PRESENTATION ON EFFICIENCY IMPRVEMENT IN COAL FIRED THERMAL POWER STATION

Central Electricity Authority New Delhi

1st June,2009 By: V.K.ANAND
DEPUTY DIRECTOR, C.E.A

WHY ENERGY EFFICIENCY IS IMPORTANT ?

Depleting fossil fuel Optimum plant utilization Global warming Designated consumer Generate more energy with same fuel

EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENT CAN GIVE YOU

For an average increase of 1 % in the Efficiency would result in: Coal savings of approx. 11 million tons per annum worth Rs.13,000 Million CO2 reduction about 13.5 million tons per annum Lower generation cost per kWh as more efficient the unit works, the more economical it is.

MAJOR CAUSE OF INEFFICENCY IN POWER PLANT

High Flue gas exit Temp Excessive amount of excess air(O2) Poor Mill/Burners performance causing high unburnt carbon in fly and bottom ash Poor insulation Poor house Keeping Poor instrumentation and automation

MAJOR CAUSE OF INEFFICENCY IN POWER PLANT (Cont---)

Not running the units on design parameter Heaters not in service or poor performance of regenerative system Poor condenser vacuum Excessive DM water consumptionpassing and leakages Use of Reheat spray to control Reheat Temperature Poor Cylinder Efficiency of turbine

HOW TO ACHIEVE ENERGY EFFICIENCY ?

Adopt state of the art technologies Adopt cutting edge technologies Review & Re-engineering of the existing systems Bench Marking Energy Auditing

CAN WE IMPROVE EFFICIENCY?

-Yes ,provided we shed the myths and believe in applying result oriented efforts. -Work out to identify & quantify the cost of hidden losses. -Bring in requisite operational behavioral change.

SOME OF THE MYTHS

High PLF & availability translates into Optimum Efficiency Heat rate is the responsibility of Efficiency Management Group at Stations Equipment maintenance to be taken-up based on periodic overhaul schedule Boiler performance degradations has no relation to Turbine Cycle performance

Some of the Myths contd

Design heat rate is the best achievable heat rate. Efficiency tests are the same as performance guarantee test. Heat rate improvement requires large investment. Results follow immediately after testing is completed. Heat rate is the responsibility of Energy & Efficiency Management Group (EEMG) at Stations. Station instruments are accurate for monitoring heat rate parameters.

contd
Design is not the best achievable performance
Predicted performance based on Turbine Heat Balance Diagrams and Boiler Efficiency at different loads Design is based on specific ambient conditions that vary throughout the year Actual initial performance could be different from design or changes might have been made to plant Current performance to be compared to an achievable expected value to establish efficiency gaps

SYNERGIZE OPERATION OF UNIT

- Need to clearly understand the relation between performance & fuel ,operation and design parameters. - -Operational behavior and performance - Impacts of operating efficiency of Boiler, Turbine and their auxiliaries on Net Unit Heat Rate, - Maximum Achievable Load, Maintenance,& - Availability.

SOME CRITICAL FACTORS AFFECTING BOILER PERFORMANCE

-Fuel;-Heating Value, Moisture Contents, Ash
Composition, Ash Contents,& Volatile Matter.

-Operational Parameter:-Level of Excess Air,

& operating Condition of Burner Tilt Mechanism.

-Design:-Heating input per plan area, Height of

Boiler, Platens & pendants heat transfer Surfaces, Burner & wind Box design.

BEHAVIOURAL IMPACTS
-Low heat value results in over firing of fuel causing more heat availability for super heater and re-heater thus more attempration spray requirement. Hence increase in THR, overloading of ash handling system, fans and increased soot blowing -Moisture content increase causes increase in heat transfer to S.H, and R.H. Hence again increase in attempration spray and THR. -Ash composition and contents increases damage to pressure parts surfaces because of melting behavior of low fusion ash temperature of blended coal in particular. -In consistency in fired fuel characteristics results in variation in excess air requirement thereby increasing stack loss and hence boiler efficiency reduction, overloading of ID Fan and ultimately unit load limitation.

