 BEST PRACTICES IN POWER PLANT
3.1 BEST PRACTICES FOR IMPROVING BOILER
PERFORMANCE
CASE STUDY NO – 1
Title: Use Of Dynamic Classifiers For Coal Mills
Plant Capacity: 600 MW (2 Units of 300 MW)
Objective: Improving Boiler Efficiency by the
installation of Dynamic Classifiers for Coal Mills
Description: The major loss in a typical coal-based
power plant in Boiler efficiency is unburnt Carbon
loss. The unburnt carbon losses is around 2% of
Boiler efficiency, which comes around 38.63x106
Million kCal each Year. The unburnt carbon
percentage in Bottom Ash & fly Ash, in an efficiently
operated power plant is at 3.5% in bottom ash and
0.8% in Fly Ash. To address the above issue of heat
loss, Dynamic Classifiers (Fig. 1) are provided in Coal
Pulveriser at GMR Warora Energy Limited (GWEL).
This makes GWEL as the First Power Plant (SEC
Make) in India to be equipped with this technology
instead of conventional static classifiers, at GWEL the
equipment is supplied by Shanghai electric company
(SEC) from China.
Figure 1 HP Pulveriser Schematic
The classifier is a device that separates coarse and
fine coal, allowing fine coal to pass, while rejecting
the coarse coal for regrinding. Dynamic Classifier
is a device with an inner rotating cage and outer
stationary vanes, which provides centrifugal and
impinging classification. The Dynamic Classifier is
equipped with Variable Frequency Drive enabling the
Operator to have better control over the combustion
efficiency by controlling the speed of Dynamic
Classifier. Fig.2 and Fig. 3 shows the internal of a
coal mill pulveriser with dynamic classifier.
This classifier has resulted in bringing down the
percentage of unburnt carbon from 3.5% to 1.2%
in bottom ash and from 0.8% to 0.4 % in Fly ash.
With added benefits of reduction in Coal Mill Reject
Losses. This has also resulted in improvement of
Fly Ash quality which is one of the raw materials in
Cement Plant. Reduction in unburnt carbon in fly ash
encourages cement manufacturers to utilize the fly
ash. By the installation of Dynamic Classifier, plant
team could also achieve 100% fly ash utilisation; the
other added benefits were like improvement in Stack
Emission & reduction in Pressure Part erosion. This Figure 2 Coal Flow through Classifier in Coal Mill

paper describes construction details of Dynamic classifier for Coal Pulverisers & O&M experiences, benefits
achieved at GWEL. The older power plant through R&M initiatives can install this technology to reduce
Unburnt Losses and thereby huge saving of natural resources.
This classifier has resulted in bringing down the percentage of unburnt carbon from 3.5% to 1.2% in
bottom ash and from 0.8% to 0.4 % in Fly ash. With added benefits of reduction in Coal Mill Reject Losses.
This has also resulted in improvement of Fly Ash quality which is one of the raw materials in the Cement
Plant. Reduction in unburnt carbon in fly ash encourages cement manufacturers to utilize the fly ash. By the
installation of Dynamic Classifier, Plant team could also achieve 100% fly ash utilisation; the other added
benefits were like improvement in Stack Emission & reduction in Pressure Part erosion. This paper describes
construction details of Dynamic classifier for Coal Pulverisers & O&M experiences, benefits achieved at
GWEL. The older power plant through R&M initiatives can install this technology to reduce Unburnt Losses
and thereby huge saving of natural resources.
Capabilities and benefits of dynamic classifier:
1. Dynamic Classifier Capabilities:
a) Enhance grinding performance
b) Improve boiler performance (Efficiency and Slagging/Fouling)
c) Reduce Unburned Carbon and increase fly ash saleability
d) Reduce Loss of Ignition (LOI), NOx, and CO
Enhancement from dynamic classifier:
a) Enhancement of grinding performance is
achieved by one of three ways:
b) Increasing fineness and thus reduce coarse
particles,
c) Increasing pulveriser capacity, or
d) Increasing both fineness and capacity
Benefits of Dynamic Classifier:
a) Reduces the amount of superfine and overly
coarse material.
b) Reduces internal recirculation of partially
pulverized particles.
c) Reduces over-grinding, which in turn reduces the
mill’s wear, power consumption, and vibration.
d) Reduces the differential pressure across the
pulveriser
Results
The below graph shows unburnt carbon percentage
in Fly ash (Fig.4) & Bottom Ash (Fig.5) for the month
on a daily average basis. Generally, in an efficiently
operated power plant unburnt carbon loss is around
3.5% in Bottom ash and 0.8% in Fly ash, While the
same at GWEL is in the range of 0.4% in fly ash and
1.5 % in bottom ash. This has resulted in improved
boiler efficiency by almost 2% (with reference to
benchmark values in other units). Figure 3 Internals of Coal Mill with Classifier

Figure 4 Unburnt in Fly Ash compared for year 2017-18 to benchmark in similar-sized units
Figure 5 Unburnt in Bottom Ash for FY 2017-18 compared to benchmark in similar-sized units
Savings and Paybacks

Savings – Rs. 1300 Lakhs
Investment – Rs. 110 Lakhs
Payback – Less than 2 Months

CASE STUDY NO – 2
Title: In house Development of Coal Blending Software for Fuel Cost Optimization
Objective: To optimize fuel cost by using coal blending software.
Description: Coal has long been the major fossil fuel used to produce electricity. However, coal-fired electric
power plants are one of the largest sources of air pollution, with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the
burning of fossil fuels believed to be the major contributor to global climate change. The overall efficiency
of a power plant encompasses the efficiency of the various components of a generating unit. Minimizing
heat losses is the greatest factor affecting the loss of coal-fired power plants (CFPP) efficiency, and there
are many areas of potential heat losses in a power plant. The options most often considered for increasing
the efficiency of CFPPs include equipment refurbishment, plant upgrades, and improved operations and
maintenance schedules. Overall optimization of a coal-fired power plant is a highly complex process. The
target for optimal performance includes maximum thermal efficiency, lowest possible emissions, lowest
possible cost, readily marketable By-products and maximum system availability for power generation.
GWEL procures coal from different sources for its operation shown as below:
a. Linkage coal d. AIWI coal
b. E-Auction coal e. Open Market coal
c. Wash coal
Each coal type of coal quality, Price is unique. There are significant factors governing the cost of the
generation which include:
a. Coal Cost d. Boiler Efficiency
b. Coal Quality e. Efficiency of operation
c. Coal Blending f. Heat Rate
Figure 6 Factors governing cost of generation

With various factors governing the fuel cost which in turn controls the cost of generation, it is imperative
to focus on reduction of cost. So GWEL developed an in house “Fuel cost Optimization” model using
Microsoft Visual Basic Software without incurring any investment expenses.
The utilization of this model is carried out for serving different purposes such as
a. Selection of vendor for procurement of coal.
b. Selection of coal while Blending at the site.
c. Offline Monitoring.
Savings and Payback: The decision-making tool developed in-house by the plant team has enabled better
selection of coal resulting in minimized losses and reduction of cost of generation from Rs. 4.12 /kWh to
Rs. 3.89/kWh. There was no cost associated with the development of this online tool.
Figure 7 Fuel cost optimization model using Microsoft software

CASE STUDY NO – 3
Title: Replacement of Air Preheater Baskets and Addition of Soft Touch Seals
Plant Capacity: 9 x 135 MW
Objective: To improve the performance of Air preheater
Description: The design of radial, axial and circumferential
seals installed on rotary, regenerative air preheaters (APHs)
have not evolved significantly from the original metal
strip arrangements that date back to the inception of the
Ljungström preheaters nearly a century ago. However, these
metallic strip seals tend to start to degrade immediately
following installation, allowing excessive air-to-gas leakage,
which translates to increased fuel consumption and fan
power draw over the life of the seals.
The left blue line represents the bypass seal leakage around
the air preheater into the warm airflow. The bottom blue Figure 8 APH radial, axial and
line represents the bypass seal leakage (also called peripheral circumferential seals
seals) passing the axial seals into the gas path. The red line
on the right represents the bypass seal leakage passing around the air preheater (APH) into the cold
gas flow. The top yellow arrows represent the hot radial seal leakage, while the bottom yellow arrows
represent the cold radial seal leakage.
Air Leakage negatively impacts heat rates, parasitic power losses with increased fan power consumption,
and downstream air pollution control (APC) equipment because of higher gas flow rates and pressure
drops. The optimisation of APH performance, often not considered a priority, is truly a low-cost, easily
implemented solution to decrease the consequences of leakage. A key component of APH optimisation is
the upgrade of its radial, axial and circumferential seals.
Conventional rigid metal strip seals, in common use since early, are vulnerable in the surrounding harsh
environment. Repeated thermal expansions and contractions in the large rotors (up to 18 metres in
diameter) in constant motion lead to continual changes in gap sizes. At operating temperatures, the outer
edges of large APHs can droop or turn down by 7.5 cm or more compared to under cold conditions.
However, because they are unable to yield to the warpage of sector plates, the conventional metal strip
seals are prone to stress and breakage.
An interesting alternative is brush seal products, which are witnessing increased adoption as radial, axial,
circumferential/ bypass and rotor seals on Ljungström rotary regenerative APHs on fossil fuel-fired boilers.
Brush seals are in fact ideally suited for replacing strip steels on rotary, regenerative APHs. As radial, axial,
and circumferential seals, they provide a high degree of abrasion resistance, adaptability to operating
conditions and bend recovery not possible with rigid strip seals. Rigid strip seals rapidly wear down to the
smallest gap size allowing leakage to occur at wider gaps. The strip seals are also vulnerable to damage at
high differential pressures and expansion because of temperature increases where induced drag can shut
down the rotor.
A brush seal, in contrast, produces an extremely dense barrier as thousands of filaments nestle tightly
together to create a high-integrity seal. Each bristle is independent and flexible allowing deflection to
conform to any irregularities and gap variations, and recovery to its original position. Several distinct
features are incorporated into the brush seal design. A malleable alloy foil membrane is nestled within the
brush filaments to enhance sealing by up to 80 %.

Result
The following were the actions taken by the plant team to improve performance in their Air Preheater –
1. Air Preheater Baskets and soft-touch seals were replaced – resulting in improvement in the boiler
efficiency by 0.5 %
2. There was a reduction in the Primary Air fan loading of 103 kWh due to less leakage because of soft-
touch radial seals.
The implementation of the above project resulted in an annual savings of Rs 780 Lakhs. The investment
for soft touch seal was Rs. 80 Lakhs.
Figure 9 Soft-touch seals upgradation in a plant

CASE STUDY NO – 4
Title: Air Preheater Primary Air Sector Modification
Description: Air Pre-heater (APH) absorbs waste heat energy from flue gas and transfers it to incoming
cold air for the combustion. Air pre-heater is not an essential part of the boiler as per IBR regulations,
but should be used in the thermal power plant to improve efficiency by reducing the fuel consumption.
It absorbs waste heat energy of flue gases resulting in lowering of the temperature and also helps in
protection of the environment. As a thumb rule, for every 20°C drop of flue gas outlet temperature, it
increases the boiler efficiency by 1%.
The Ljungstrom air pre-heater (trisector preheater) is more widely used than any other type of heat
exchanger for comparable service. The reasons for this world wide acceptance are its proven performance
and reliability, effective leakage control, and its adaptability to most, any fuel burning process. As the name
implies the tri-sector pre-heater design has three sections. First used for flue gas, Second for primary air
(used for drying and transport of coal through mill to the burner) and third for secondary air (additional air
for combustion around the burners). The heating elements distribution in the three sectors is very crucial
for making APH efficient. These helps in avoiding wastage of heat pick up by air due to primary air flow
and also help in selecting different temperatures for primary air and secondary air. Whatever is not utilized
in primary air can be picked up by secondary air stream.
As the rotor slowly revolves, heat is absorbed by the element surfaces passing through the hot gas stream.
These are the same surfaces that are carried through the air stream. They released the stored up heat thus
increasing the temperature of the incoming combustion which in this case is primary and secondary air.
The plant was facing high differential pressure drop across primary side air preheater. The differential
pressure was 325 mmWc.
Figure 10 APH A and APH B PA Differential Pressure in 2016 and 2017

To improve upon the condition the plant team went for modification in the existing Air preheaters. Following
modifications were done:
1. Degree of opening for PA section has been increased from 50° to 60°.
2. Degree of opening for SA section has been decreased from 130° to 120°.
3. New main 20° (Degree) sector plates were erected in both hot and cold end centre sections.
The above modification resulted in a PA differential pressure drop to 180 mmWC from 325 mmWC. This
led to the stoppage of 1 PA fan in the plant.
This led to annual cost savings of Rs 134.0 Lakhs per annum.
Figure 11 APH Primary Air side old and new sector plate

CASE STUDY NO – 5
Title: Installation of additional tubes in Economiser
Description: Economizer is used to pre heat the boiler feed water (adding sensible heat) before it enters
the drum by absorbing heat from the flue gas. The most common economizer design is the bare tube,
in-line and cross flow type to the hot flue gases and also the gas velocity is another important for economizer
design. The major loss of a boiler is caused by the hot stack gases discharging to the atmosphere where
opportunity to decrease temperature to optimum level should be explored in order to increase the efficiency
of boiler.
In economizer extra coils or tubes are added on the basis of area available in economizer, to utilize the
waste heat from flue gas. If number of tubes is increased, heat transfer rate of flue gas to feed water
increases which in turn reduces the consumption of coal consequently increases efficiency of the system.
But we have to extract maximum amount of heat from the flue gases and increase the heat pick up rate of
the feed water outlet in boiler. As per general thumb rule, for every 22°c of temperature reduction of flue
gas, the boiler efficiency is gained by 1%.
Plant team reduced the overall exit flue gas loss by utilizing the waste heat from the flue gases by addition
of additional tubes at the bottom bank of the economizer. The plant teams were able to reduce 8° C
reduction in the flue gas temperature at APH inlet with the help of this project.
Figure 12 Installation of additional tubes in Economizer
Results
There was an overall reduction of around 8 degrees in flue gas exit temperature with the implementation
of this project. The total annual coal savings from this project was 208.4 Lakhs per annum.

