COAL AND ENERGY SCENARIO IN INDIA

Coal, oil, gas and hydroelectric potential constitute the

conventional sources of electricity generation. Total installed
capacity of electricity generation in India is approx. 98,668 MW.

India ranked third in the world with 7 percent coal reserves

of the total world reserves.

Coal production increased from 30 million tonnes to over 348

million tonnes in 1999. Expected to increase to 427 million tonne
in 2010.

Seventy percent of the total coal produced is consumed for power

generation. Steel & cement are other major consumers.
Summary Table of Electric Power
Generation
Source India Japan U.S.
Coal 59.2% 21.2% 51.8%
Oil 13.9% 16.6% 03.1%
Gas 06.3% 22.1% 15.7%
Nuclear 02.5% 30.0% 19.9%
Hydro 17.8% 08.2% 07.4%
Others 00.3% 01.9% 02.2%
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN COAL
BASED POWER GENERATION
Air Pollution :- High particulate matter emission levels due to
burning of inferior grade coal which
leads to generation of large quantity of flyash

Emissions of SO2, NOx & Green house gas

(CO2) are also matter of concern

Water Pollution :- Mainly caused by the effluent discharge from ash

ponds, condenser cooling /cooling tower, DM
plant and Boiler blow down.

Noise Pollution :- High noise levels due to release of high pressure

steam and running of fans and motors

Land Degradation :- About 100 million tonnes of fly ash is generated by

use of coal far energy production. The disposal of
such large quantity of fly ash has occupied
thousands hectares of land which includes
agricultural and forest land too.
 ISSUES IN POWER SECTOR
 Seventy one per cent of electricity production is based on coal and
gas in the country.
 83 coal based thermal power plants with total generation capacity
of 62880.9 MW (as on July, 2003)

 27 gas/naphtha based power plants with total generation capacity

of 11299.6 MW (as on July, 2003)
 More than 240 million tonnes of coal with ash content 35-45% is
consumed annually by the Thermal Power Plants.
 3715 MT/day of SO2 is emitted from coal based power plants,which
is 89% of total emission of SO2 from industries in India

 Nearly 100 million tonnes per annum coal ash is generated.

 More than 25,000 hectares of land has been occupied for

conventional disposal of ash.

 More than 630 million M3 water is required for disposal of coal ash
as in slurry form per annum
 POLLUTION LOAD FROM COAL BASED
THERMAL POWER PLANT

Pollutants Emissions (in tones/day)

CO2 424650

Particulate 4374
Matter
SO2 3311

NOx 4966
 Emission Estimates

Cement Others
Thermal
7% 1%
Sugar Power
10% Plants
82%

Share of Suspended Particulate Matter Load

(tonnes/day) by Different Categories of
Industries (With Control Device), Total Load =
5365 tonnes/day
 Share of Sulphur Dioxide Load (Tonnes / day)
By different categories of Industries
(Total Load = 3715 Tonnes / day)

Sulphuric Acid
Oil Refineries Plants
3% 2% Others
1%
Steel
5%

Therm al Power
Plants
89%
 Status of Pollution Control in Thermal
Power Plants in India
Total number of power plants : 81
 
Air Pollution
         Power plants complying with emission : 43
standards
        Power plants not complying with emission : 35
standards
        Power plants closed : 03
 
Water Pollution
 
        Power plants complying with ash pond : 49
Effluent standards
        Power plants not complying with ash pond : 29
Effluent standards
        Power plants closed : 03
 REASONS FOR NON-COMPLIANCE OF
ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS IN THERMAL
POWER PLANTS
 
        Inconsistent supply of coal
        High resistivity of coal
        Inefficient operation of ESPs
        Delay in supply of ESPs
       Low Specific Collection Area (SCA) of ESPs
        Inefficient management of ash ponds
        Large quantities of ash generation
THERMAL POWER PLANT
 Thermal Power Plant
• A generating station which converts heat energy of coal combustion
into electrical energy is known as a steam power station.

