Professional Circle Profile

Processional Circle Name: Manthan

Department: Operation

Project: NTECL Vallur

Region: SR

No. of Members: 3 (as on Feb 17, 2023)

Team Members : Wasim Ahmad, Nikhil Deepak Kujur, Dilip Chandrawat

No. of Meetings held in 2022-23: 12

No. of Presentations delivered: 03

Topic: Corrosion Elimination by reducing CT Evaporation.

 Synopsis

At NTECL Vallur, Corrosion is rampant. It can be seen around every structure, trestle,
pipes and equipment.As per our study, the main reason for the corrosion is the Hot and
humid vapours emanating from IDCT along with ambient humid air. By design the layout
of the plant is such that these vapours and Ambient humid air are cumulatively hitting
the plant structures and corroding it. We are also loosing a great deal of water due to
CT evaporation loss.
The water demand for the industrial sector is on a rise and will account for 8.5 and 10.1
percent of the total freshwater abstraction in 2025 and 2050 respectively. According to a
report of Centre for Science and Environment around 87% of the total industrial water
consumption is consumed by thermal power plants. So, any attempt to reduce
consumption of water here will have a great impact on the total fresh water consumption
in India.

If we look at the major water consuming processes in a power plant, Ash Handling
consumes around 40% and Cooling Towers consume around 30% of the water. So, the
onus of our study was to reduce the water consumption in these two major processes.
We have studied different ways to reduce water consumption in the above said
processes and out of them propose a couple of them for implementation in NTPC
Limited. The financial data wherever available are also included.

With environmental protection regulations getting tougher worldwide, the choice for Dry
Bottom De-ashing is an investment in the future, saving precious water, reducing
emissions, and returning heat energy to the boiler, resulting in lower coal usage and
lower costs for emission trading. Dry Bottom De-ashing can be retrofitted into existing
facilities where space is at a premium, giving our power generation facility an extended
life span.

Our other idea is to implement Air2Air Water Recovery System which is a patented
product of SPX Inc., USA. The Air2Air™ water recovery system is the most advanced
water-saving solution available for wet cooled power plants, and it reduces water
consumption while maintaining overall steam turbine efficiency. The typical 500-
megawatt, coal plant uses roughly 30,000 tons of water each day. A cooling tower fitted
with SPX’s Air2Air™ technology can reclaim up to 10,000 tons of water each day, or
enough to provide 6,000 households with water. In addition to reducing water
consumption and treatment costs, coal-fired power plants that utilize SPX’s Air2Air
water recovery system can achieve greater overall productivity, and even replace more
costly means of generating pure water. Recovered water can be returned directly to the
tower basin, or even piped away as a pure water stream for boiler make-up or other
plant uses.
By using the plume abatement techniques we can minimise the vapour loss upto 30-40
% and also we can save close to 0.6-0.8 % of the fresh make up water. This would
greatly enhance plant life and results in cost saving due to saving water charges from
state bodies.
While we have studied the implementation of the above technologies in NTPC Limited’s
Power Plants, especially inland Power Plants, we recommend that further study, if
deemed necessary, may be conducted by specialist groups and the modus-operandi to
implement them in our company may be prepared.