CASE STUDY NO – 6
Title: Use of sonic soot blowers in APH
Plant Details: 6 x 150 MW Hindalco Mahan Unit 3
Description: Sonic Soot Blowers are a proven alternative to conventional steam soot blowers in power
generation plants which burn a range of fossil fuels and other waste fuels including biofuels. Depending on
the application and boiler plant design, Sonic Soot Blowers usually totally replace existing high maintenance
steam soot blowers whether retractable or rotary. In a few cases, Sonic Soot Blowers can be used to
supplement steam soot blowers and reduce their usage.
The main advantages that Sonic Soot Blowers have over the steam soot blowers are:-
• Elimination of opacity spikes due to more regular, more efficient cleaning
• Guaranteed not to damage tube bundles or boiler structure
• Elimination of tube corrosion and erosion problems caused by water/steam cleaning regimes
• 360° cleaning of all-tube surfaces – not harsh leading edge tube cleaning as with steam soot blowers
• Prevention of ash build up and sintering on boiler tubes due to the more efficient operation of Sonic
Soot Blowers & 360° effective particulate de-bonding
• No costly repair, maintenance or operational costs
• Eco-Friendly – helps to combat global climate change and the effect of global warming
Unlike Steam Soot Blowers and Water Cannons, Sonic Soot Blowers are sounded for a few seconds
every few minutes thus preventing ash from remaining on heat transfer surfaces and sintering. Sound
waves are extremely safe and do not cause any physical damage to either the tube bundles or structure -
corrosion, erosion and water-based effluent streams are therefore eliminated and boiler thermal efficiency
maintained.
Working
The basic principle of sonic soot blower is that
the sound waves of high frequency which are
generated flow over various surfaces. It does
not allow soot or dust build-up on the surfaces.
Kinetically activate dust particles clinging to
any surfaces with acoustic energy make them
vibrate and break free from other particles &
surfaces to which they adhered. The sound
emitter sonic soot blower is powered by the
compressed air pressure of 5-7 Kg/cm2. It
produces a sound wave of 140-148 dB. The
sonic soot blower activates for 10-20 sec after
every 10mins to 30 minutes automatically
depending upon the soot/dust load on the Figure 13 Parts of sonic soot blowers
surfaces of the equipment. The sonic soot
blower not only increases the efficiency and output capacity of the boiler and other systems but also saves
on costly fuels and minimizes shutdowns.
Using high energy, low-frequency sound waves, they provide effective 360° cleaning coverage without
the risk of corrosion, erosion or mechanical damage to equipment and structures. Sonic Soot Blowers is a
recognised, proven alternative to conventional steam soot blowers in a wide range of industrial applications,
particularly where fossil fuels and other waste fuels are burned.

Observations
The conventional way of cleaning and keeping clean the boilers and dust collectors is with the use of
steam, water or compressed air or simply by vibrators or shot cleaning. These methods can be applied
either manually or mechanically.
Figure 14 Before and after sonic cleaning

The main feature of sonic cleaning systems is that this is an online and continuous cleaning system. Every
shift, soot blowing is must and it is carried out using steam. Now state of the art sonic soot blowing
technology is available, which reduces the steam consumption and also more effective.
ff Minimum compressed air is required
ff Energy savings due to steam (no steam consumption required)
Steam Consumption Air consumption

1 time duration for steam soot 30 minutes 1 Air consumption by Sonic 1.5 CFM
blowing in APH soot blower for 15 second
operation
2 Steam consumption by steam soot 3.5 tons 2 number of sonic systems 3 nos
blower installed on APH “B”
3 Number of soot blowing per day 3 times 3 Number of operation by 3 6 times
nos of sonic system in 1 hour
4 total steam consumption in day 10.5 tons / day 4 Air consumption per hour by 27 cfm / hour
3 nos of sonic system
5 For One APH 5.25 tons / day 5 Air consumptions in 24 hours 648 cfm / day
6 cost of steam per ton Rs.650/ton 6 cost of air per cfm RS.0.009 / cfm
7 Steam consumption cost per day RS.6825/day 7 cost of air consumption per Rs.6.00 /day
day by 3 nos of sonic system
Saving Calculation of Air cost

1 Cost of Steam consumed during Rs. 2,04,750.00 1 Compressor power 550 kWh
trial period of 60 days by steam consumption in KwH
soot blower on APH”A” 2 compressor airflow in cfm 2821 CFM
2 Cost of Air consumed during trial Rs. 360.00 3 airflow per hour 169260 cfm
period of 60 days by Sonic soot 4 power per unit cost Rs. 3.00
blower on APH”B”
3 Net saving Rs. 2,04,390.00 5 Air cost per CFM 0.0097
Benefits to the plant

The annual saving achieved by implementing this proposal gave an annual saving of Rs 12.00 Lakhs for
one unit. The total cost of sonic soot blower will be payback within three months.

CASE STUDY NO – 7
Title: Online Coal GCV Analyser
Description: Traditionally, Coal GCV
measurement is done using Laboratory test.
Laboratory analysis only provides either a
“snapshot” or an “average” of coal quality,
it does not show the actual variations
and by the time the laboratory results are
available, thousands of tons of material
have already been conveyed. The online
Coal GCV Analyser provides real time data
that can then immediately drive decisions at
the power plant.
Working of Online Coal GCV Analyser:
Ash content of coal is basically defined
as the percentage residue of coal after
being burnt at a certain temperature. The
Ash Content can also be considered as
an indirect measurement of the Calorific Figure 15 Online Coal GCV Analyser
Value of Coal and is an important technical
indicator and one of the main basis for evaluation of coal quality and sales price. Thus monitoring and
controlling the Ash Content in Coal is an important factor in determination of Coal Quality. Ash Content is
of great significance for social and economic benefits of enterprises. The Online Ash Analyzer uses a dual
Gamma - ray penetration method to eliminate the influence of coal porosity, particle size and other factors
and to rapidly measure the coal ash and calorific value. This method is the most commonly used technique
for fast online Coal Quality Analyzer. This analysis method uses a radioisotope that has a low energy level,
and can be used for a long time without requiring replacement, has low radiation and is safe and reliable.
This analyser finds extensive use in Coal Mining, Coal Washeries, Coal Blending Plants, Thermal Power
Plants, Coking Plants, etc.
Present condition: The plant team has installed online coal GCV analyser to improve upon the selection
and blending of coal being sent to the Power plant.
Installation of the machine has given an advantage of feeding close to design GCV coal in Boiler for
optimizing combustion. Unscheduled loss of generation on account of coal quality can be avoided now.
Additionally, it also provides online information of Slagging index of the coal, so that Boiler slagging &
hence long outage can be prevented.
The overall cost for implementation of the project was Rs 350 Lakhs with a payback of 1.1 years.

CASE STUDY NO – 8
Title: Optimization of soot blowers and smart wall blowing systems
Background
The boiler performance including its ability to meet full load, auxiliary power consumption, net plant heat
rate, availability of the unit, operation, and maintenance cost, etc are significantly affected by the fuel
characteristics.
Coal firing in the furnace form different kinds of deposits on the boiler tubes. To improve the performance
and thermal efficiency of the boiler, it is important to remove the deposits periodically and maintain the
heating surface clean.
Boilers are designed such that the radiation and convective zone heat transfer surfaces absorb the released
heat proportionately. Any deviation in heat transfer in radiation and convection zone will affect the function
of feed water preheating in the economizer, steam superheating in LTSH, platen superheater and final
superheater. This will result in reduction in boiler operating efficiency. Smart wall blowing system (SWBS) is
a selective wall blowing system, operating on auto mode. The operation is controlled based on superheater
spray _ow and furnace heat absorption at different zones. SWBS consists of an electronic logic system
interfaced with the existing normal blowing system. The system consists of water wall heat flux sensors
installed between the wall blowers, which have in-built thermocouples for sensing the wall temperatures.
The system helps to maintain the furnace heat absorption at optimum level thereby maintaining the
superheater and re-heater sprays within limits.
Project Description
In a 210 MW coal-based thermal power plant, the soot blowing system consists of 56 blowers arranged in
four elevations. Out of the four, three rows are installed above the ring zone and the other below the ring
zone. This system operates periodically, once every 8 hours. All the 56 blowers are operated 3 times a day
and the operation requires around 3.3 tons of steam per cycle.
The wall blowers, which are a part of the soot blowing system, are operated in a pre-determined period
pattern of 90 minutes during the period of blowing. During the period of wall blowing and some period
after it, the superheater spray reduces to a certain value due to the removal of ash deposits on the wall
surface.
The following are the issues observed with the wall blowing system:
• Providing more excess air when found slagging
• Keeping all the wall blowers in operating condition and operate them on a need basis rather than on
a conventional mode
To overcome the above issues, the plant has installed a Smart Wall Blowing System (SWBS). In the SWBS,
the wall blowers are activated by the signals of the heat flux sensors. These sensors measure the heat
transfer due to ash deposits on the furnace walls. The SWBS activates the wall blowers automatically and
the SH spray is kept within certain levels.
Figure 16 Smart Wall Blowing System (SWBS)

The SWBS system installed at the plant consists of the following:
• Heat flux sensors installed at four levels of elevation with each level having 8 sensors mounted on four
sides of the wall.
• The sensors are connected to the remote SWBS system control panel located at the control room
through transmitters.
Benefits
• Avoids accumulation of ash deposits on the heat transfer surface.
• Maintains the net total heat absorption level of the furnace at an optimum level
• Improves the heat rate/cycle efficiency.
• Reduces steam consumption by about 55-60% in comparison to the conventional soot blowing systems.
• Offers less wear and tear of the equipment.
Financial Analysis
The overall savings achieved by installing a SWB System was Rs. 60 Lakhs. An investment of Rs. 240 Lakhs
was made, providing a simple payback of 48 months.

3.2 Best Practices for Turbine Heat Rate
CASE STUDY NO – 9
Title: Reduction of Superheater Spray
Description: In large capacity boilers, the superheater and reheater temperature at the boiler outlet is
controlled by many methods. Water spraying in both superheater and reheater is a very commonly adopted
method. In using a spray water system, there are many points to be addressed as otherwise serious failures
can result. The superheaters and reheater are sized in such a way that the full steam temperatures are
achieved from 60 % boiler load. This means the steam temperature will be much higher than the rated
steam temperature. Hence, to control this increase, water spraying is adopted. These desuperheaters are
designed in such a way that the water is split into fine particles and allowed to mix with the steam, ensuring
no water particles remain as it enters the superheater.
The plant team had high SH spray quantities at low loads. Some deviations were observed between actual
& ideal spray flow on their unit. Although unit heat rate is maintained within operating range special
attention was given by management to reduce the spray quantity in the unit by forming team comprising
engineers from operation and maintenance departments. The team took aspirational targets for heat rate
reduction by controlling spray flow.
The plant team implemented various optimisation
methods in their running operations to optimize
the overall SH spray in the boiler. With the
implementation of below measures, the plant team
was able to reduce the overall SH spray from 80 TPH
to 22 TPH.
Actions Taken by the plants:
1. Boiler combustion optimisation through
a) Balanced Coal mill velocity
b) Improving fineness
c) Improving Burner tilt operation
d) Improving and optimizing Soot blowing
operation
2. Secondary Air Damper Control (SADC) damper
adjustment
3. Lower elevation mill operation
4. Bottom elevation firing with high FC coal during
mixed coal firing
Figure 17 Boiler 1st and 2st Pass
Savings
By implementation of the above measures, the plant team was able to save almost Rs. 185 Lakhs per
annum.

