On the Modification of Spray Line in Pressure Reducing and

Desuperheating Station at Thermal Power Stations

Dr S Shanmugam, Fellow
S Sakthivel, Member
In thermal power stations, the temperature at pressure reducing and desuperheating station (PRDS) header is sometimes
unable to contain within a specific limit. This causes instability in PRDS that leads to unsatisfactory performance of the
auxiliary systems, resulting in shut down. The cause of the problem is identified, analysed and remedial measures are
suggested that spray water for desuperheating the main steam supplied to PRDS can be tapped from the condensate
extraction pump discharge line instead of from the boiler feed pump discharge line being practiced. Analyses show that
a sum of Rs 20 744 can be saved per day in addition to a substantial saving in the layout cost.
Keywords: PRDS; Condensate extraction pump; Boiler feed pump

INTRODUCTION
In thermal power stations, the requisite operating parameters
of PRDS is obtained by desuperheating the steam, which is
tapped from main steam line. The water from boiler feed
pump is utilised for desuperheating after reducing its pressure
in an appropriate pressure control valve. The desuperheated
steam is then distributed to different parts of the auxiliary
steam consumption headers, such as, fuel atomising station,
soot blowers steam consumption point, starting and main
steam ejector lines. It is essential that there should not be any
disturbances in the parameters, especially in temperature, in
PRDS for efficient operation of thermal power stations. But
many a time it has been experienced that there is instability in
the values of parameters of steam in PRDS units, resulting in
failure to achieve the performance of the power station. The
problem of instability can be overcome by tapping spray water
from the part where the pressure and temperature are
conducive to the efficient operation of power stations. This
paper presents a useful suggestion to avoid the aforesaid
problem by analysing the important parameters of PRDS in
210 MW power stations in India. The same can be extended to
higher capacity power stations too.
EXISTING SYSTEM
A line diagram of the existing system of PRDS in 210 MW
power stations is given in Figure 1. The superheated steam is
tapped from both the main lines that carry steam to the
turbine. The pressure and temperature in each line are 135.1 bar
and 540 C , respectively (Stage I). The velocity of the steam is
given by the expression1,
& = Av
m

(1)

& is mass flow rate of fluid, m/s; , the density, kg/m3;

where m
Dr S Shanmugam is with the Department of Mechanical Engineering,
National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli, Tiruchirappalli 620 015;
while S Sakthivel is with Inspectorate of Boilers, PWD Compound,
Kumarasamy Patty, Salem 636 007.
This paper was received on April 22, 2004. Written discussion on the paper will
be entertained until December 31, 2005.

Vol 86, October 2005

A, inside area of the pipe through which the fluid flows; and v,
the velocity, m/s. The steam has the velocity of 41.44 m/s
flowing at a rate of 350 t/h. The steam is tapped usually by
providing a T arrangement2. The entire arrangement of the
existing system is divided into five stages as it is seen in the
Figure 1. The steam coming out of the pressure control valve is
at a temperature of 480 C with a pressure of 17 bar. The
reduction in pressure from 135.1 bar (Stage I) to 17 bar (Stage III)
is obtained on the assumption that the 100% line is in service.
It is noted that there is only about 11% reduction in
temperature of steam. The high temperature steam is then
admitted to the cooler where it is supposed to be
desuperheated to a little less than or equal to 200 C . The
required quantity of water for desuperheating is tapped from
the boiler feed pump discharge line. In 210 MW power
stations, the spray water is supplied at a rate of 1.4 kg/s. The
desired temperature limits are normally between 180 C and
200 C but the maximum limit should not be greater than
200 C 3 . The pressure control valve (PCV-2) closes
automatically if the temperature exceeds 200 C , causing no
supply of steam to the PRDS system.
The temperature at the PRDS header is not maintained within
the desired limits and at times it goes up a few degrees Celsius
beyond 200 C . The temperature could not be brought down
to a desired value even if the quantity of spray water supply
from the boiler feed pump discharge line is increased to
maximum possible. The reason could be due to mixing of
spray water at 167 C with steam at 480 C . Greater the supply
of this water, less likely will it reduce the temperature. There
is thus an increase in the temperature at steam consumption
headers, such as, soot blowers, oil heating station, fuel oil
atomising station, main and starting ejectors lines, which
reduces the unit load. This has sometimes compelled entire
power generation to be stopped. With great difficulty, the
temperature can be controlled manually too but it usually
takes much time. Besides, in the existing system there must be
145

4.5
5

4.5
5

.4

Pressure
Enthalpy
Mass Flow Rate
Temperature
Elevation
Pressure Control Valve
Safety Valve

f2
5.4

:
:
:
:
:
:
:

Sp
ray
Va
lve

P
h
&
m
T
EL
PCV
SV

Ph - 180
m 686. .4 ba
T - 1.4 k 3 kJ/ r
16 o g/s kg
7C
f3
3

EL 24500

f2

73
I
50
P1
3
5
h-3
.4 b
m -9 447 k ar
J
T - 5 7.2 kg /kg
40 o /s
C

EL
133
80

f1
08

20

Ma
in S
tea
EL
mL
260
ine
00
30

V
EL 2
5000

f1
59

Dimensions in mm
Not to Scale

EL 2
2250
0

Flow
Nozz
le

f 60 11
EL
22
15
0

f 273
f 15
9

PCV-1
f 15
9

37

SV-1
SV-2

6.4

30

30

P - 17 bar
h - 3427 kJ/kg
m - 4.17 kg/s
T - 480oC

III

EL
24
50
0

IV

6.4
f2
73

P-1
35
h - 3 .1 bar
409 k
&
J/
m-4
.2 kg kg
/s
T 530 o
C
f 15
II
9
30
PCV-2
f 32
3.9

Co
ole
r

PRD
S He
ader

EL 2
2300

P - 19.62 bar
h - 232 kJ/kg
m -1.01 kg/s
T - 55oC

P-1
4
h - 2 .17 bar
7
& - 97 kJ/k
m
g
5
T - 2 .56 kg/
s
00 oC

Existing
Proposed

f 27
36
.4
EL 2
2280

Figure 1 Different stages at PRDS with proposed system

an exclusive pressure reducing station as the water pressure is

to be reduced from 180.4 bar to about 20 bar4. The problem
can be avoided by introducing a little change in the spray
water tapping as explained here.
PROPOSED SYSTEM
Careful studies of the layout of the piping and the parameters
of different lines have indicated that there is only one
possibility of tapping spray water at a very low pressure and
temperature in the power station. It is the condensate
extraction pump (CEP) discharge line in which the pressure
and temperature of the water are 19.62 bar and 55 C ,
respectively5. The proposed system is denoted as dotted line in
the Figure 1 and this line is directly taken from the condensate
extraction pump (CEP) discharge line. Figure 2 depicts the
proposed system.
The spray water line in the existing system is modified with
tapping from the CEP discharge line. By providing a suitable
arrangement in the CEP discharge line the water is taken to
the cooler and sprayed for desuperheating the steam. The
water has a low pressure (19.62 bar) and therefore there is no
need for having a separate pressure reducing station. At the
146

same time, the temperature is also less (55 C ), which has the
advantage of consuming less quantity of water. The enthalpy
of water is 231.9 kJ/kg and the heat content of the water in the
proposed system is 454 kJ/kg less than that of the existing
system. The temperature at the PRDS header is always kept
below 200 C because the water at 55 C is sprayed to the
steam at 480 C . The supply of spray water also is not
disturbed even when the plant is being shut down as the
running of the CEP is continuous and this facilitates efficient
operation of the auxiliary units.
In the proposed system, there is no change in the first four
stages of the existing system (Figure 1). In the fifth stage the
spray water is admitted to the cooler, taken from the CEP
discharge line. The diameter of the pipes is calculated using the
equation (1). The values of diameter and properties6 are
presented in Table 1. The diameter of the spray water line in
the fifth stage in the proposed system is about 42.2% less than
that of the existing system, as the values of the parameters of
the spray water admitted to the cooler are very much less. The
spray water velocity before the cooler is 2.02 m/s which is
17.4% greater than the velocity of water from boiler feed
pump discharge line. This will obviously facilitate the process
of mixing in the cooler.
IE (I) JournalMC

Table 1 Comparison of spray water properties in existing and proposed

stages in PRDS
Parameter

Unit

Stage V
Existing Scheme
Before
After
entering
leaving

Proposed
system

Pressure, P

bar

180.40000

20.000000

19.620000

Temperature, T

167.00000

140.000000

55.000000

Mass flow rate, m

kg/s

1.40000

1.400000

1.010000

Enthalpy, h

kJ/kg

685.90000

590.200000

231.900000

Diameter, D

mm

33.40000

33.400000

25.400000

Density, r

kg/m3

917.40000

926.780000

986.190000

Velocity, V

m/s

1.74000

1.720000

2.020000

Specific volume, v

m3/kg

0.00109

0.001079

0.001014

Economic Analysis
As the modified system eliminates the requirement of a
separate pressure reducing station, it needs one isolation valve
at the tapping end and one regulation valve at the waterspraying end. It means less cost of equipment and easier
maintenance.

cos t c =

&sh
m
cc
Cv

cos t w = 24 m& w c w

(3)

where cost refers to total cost; h, specific enthalpy of steam;