-High heat value causes excessive radiant heat transfer to water walls thereby leaving lesser heat for super heater and re-heater.
Contd.

IMPACTS
-

contd

Normally excess air ranges from 15% to 30% of stoichiometric air. -High O2 % and presence of CO at ID Fan outlet are indicator of air in leakages and improper combustion in furnace. -Poorly effective damper control also is the cause of higher SEC of fans both primary and secondary. -The quality and purity of feed water and make up water is also required to be maintained in a meticulous way by limiting blow down losses to nearly 1% and by checking the passing and leakages of valves. However, maximum 3% of flow can be taken as make up for these causes including soot blowing requirements. -Soot blowing is dependent on ash contents and is unit specific. Intelligently devised soot blowing can result in saving the fuel.
Contd.

IMPACTS

contd

-Cascading effects on efficiency, loading and availability because of following systems and equipments performance also needed to be looked into. The systems are:Fuel receiving, preparation and handling systems. Pulverizing system Air Heater Fans Electrostatic Precipitator Fly ash handling system Bottom ash handling system Waste disposal system

PERFORMANCE IMPACTS ON STEAM CYCLE , UNIT HEAT RATE,&OUT PUT

Various design & operating parameters of a unit are responsible for its cycle performance, heat rate,& out put.

CRITICAL FACTORS AFFECTING CYCLE PERFORMANCE

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Re-heater & its system pressure drop Extraction line pressure drop Make up Turbine exhaust pressure Air preheat Condensate sub-cooling S/H & R/H spray flows Wet Bulb Temp. Top Heaters out of service H.P. heater drain pump Type of BFP drives & method of flow control

RH & ITS SYSTEM PRESSURE DROP.

- Every one 1% decrease in drop can improve THR and output by 0.1% & 0.3% respectively. - Normally designed for pressure drop equivalent to 10% of HP exhaust pressure

EXTRACTION LINE PRESSURE DROP

Permissible pressure drop between stage pressure & Shell pressure is maximum 6%. For every 2% increase in this pressure drop, THR would be poorer by 0.09%.

Cycle make up.

- Acceptable value of make up water is 3% to offset cycle water losses. - For every 1% increase in make up 0.4% increase in THR & 0.2% reduction on output is there.

EXHAUST PRESSURE
Increase & decrease in exhaust pressure do affect the THR. Though no valid thumb rule has been devised so far, however last stage blade design & exhaust area of turbine do affect the impact of changing exhaust pressure.

AIR PRE-HEAT.
Air preheat of combustion air before entry to regenerative air heater is done with either with steam coil air pre - heater or hot water pre heating coil to maintain AVERAGE COLD & TEMPERATURE (ACET) to escape dew point temperature complications. Condensate retrieval is necessary to avoid deterioration to THR depending upon unit load and combustion pre heating duty.

CONDENSATE SUB-COOLING
For 30% total flow and 2.5 deg C subcooling ,an increase of 0.001% in THR can be there for every subsequent 10% increase in flow.

R.H & S.H. SPRAY FLOW

. Spray water whether drawn from BFP or after the final heater, it is always less the generative and less productive as well. Every 1% spray flow, correction need to be done in THR & load computed from the curves supplied with the machine.

TOP HEATER OUT OF SERVICE.

Extraction steam flow meant for top heater is required to pass through turbine thereby increasing the output. But at the same time final feed water tamp. Is lowered resulting in poor THR.

HPH DRAIN PUMP

Retrieval of drip from HPH 6 & 7 is important for load even around 50%. Drain pump when deployed can improve the THR by 2.5kCal/kwh.

BFP DRIVE SELECTION

. Though four options are available for choosing the suitable BFP drive and control concepts. . Adoption of turbine driven BFP to suit the design requirements can improve THR by 0.56% and output by 0.58%.

PERFORMANCE MONITORING
-Analyze the poor efficiency areas from previous record .
-Zero down to specific system and then to component. -Carry out performance/diagnostic study as suggested in the Auditing Manual & operating manual. -Devise a unit specific efficiency control sheet for few terminal conditions (Act vs Des). -Monitor once per shift to know the operating efficiency and check any deterioration.

Thank You