CASE STUDY NO – 10
Title: Advancement in LJUNGSTRÖM Air Pre-Heater
Objective: Use of Innovative Technologies to Improve Efficiency of Thermal Power Plant
Description: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), on December 2015,
issued stricter norms for emissions and water consumption for coal-based thermal power sector. According
to the new standards, thermal power plants are expected to cut emissions and usage of water measurably.
It is not clear what the penalties for failure might be, especially in the short-run (while plants are scrambling
to improve their technology).
Though the norms have been welcomed by most environmentalists, gaps remain in their viability and
implementation.
Adoption of more efficient technologies could help bridge this gap. To this end LJUNGSTRÖM has
introduced AdvX™ Heat Recovery Technology to redefine the role of the combustion air preheater.
AdvX™ technology can save Indian Thermal Power Plant owners more than $2 Billion in compliance
costs.
Solution: LJUNGSTRÖM’s innovative AdvX™ Heat Recovery Technology offers many benefits:
ff AdvX™ Auxiliary Heat technology is built to recover and utilize additional heat from flue gas, maximizing
efficiency and saving cost significantly in both the short and long-term.
ff AdvX™ Stack Gas Reheat is the most efficient way to clean and dry stack. The AdvX™ Stack Gas
Reheat system will capture and utilize excess heat from flue gas, enhancing the operational efficiency
and add to cost saving significantly.
ff AdvX™ Upgrade solutions are the easiest way to improve thermal plant’s efficiency. The technology
has been purposefully designed and built to enable the most efficient operation of thermal plants.
With advanced configurations that increase efficiency with a low draft loss, AdvX™ Upgrade Solutions
push boundaries so that thermal plants can reach their goals.
Figure 18 AdvX™ Heat Recovery system

Figure 19 Benefits of AdvX™ LJUNGSTRÖM Air Pre-Heater
Benefit: For emissions reduction, LJUNGSTRÖM supports the retrofit of SCR installation to remove NOx by
upgrading the air preheater to a configuration suitable for operation after an SCR. These solutions have
been developed and refined by LJUNGSTRÖM since the 1970s when SCRs were first installed in Japan and
have since developed into the standard practices in use around the world today. LJUNGSTRÖM’s products
and solutions have an unmatched long and proven track record.
For Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) to remove SOx, LJUNGSTRÖM pioneered gas-gas heaters in the 1980s
and today the LJUNGSTRÖM Gas-Gas heater (GGH) platform is one of the most demonstrated designs on
wet limestone and seawater FGD globally.
One of the biggest challenges in the thermal power sector is variance. The coal power plants vary in
age, technology, size, location, ownership, load factor (utilisation factor), etc. AdvX™ technology has the
flexibility to be tailor-made for the entire range of thermal power plants in operation. It can also be deployed
in power plants having space constraints which prevent deployment of alternative technologies. Coupled
with its low-cost, simplicity and high effectiveness, this unquestionably makes AdvX™ the technology of the
future. Considering that any cost incurred in power generation is finally passed on to the consumer in one
form or the other, the huge cost benefit AdvX™ offers is a game changer in the arena of thermal power
plant operations.

Title: Case Study on Improving Cooling Tower Performance by Design Modifications
Introduction: JSW Energy Ltd. is having an imported coal-based coastal Thermal Power Station of
4 x 300 MW capacity at Jaigad in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. These units were commissioned in
the year 2010 – 2011. Each unit has a sea water-based induced draft cooling tower having 12 cells back
to back. Since inception, Cooling towers are underperforming due to various reasons. One of the major
reasons for underperformance is the obstruction for the free airflow at the inlet of the cooling tower
because of the common hot water GRP header pipe (2844 mm OD to 764 OD) running parallel on both
sides in front of air inlet at curb level as shown in below Figure 22.
Figure 20 Hot water manifold before modification

The detailed action plan was chalked out for improving the performance of Cooling Towers at Ratnagiri
station. Unit # 3 CT was chosen for study, analysis, and modifications for improving the CT performance.
The stepwise actions were described in the following sections.
Action Plan:
1. Unit # 3 CT performance test
2. Analysis of CT performance and corrective actions
3. Implementation of corrective action
4. Analysis of CT performance after corrective actions
Unit # 3 CT Performance Test Result
Unit # 3 CT Performance Test was carried out by in house on 7th December 2015 as per CTI ATC 105.
The measured hot cooling water (CW) temperature, CT outlet CW temperature and ambient wet bulb
temperature (WBT) are shown in below Table 1. It is seen that the average hot CW is 42.5 °C, the cold
CW is 34.7 °C and the ambient wet-bulb temperature is 22.5 °C. The design performance curves of the
CT at 90, 100 and 110 % of design water flow along with the thermal capability cross plots of the CT are
depicted in Figure 23.
Figure 21 Unit 3 CT Performance Test Results before Hot water manifold modification

Figure 22 Performance curves of CT at 90, 100 and 110% of design water flow and Thermal Capability
cross plots before modification
The overall performance of Unit # 3 CT is given in the above Figure 24. It is seen that the operating range
is 7.8 °C and the approach is 12.2 °C against the design of 10 °C and 4.5 °C respectively. The thermal
capability is 57.7 % and the shortfall in cold CW temperature is 6.6 °C. The operating effectiveness is 38.9
% against the design of 69.2 %.
Analysis of Unit # 3 CT Performance and Corrective Actions
Based on the observations of Performance test carried out, the following remedies are listed:
i. Replacement of old PVC V bar Fill material to clog-resistant Vertical flute type Fill Material.
ii. Replacement of drift eliminators to reduce drift losses.
iii. Increasing air inlet area by lowering hot water manifold. (At present hot water duct is above ground
covering 2 meters from curb level)
iv. Replacement of Fan Blade assembly.
The recommended points replacement of old PVC V bar fills and drift eliminators belong to waterside,
whereas lowering hot water manifold and replacement of fan blade assembly belong to airside. For
implementation of recommended points i, ii and iv each cell of the CT will be under shutdown for minimum
10 days. Also, the estimated cost for one cell will be Rs 37 lakhs and the total cost for one unit will Rs 444
lakhs. Further it will require material supply time of approximately 6 weeks for each cell and CT needs to be
operated with shutdown of one cell at a time for 120 days. The recommended point of lowering hot water
manifold can be incorporated in unit outage with time period of 30 days. Also, reduction in obstruction
area in the air path will increase the airflow which will result in major improvement in performance of IDCT.
Therefore, it was decided for implementation of remedies to be initiated with the lowering of hot water
manifold. Hence it was planned to lower the hot water manifold of one pass at a time during consecutive
annual overhauling/unit outage.

Implementation of recommended measures – Lowering of hot water manifold
The brief detail of this modification is shown in below Figure 25 along with the % area of CT Cell air entry
blocked by Hot Water Manifold.
Figure 23 Hot water manifold existing and proposed layout; %Area of CT Cell Air entry blocked by
Hot water manifold
The implementation has the following steps.
• Preparation of work scope.
• Overlaying of works of different departments namely Mechanical, Civil, etc.
• Preparation of Bill of Quantity (BOQ) and its Quality Assurance Procedure (QAP).
• Identification of vendors & material procurement.
• Execution of works.
• Commissioning.
The work is executed in two phases namely Pass - B duct and Pass - A duct during Unit # 3 outage
opportunity in the month of December 2015 and July 2016 respectively. The work execution has two major
departments involved Civil and Mechanical. The better planning, coordination & execution has resulted to
complete the work within stipulated time even in heavy monsoon period.
The civil and mechanical work carried out are described below:
Civil Work: Excavation, breaking of concrete blocks, raft, bed preparation, backfilling casting of trust blocks,
etc.
Mechanical Work: Supply of GRP fittings, removal of existing Hot Water Header, erection, joining, testing
and commissioning of new GRP Hot water header.
Following activities were carried out for completion of the job:
• Opening of dummy flange at end of header.
• Removal of access platform near riser valves.
• Cutting of GRP pipe at a predefined location and shifting to stipulated location.
• Providing access for cutting of riser pipe by mean of scaffolding.
• Cutting of riser pipes.

• Core cutting of Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) at CT basin junction.
• Breaking of RCC up to 3.5 m depth, mucking and disposal at a stipulated location.
• Coating of CT basin by coal tar epoxy.
• Bed preparation by means of sewed sand up to pipe inverts level i.e. 2.5 m.
• Bed compactness up to 90% of proctor density. Same is achieved by flooding.
• Providing pit at a predefined location for lamination joints.
• Pipe doubling of GRP pipes i.e. 2034 OD, 1526 OD, 1120 OD, and 764 OD.
• S-bend fabrication as per site requirement.
• Lamination of S-bend to 2034 OD doubled pipe.
• Fabrication of U-loop as per site requirement.
• Erection of GRP pipe, S-bend, pipe spool, and U-loop at a predefined location.
• Field lamination joint.
o 2034 OD - 4 Nos.
o 1526 OD - 8 Nos.
o 1120 OD - 4 Nos.
o 764 OD - 40 Nos.
• The casting of thrust block at reducer and U-loop.
• Erection 764 OD riser valve.
• Putting the end dummy in place.
• Erection of 764 OD manholes in between Riser-7 and Riser-8.
• Backfilling of the excavated trench by means of sewed sand up to 70 % of trench depth.
• The compactness of backfilled sand up to 90% proctor density by means of flooding.
• Filling of hot water duct.
• Pressurizing of hot water duct up to1 kg/cm2 by running CW pumps.
Figure 26 shown below represents an air inlet portion after modification.
Figure 24 Hot water manifold before and after modification

Unit # 3 CT Performance results after lowering of hot water manifold
Unit # 3 CT Performance Test was carried out by in house on 24th August 2016 as per Cooling Technology
Institute (CTI) ATC 105. The measured hot cooling water (CW) temperature, CT outlet CW temperature
and ambient wet bulb temperature (WBT) are shown in below Table 3. It is seen that the average hot
CW is 42.2 °C, the average cold CW is 34.2 °C and ambient wet-bulb temperature is 26.7 °C. The thermal
capability cross plots of the CT are depicted in below Figure 27.
Figure 25 Thermal capability cross plots after modification

The overall performance of the CT is given in the above Table. It is seen that the operating range is 8.1 °C
and the approach is 7.5 °C against the design of 10 °C and 4.5 °C respectively. The thermal capability is
72.9 % and the shortfall in cold CW temperature is 3.3 °C. The operating effectiveness is 51.8 % against
the design of 69.2 %.
Way forward:
After achieving tangible benefits in the performance of the Unit # 3 cooling tower, it was decided to
implement the modification in remaining units at Ratnagiri station.
Conclusions:
The main conclusions from the hot water duct modification are listed below:
• The approach has reduced from 12.2 °C to 7.5 °C.
• The effectiveness has increased from 38.9 % to 51.8 %.
• The shortfall of cold water temperature from design has reduced from 6.57 °C to 3.29 °C.
• The tower capability has increased from 57.7 % to 72.9 %.
• Improvement in Turbine Heat rate 23.07 kCal/kWh.
• Improvement in Condenser back pressure 1.73 kPa.

Figure 26 Unit 3 CT Performance Test Results after Hot water duct modification

Title: Use of Eltrix - A tool for Power Plant Optimisation
Objective: Eltrix Degradation Analysis
Introduction:
Operating power plants at maximum efficiency is a high priority for any generation utility. Different factors
such as load conditions, equipment degradation, ambient conditions, and operator oversight may cause
the generation unit to operate under less than optimal conditions. Kalkitech’s Eltrix Plant Performance
Management (PPM) module enables operators to constantly ensure optimal operation of the generating
unit. The PPM module is closely integrated with a generation unit Distributed Control System (DCS) and
functions as an extension to the DCS. It provides advisory inputs to the operator in real-time regarding key
parameters such as boiler efficiency, turbine heat rate, cycle efficiency, auxiliary equipment performance,
etc. The PPM module is capable of providing these advisory inputs directly through its user interface or
through the operator interface of DCS. It is adaptable to coal, gas, oil, hydro, CCGP and waste heat
recovery based power plants.
Description:
Perusing through two different data sets (for e.g. 24-December-2017 and 8-June-2018 data), if you think
that the plant efficiency has gone down by 30.79 kcal/kWhr (Table 26), Eltrix software interprets the results
differently, and accurately. Eltrix shows (Table 27) that the plant has improved in heat rate by 11.75 kcal/
kWhr in the corresponding period. This is reflected as a corresponding decrease in Equipment degradation
as calculated by Eltrix. Such a situation is a common occurrence in power plant. How to compare readings
when the operating condition can differ every day, season and year is a difficult task but can be easily
overcome by the use of latest and advanced optimisation tools.
Figure 27 Plant status without Eltrix
Figure 28 Plant status interpreted by Eltrix

Methodology:
Performance measure, commonly defined as the deviation of the Actual value from Rated (Design) value,
can be misleading if the impact of the operating condition (load, ambient, etc.) is not accounted for
separately.

