1.

3 Advanced Steam Power Cycles

Steam Power Cycle

A steam power cycle is a heat power cycle. The working fluid of the cycle is water. A simple steam
power cycle is shown below.

The water is pressurised from a lower pressure to a higher pressure by a pump (1-2) is converted to
steam by a boiler (2-3) and then expanded through turbine blades to rotate a turbine shaft (mechanical
power) (3-4) which then converted it to electricity by a generator that connected to the turbine shaft
and then the steam is condensed in a condenser (4-1) and cycle repeats.

Carnot Cycle

The most efficient steam power cycle. Carnot cycle is an ideal cycle. It is not practical mainly due to its
irreversibility. The T-s of Carnot steam power cycle is shown here.

Carnot cycle executed within the saturation dome of a pure substance is shown here.

The fluid is compressed isentropically by a compressor to a higher pressure (process 1-2), heated
reversibly and isothermally in a boiler (process 2-3), expanded isentropically in a turbine (process 3-
4), and condensed reversibly and isothermally in a condenser (process 4-1).
• Process 2 - 3 and 4 – 1:
Isothermal heat transfer to or from a two-phase system is not difficult to achieve in practice
since maintaining a constant pressure in the device will automatically fix the temperature at
the saturation value. Therefore, processes 2-3 and 4-1 can be approached closely in actual
boilers and condensers.

However, the cycle limits under critical temperature (374°C) of water and limiting temperature
also limit the maximum thermal efficiency of the cycle. Furthermore, executing the steam
cycle within the saturation dome with increased temperature will reduce the network output
of the cycle which equals the area of the cycle.

• Process 3 – 4:
The isentropic expansion process (process 3-4) can be approximated closely by a well-designed
turbine. However, the quality of the steam decreases during this process, as shown in the T-s
diagram in Fig. 2. Thus the turbine will have to handle steam with low quality, that is, steam
with a high moisture content.

The impingement of liquid droplets on the turbine blades causes erosion and is a major source
of wear. Thus steam with qualities less than about 88 % cannot be tolerated in the operation
of power plants. This problem could be eliminated by using a working fluid with a very steep
saturated vapour line.

• Process 1 – 2:
The isentropic compression process (process 1-2) involves the compression of a liquid–vapour
mixture to a saturated liquid. There are two difficulties associated with this process. First, it is
not easy to control the condensation process so precisely as to end up with the desired quality
at state 1. Second, it is not practical to design a compressor that will handle two phases.

Rankine Cycle

Many of these difficulties can be overcome by superheating the exiting steam from the boiler
and condensing the exiting fluid from the condenser into liquid.

However, that deviates the steam power cycle from the Carnot cycle and the resulting cycle is
called the ideal Rankine cycle.
Thermal Efficiency

The thermal efficiency for Carnot and Rankine steam power cycle is given by,
 • Carnot Cycle: he heat transfer at isothermal temperature, Q ∝ T. Therefore, Carnot thermal
efficiency becomes,

• Rankine Cycle: If the steam the mass flow rate of the simple Rankine cycle m ̇, the enthalpies
at state points h, the condenser pressure P1, boiler pressure P2 and the specific volume of the
saturated water at the pump inlet v,

the pump work,

the heat input to the boiler,

the turbine work,

the condenser heat rejection,

Actual Rankine Cycle

The actual Rankine cycle differs from the ideal Rankine cycle due to the presence of irreversibilities.
These irreversibilities are caused by fluid friction, resulting in pressure drops in components and heat
losses from the steam to the environment. In the actual cycle, the pump work is higher than the ideal
work due to losses, while the work delivered by the turbine is lower than the ideal work.

These deviations in pump work and turbine work are illustrated on a T-s (temperature-entropy)
diagram. The diagram represents the actual Rankine cycle, taking into account the deviations in pump
and turbine work. and also the condition where the pressure drops in the boiler and condenser are
neglected.

• Losses in the Process: The other major source of irreversibility is the heat loss from the
steam to the surroundings as the steam flows through various components. To maintain the
same level of network output, more heat needs to be transferred to the steam in the boiler to
compensate for these undesired heat losses. As a result, cycle efficiency decreases.

