JOURNAL CRITIQUE #1

ANALYSIS OF THERMAL POWER PLANT (RTPP) JOURNAL CRITIQUE

By: Emilio Joaquin C. Flores

I. Underlying issues or major ideas and concepts

The analysis of Thermal power plants by Reddy et al, presented data that are
feasible to a standard thermal power plant. However, the underlying issue is that this
journal article solely focuses on the exergy destruction of Rayalaseema thermal power
plant.

The Rayalaseema Thermal Power plant (RTPP), is a 1050 MW coal power plant
located in Muddanur, Cuddapah, district, Andhra Pradesh, India. It is operated by
APGENCO and comprised of 5 units, 210 MW each and was built between 1994 and
2010. [1]

Figure 1. 1 Rayalaseem Thermal Power Plant

The article also briefly discussed the working cycles that are mostly used in
analysis of Thermal power plants which are the Rankine Cycle, Reheat cycle and
Regenerative Cycle. Plant losses were discussed to introduce its role in the exergy
destruction of the Thermal Power plant. In another article wrote by Rudiyanto et al, [2] the
researchers analyzed the exergy and energy of a steam power plant in Paiton, Indonesia
which also used the same method as Reddy et al. The exergy analysis carried out in that
study has provided information about the location, amount of exergy loss and the process
inefficiency level in the steam power plant system. [2]

Figure 1. 2 Thermodynamic Analysis of a Rankine Cycle Subsystem

 Exergy analysis of thermal systems reveals the available work content in all energy
streams in your cycle. Moreover, it reveals the underlying sources of internal exergy
destruction and external exergy losses to the surroundings. By having this kind of insight,
you get a systematic way to target the processes/components in your system responsible
for the largest drops in performance. [3] As we know that various system configurations,
such as Vapour Turbine, Gas Turbine, Internal Combustion Engine, different
thermodynamic criteria are considered, namely the first law efficiency and energy
efficiency. Thermodynamic optimization of these systems is generally intending to
perform maximize the energy, when various practical related constraints (imposed
mechanical useful energy, imposed heat demand, imposed heat to power ratio) or main
physical limitations (limited heat availability, maximum system temperature allowed,
thermo-mechanical constraints) are taken into account. [4]

In another study by Ravinder, he focused on the 4E analysis of thermal power

plants rather than its working cycles to discuss exergy analysis, instead of focusing on
one major steam power plant. The major exergy destruction has been found in the boiler.
It was found that the cost of exergy destruction in the boiler and turbine is higher in
comparison to the other components cost. [5]

II. Theoretical Framework & Methodology

The Article focused on the thermodynamic analysis of the thermal power plant as
the author briefly discussed on the working cycles that are needed and used by different
engineers to design thermal power plants. The article then focused on the integration of
the components of the thermal power plant as the exergy losses are carried out by each
component, namely:

1.) Boiler
2.) Economizer
3.) Super Heater
4.) High-Pressure Turbine
5.) Low- Pressure Turbine
6.) Condenser
7.) Heaters
8.) Ejectors

By analyzing the exergy that is destroyed by each component, it will help in resolving
on what method should be used to improve regarding the system’s efficiency. Using this
method, it may also be compared to other studies who also used the thermodynamic
method such as presented in the article.

III. Findings

The results on analyzing the thermal and second law efficiencies of the
components of the thermal power plant are as follows:
 Component Thermal Efficiency Second Law Efficiency
HPT 87.5% 79.77%
IPT 96.8% 85.99%
LPT 97.4% 41.97%
Super heater 94.79% 44.3%
Condenser 88.79% 65.3%
Boiler 84.85% 66.41%

Table 1. 1 Exergy and Thermal Efficiency of RTPP

As shown in Table 1.1, the components shown are those components that are
selected to affect the exergy losses in the thermal power plant. In the results presented
in the article, the most exergy destroyed was in the boiler, an amounting to 72 MW and
the comparison of the 3 turbine stages (HPT, IPT and LPT) it is shown that the HPT
produces the most exergy destruction.

IV. Relevance or contributions to the existing body of knowledge

The research on the exergy destruction and observation of which component of a

thermal power plant gives an advantage in the field of power plant optimization, especially
in coal power plants. This study acts as a related study to future research on the
development of harvesting power. It bridges to different studies that include the
optimization of exergy in different power plants. In a similar research conducted by Ochoa
et al., they compared exergy and energy optimizations of Brayton and Organic Rankine
cycles using Swarm Intelligence Algorithms (SIA). [6] Under the influence of the IR 4.0,
SIA may be utilized in further research of the exergy analysis of RTPP.