Operating condition deviation
As expected, in the month of December, the winter helped the plant improve its efficiency by 23.68 kcal/
kWhr (Table 27). This is attributed to the favorable winter conditions that influence the cooling water, refer
to Table 28.
Similarly, in the month of June, Eltrix shows that the operating condition reduced the plant efficiency by
18.86 kcal/kWhr (Table 27). In Table 28, cooling water temperature due to summer heat and reduction in
Main Steam (MS) temperature can be attributed to this negative deviation.
To compare the Actual Heat rate of December’17 and June’18 shown in Table 1, Eltrix corrects the actual
reading by adding back the operating condition deviation. This corrected value is then compared. It can be
seen in Table 29.
In summary, from Dec’17 to June’18 there has been a reduction of 11.75 kcal/kWhr as compared to the
initial understating of 30.79 kcal/kWhr increase. See Table 29.
Figure 29 Operating condition parameters from DCS
Figure 30 Comparing two Actual readings

Equipment Degradation
Eltrix software’s Table 27 and Table 30 gives a wealth of information on equipment degradation to the
plant operator. Eltrix calculates equipment degradation as 60.94 kcal/kWhr and 49.19 kcal/kWhr for
Dec’17 and June’18 respectively. Break up of this degradation is shown in Table 30, where we see that the
equipment degradation has significantly reduced in June’18 due to maintenance work in the Condenser.
Table 30 thus baselines the equipment degradation that can be targeted and measures the impact of
maintenance activity (before and after) on the degradation.

Figure 31 Degradation break up
Conclusion:
Eltrix software can build a time trend (e.g. hourly) of the equipment degradation, plant heat rate after
correction and operating condition deviation with its corresponding controllable parameters. The mentioned
time trend is calculated from DCS data after accounting for bad/missing data and thermodynamically
matching the heat and mass balance in the turbine cycle. This time trend and report tables will help the
plant engineers to accurately determine the cause of heat rate deviation, i.e. how much of the heat rate
deviation is due to equipment degradation and/or how much is it due to operating conditions. Such
information will help plant engineers and management to deploy and justify the resource to mitigate the
problem. Eltrix can also help check the compliance of PAT targets.

3.3 Best Practices for Improving Auxiliary Power
Consumption
Title: Optimizing Boiler Feed Pump Power Consumption by optimizing gear train ratio in hydraulic coupling
Objective: To reduce the specific energy consumption of Boiler Feed Pump.
Description: Boiler feed pumps are the highest power-consuming equipment in a power plant. Boiler Feed
Pump consumes about 34% of the total auxiliary power consumption. By implementing this project, the
plant estimated a reduction in auxiliary power consumption by 0.14%.
The input speed of hydraulic coupling
was designed to operate at a frequency
of 47.5 Hz, which gives it a design speed
(maximum) of 5730 rpm. But the plant
mostly runs at a frequency of around
50 Hz, hence it was observed that the
maximum speed of the hydraulic coupling
can be reduced from 5730 to 5350.
Hence it was decided in consultation
with M/s Voith to optimize the gear ratio
so that the input speed of the hydraulic
coupling can be optimized according to
plant running condition. Hence the gear Figure 32 Modification of gear train ration of boiler feed
trains of the coupling were replaced with pump
a modified gear train reducing the speed
to required values.
Results: The implementation of above project led to a savings of 718 KW in one unit. There was an APC
reduction by 0.12 %.
Savings and Payback
Annual Savings – Rs. 120 Lakhs
Investment – Rs. 85 lakhs
Payback – Less than 9 Months.
Figure 33 Comparison of BFP power consumption before and after

modification of gear ratio

Title: Installation of Variable Frequency Drive in Condensate Extraction Pump
Capacity of Plant: 600 MW
Objective: To improve power consumption of condensate extraction pump by installing a variable frequency
drive in condensate extraction pump.
Description: A boiler feed water pump is a specific type of pump
used to pump feed water into a steam boiler. Boiler feed pump
is used to feed water to steam generator boiler drum at desired
pressure and temperature. The water is returning condensate
produced as a result of the condensation of the steam produced
by the condenser. These pumps are normally very high pressure
units that take suction from a condensate return system and in
general the centrifugal pump type with no. of stages (generally
11-13 stages).
Variable frequency drive is also called variable speed drive (VSD),
frequency inverter or AC drive etc. It is an electric device to
change utility power source to variable frequency to control AC
motor in variable speed operation. The variable frequency drive
(VFD) converts the supply frequency and voltage to the required
frequency and voltage to drive a motor. Hence, VFD converts
the supply frequency and voltage to the frequency and voltage
required to drive a motor at a desired speed other than its rated
speed.
The fixed speed motor load application such as the boiler feed pump supplies direct AC power. The energy
saving is obtained by variable speed drive by using pump affinity laws. By using a Variable Frequency Drive
(VFD) to slow down a pump motor speed from 100% to 80% can save 50% of energy. Reducing pump
speed not only reduces energy consumption but also reduces noise and vibration. “A pump or fan running
at half speed consumes only one-eighth of the power compared to one running at full speed.
The case study is from 600 MW unit. The unit ad two condensate extraction pumps (CEP) installed out of
which one pump was in running condition, while the other was in stand by the condition. The CEP was
running to maintain the deaerator level and was running with a deaerator control valve at a throttled
position of 61% (at full load). The pressure drop across the control valve was 10-12 kg/cm2 more than the
allowable (required) pressure drop.
The plant team decided to install a variable frequency drive in the CEP to reduce the pressure drop across
the deaerator control valve. After installation of the variable frequency drive the deaerator control valve
was kept in a fully open condition and deaerator level control common was directly given to CEP VFD.
Benefits
The plant team was able to save 600
KW after installation of VFD in CEP.
Savings and Payback
Savings – Rs. 120 Lakhs
Investment – Rs. 150 Lakhs
Payback – 17 months
Figure 34 Schematic before installation of VFD in CEP

Title: Intelligent Flow Controller (IFC) for Main Plant Compressor Network
Capacity of Plant: 4 x 300 MW
Objective: Installation & Commissioning of Intelligent Flow Controller (IFC) for Main Plant Compressor
Network for reducing the instrument air losses and energy consumption of Main Plant Compressors.
Project Description: The pressure study of compressors revealed that:
1. Out of 6 Nos. Atlas Copco ZR355 Instrument Air Compressors 3 Nos. of compressors run to fulfill the
plant requirement & the rest are stand by. Among 3 nos. compressors, 2 nos. compressors run at base
load and 3rd compressor runs on part load.
2. The Modulating Compressor is loading and unloading between 7.0 to 7.5 bar.
To control this instrument air generation fluctuation, the instrument air network was modified with two
IFC’s, one at plant instrument air receiver outlet and the other at service air receiver air outlet.
Now the air generation fluctuation pattern with IFC control at
1. Instrument Air IFC outlet pressure is 95 psig (6.5 bar) within +/- 0.2 psig.
2. Instrument Air IFC outlet pressure is 79 psig (5.4 bar) within +/- 0.3 psig
Implementation of IFC control system resulted in a reduction in air generation fluctuation, by maintaining
constant air pressure output at the receiver outlet of Instrument and Service air.
Benefit:-
Annual Electrical Saving (kWh)- 548000
Annual Saving – Rs. 19.20 Lakhs
Investment – Rs. 20.0 Lakhs
Payback Period – 13 Months.
Figure 35 IFC Online graphs

Title: Installation of VFD in ID fan (by replacing hydraulic coupling to spacer coupling)
Capacity of Plant: 4 x 300 MW, JSW Energy Ltd, Ratnagiri
Objective: The use of variable-speed drives for capacity control can result in significant power savings in
ID Fans. The type of variable-speed drive employed also significantly impacts power consumption. This
Thermal power station has installed a hydraulic coupling to control the capacity of the induced-draft fan.
The ID fans at the unit were consuming higher power consumption. These ID fans were using hydraulic
coupling for power transmission between motor and fan. The use of hydraulic coupling resulted in high
power consumption due to high slip losses in the coupling.
As VFD based ID Fan which is a known & proven technology, it was already installed in the plant as a part
of energy efficiency projects implemented in the plant to extract maximum benefits out of it, hydraulic
coupling is replaced by direct spacer shaft keeping other set up unchanged.
To work upon this planning team decided to replace the existing hydraulic coupling with a spacer coupling.
The slip losses and
power required to drive the hydraulic coupling was reduced due to this innovation.
Savings Achieved: The implementation of the above project resulted in an overall savings of Rs. 14 Lakhs
for one unit with an investment of around Rs 15 Lakhs.
Figure 36 Installation of spacer coupling in a plant

Title: Reduce pressure drop across the flue gas path in all boilers
Objective: To improve energy efficiency through CFD study in power plant
Description: In a thermal power plant hot flue gases along-with ash containing quartz and mullite(abrasive)
particles leave through Economizer (ECO) outlet, pass through the Regenerative Air Preheater (RAPH), flue
gas duct, Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP), Induced Draught (ID) Fan and Stack. The flue gas distribution
along the duct cross-sectional area is usually non-uniform. Hence the proper study of the flue gas path is
required. CFD technique has emerged to become one of the most economical methods to analyze various
equipment in power plant. CFD results can be used to validate various design parameters.
Issues in flue gas ducting - air pre-heater outlet to the induced draft fan inlet
• Uneven flow distribution through the ducts and ESP
• High auxiliary power consumption
• Very high turbulent flow regimes
• Recirculation zones
• Ash accumulations
• High-pressure drop across ducts
• Erosion effects and other various parameters
One of the Jindal Power Ltd´s, Raigarh unit with a load of 250 MW power plant was facing all the above
mentioned generalized issues. Various input data were collected from the client for problematic areas
including existing operating parameters. After CFD study, general modifications were recommended. The
general modification covered the inclusion of diverter plates to uniformly distribute the flow. Removal
of sharp corners was also proposed to avoid direct impact on duct surface and thus reduce Erosion.
After the modifications were accepted by the client, Engineering Drawings related to modifications were
submitted to the client. On approval of the modifications, the supply and erection of these modifications
were carried out. The post-installation benefits were evolved by measuring various parameters like pressure
drop reduction, I.D. fan current reduction, duct erosion reduction, etc.
What is Computational Fluid Dynamics?
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is one of the branches of fluid mechanics that uses numerical methods
and algorithms to solve and analyze problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the
Millions of calculations that require simulation.
Figure 37 CFD simulation in software

Most of the plants designed using past technology or the needs at that time are operating close to its
design limits in the current scenario as there is an increase in the demand. With the rapid advancement in
computers,
Computational fluid dynamics is used across the world in all industries for validating designs, troubleshooting,
maintenance, and upgrading so that they operate safely and at peak efficiencies with optimum cost.
The major steps involved include:
1. Site Visit and data Collection and verification
2. Phase 1:
ff 3D Model generation
ff Mesh generation
ff Solution
ff Post Processing/ Validation Existing Duct Modified Duct
3. Phase 2 : Design Modifications Figure 38 Existing and Modified Duct
ff 3D Model modifications based on CFD results
ff Mesh generation
ff Solution
ff Post Processing
Working Principle
The most fundamental consideration in CFD is building and analyzing a flow model. It includes building
the model within a computer-aided design (CAD) package, creating and applying a suitable computational
mesh, and entering the flow boundary conditions, operating conditions and fluid materials properties. The
software will provide us with images and data, which predict the performance of that design.
Figure 39 Reduction in pressure drop after CFD study

Benefits of CFD in power plant
• The measures taken will reduce high localized velocities and thereby erosion of tubes due to fly ash.
• Overall velocity profile and heat transfer improvement.
• APH Outlet temperature reduction.
Cold Air Velocity Test (CAVT): As a high velocity of flue gas is detrimental to tube erosion, the first step
is to find a velocity profile in the boiler. To determine the areas/ locations at which velocities are higher
than respective plane average velocity, this test (CAVT) is conducted. The test is undertaken during plant
shutdown when airflow of about 80% of Maximum Continous Rating (MCR) is maintained. The test is
carried out at different pre-selected planes and locations where velocity measurements are taken. The
instruments used for the test is hot wire anemometer. The readings are taken by a team of the service
provider and witnessed by plant representatives.

