Energy, Exergy, and Losses in Components of a Coal Thermal Power Plant

Abstract

In this work, energy and exergy are investigated of a 600 MW coal thermal power plant on working load condition. The research is done on a load of nearly 94.3% of the design load with constant pressures and temperatures corresponding to various components and does not change with variation in load. This research aims to explore various components of plant thermodynamically and to know how efficiently they are working on a load lower than design load and also on the varying quality of coal used. After calculations, I found that the main energy losses happen in the condenser, boiler, and deaerator but condenser has the highest loss with 71.98 % to 74% of total energy loss. The variation in energy loss ratio in the condenser is because of the quality of fuel used. The Boiler feed pump and condensate extraction pump show minimum energy loss. Boiler, condenser, turbines, and deaerator show high exergy losses, but boiler having the maximum exergy loss with 61.98 % to 60.12 % of the total exergy loss. The Condenser is also having a high amount of exergy loss but the exergy available in the condenser is low grade because of low temperature, so we focus on minimizing high-quality exergy losses which are in boiler and turbines and hence increase in exergetic efficiency of corresponding and the whole plant. Boiler feed pump and condensate extraction pump show minimum exergy loss. This study helps in finding the components which are responsible for lowering the efficiency of the plant.