• Isentropic Efficiencies: A pump requires a greater work input, and a turbine produces a
smaller work output as a result of irreversibilities. Under ideal conditions, the flow through
these devices is isentropic. The deviation of actual pumps and turbines from the isentropic
ones can be accurately accounted for, however, by utilizing isentropic efficiencies, defined for
pump and turbine.

Efficiency Improvement in Rankine Cycles

Improving the efficiency of a Rankine cycle is crucial for enhancing overall power plant performance,
reducing fuel consumption, and minimizing environmental impact.

• Lowering Condenser Pressure: To obtain high efficiency it is necessary to keep condenser

pressure as low as possible. The condensers of steam power plants are normally operated well
below atmospheric pressure. The condenser pressure depends on the cooling water
temperature that is available for condenser cooling.
 The condenser temperature is several degrees higher than the cooling water temperature and
pressure is given by the corresponding saturating temperature of the condenser. The effect of
lowering condenser pressure in an ideal Rankine cycle is illustrated on a T-s diagram.

The shaded area represents the increase in the network output. This process also increases
the heat requirement but this is comparatively small to increase in net work output.

• Increasing Boiler Pressure: The increase in boiler pressure increases the average
temperature of heat addition in the boiler and then the efficiency. The effect of increasing
boiler pressure of the ideal Rankine cycle is illustrated on a T-s diagram in Fig. 6. It is noted
that this process increases the moisture content at the turbine outlet for a fixed turbine inlet.
The boiler operating pressures have increased gradually over the years.

The boiler operating pressures were around 30 bars in the 1920s and today supercritical power
plants operate above 300 bar (the critical pressure of water 220.64 bar).

The thermal efficiency of fossil fuel-operated steam power plants are around 40% and nuclear-
operated plants are around 34% (for safety reasons) with a net power output of 1000 MW
today.
• Superheating: The thermal efficiency of the Rankine cycle can be increased by superheating
the steam without increasing the boiler pressure. Since the superheating increases the
average heat transfer temperature, the ideal cycle efficiency also increases. The effect of
increasing superheat of the ideal Rankine cycle is illustrated on a T-s diagram in Fig. 7.

It is to note that, this process decreases the moisture content at the turbine outlet which is a
favorable condition in steam power turbine operations. However, the steam outlet
temperature of the boiler may restrict the metallurgical limits of the materials in the boiler.
However, this can be overcome by adding a superheater (additional tube bank) after the boiler
to raise the temperature of the steam to a higher value.

• Reheating: The increase in boiler pressure causes higher moisture contents in the
expansion process through the turbine and the increase in superheat is limited by turbine
blade materials.

However, these problems can be overcome by modifying the steam cycle with re-heating
processes. In the reheating process, steam is first expanded through a set of turbine blades to
an intermediate pressure and then the steam is reheated to a higher temperature by sending
them back to the boiler.

Then the reheated steam is expanded through the second set of turbine blades connected to
the same turbine shaft. This expansion process can be done in several stages. The first stage
turbine is called a high-pressure (HP) turbine and the last stage turbine is called a low-
pressure (LP) turbine. A schematic of a two-stage steam power plant with reheating is
shown.
The T-s diagram for the steam power plant is shown above. the temperature of the first turbine
stage at constant pressure. The total heat input in the cycle is the summation of the primary
heat supply in the boiler plus the heat supply for the reheating process and is given as,

Incorporating of single reheating process in modern power plants would improve the cycle
efficiency by 4 to 5 percent. The reheating process increases the average heat input
temperature. The cycle efficiency can be further improved by adding more reheating
processes.

However, the improvement of the efficiency in the second reheating process is about half of
the efficiency improvement in the first reheating process and therefore it is not practical to
increase more than two reheating processes. The optimum reheating pressure is one-fourth
of the maximum cycle pressure (boiler pressure).
 If the intermediate pressure is too low the average heat supply temperature is reduced and
therefore the efficiency may be lower than the cycle without reheating. Steam power cycles
operating at supercritical pressures are coming into operation in recent years.

In supercritical steam cycles, the moisture content in the turbine is more severe and therefore
it is essential to reheating. The reheat modification is usually employed in large-capacity power
plants and small-capacity power plants this modification is not economical because of the high
initial cost.