The readings are then tabulated in regular formats, studied and analyzed to locate high-velocity spots. The
required data like specifications of coal, tube bundles’ details & spacing, temperature and pressure profiles,
boiler drawings, etc. are provided by the client.
Parallelly, CFD Analysis of flow in the Boiler is carried out. Based on CAVT & CFD analysis, design and
locations of various types/sizes of screens along with structures at different locations to reduce/divert
the flow, are evolved. The screens help in diverting flow from high to low flow regions thereby reducing
velocity variations. The screens are strategically placed which, by way of new improved flow profile,
reduce the erosion of tubes. This screen design is recommended in a form of well-compiled report with
graphical presentation. The suggested scheme of screens and its structural supports is then discussed and
finalized. The normal duration of CAVT is less than 8 hours. The recommendations are then implemented
by manufacturing, supply, and installation of screens in 2nd pass of the boiler.
Post Installation CAVT: To verify the desired effect of the suggested scheme and to eliminate any doubt about
adverse effect of it, if any, one more CAVT is carried out before start of the plant. Further modifications, if
called for and if minor in nature, are carried out immediately (time permitting), else the same can be done
in the next available short duration shut down.
Result & Benefits
The following result was obtained to the power plant by implementing a CFD study.
Figure 40 Duct testing pre and post-installation

In Jindal power plant, the problems of the existing duct-like unequal flow as well flow concentration inside
the duct, causing the high erosion of the duct at particular locations, high turbulence, flow separation, and
recirculation zone which caused a high-pressure drop in the ducting were resolved.
By designing the Optimized guide vanes using CFD, the flow was nearly uniform with optimum turbulence
& completely avoiding re-circulation zones. After Modification, the Total Pressure drop reduction From AH
Outlet to ID fan Inlet was 30 mm WC which reduced the Load on ID Fan. It was also observed that at the
ESP Inlet Duct, Flow had been balanced in all pass of the ESP which resulted in increased efficiency of ESP.
The annual saving by implementing this proposal was around 500 kW resulting in an annual saving of
Rs 90.00 Lakhs. The investment of Rs 20.00 Lakhs for carrying out CFD study gave a payback period of
less than 3 months.

Title: Optimize Power Plant Operation by PID Loop Performance Improvement
Objective: To optimize Power Plant operation By PID Loop Performance Improvement
Description: Proportional-integral-derivatives (PIDs) are basic building blocks of plant Distributed control
system (DCS), their performance affects plant productivity. PID performance monitoring/diagnosis can help
overcome the issues related to loop utilization, controller accuracy, process oscillations, etc.
PID controllers are found in a wide range of applications for industrial process control. Approximately
95% of the closed-loop operations of industrial automation sector use PID controllers. PID stands for
Proportional-Integral-Derivative. These three controllers are combined in such a way that it produces a
control signal.
Figure 41 Duct testing pre and post-installation

As a feedback controller, it delivers the control output at desired levels. Before microprocessors were
invented, PID control was implemented by the analog electronic components. But today all PID controllers
are processed by the microprocessors. Programmable logic controllers also have the inbuilt PID controller
instructions. Due to the flexibility and reliability of the PID controllers, these are traditionally used in process
control applications.
Figure 42 Working of PID controller

Present Status
It was observed in most plants that PID loops operate at low efficiency due to sub-optimal tuning or
control valve-related issues. Hence, there is always a scope for increasing utilization and optimization of PID
performance which directly contributes to reduced process variability, increased productivity and reduced
specific energy consumption. PID loop performance can be improved by the latest generation control
system.
Trends analysed for the plant
Power Plant: Drum level control
Figure 43 Trend analysis of PID loops

Following VFD loops were assessed for optimum performance:
Benefits:
PA Fan
Figure 44 Impact on major parameters of PA Fan

ID Fan
Figure 45 ID Fan loop trend before and after stabilisation

Effect of VFD setting optimisation for Compressor
Figure 46 Effect of VFD setting optimisation for compressor

There are many drives running in the plant where similar assessment is possible with all major VFD drives
in the plant such as Boiler feed pump (BFP), Primary Air (PA) fans, Secondary Air (SA) or Forced draught
(FD) fans, Induced draught (ID) fans, Main cooling water (MCW), Auxiliary cooling water (ACW) pumps,
CT fans with VFD drives.

Title: Machine Monitoring by Use of Oil Analysis on Industrial Steam Turbines
Description: Turbine lubricants must have excellent thermal and oxidation resistance at bearing oil
temperatures that may approach 100oC in typical steam turbine. Turbine lubricants should be versatile,
able to serve as both lubricating oil and hydraulic fluid for various turbine systems, generator, gear unit and
other auxiliary components.
The following are requirements on Turbine Oils:
ff High Oxidation Stability ff Good Water Separability

ff Excellent Corrosion Protection ff Good Dirt Solvent Power
ff Excellent Low Foaming Grade ff Good Filterability
ff Excellent Air Relase Value ff Good Heat Release (Bearings)
ff Good Wear Protection
The following are requirements on Gear Oils:
ff Duties: ff Characteristics:
– Damping down of Friction – High Power Density
– Wear Protection – Mid range up to locally high Operating Temperature
– Cooling
– Power Transmission
– Corrosion Protection
– Transport of Particles
The following are requirements on Hydraulics Oils:
ff Power Transmission ff Good Wear and Load Characteristics

ff Ideal Viscosity Grade resp. Viscosity ff Good Friction Characteristics ->Low Friction Value
Stability
ff Low Foaming Grade ff Corrosion Stability
ff Good Air Relase Value ff Characteristics:
An oil consists of, in general, base oil and additives. The turbine oil in Steam turbine units is used for lube oil
supply of Turbine (Bearings, Couplings), Gear Box (Bearings, Toothed Wheels) and Hydraulic control system
(Emergency Stop valve, Control valve).
The Standard Test Procedures are
– Kinematic Viscosity at 40°C [mm2/s] – Water Separability [s]

– Viscosity Index (VI) – Demulsibility [min]
– Air Relase Value at 50°C [min] – Cleanliness Level
– Total Acid Number [mg KOH/g] – Oxidation Stability (RPVOT) [min]
– Water Content [mg/kg] – Optional: Colour
– Foaming Characteristics at 24°C [ml / ml]

The Specific Test Procedures for Turbine Oils are
RULER [%], Remaining Useful Life Evaluation Routine
and MPC, Membrane Patch Colorimetry. The Specific
Test Procedure for Gear- and Gear Turbine Oils are
FZG-Test A/8,3/90 Failure Load Stage
MPC: Membrane Patch Colorimetry: Up to now it
was still not possible to forecast -only on basis of
Standard Tests- any risk regarding Deposit Forming.
The MPC-Test is worldwide the only test procedure
with which the problem causing unsolvable oil
deposits can not only be detected but also evaluated
in a quantitative and qualitative manner.
Figure 47 The Ruler test
RULER: It is the abbreviation for Remaining Useful
Life Evaluation Routine. A system to evaluate the Remaining Oil Life Time. The RULER Value shows the
amount of Antioxidants in Mineral- and Synthetic Oils. So this Evaluation Routine can be used to monitor
fresh oil deliveries from the Quality Management Perspective and also to check the applicability of used
oils. The RULER is a resulting value indicating the concentration of the antioxidant to be measured. This
resulting value is then compared with a fresh oil sample of a lubricant in the same formulation. By using
Trend Analyses or a comparison with similar units the declining of the Oil Quality can be exactly determined.
Based on this trend the Remaining Life Time of the Oil can be calculated.
The FZG-Test (Zahnradverspannungstest engl. Gear Wheel Distorsion Test) is the Main Test Procedure for
to determine the Compressive Strength resp. Micro-Pitting Load Capacity of Gear Oils. The FZG Test is
included in the CLP-Standard DIN 51517. The FZG Test comprises 13 Failure Load Stages.
Micro-Pitting (Graufleckigkeit) arises during engagement due to Mixed- Friction. Under high pressure the
lubricant oil film is destroyed and the tooth flanks get in direct contact.
Figure 48 The FZG test
Oil Servicing/ Oil Cleaning

Elektrophysical Separation Process (ESP): By use of
the ESP-Process in a bypass flow configuration the
Soft Contaminants are mainly removed. By use of the
ESP-Process in a bypass flow configuration the Soft
Contaminants are mainly removed.
The characteristic of the Electrostatic Oil Cleaning Devices
is to remove all dirt particles independent from size and
kind, so also unsolvable oxidation products.
Thus the “soft” and “hard” dirt particles are separated.
This kind of electrostatic cleaning is also performed in
bypass flow operation -permanently or a in a fixed cycle.
Figure 49 ESP Process

The oil flow goes through a multiple pair of electrodes. In between there are so called “Dirt Collectors” on
which the dirt particles are retained. Oil-soluble additives are not separated by this process.
Functional Principle:
The oil flow goes through a multiple pair of electrodes. In between there are so called “Dirt Collectors” on
which the dirt particles are retained. Oil-soluble additives are not separated by this process.
Hydrodynamic Cleaning of the complete oil system in 3 steps:
1. Hydroblasting: All oil-wetted system surfaces are blasted by a specific high- pressure cleaner. Water
with a pressure of up to 150 bar impacts on the single surfaces. After this procedure the cleaned oil
system is dried with compressed air and temporarily preserved with turbine oil.
2. High Flow Rate Flushing: The “High Flow Rate Flushing” is performed with specific pumps and filters.
Due to the high volume flow of up to 20.000 l/min strong turbulences are generated in the oil flow.
Oil temperature and oil flow direction are permanently changed in order to flush out all contamination
products.
3. Bypass-Filtration: To minimize the risk of contamination the oil is filtered / mechanically cleaned in a
bypass-application.
The trend analysis for a power plant undergoing machine monitoring by use of oil analysis was done in the
following way:
Figure 50 Trend of Oil Analysis

Conclusion: Due to the changed Base Oils and Additive Packages of the Turbine Oils and the resulting
problems as:
- Increased Deposit Forming “Varnish”
- Reduced Lifetime resp. Operating Time
Selective attention and raising awareness of the Engineering Department is needed for the issue “Oil”
especially with regards to Design and Systems Engineering of Oil Systems. In order to achieve a professional
approach towards the customer regarding the issue “Oil”, items as “Oil Analysis” and “Oil Service” should
be an integral part of every Overhaul Planning resp. Overhaul

Title: Utilizing centrifugal compressor for baseload requirement and install a screw compressor with VFD
to cater part load requirement of compressed air
Background
Centrifugal compressors have the lowest specific power consumption on full load operation compared
to other types of compressors like reciprocating and screw compressors. However, when the compressor
is not fully loaded, the specific power consumption of a centrifugal compressor is higher than a screw
compressor.
The capacity control of a centrifugal compressor is done by inlet guide vane (IGV) and bypass valve opening.
The inlet guide vane restricts the amount of atmospheric air entering the compressor and the bypass valve
opens when there is more compressed air generated than what is required in the plant.
Screw compressors are the most
common types of compressors in
a power plant. The specific energy
consumption of the screw compressors
is highest compared to all types of
compressors. In screw compressors
the speed can be varied by a variable
speed drive depending upon the
requirement are therefore suited best Figure 51 SEC of different compressors
for fluctuating or variable requirement.
At set pressure of 7 kg/cm2, the specific energy consumption for various compressors are mentioned
below
Due to the lowest specific energy consumption, centrifugal compressors are best suited to cater to the
baseload requirement of compressed in the plant. The variable load can be catered by a screw compressor
with a variable speed drive.
Project Description
In a 4 x 250 MW power plant with four boilers, the maximum quantity of the compressed air requirement
was calculated in the design stage and is about 8565 CFM, taking 20% margin for leakages. Three
centrifugal compressors of 4485 CFM are installed to meet the requirement in which two compressors are
in continuous operation and one compressor is in standby.
Due to lower requirements, one centrifugal compressor is running in part load condition with IGV and
bypass valve operation. The power consumption of the partly loaded centrifugal compressor is on the
higher side.
Plant team has installed two screw compressors of 2120 CFM each and replaced the partly loaded centrifugal
compressor with two screw compressors. Out of two screw compressors, one screw was continuously
loaded, and the other screw compressor was installed with a variable speed drive which took care of the
varying load.
Benefits
• Saving in power consumption of 3000 units per day.
• Reduced start-up time compared to centrifugal compressors
• Increased reliability – since tripping in centrifugal compressors is reduced.
Financial Analysis
Savings achieved by installing two screw compressors was Rs. 720.0 Lakhs (Unit cost – Rs 3.0/ kWh). The
investment made was Rs 115.0 Lakhs. This provided a simple payback of 2 months.

