Steam Power Plant

Steam power plant is a plant designed to convert the heat from the combustion of a fuel into
mechanical energy by means of steam. The major portion of electricity demand is fulfilled by it.

There are so many components present in the steam power plant which performs their specialized
function for the efficient working. The major components are:

1. Coal Storage: is the place where coal is stored which can be utilised when required.
2. Coal Handling: the coal is converted into the pulverised form before feeding to the
furnace.
3. Boiler: It converts the water into high pressure steam. It contains the furnace inside or
outside the boiler shell. The combustion of coal takes place in the furnace.
4. Air-preheater:  is used to pre-heat the air before entering into the boiler furnace. It takes
the heat from the burnt gases from the furnace to heat the air from the atmosphere.
5. Economiser: As its name indicates it economises the working of the boiler. It heats the
feed water to a specified temperature before it enters into the boiler drum.
6. Turbine: is the mechanical device which converts the kinetic energy of the steam to the
mechanical energy.
7. Generator: It is coupled with the turbine rotor and converts the mechanical energy of the
turbine to the electrical energy.
8. Ash Storage: It is used to store the ash after burning of the coal.
9. Dust Collector: It collects the dust particle from the burnt gases before it is released to the
chimney.
10. Condenser: It condensate the steam that leaves out turbine. It converts the low pressure
steam to water. It is attached to the cooling tower.
11. Cooling Tower: It is a tower which contains cold water. Cold water is circulates to the
condenser for the cooling of the residual steam from the turbine.
12. Chimney: It is used to release/exhaust the hot burnt gases or smoke from the furnace to
the environment at appropriate height so it cannot affect the population living near the plant.
13. Feed Water ump: It is used to transport the feed water to the boiler.

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 In the steam power plant the pulverised coal is fed into the boiler and it is burnt in the furnace.
The water present in the boiler drum changes to high pressure steam. From the boiler the high
pressure steam passed to the super heater where it is again heated up to its dryness. This super-
heated steam strikes the turbine blades with a high speed and the turbine starts rotating at high
speed. A generator is attached to the rotor of the turbine and as the turbine rotates it also rotates
with the speed of the turbine. The generator converts the mechanical energy of the turbine into
electrical energy. After striking on the turbine the steam leaves the turbine and enters into the
condenser. The steam gets condensed with the help of cold water from the cooling tower. The
condensed water with the feed water enters into the economiser. In the economiser the feed water
gets heated up before entering into the boiler. This heating of water increases the efficiency of the
boiler. The exhaust gases from the furnace pass through the super heater, economiser and air pre-
heater. The heat of this exhaust gases is utilised in the heating of steam in the super heater, feed
water in the economiser and air in the air pre-heater. After burning of the coal into the furnace, it is
transported to ash handling plant and finally to the ash storage. In the steam power plant the
pulverised coal is fed into the boiler and it is burnt in the furnace. The water present in the boiler
drum changes to high pressure steam. From the boiler the high pressure steam passed to the super
heater where it is again heated up to its dryness. This super-heated steam strikes the turbine blades
with a high speed and the turbine starts rotating at high speed. A generator is attached to the rotor
of the turbine and as the turbine rotates it also rotates with the speed of the turbine. The generator
converts the mechanical energy of the turbine into electrical energy. After striking on the turbine
the steam leaves the turbine and enters into the condenser. The steam gets condensed with the
help of cold water from the cooling tower. The condensed water with the feed water enters into the
economiser. In the economiser the feed water gets heated up before entering into the boiler. This
heating of water increases the efficiency of the boiler. The exhaust gases from the furnace pass
through the super heater, economiser and air pre-heater. The heat of this exhaust gases is utilised
in the heating of steam in the super heater, feed water in the economiser and air in the air pre-
heater. After burning of the coal into the furnace, it is transported to ash handling plant and finally
to the ash storage.

Advantages
 As compared with power generating plant, it has low initial cost and hence economical.
 Less land area is required as compared with the hydro power plant.
 Coal is used as fuel and the cost of coal is cheaper than petrol and diesel fuel. So the power
generation cost is economical.
 This power plant has easy maintenance cost.
 Steam power plant can be installed in any area where water sources and transportation facility
are easily available.

Disadvantages

 The running cost of steam power plant is comparatively high because of fuel, maintenance
etc
 If we talk about the overall efficiency of steam power plant, than is about 35 % to 41% which
is low.
 Due to the release of burnt gases of the coal or fuel, it contributes to the global warming to a
larger extent.

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 The heated water that is thrown in the rivers, ponds, puts and adverse effect on the living
organism of water and disturbs the ecology.