• Reheating: Regenerative Cycle: In an ideal Rankine cycle, the feed water is first heated to
saturated temperature, then evaporated and superheated to the turbine inlet temperature.
The above-described process is happening in three different temperatures there is no constant
temperature heat transfer process in the boiler and the thermal efficiency in the Rankine cycle
is lower than the ideal Carnot cycle.

Since the feed water heating process is happening relatively at a lower temperature and it
influences the average heat transfer temperature in the boiler to become lower. If it is possible
to supply the feed water heat requirement from another part of the cycle in a reversible
process, the average heat transfer temperature in the boiler can be increased and hence the
thermal efficiency also can be increased.

This kind of process is called a regenerative process. A theoretically possible regenerative

process is shown below. In this process, feed water is after the pump is passing through the
turbine casing in the opposite direction to the steam flow enabling it to heat to a higher
temperature. The turbine casing is working as a heat exchanger. The heat loss in the turbine is
used to heat the feed water reducing the boiler heat requirement.

However, such kind of regenerative cycle is impractical due to two reasons. It is impossible to
design a turbine to work efficiently as a heat exchanger and a turbine. Even if it is designed,
the moisture content in the steam expanding through the turbine may become very high
(lower dryness fraction). Therefore the regenerative process is practically achieved in a
different way. In practical regenerative processes, some steam is bled at an intermediate
pressure from the turbine and used for feed water heating. The following is a hypothetical
regenerative cycle.
A simple practical regenerative cycle is shown in Fig. 11. The steam mass of 1 kg passing from
the boiler is expanded to an intermediate pressure and y kg of bled for the regenerative
process and balance (1-y) kg of steam is further expanded through the turbine. It is then mixed
with feed water in the feed heater. A simple regenerative cycle is as follows,
It is important find out pressure at which the steam to be bled off. It can be shown that the
cycle efficiency maximum around bleed temperature approximately equal to the averaged of
boiler and condenser temperature. In practice, better improvements can be obtained
incorporating several feed heaters. The illustrated simple regenerative cycle utilises open
heater and it directly mixed bled steam with feed water. Open type heaters are not often used
in practice since they need large number of feed pumps. With open type heaters, the number
of feed pumps needed equal to number of heaters plus one. Therefore, it is more common to
use close type feed heaters in which the heat transferred through bank of tubes. A close type
feed heater is shown below,

A steam plant with three close type feed heaters are shown below. The steam bled at state 3
heats feed water at feed heater 1 and expanded to feed heater 2. The steam bled at state 4
together the expanded water received from feed heater 2 heats the feed water at feed heater
2. Then the steam bled at state 5 together with expanded water received from feed heater 2
heats the feed water at feed heater 3. Then, this water expands to the condenser pressure.
• Economizer and Preheater: In the preceding sections, efficiency improvements have been
achieved based on actual heat supplied to the steam. In this section, it considers the efficient
use of heat produced by the combustion of fuel in the boiler. Combusted fuel releases heat to
produce steam in the boiler and exhaust gas at a higher temperature than atmospheric
temperature is released into the atmosphere wasting some of the latent heat in the fuel.
Economizer is fitted to utilize some of the heat energy in the flue gas.

Economizer is a coil (bank of tubes) fitted in the flue gas section (chimney). Cold feed water
enters at the top of the coil and leaves at a higher temperature to the boiler. The economizer
is not useful for a steam power cycle that operates on the Carnot cycle or ideal regenerative
cycle, because, in those cycles, the feed water enters the boiler at a saturated temperature
that corresponds to the boiler pressure.

Furthermore, the air needed for the combustion process can be pre-heated by waste energy
in the flue gas reducing the energy requirement for the combustion process. A steam plant
with an economizer and air pre-heater is shown below. Usually, steam power plants of this
nature (with economizer and air pre-heater) required a forced draft for the flue gas, and a
comparatively small amount of power is required to drive the fan and that must also be taken
into account in the energy balance of the plant.
The boiler efficiency is defined as the ratio between heat supplied to steam by the boiler to
the chemical energy available in the combustion fuel.
References

[1] Power and refrigeration cycles, Chapter 06, Chapter 08, Fundamentals of thermal fluid
sciences, Yunus A. Çengel, Robert H. Turner, second edition, ISBN 0-07-297675-6, 2005.

[2] Engineering thermodynamics, Work and heat transfer, Gordon Rogers, Yon Mahew,
fourth edition, ISBN 81-317-0206-5, 2006.