3.4 Reliability Improvement in Boiler
Title: Monitoring of furnace metal temperature by thermography
Objective: To avoid premature failure of the boiler through tube leakage by using thermography to
ascertain overheating of boiler tube which may result in boiler tube failure.
Description: In a furnace of the boiler, there are 1820
numbers of tubes (OD 28.6mm x 6mm thick MOC
-SA213T12). Feedwater from economizer outlet is fed to
furnace water wall tubes through 456 nos. of 10-12mm
orifices. Being the smallest opening, any choking in
orifice results in metal temperature rise due to starvation
and subsequent tube failure. 134 thermocouples
(only 7.36%) are installed on furnace tubes for online
monitoring of metal temperatures in DCS (Distributed
control system). The metal temperature remains un-
noticed for balance 1686 tubes. This concern triggered
the need for periodic temperature monitoring of all
furnace tubes to ascertain orifice blockage.
Modification of Furnace Insulation:
The furnace is covered with a 150mm layer of insulation
to avoid radiation heat loss to environment. As an
innovative approach to measuring the furnace tube
temperature of all 1820nos. of tubes by thermographic
camera periodically at highest heat flux zone (47Mtr
Elevation), 200 mm width of insulation was cut in all
4 sides of the furnace (total 78 meters). NPL has re-
designed the insulation into window type removable Figure 52 Location for thermography
block in 1.5mts segments with 3 layers of 50mm thick
ceramic wool.
Benefits Derived from the improvement
(Case from an incident dated Feb - 2018)
First reading of thermography in U#1 was taken on
10th Feb’18. An abnormally high temperature of
500°C observed in two tubes against design value
of 480°C while all other 1818 nos. tubes are within
normal temperature range. The thermocouple was
not installed on these two tubes. On 20th Feb’18, the
temperature of these tubes was measured again and
noticed the temperature as 542°C. This rising trend
in temperature confirmed that furnace inlet orifice
feeding to these two tubes were choked and there
was overheating due to starvation of these tubes.
Eventually, a Boiler tube leakage due to starvation was Figure 53 High metal temperature observed
imminent. during thermography of tubes during sample
inspection

During the opportunity shut down on 21st Feb
2018 suspected orifice was cut and observed
with 70 % choking. This was cleaned thoroughly
and rewelded to its position with high-pressure
weld joints.
After cleaning of the orifice, the temperature of
these tubes found within normal temperature
range through thermography.
NPL is now doing periodic monitoring of boiler
tubes through thermography to avoid any Figure 54 Picture showing choked orifice in
unforeseen stoppages due to boiler tube failure boiler tube
in the specified areas.
Benefits –
As there are no thermocouples installed on
these tubes, abnormal temperature excursion
was remained unnoticed. Also, a definite tube
leakage after few days might have resulted in
severe damage of large portion of the water
wall panel. This failure would have taken 3-4
days to bring back the unit into operation which
has saved the availability loss.
Figure 55 Improved Boiler Metal Temperature after
Savings and Payback - necessary changes
The above project has resulted in overall savings in terms of availability loss of around Rs. 600 lakhs. There
is no major cost associated with the implementation of the project.

Title: Artificial Intelligence to achieve reliable operations at thermal Power Plants
Description: Thermal power plants are complex entities with multiple systems interacting in a high-stress
environment. To ensure profitable operations, it is necessary that a plant stay functional round the clock
irrespective of changing loads, fuel characteristics and environmental conditions. Traditionally reliability has
been posed as an engineering and maintenance problem. This paper proposes a data-centric approach that
promises to vastly improve the efficacy of maintenance. Also, this paper provides details about setting up
an integrated system that can help detect degrading behavior and identify root causes well before systems
reach criticality.
The primary components of this system are (i) data integration (ii) scalable data processing and most
importantly (iii) artificial intelligence. Here artificial intelligence refers to mathematical processes that are
capable of learning from examples and mimic human-like intelligent behavior. By building an integrated
system, it can also be demonstrated how the infrastructure can then be extended to handle additional use-
cases towards plant improvement like Heat Rate Improvement, Auxiliary Power Consumption Optimization,
etc.
Finally, this paper will discuss a specific case where Artificial Intelligence was able to identify the cause for
increased vibrations in a turbine in a captive power plant and how this led to resolving the issue with zero
downtime and no intrusive interventions resulting in significant savings. This case demonstrates clearly
how data can be an invaluable resource when it comes to helping Indian power plants stay competitive in
challenging market conditions and operate efficiently and reliably. Also, it is an example of inter-disciplinary
collaboration: power generation experts and data mining experts working towards a common goal and
achieving an outcome that would have been improbable otherwise.
Plant Maintenance and challenges in O&M today
Traditionally, plants have adopted different strategies when it comes to maintenance ranging from ‘Run-
to-failure’, ‘Preventive or Time-based Maintenance’ and more recently ‘Condition Based Maintenance’. For
critical operations in a Thermal Power plant, Preventive Maintenance approach has been generally used.
This method assumes that machine life is predictable and must undergo maintenance activities based
on hours run. However, this has some inherent disadvantages in that there may still be usable life left
in the plant equipment and conducting maintenance adds the cost of spares and labour while reducing
availability. Additionally, failures may still occur between two scheduled maintenance activities and typical
methods used in Preventive Maintenance cannot suitably address these issues.
Opportunity for using data technologies
In today’s financially stressful operations, a Thermal Power plant must adopt a more advanced strategy
to maintenance which allows for higher availability and reliability while at the same time reducing costs
of maintenance (scheduled or unscheduled) to the lowest possible. Condition-based Maintenance fits this
requirement and it not only allows in early detection of issues but also in determining root causes. The
biggest driver in making this a viable strategy for plants today is the large-scale improvement in Data and
Analytics technologies.
The Business Case for using data for Reliability Most Power Plants today are highly instrumented and
automated. Data, thus, is a freely available, but most underutilized, resource at plants. The data captured
is very reflective of the underlying system and thermodynamics and use of advanced algorithms can
bring out the interrelations between various process parameters and any changes thereof in real-time. This
can be achieved with minimal computing infrastructure when compared to using other expensive methods
which need sophisticated equipment like thermal imaging, vibration or acoustic analysers, additional
sensors, etc.

What can be achieved?
i. Predict Equipment Failure: Applying advanced analytics and artificial intelligence techniques on the
process data can help predict an upcoming or impending failure way before the related process
parameters cross their design thresholds
ii. Reduce Damage: Detection of issues early on can help operations minimize any physical damage to
rotating equipment, thereby reducing the cost of maintenance
iii. Issue Resolution Time: The availability of online analysis techniques helps bring out possible causal
factors of issues within minutes rather than the plant personnel having to check hundreds of process
parameters manually.
iv. Avoid Downtimes: Early detection and root cause analysis of issues can help plant personnel eliminate
any process-induced issues before planning for a maintenance activity at the most optimal time
v. Cost Impact: The most expensive aspect of equipment failures is associated with production loss. In the
Indian power sector, for a 500 MW plant, a shutdown for 3 days could cost upwards of INR 5 crores.
Added to this is the cost of replacement and labour.
Learn and Institutionalize: Having a data-based approach to condition monitoring will help retain the
knowledge of the normal working of your plant and historic issue resolution methods within the system.
This can be used to reinforce best practices for operations and maintenance
Other applications using the same infrastructure: Having the entire system’s data in a single infrastructure
allows plants to extend the power of artificial intelligence to achieve other plant outcomes like Heat Rate
Improvement, Auxiliary Power reduction, etc.
Methodology
System overview: To apply artificial intelligence across a thermal power plant integration is key. For long,
plant data has been mostly spreadsheet-based and this is not scalable. Ensuring a reliable flow of data with
minimal to no human intervention to a central processing platform is an absolute must. Figure 60 depicts
the various layers of an integrated system that are necessary.
Figure 56 Layers of an integrated data processing platform for applying artificial intelligence
In this architecture, two distinct systems - Operations technology (OT) and Information technology (IT) -
merge seamlessly. Historically, these two systems were developed in independent silos with different
problem sets in mind. With the convergence of these technologies, industrial customers can benefit
significantly by collaborating with IT service providers.

The data management layer has traditionally been in the form of a historian. Vendors would often lock
access to raw data and charge users license fees to access their own data. This is undesirable especially
when considering the adoption of advanced data processing for which free access to data is critical.
Advances in Big Data technologies and NoSQL open source databases make it possible to build alternatives
to a historian that can provide end users very easy and intuitive access to their own data. They are also
scalable and can store long term high-resolution data – critical when it comes to using artificial intelligence.
Once data is made available in real-time, the focus shifts to producing actionable insights from this data.
Data processing can take place in one of the following ways:
(i) Offline processing – Data is processed manually using basic statistics as a one-off activity
(ii) Batch processing – Data is processed on a periodic cycle, usually in an automated fashion, where
predefined workflows get executed
(iii) Real-time processing – Data is analysed continuously as it is generated, preferable in critical situations
where latency is not tolerated.
Users interact with this platform usually via web application through an internet browser or via mobile
apps. Often the platform is also capable of sending email or text messages to notify users of important
events. This frees up mental resources of the plant crew and does not restrict them to be physically present
to monitor systems.
The plant’s experts also do not need physical presence do be notified of critical issues. They can be
informed remotely and through their web application, they can access all process-related data making
troubleshooting simpler and faster.
Key performance indicators
In a power plant, using the data collected, it is possible to track key performance indicators by using the
software. For example, heat rate of a plant can be modeled in software and real-time calculations can help
generate current heat rate values and measure losses across multiple assets. This assists operators to take
corrective action before ending up running multiple shifts where losses could have been avoided.
To do so, parameters like boiler efficiency, turbine efficiency, fuel consumption, auxiliary consumption,
etc can be calculated directly from captured data which is currently a limitation with most
plants. In some circumstances, if fuel consumption is not available via direct coal weighing, it is even
possible to predict coal consumption by tracking proxy parameters like coal feeder RPM, coal quality,
emission components, etc.
Mathematical and Statistical modeling
A typical DCS will throw alarms when process parameters go outside specifically defined ranges of
operations. However, they give very little information regarding what caused the deviation and they often
alert us when a critical event is already occurring.
Using statistical and mathematical modeling improves this practice by being able to build more meaningful
alarms where they are simply not triggered when thresholds are crossed but by better observing what
normal behaviour is and detecting deviations from it autonomously. This is an application widely known as
Machine Learning where systems learn about system behaviour by just observing data.
Some of the types of tasks they can do are:
i) Detect Trend – Methods like exponential smoothing from time series analysis can help us detect if
a specific process parameter is trending upward or downward. For example, if oil pressure starts to
increase or decrease It can be known before it reaches a critical alarm level.
ii) Detect Spikes – By modeling a process parameter short-lived spikes can be detected using statistics
like standard deviation and moving time windows. In many cases spike will go unnoticed as the alarms
will go off only for a tiny duration. Being able to track continued spikes and increase in their frequency
can also be an important piece of information regarding specific failure modes.

iii) Detect Level changes – Abrupt changes in levels of a process parameter can occur while still being
within critical limits. If your alarms do not recognize this, a valuable signal may be lost over time. Using
a t-test, for example, it can be detected if the mean value of a signal has moved outside a known
distribution.
iv) Detect seasonality – Many process parameters are correlated to external weather conditions. They
will rise and follow as a function of external temperature, so this might make it harder to stabilize the
process. By being able to model this seasonality, it can help understand what contribution of deviations
of a parameter are influenced by weather and if there exists any contribution not attributed to weather
conditions.
v) Detect correlations – With a large amount of high-resolution data being collected, it becomes possible
to find clear evidence of correlations between process variables. Tracking these correlations over time
can help you learn many interesting phenomena. For example, correlations could be instantaneous –
this tells you that there may be a common causal factor behind both parameters. Correlations may
be time-lagged – this can tell if one parameter “cause” changes in another parameter. Correlations
may change over time – this might tell that some underlying relationships might have changed, or the
system is undergoing aging.
vi) Validate sensor data – Using multivariate regression, the validity of data being generated by sensors
can be accessed. Very often faulty sensors can throw a process off track. Being able to detect this
autonomously can be very helpful.
vii) Predict future values – Again, by using multiple regression the future values of a process parameter
can be predicted by modeling its past data. Techniques like linear regression or advanced techniques
like Artificial Neural Networks can be trained to predict specific parameters of interest.
viii) Predict events – In the case of reliability, it becomes important to be able to predict if specific
equipment is likely to break down or enter a failure mode. Using classification models like logistic
regression, support vector machines, decision trees, and others, it is possible to detect if an event is
likely to occur in the next N cycles. Here too, advanced techniques like Artificial Neural Networks can
be used to predict likelihood of an event occurring.
Creating a virtual power plant
When data is brought into a data processing platform, it becomes necessary to model the power plant to
extract meaningful information from the thousands of tags being recorded. One of the ways this can be
achieved is by using semantic ontologies.
Semantic ontologies refer to vocabularies that are used to describe a specific domain, its concepts, and
its relationships. With a strong semantic foundation, knowledge discovery and reasoning through data
become possible without human intervention.
For example, one can ask complex queries like “Has any pressure deviated from normal among all feedwater
heaters?”.
If this must be manually evaluated, all the tags related to feeding water pressure would be required to
be identified and then studied which could be a very tedious task. If all equipment in a Power Plant is
represented by a sematic ontology, then this kind of queries can be dynamically evaluated by software and
provide answers within seconds.
Case Study – Turbine Vibration Resolution
The power plant under discussion is a 2x30MW captive power plant within an integrated steel plant. Unit
1 consists of an AFBC and Unit 2 consists of 5 waste heat recovery boilers and 1 blast furnace gas boiler
with a combined output of 120TPH of steam.
The data was captured by integrating with an OPC DA server. Tags were recorded across assets like boilers,
turbines, generators, condensers, low-pressure heaters, deaerators, and high-pressure heater. Within a
year, over 3 million measurements were recorded and stored.