• Steam is produced in the boiler by utilizing the heat of coal

combustion. The steam is then expanded in the steam turbine and
is condensed in a condenser to be fed into the boiler again. The
steam turbine drives the alternator which converts mechanical
energy of the turbine into electrical energy.
Line Diagram
• The entire arrangement of steam power plant
can be divided into :
• a. fuel and ash plant.
• b. air and fuel gas plant.
• c. feed water and steam plant.
• d. cooling water plant.
Steam generating equipment includes:

• Boiler
• Boiler furnace
• Superheater
• Economiser
• Air Pre-heater
 Boiler
A boiler is closed vessel in which water is converted into steam by
utilising the heat of coal combustion.
Steam boilers are broadly classified into following two types:
(a) Water tube boilers (b) Fire tube boilers

In a water tube boiler, water flows through the tubes and the hot
gases of combustion flow over these tubes. Water-tube boilers are
used for high-pressure boilers
 In a fire tube boiler, the hot products of combustion pass through the
tubes surrounded by water.

• The heated water then rises into the steam drum. Here, saturated
steam is drawn off the top of the drum. The steam will reenter the
furnace in through a superheater in order to become superheated.
Superheated steam is used in driving turbines. Since water droplets
can severely damage turbine blades, steam is superheated to 730°F
(390°C) or higher in order to ensure that there is no water entrained in
the steam.
 Super heater

• A device which removes last traces of

moisture.
• It helps in reduction in requirement of
steam quantity.
• steam being dry reduces the mechanical
resistance of turbine.
• No corrosion at the turbine blades.
 Economiser and Air Pre-heater
• They are such devices which recover the
heat from the flue gases on their way to
chimney and raise the temperature of feed
water.
• Economiser raises boiler efficiency.
• Air Pre-heaters recover the heat from the
flue gases leaving the economiser and
heat the incoming air required for
combustion
Selection of Site
Coal Handling
Draught
Condensers
Condenser
• Which condenses the steam at the exhaust of
turbine.
• It creates a very low pressure at the exhaust of
turbine, this helps in converting heat energy of
steam into mechanical energy in the prime
mover.
• The condensed steam can be used as feed
water to the boiler.
Prime Mover (i.e. Turbine)
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy
from pressurized steam, and converts it into mechanical energy.
About 86% of all electric generation in the world is by use of steam
turbines.
It has almost completely replaced the reciprocating piston steam
engine.

BOILER GENERATOR

STEAM TURBINE
 Cooling Towers

• Remove heat from the

water discharged from the
condenser so that the
water can be discharged
to the river or re circulated
and reused.
• Air can be circulated in
the cooling towers
through natural draft and
mechanical draft.
Cooling Water systems
Electrical Equipments
Alternator
An alternator is coupled to a steam turbine and converts mechanical
energy of the turbine into electrical energy.
It may be hydrogen or air cooled.
The necessary excitation is provided by means of main and pilot exciters
directly coupled to the alternator shaft.
Transformers
(a) main step-transformers, which steps-up generated voltage
transmission of power
(b) station transformers, general purpose
(c) auxiliary transformers, which supply to individual unit-auxiliaries.
Switchgear
which locates fault on the system and isolate faulty part from healthy
section.
It contains circuit breakers, relays, switches and other control devices.
Ash Handling Technique

• A natural result from the burning of fossil fuels,

particularly coal, is the emission of flyash. Ash is mineral
matter present in the fuel. For a pulverized coal unit, 60-
80% of ash leaves with the flue gas.

• Two emission control devices for flyash are the fabric

filters and electrostatic precipitators.

• Electrostatic precipitators have collection efficiency of

99%, but do not work well for flyash with a high electrical
resistivity (as commonly results from combustion of low-
sulfur coal). In addition, the designer must avoid allowing
unburned gas to enter the electrostatic precipitator since
the gas could be ignited.
HYDRO-ELECTRIC PLANTS