In thermal power stations, by quality considerations and end use considerations, water can be classified

as: Raw water, Clarified water, Drinking water, DM water, Service water, Ash water, Cooling water, or
Circulating water, Fire water, etc. For all these, raw water is the main source. Normally the raw water is
sourced from nearby river, irrigation canal or a pond. For handling all these different type of water
streams, a number of pumps and pumping stations are used. Table 2 presents the water consumption (in
terms of raw water) for various purposes in a typical Coal based super thermal power plant of capacity
2100 MW with ash water recycling facility. It can be seen that ash handling consumes the major quantity,
to the tune of more than 40 percent, followed by the cooling towards (to compensate for evaporation
losses). DM water consumption is the only minor quantity to the tune of only 2-2.5 percent in terms of raw
water. But many thermal power plants monitor only this consumption. Drinking water consumption is also
minor in the plant (1-2 percent), but major quantity goes towards colony. Fire fighting water normally will
be in the closed loop, so technically there should not be any consumption, but due to leaks and usage
towards washing of floors, Coal yard spray etc. the consumption will be around 4-5 percent.
Without ash water recycling, the total raw water consumption would go up by another 2000 M 3/hr.
 Water consumption in a coal based Quantity M3/hr Consumption %
super thermal power plant Area with M3/MW
ash water
recycling
Ash handling 4180 2.0 41.4
Cooling towers 3207 1.5 30.4
DM water 260 0.13 2.6
Drinking water 640 0.32 6.3
(colony + plant)
Coal handling 130 0.065 1.3
Fire fighting 476 0.37 4.7
Others 1334 0.66 13.2
Total 100090 5.0 100

The maximum water loss in the thermal power plants will be in the cooling towers, in the form of
evaporation. We need around 180 M3/hr cooling water flow to the condensor to generate 1 MW. Empirical
relation often used to calculate evaporation ratio (M 3/hr) = (circulation rate in M3/hr x Temperature
Difference in oC/675. Based on this formula, the expected evaporation ratio for every 1 MW of power
generation is 2.6 M3/hr. For a 210 MW power plant, the expected evaporation loss would be 550 M 3/hr.
To compensate this evaporation loss, the blow down losses and drift need to provide make up water.
Since the water is circulated many times in the closed loop, the concentration of dissolved solids
increases over a period. The cycles of concentration (COC) is the ratio of dissolved solids in the
circulating water to the make-up water. Normally the cooling towers are designed for a COC of around 3.
To keep of COC of 3, we need to provide a blow down of around 275 M 3/hr, for a 210 MW power plant.
In thermal power stations, by quality considerations and end use considerations, water can be
classified as: Raw water, Clarified water, Drinking water, DM water, Service water, Ash water,
Cooling water, or Circulating water, Fire water, etc. For all these, raw water is the main source.
Normally the raw water is sourced from nearby river, irrigation canal or a pond. For handling all
these different type of water streams, a number of pumps and pumping stations are used.

1. Steam cycle heat transfer

2. Cooling to condense the steam and surplus heat discharge
a. Direct or Once-through wet cooling
b. Recirculating or indirect wet cooling
c. Dry cooling

1. Steam cycle heat transfer

For the heat transfer function the water is circulated continuously in a closed loop steam cycle
and hardly any is lost. It is turned to steam by the primary heat source to drive the turbine to do
work making electricity, and it is then condensed and retuned under pressure to the heat source
in a closed system. A very small amount of make-up water is required in any such system. The
water needs to be clean and fairly pure.

2. Cooling to condense the steam and surplus heat discharge

The second function for water in such a power plant is to cool the system so as to condense the
low-pressure steam and recycle it. As the steam in the internal circuit condenses back to water,
the surplus (waste) heat which is removed from it needs to be discharged by transfer to the air
or to a body of water.

a. Direct or Once-through wet cooling

If the power plant is next to the sea, a big river, or large inland water body it may be done simply
by running a large amount of water through the condensers in a single pass and discharging it
back into the sea, lake or river a few degrees warmer and without much loss from the amount
withdrawn. This is the simplest method - direct or "once-through" cooling. The water may be
salt or fresh. Some small amount of evaporation will occur off site due to the water being a few
degrees warmer.

b. Recirculating or indirect wet cooling

If the power plant does not have such abundant water, it may be done by passing it through the
condenser and then using a cooling tower, where an updraught of air through water droplets
cools the water. Occasionally an on-site pond may be sufficient for this. Normally the cooling is
chiefly through evaporation, with simple heat transfer to the air being of less significance. The
cooling tower evaporates up to 5% of the flow and the cooled water is then returned to the
power plant's condenser. The 3 to 5% or so is effectively consumed, and must be continually
replaced. This is the main type of recirculating or indirect cooling.

c. Dry cooling

A few power plants are cooled simply by air, without relying on the physics of evaporation.
These work like an automobile radiator and employ high-flow forced draft past a system of
finned tubes in the condenser through which the steam passes, simply transferring its heat to
the ambient air directly. The whole power plant then uses less than 10% of the water required
for a wet-cooled plant, but a lot of power (around one to 1.5 percent of power station's output) is
consumed by the large fans required. This is direct dry cooling, using air-cooled condenser
(ACC).

Alternatively there may still be a condenser cooling circuit as with wet recirculating cooling, but
the water in it is enclosed and cooled by a flow of air past finned tubes in a cooling tower. Heat
is transferred to the air, but inefficiently. This technology is not favoured if wet cooling
depending on evaporation is possible, but energy use is only 0.5% of output.