Vibration issue background
On a given date, the Unit 1 turbine began to display increasing levels of vibrations. Vibrations levels had
risen on front and rear bearings along X and Y axis and even the generator had higher vibrations in the
high-speed section. As shown in the graph below, the vibrations on the front Y vibrations, show a sudden
shift on Day 2.
Figure 57 Initial change in Turbine Vibrations level
Figure 58 A 30-day view of Turbine vibrations after initial increase

However, beginning on Day 30, large periodic spikes in vibration were observed. The severity of vibrations
increased over the coming week and vibrations from an initial mean of 30microns rose to a mean of around
65microns, very close to the trip point.
Figure 59 Sharp spikes and overall increase in vibration level from Day 30 onwards
Artificial Intelligence applied to data to determine root causes
At this point, the turbine expert was involved, and the operations team too was looking for root causes
for the problem. A detailed analysis did not lead to a definitive reason for the vibrations and some of the
process trials from operations too did not reduce the vibration levels.
In parallel, ExactSpace’s Artificial Intelligence-based analytics were being applied on over 600 process
parameters from across the system. This exercise considered all data collected in the two months leading
into the event and prior 9-month history as a reference set. Over 80,000 event alerts were generated
and correlated with each other continuously. From this large list, based on change detection, over a
million correlations and automated causal indications, the system narrowed down a few options and were
indicated to the operations team as potential causes. From these, the following stood out:
i) Control oil header pressure – Level changes were detected on two distinct occasions and seemed
correlated to the first event of vibration increase. It had changed from an initial value of 8.4 kg/cm2
to 9.0kg/cm2. On inspection of plant operations logs, it was observed that an oil filter was changed
when the first rise was observed. And the lube oil temperature was dropped when the pressure drop
was observed.
ii) Main oil temperature – In the same time period, the system detected changes in temperature of the
main oil. From a temperature range of 48 to 50 Deg, it dropped to 46 to 47 Deg and stayed at that
level.

Figure 60 Changes in Oil Pressure and Temperature
On identifying these factors, historic data from the previous year was used to find supporting evidence
for the hypothesis that changes in these parameters could cause changes in vibration. Here interesting
patterns were observed.
Statistics revealed that control oil header pressure and vibrations were correlated to each other in a short
time span of around 5 minutes. This implies that for every shift in header pressure, a shift in vibration would
be observed within a short time span.
Figure 61 Vibration and Control Oil Pressure positively correlated with a 1-minute lag
Similarly, when longer-term analysis of data for main oil temperature was carried out a pattern emerged.
However, the type of relationship was very different. Temperature and vibration displayed an inverse
relationship where the change in temperature caused the change in vibration. When temperature
decreased, the other increased. Also, the correlation between temperature and vibration lasted for a much
longer duration. The cross-correlation revealed that they displayed a relationship for nearly 40-60 hours.
This suggested that a change in one would affect the other even after a lag of 2 or more days.

Figure 62 Drop-in Vibrations after change in Oil pressure and temperature as recommended by the system
Proposed intervention
Considering all the supporting evidence, a final recommendation was provided. The operations team
was asked to maintain control oil header pressure between 8.4 and 8.6kg/cm2 and main oil temperature
between 48 and 50deg.
Figure 67 shows the progression of vibration in the coming days. The red line indicates when the corrective
action was implemented.
When the pressure was dropped large spikes reduced within an hour. In the following three days, the
mean of vibrations dropped steadily from a high of ~65microns to around 45microns and continuing to
display a downward trend.
Figure 63 Drop-in Vibrations after change in Oil pressure and temperature as recommended by the system
Benefits
The data analysis here was able to help the plant team avoid breakdown which could have been resulted
from increased vibrations.
Savings
The plant team was able to save a potential breakdown cost in the range of Rs. 1.0 – 1.5 crores (based on
estimated downtime) and maintenance costs related to it.

3.5 Case Study on Best Practices in Maintenance
Title - Modular Maintenance Concept
Plant Capacity – 2 x 250 MW
Description
A maintenance procedure that allows the replacement
of major assemblies in a minimum amount of time and
expenditure is called “module”. The following are some of
the Equipment which can be maintained using the above
method:
1. HP turbine module
2. CW debris filter
Figure 64 BFP Catridge
3. Primary & Secondary fans rotor,
4. Boiler feed pump cartridge
5. Vacuum pump
6. CW pump
7. HT MOTORS
Renovation and modernisation of HP Turbines with the
above concept of modular Maintenance was done by the
plant team:
Following benefits achieved: Figure 65 HP Turbine Module
1. Improved Turbine heat rate as refurbishment module is serviced at OEM, where seal leakages, blade
clearance are attended.
2. Due to spare turbine module, overhaul time was reduced by 6 days.
3. The overall gain in TG heat rate was observed at 20 kCal/kWh
Figure 66 Steam Turbine System

BFP Cartridge Replacement
On a similar concept, BFP cartridge was replaced by the plant following are some of the pictures from the
same. This was also a case study where the BFP cartridge replacement was based increased SEC for VFP
from 9.07 kWh/Ton to 9.46 kWh/Ton
Overall energy savings achieved due to the above replacement was 556.6 kWh which resulted in annual
savings of Rs. 1.64 crores.

3.6 Case Study on Improving Water Utilization
in Cooling Tower
Title: Use of Scaleban in Power Plant Cooling Tower
Capacity of Plant: 4 x 210 MW + 490 x 2 MW NTPC Dadri
Objective: An innovative and cost effective approach for water conservation, effluent utilization and
achieving Zero Liquid Discharge by non-conventional, non-chemical water treatment equipment.
Project Description: All six units have water cooled condensers for condensing the steam at turbine
exhaust after optimum utilization of heat. Source of water is Upper Ganga Canal. The common problems
associated with water cooled heat exchanger’s tubes are scaling, deposition, fouling and corrosion. For
prevention of deposition and fouling, clarified Ganga canal water is used with chlorine dosing. Stage 1
plants i.e. 210 MW x 4 Nos. utilizes soft water for prevention of scaling and Stage 2 plants i.e. 490 MW x
2 Nos. were designed to use clarified Ganga canal water with organophosphate dosing for prevention of
scaling. Strict chloride levels are maintained in recirculation by heavy blowdown for prevention of corrosion.
Also, online ball cleaning system are installed in condensers of both the units of Stage 2. The blowdown
water was treated and returned back to canal for further use in irrigation etc.
Figure 67 Steam Turbine System

The following were challenges faced by the plant:
Challenges: Water related Challenges: O&M related

1. Water scarcity 1. Criticality – No room for unplanned shutdowns for maintenance
2. Canal maintenance 2. Online ball cleaning system availability
3. Water pollution 3. Scaling and deposition
4. Zero discharge policy 4. Maintaining Vacuum for efficient power generation
Solution:
A cost effective solution was required to address the above mentioned problems of maintaining high PLF
by preventing scaling for sustaining in open energy market, achieving zero plant effluent discharge for
environmental protection and conservation of water for reducing its share in cost of energy generation and
addressing the problem of scarcity.
General practice adopted are Softening plan for scaling problem, RO plant for water conservation, Multiple
effect evaporator for achieving ZLD but each of these measures require high capital and O&M expenses
and large area of land should be available which is difficult to allocate in a plant as it may affect future
expansion projects.
The Scaleban technology addresses all these problems in a very innovative and cost effective manner
and have benefitted a no. of power plants in India. The maximum pressure drop at condenser inlet with
Scaleban installed is around 0.12 bar. The plant decided to install this technology at both the 490 MW
power plant as both the power plants are sharing a common water bay.
Benefit:
The data collected and trend observed was highly encouraging. Although online ball cleaning system
was not in operation since last 6 months, still there was practically no variation in vacuum loss pattern as
compared with base line data.

Performance till 31st Jan 2015, Organophosphates Stopped, COC raised
Now the dosing of anti-scaling chemical is stopped and blowdown is controlled so as to observe the effect
of each raised COC. After reaching 7.5 COC, blowdown water from Stage – 1 plant is also used as make-
up. Again the results were excellent even though when one pump was closed in mid-December and flow
was reduced by 25% due to very low cooling water temperature.
As to check the physical condition of condenser during the trial period, condenser can’t be opened. But
as the plant has also installed Scaleban in PHE Unit 5, it was checked and compared with the PHE of Unit
6 which was without Scaleban. During inspection it was found that even after 11 months of continuous
service, it was found scale free and corrosion free. Even though dead algae and fly ash was found in the
water channel of its plates, there was no scaling behind that also. Entire plates can be cleaned by simply
water wash and wire brush.

When Unit 6 PHE was opened for comparisons its plates were choked with hard scaling and these cannot
be simply cleaned by water jet as was with Unit 5 PHE.

3.7 Case Study on Use of Benchmarking as a
Tool
Title: Optimize ACW Pump performance – Relocation of Pumps
Present Status
During the detailed study at one of the power plant, 2x300MW, the auxiliary cooling pumps (ACW) was
checked for possible energy saving opportunities. The schematic is as shown below:
Figure 68 ACW Pump System

A total of 3 pumps were installed for meeting the cooling requirements. It was observed that two pumps
were run to meet the requirements and one pump was operated as standby.
Flow and the pressure measurements were carried out to estimate the efficiency of the pump. The operating
parameters are mentioned in the above figure 73.
Observations
Detail Plant A Plant B
Unit 1 Unit 2 Plant 1 Plant 2
MW 255 292 290 280
FD 1.35 1.29 1.73 1.44
ID 5.91 5.41 13.13 12.79
PA 6.16 5.33 7.21 7.87
CEP 3.17 2.80 3.06 3.14
Turbo Turbo
BFP 29.65 27.22
driven driven
ACW 1.74 1.99 0.80 0.80
CW
5.08 5.82 14.08 14.08
pump
Mills 6.19 5.86 7.83 7.87
Figure 69 Benchmarking data

With using benchmarking as a tool, all major equipment power consumption per unit MW was compared.
It was observed that there was vast variation in specific power consumption (kW/MW) of ACW pumps.
After further study, it was found that the ACW pumping system is placed near to the cooling tower.
Generally, the ACW system will be placed on the turbine floor along with DMCW system. Few plants have
totally avoided usage of ACW pumps (placed at TG floor by stopping pump and CW flowing through the
connection of suction – discharge line).
If we compare ACW pumping system performance in similar plants (Plant B), there is a difference in specific
energy consumption. Benchmark value for ACW pumps is 0.8 kW/MW, which resulted in about 420 kW
energy saving.
Benefits to the plant
The annual power saving is 420 kW which is an annual saving of Rs 80.00 Lakhs. Investment for new low
head pump with motor is Rs 180.00 Lakhs. The annual payback is 27 months.

4.0 Major causes & recommended corrections of
power plant losses
1. Dry flue gas losses
Possible causes of dry flue gas Possible corrections

losses of dry flue gas losses
Operational
APH basket corroded/
eroded/ fouled • Optimise excess air
• Operate APH soot blowers
• Put burner tilt operation on auto
Excess air ingress in • Put SADC in auto
Penthouse, furnace • Optimise number of mills in service
Poor performance of upstream

ash evacuation system
Maintenance
AH seal damage
• Repair/replace APH basket on weight
loss basis
• Repair APH leakage
AH/ Flue Gas duct leakages • AH seal setting/ replacement
• Extensive cleaning of furnace
• Water wall convection surfaces
cleaning
Expansion bellow leakages • Repair AH / flue gas duct leakages
• Repair and replace expansion bellows
• Repair of penthouse, ESP, air in leak
Sector plate undulation / points
damage • Improvement in mill loading
Improper burner tilt operation
Reduction ID fan margin/ boiler

operation at reduced O2
Moisture in coal

2. Unburnt carbon losses
Possible causes of unburnt Possible corrections of

carbon losses unburnt carbon losses
Operational
Incorrect fuel / air ratio
• Adjust fuel/ air ratio
• Calibrate fuel/ air control
• Optimise O2
Poor mill fineness • Optimisation of tramp/ cold air
• Optimise hot air temperature
Change in mill air flow
Increased mill Maintenance

loading • Adjust mill air flow damper
settings
Reduced availability of • Mill internal checking for poor
oxygen in furnace mill fineness
• Adjust classifier vane settings
• Replace grinding wheels, balls
Mill internal problem or rings
• Restoration of eroded/
damaged coal pipes, orifices &
Low mill outlet coal nozzles
temperature
PA& SA distribution
Low mill outlet

temperature
Reduced ID margin
Damaged SADC links
High PA flow from more

no of mills in service

3. HP turbine efficiency performance
Possible causes affecting HP Possible corrections for

turbine efficiency HP turbine efficiency
Operational
Erosion of nozzle blocks • Maintain design HPT inlet
pressure & temperature
Erosion of turbine
blades
Deposit of nozzles and Maintenance

blades
• Repair / Replacement of nozzle
block
Broken turbine • Repair /Replacement of
blades turbine blades
• Replace gland packing
Excess gland seal • Repair and replacement of
leakage turbine seal strips
• Repair / Replacement of
diaphragm
Inter stage seal leakage • Repair / replacement of gland /
inter stage seals
Malfunctioning control • Do Steam path audit
valve
4. IP turbine efficiency performance
Possible causes affecting IP Possible corrections for

turbine efficiency IP turbine efficiency
Erosion of turbine Operational

blades • Maintain design IPT inlet
pressure & temperature
Deposits on blades
LP bypass valve leakage Maintenance