Cv , the calorific value of coal generally used in power stations;
suffixes c, w and s refer to coal water and steam, respectively
and c refers to respective cost. The calorific value of coal is
assumed as 12560 kJ/kg and the cost of coal is Rs 2.50/kg and
the cost of demineralised water is Rs 0.30/kg. Using equations (2)
and (3), respective components are calculated and are
presented in Table 2. There is a saving of over 71% in layout
cost owing to the elimination of an exclusive pressure
reducing station in the existing system. As the water is
admitted to the cooler at much reduced temperature ( 55 C ),
the proposed system certainly consumes 72.14% of water,
resulting in an additional saving of 27.86% in water cost.
Besides, there is a substantial saving in coal consumption too.
It is possible to save 4.254 t of coal daily by merely following
the proposed system.

Main Steam Line

P - 180.4 bar
h - 686 kJ/kg
& - 1.4 kg/s
m
T - 167oC

(2)

EN : Non-return Valve
CEP : Condensate Extraction Pump

Condenser

Main Steam Line

Condenser

Cooler

20 m

& - 5.56 kg/s

m
T - 200oC

P - 1962 bar
h - 207 kJ/kg
& - 1.01 kg/s
m
T - 55oC

From Boiler Feed Pump

CEP2

CEP1

PRDS
Header

CEP3

Condensate
Flow
'0' m
EN1

EN2

EN3

EN4

EN5

EN6

Figure 2 Schematic layout of the proposed system

Vol 86, October 2005

147

Table 2

Computation of different cost components

Description
Energy
Enthalpy of steam, kJ/h
Coal consumption, kg/day
Cost of coal consumed/day, Rs
Water consumption
Quantity, kg/h
Daily consumption cost of
demineralised water, Rs
Lay out cost, Rs

Existing
system

Proposed
system

Savings,
%

3069360.0
5865.0
14662.5

843188.4
1611.0
4027.5

72.53
72.53
72.53

5040.0

3636.0

27.86

36288.0

26179.0

27.86

2 77 500.0

80 000.0

71.20

Total savings, Rs
Savings per day, Rs
Layout cost, Rs

20 744.00
19 7 500.00

easy erection of spray water pipe lines and their

maintenance; and

continuous availability of the system.

CONCLUSIONS
Introducing the proposed system, thermal power stations of
210 MW capacities can be efficiently operated with full load
and without any disturbances in the auxiliary steam supply
systems.
(i) There is a saving of Rs 20 744/day and a reduction in
layout cost of Rs 1 97 500 can be achieved.
(ii) Though the study has been done with reference to
210 MW power stations, the suggestion can be
effectively implemented in other capacity power
stations as well, for the nature of the problem is
similar.

stabilisation of PRDS header can be achieved;

trouble free operation of the auxiliary steam

consumption systems is ensured;

frequent lifting of safety valves and their seat failure

can be avoided;

(iii) The low temperature in the spray water may cause

some cold cracks in the seat of the cooler valve and
cold water spraying in the opposite wall of the pipe
may also introduce cold cracks in future. The
formation of cold cracks can be slowed down by
slightly increasing the temperature of the spray water
before it is admitted to the cooler. An increase in
temperature of about 8 C can be achieved by passing
the spray water pipe line through the flash tank in the
turbine region. The problem of the cracking in the
opposite wall can also be avoided by providing a high
alloy steel sleeve.

frequent failure of the gaskets in between the joints of

flanges in non-return valves, branch valves etc can also
be avoided;

1. Flow of Fluids through Valves, Fittings and Pipe. Crane Ltd, 11-12 Bouverie
Street, London EC4Y 8AH, UK, 1979.

reduction in the rate of erosion in the seat of the spray

control valve can be achieved;

2. The Schematic Diagrams of 210 MW Power Station. Power Engineers

Training Society, 1983

instability of pressure in pressure control station and

in spray water line is completely eliminated;

3. Operation and Maintenance Manual for Control Valve. Mosaneilone Valve

Ltd, 1988.

steady operation of power station;

reduced energy consumption;

reduction in the consumption of de-mineralised

water;

Features
The salient features in brief on eliminating existing spray
water scheme and introducing proposed system in power
plants are:

148

REFERENCES

4. Operation and Maintenance of Pressure Reducing Station. Combustion

Engineers, UK, 1982.
5. Construction and Operation of 210 MW Turbine. Combustion Engineers,
UK, GF3 GEF3 3.4.
6. C P Kothandaraman and S Subramanian. Heat and Mass Transfer Data
Book. 4th Edition, New Age International Pvt Ltd, Chennai, 1997.

IE (I) JournalMC