Figure 4. 1 Key capabilities of Swarm Intelligence Algorithms

It was verified that the PSO metaheuristic algorithm has the capacity to be used in
the optimization of several non-linear functions subject to equality or inequality limits,
among which are included the problems of energy and exergetic optimization of the
integrated Brayton-Organic Rankine power generation systems.
V. Personal Critique of the Ideals and Concepts

As a researcher, I commend the effort of sole focusing on a single thermal power

plant rather than the comparison of different power plants because of the different settings
and conditions of power plants that are available in the world. The RTPP can be set as a
bench mark for future plant designs that are available in tropical countries such as the
Philippines because one should also take into account if the country where it is present
at. Economic growth is a key input for socio-economic development and Energy
consumption drives economic growth. Access to clean and renewable energy is
considered integral for modern living and a necessary element for all production sectors
to function well

Contribution to the Industrial Revolution 4.0. Now scientists, engineers and

researchers come up with studies that are applicable to the most modern and advanced
technological and industrial revolution. If more research into this sector will be applied
and IR 4.0 is its main center, a lot of possibilities for harnessing clean energy will be
feasible even for countries that are considered to be third world.

If another study will be conducted in another power plant, it would be also helpful
to know how the results will differ and if the researchers opt to remove/add different
components to the power plant to check and analyze its thermal and second law
efficiency.

VI. Potential for future research in the Philippine setting

According to the article: ”This project would also throw light on the scope for further
research and recommendations for improvement in the further existing plant.” And I
believe it so. The analysis of the RTPP can also be applied to different plants that are
available to be researched on. For example, The Philippines has been suffering electricity
outages or shortages, particularly during the summer months, since the 1990s.

Electricity demand was about 25.6 GWh (GWh) in 1991 and increased to about
53 GWh in 2003 and 77.3 GWh in 2014, thus A national renewable energy program was
adopted to dramatically increase (three-fold) the generation capacity of renewable energy
technologies for power generation. [7] Energy optimization models provide insights into
the implications of technologies. As the Philippines with its technology today suffers a
disadvantage to other third world countries because it chooses not to invest in energy.
However, groups and organizations that have connections to the different global
technological advancement groups beg to differ.

The Philippine power sector currently relies largely on fossil-fuels (about 77%) and
is expected to increase use of coal-based plants to meet future energy demand, which
would negatively affect environmental outcomes. [7]
 Due to the increased use of renewable energy technologies in the energy system
for power generation, the marginal electricity price in the renewable-target and carbon-
tax scenarios is relatively higher than the price in the reference scenario presented in the
figure above. Overall, this study would be an integral related study to the optimization of
thermal power plants observed in the Philippines because the environmental conditions
and fixated problems are similar to those problems experienced in the country.

Geothermal power plants in the Philippines shows cheaper to be commissioned

compare to fossil fuel and nuclear power plant. While Indonesia the cost of nuclear still
not competitive enough compare to fossil fuel, mainly due to cost of subsidy. [8] In line
with the development of high efficiency technology in order to reduce cost of
transformation and loss decentralized type power generations is necessary, since the
country is an Archipelago. On the other hand, the shares of renewable energy in the
Philippines will definitely increase if the efficiency of to convert the resources to energy is
increasing.

VII. References:

References

[1 Global Energy Monitor, "Rayalaseema Thermal Power Project," 19 December 2019.

] [Online]. Available: https://www.gem.wiki/Rayalaseema_Thermal_Power_Project.
[Accessed 11 January 2021].
[2 T. A. K. W. S. A. L. A. J. T. P. K. M. W. N. A. P. a. L. H. S. Bayu Rudiyanto1,
] "Energy and Exergy Analysis of Steam Power Plant in Paiton, Indonesia," IOP
Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, vol. 1, no. 1, p. 12, 2019.

[3 O. G. Sharaf, "Optimization of Exergetic Systems," 19 April 2018. [Online]. Available:

] https://www.researchgate.net/post/Why_is_exergy_analysis_very_important_for_opti
mization_thermal_systems. [Accessed 11 January 2020].

[4 A. Takur, "Importance of Exergy Analaysis," 19 June 2020. [Online]. Available:

] https://www.researchgate.net/post/Why_is_exergy_analysis_very_important_for_opti
mization_thermal_systems. [Accessed 10 January 2021].

[5 K. Ravinder, "A critical review on energy, exergy, exergoeconomic and economic (4-
] E) analysis of thermal power plants," Engineering Science and Technology, an
International Journal, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 283-292, 2017.

[6 V. O. J. D. F. J. P. R. Guillermo, "A comparative energy and exergy optimization of a

] supercritical-CO2 Brayton cycle and Organic Rankine Cycle combined system using
swarm intelligence algorithms," Heliyon, vol. 6, no. 6, pp. 1-12, 2020.

[7 M. R. C. R. A. P. R. Valmonte-Santos, "The Philippines energy future and low-

] carbon development strategies," Energy, vol. 147, pp. 142-154, 2018.

[8 N. A. Utama, "Power generation optimization in ASEAN by 2030," Energy and Power

] Engineering, vol. 4, pp. 226-232, 2012.