• Repair / replacement of nozzle
block
Excess Gland • Repair / replacement of
seal leakage turbine blades
• Alumina blasting of turbine
blades
Strip seal leaks
• Replace gland sealing
• Repair / replace of turbine seal
strips
• Repair /Replacement of gland/
inter stage seals
• Do steam path audit

5. Heater
Possible corrections for

Possible causes affecting HP/LP heater
HP/LP heater performance performance
Tube fouling or deposits on the

Operational
tube • Minimise TTD deviation
• Maintain optimum operating
level
Inadequate heater venting
• Monitoring of FW outlet
temperature after top heater
and by pass valve
Internal leaks like tube leaks • Monitoring of heater venting
system
Water box partition
plate passing
High TTD
Maintenance
• Repair Partition plate passing
Improper heater level • Repair of tube leaks
• Repair of orifice in vapour line
of heaters
Deviation in final FW temperature • Repair of bypass valve
Heater bypass valve passing
Abnormal extraction steam

conditions

6. Condenser
Possible causes affecting Possible corrections for

condenser efficiency condenser efficiency
Operational
Air ingress in condenser
• Water box venting
• Put in service stand by ejector/
vacuum pump
Poor CT performance causing
high CW inlet Temperature • Increase the CW flow
• Check cycle isolation
• Put in service stand by CW pump
High ambient temperature • Place stand by CT cells in service
Reduced CW pump
performance/ CW duct silting
Maintenance
High energy drain valve
passing • Repair cycle isolation valve
• Clean condenser water box and
tubes
Higher water box differential • Repair CW discharge control
pressure valve & CT
• Repair condenser air leaks
Reduced Ejector/ CVP • Eddy current test to identify,
performance repair/ replacement of leaking
condenser tubes
• Restoration of performance of
Reduced condenser tube Ejector / AEP
thickness
CW water quality/Bio-fouling
effect
Excessive tube plugged/

High heat load to condenser

7. Cooling tower
Possible causes affecting Possible corrections

cooling tower for cooling tower
performance performance
Operational
Condition of fins
• Water chemistry correction (dosing
of chemicals-organophosphate,
chlorine etc.)
Mangrove and algae growth • Switching of individual cells as per
CW inlet temperature
Condition of nozzle
Wind Velocity/
Maintenance
Wet Bulb temperature • Regular chemical cleaning of fin
materials
Condition and fan algae of • PM of gear Box of oil (only for
blade induced draft of cooling tower)
• Removal of mangrove and algae
• Maintaining of drift eliminator
Gear box condition • Removal of vegetation growth
near CT area
Condition of drift eliminator
Circulating water Chemistry
Bio-fouling effect

8. Tips to reduce unaccounted losses
Boiler Area Turbine Area Other Area
Piping radiation loss Up gradation of sensors used for

Heat loss through Mechanical loss primary measurements related to
furnace and pent house efficiency
LP Heater Performance
Sensible heat in fly and Online monitoring of high energy
bottom ash Excess gland seal steam
consumption drain valve passing
Mill reject loss Steam path audit of HP, IP, LP
Insulation loss
Hot air leakage loss cylinders
High energy drain valve
Insulation loss passing Measurement uncertainty
Insulation survey
9. Other best practices/observations followed by power plant

9.1 Boiler outlet to turbine inlet losses
Parameters Units Unit 1

Boiler Outlet Steam Temperature Deg C 541
Boiler Outlet Steam Pressure bar 130
Enthalpy of steam kcal/kg 824
TG Inlet temperature Deg C 537
TG Inlet pressure bar 130
TG Inlet Steam Flow T/h 400
Enthalpy of inlet Steam kcal/kg 821
Heat Loss in Steam line from Boiler O/L to TG I/L kcal/hr 1113172
Total Heat at Boiler Inlet (fuel-fired basis) kcal/hr 343028375
Percentage Heat Loss on fuel-fired basis % 0.32
It is observed that boiler outlet temperatures are higher than that at turbine inlet which is within limit.
Generally, temperature drop of 4-5 Deg C is expected from boiler outlet to turbine inlet (for CPP).
Auxiliary Systems
9.2 Air ingress across flue gas system
Figure 70 Air ingress across flue gas system

Boiler 3
Eco O/L APH O/L ESP O/L
Parameter
Pass A Pass B Pass A Pass B Pass A Pass B
O2% 3.70 2.20 5.75 4.20 6.70 6.33
CO ppm 120.00 110.00 95.00 110.00 84.00 80.00
CO2% 15.00 16.00 13.60 16.00 12.80 12.80
Air ingress calculations

Boiler 3
Parameter Pass A Pass B
% O2 at Eco Outlet 3.70 2.20
% O2 at APH outlet 5.75 4.20
% O2 at ESP out 6.70 6.33
% air ingress APH 11.92 10.70
% air ingress across the system 17.44 22.06
It was observed that the air ingress across the APH system was measured to be around 12 - 13 % which is
slightly on a higher side. Recommended air ingress is 8 – 10 %.
Effects of air ingress across the system:
1. Reduced feed air temperature
2. Lesser Heat recovery by feed air
3. Higher fuel consumption
4. Higher ID fan power consumption
Recommendations for reducing Air Ingress across the flue gas system
1. Periodically monitor O2 % using portable analyser
2. Check the condition of the ESP ducting and manholes
3. Identify and rectify any seals/gasket/gland rope if found in broken condition
4. Conduct ESP leak test periodically
5. Maintain the total air ingress across the system to less than 10%.
6. Check the oxygen profile once in every 15 days

5.0 Annexures
5.1 Contact details of Technology providers/ Suppliers
The case studies are based on the technical assessment of various suppliers whose detailed contact address
is mentioned below. Wherever not mentioned, the source is data collection, references from detailed
energy audit studies conducted by CII in various industries, CII database, etc.
1. For Dynamic Classifier:

Shanghai electric company (SEC) China,
Address: No. 268 Zhongshan South Road,
Shanghai, China
Tel.: 021-23108718 Fax: 021-23108717
E-mail: sepco@shanghaipower.com
Website: www.shanghaipower.com/power/
2. For AdvX™ LJUNGSTRÖM Air Pre-Heater
ARVOS Energy India Private Limited
B-611A, 6th Floor, Tower B
Advant IT Park, Plot No. 7, Sector - 142
Noida-201305, Uttar Pradesh, India
Email Id: nitin.jindal@arvos-group.com
Contact No.: +91 995 8811 448
Website: www.arvos-group.com
3. For CFD study:

Mech-Well Industries Ltd
7-A, Old Anjirwadi
Mazgaon, Mumbai – 400 010
Contact No.:022-66200314 /66200300
Fax No. 022-66200380
Mobile No. – 9223393614
E-mail: mechwell@vsnl.com; vtjadhav@gmail.com
Website: www.mechwell.org
4. For Artificial Intelligence:

Exact Space Technologies Pvt Ltd,
432, 8th Cross, Domlur Layout,
Bangalore
E-mail: info@exactspace.co
Phone: +91-99165 23232
Website: www.exactspace.co/

5. For Intelligent Flow Controller:
Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company Limited.
Pirojshanagar, Vikhroli,
Mumbai - 400 079, India.
Tel: +91-22-6796 2251 to 2259
Email: casene@godrej.com
Website: www.godrej-airsolutions.com
6. For Turbine Oil Analysis:

Siemens Limited
Registered & Corporate Office
Birla Aurora, Level 21,
Plot No. 1080,
Dr. Annie Besant Road, Worli,
Mumbai – 400030
Contact No.: 1800 209 1800
Website: http://www.siemens.co.in
7. For Scale ban technology:

Scale ban India
# G-4, Pritam Residency, Maktampur,
Bharuch – 392012 Gujarat, INDIA
Phones: +91 98183 99191, +91 99818 16956
E-mail: praveen@scalebanindia.com, scaleban.west@gmail.com
Website: www.scalebanindia.com
8. For Eltrix software:

Kalkitech
17 / 1, THE ADDRESS, 4th Floor, Outer Ring Road
Kadubeesanahalli, Bangalore 560103
Karnataka, India
Phone: +91-90086-45859
E-mail: binu.vasudevan@kalkitech.in
Website: www.kalkitech.com
9. For sonic soot blowers:

L. C. Sonics
Raj Tower D-Wing,
3rd Floor, R. No. 336,
Katraj, Pune- 411 046
Phone: +91-9890102820; +91-9111333380
E-mail: lcsonics@yahoo.co.in

5.2 References
1. GMR Warora Energy Limited (GWEL)
2. BALCO Korba
3. ARVOS Energy India Private Limited
4. JSW Energy Ltd.
5. Godrej
6. Mechwell
7. Akxatech
8. Siemens Limited
9. Exactspace
10. Scale ban India
11. Kalkitech
12. L.C.Sonics
13. CII Database: Detailed Energy audits
14. Industry Consultants
15. Secondary research: Best practices, Research papers & Case studies

About CII About CII-Godrej GBC
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) works to CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre
create and sustain an environment conducive to the (CII-Godrej GBC) was established in the year 2004, as
development of India, partnering industry, CII's Developmental Institute on Green Practices &
Government, and civil society, through advisory and Businesses, aimed at offering world-class advisory
consultative processes. services on conservation of natural resources. The
Green Business Centre in Hyderabad is housed in one
CII is a non-government, not-for-profit, industry-led and
of the greenest buildings in the world and through
industry-managed organization, playing a proactive
Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) is spearheading
role in India's development process. Founded in 1895,
the Green Building movement in the country. The
India's premier business association has around 9000
Green Business Centre was inaugurated by His
members, from the private as well as public sectors,
Excellency Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the then President
including SMEs and MNCs, and an indirect
of India on 14 July 2004.
membership of over 300,000 enterprises from around
276 national and regional sectoral industry bodies. The Services of Green Business Centre include- Energy
Management, Green Buildings, Green Companies,
CII charts change by working closely with Government
Renewable Energy, GHG Inventorization, Green
on policy issues, interfacing with thought leaders, and
Product Certification, Waste Management, and
enhancing efficiency, competitiveness and business
Cleaner Production Process. CII-Godrej GBC works
opportunities for industry through a range of
closely with the stakeholders in facilitating India
specialized services and strategic global linkages. It also
emerge as one of the global leaders in Green Business
provides a platform for consensus-building and
by the year 2022.
networking on key issues.
Extending its agenda beyond business, CII assists
industry to identify and execute corporate citizenship
programs. Partnerships with civil society organizations
carry forward corporate initiatives for integrated and
inclusive development across diverse domains
including affirmative action, healthcare, education,
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empowerment of women, and water, to name a few.
India is now set to become a US$ 5 trillion economy in
the next five years and the Indian industry will remain
the principal growth engine for achieving this target.
With the theme for 2019-20 as 'Competitiveness of
India Inc - India@75: Forging Ahead', CII will focus on
five priority areas which would enable the country to
stay on a solid growth track. These are – employment
generation, rural-urban connect, energy security,
environmental sustainability, and governance.
With 66 offices, including 9 Centres of Excellence, in
India, and 10 overseas offices in Australia, China,
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CII serves as a reference point for Indian industry and
the international business community.
CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre

Survey No. 64, Kothaguda Post
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Tel: +91 40 44185111
Fax: +91 40 44185189

Best Practices Manual For Indian Thermal Power Plants

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Best Practices Manual For Indian Thermal Power Plants

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Best Practices Manual for

Indian Thermal Power Plants

Published by Confederation of Indian Industry

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Savings and Paybacks

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Figure 6 Factors governing cost of generation

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Figure 7 Fuel cost optimization model using Microsoft software

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Figure 9 Soft-touch seals upgradation in a plant

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Figure 10 APH A and APH B PA Differential Pressure in 2016 and 2017

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Figure 12 Installation of additional tubes in Economizer

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Figure 14 Before and after sonic cleaning

Steam Consumption Air consumption

Saving Calculation of Air cost

Benefits to the plant

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Figure 16 Smart Wall Blowing System (SWBS)

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Figure 18 AdvX™ Heat Recovery system

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Figure 20 Hot water manifold before modification

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Figure 24 Hot water manifold before and after modification

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Figure 25 Thermal capability cross plots after modification

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Figure 27 Plant status without Eltrix

Figure 28 Plant status interpreted by Eltrix

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Figure 29 Operating condition parameters from DCS

Figure 30 Comparing two Actual readings

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Figure 33 Comparison of BFP power consumption before and after

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Figure 34 Schematic before installation of VFD in CEP

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