A chemical plant currently purchases 7.5 x 10⁴ MW.

h of electricity annually (300 days) from

the local utility provider. A 25 year old boiler in the local provider’s facility provides 2.5 x 10⁷
kg of process steam at 20 bar.

Consider the feasibility of a new system to meet the need of the steam and electricity. This
system will use a turbine to produce the electricity and a heat-recovery steam generator to
produce the steam.

Write a technical proposal for your proposed system.

Optimisation: Increasing superheated steam temperature of boiler:

Base case Optimised case

- basic rankine cycle - optimised rankine cycle

- steam produced = 2.5 x 10⁷ kg/yr - steam produced = 2.5 x 10⁷ kg/yr

- pressure of boiler = 20 bar - pressure of boiler = 20 bar

0.1 𝑀𝑃𝑎 0.1 𝑀𝑃𝑎
1 𝑏𝑎𝑟
𝑥 20𝑏𝑎𝑟 = 2𝑀𝑃𝑎 = 2000 𝑘𝑃𝑎 1 𝑏𝑎𝑟
𝑥 20𝑏𝑎𝑟 = 2𝑀𝑃𝑎 = 2000 𝑘𝑃𝑎

- assume, temperature of steam leaving - assume, temperature of steam

the boiler = 300°C leaving the boiler = 400°C
[to increase rankine cycle efficiency
through superheating the steam to
higher temperatures]
2.2 Heat Recovery Steam Generator
The HRSG is an energy recovering heat exchanger that utilises turbine hot gas streams to
generate superheated steam. Steam flows from turbine to condenser, pump and back to
boiler.
Optimisation: Increasing condenser pressure

Optimised case Base case

- Assume condenser pressure to be - Assume condenser pressure to be

5kPa 3.75kPa
- As temperature of boiler optimised
by increasing temperature by ⅓ it’s
original temperature of 300,
similarly, the condenser will
decrease its pressure by ⅓ , to
identify which has a greater impact
on overall thermal efficiency
- New condenser pressure
= 5 / ( 1+ ⅓)
= 3.75 kPa

2.4 Turbine
A turbine is a device that converts thermal energy of the superheated steam from the boiler
into electrical energy through a rotating shaft.

Optimised case: Increasing superheated steam temperature entering the turbine

Base case Optimised case

- Temperature of steam entering - Temperature of steam entering

turbine = 300°C turbine = 400°C

- W,out of turbine is to be
calculated below