SRI KRISHNA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Kuniamuthur, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India

An Autonomous Institution, Affiliated to Anna University,
Accredited by NAAC with “A” Grade & Accredited by NBA (CSE, ECE, IT, MECH ,EEE, CIVIL& MCT)

20EE303 - Electric Power Generation

Module 1: Thermal and Hydro power plants
Layout of modern coal power plant,
super critical boilers, FBC boilers,
steam andby heating rates
Mr. S.KARTHIKEYAN,
Assistant Professor
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

www.skcet.ac.in karthikeyans@skcet.ac.in
S.KARTHIKEYAN, AP/EEE, SKCET
Why Coal is an Important Energy Source?
• Coal is the oldest energy type in the world.
• Coal is plentiful and spread all over world. More then 70 countries
have coal reserves.
• Coal is the most safe fossil energy source to use,transport and stock.
• Coal is not polluting nature with clean coal technologies.
• Coal is a cheap energy source for producing electricity.
• Coal is a trustworthy energy source because it spread all over world.
What is Coal?
• Coal is a combustible, sedimentary, organic rock,
formed from vegetation. In other words, coal is a
fossil fuel created from the remains of plants that
lived and died about 100 to 400 million years ago.
Coal is classified as a nonrenewable energy source
because it takes millions of years to form.

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Types of Coal
Bituminous coals Sub-bituminous coals

Brown coals
Anthracite
Modern Coal Power Plant
Modern Coal Power Plant
• Coals are classified in order to identify end-use, and also to provide
data useful in specifying and selecting burning and handling
equipment, and in the design and arrangement of heat transfer
surfaces
• Because of the cost of transportation coal-fired plants are sometimes
built next to the coal mine (i.e., a mine mouth plant).
Modern Coal Power Plant
Modern Coal Power Plant
Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle Power
Plant (IGCC)
Coal Furnaces
• Stoker coal furnace

• Cyclone coal furnace

• Pulverized coal furnace

• Fluidized-bed furnace
Stoker Furnace
• The stoker furnace is of limited capacity and does not
lend itself to power plants but rather it is used in
industrial processes. Coal is introduced on a grate,
and it is finally burned on a stationary bed.
• The primary air enters below the burning bed and
initiates the combustion process, and also cools the
grate. Secondary air is introduced over the burning
bed to complete the combustion process.
Cyclone Furnace
• The cyclone furnace employs several (as many as 16) independent
combustion chambers. The main combustion chamber operates at a
temperature of 3200°F. These were popular in the 1950s and 1960s
but are no longer being built since they have difficulty burning low-
sulfur coals and the high temperature results in significant NOx
formation.
Pulverized Coal Furnace
• The pulverized coal furnace attempts to burn finely powdered coal
and air in a gaseous torch. This is accomplished through pulverizing
the coal by crushing, impact and attrition (rubbing) of the coal to a
size finer than face powder (diameter < 0.3 mm). The primary air dries
and transports the coal.
 The Advantages and Disadvantages of a
Pulverized Coal Furnace

• The advantages of a pulverized coal furnace include its ability to burn all ranks of
coal from anthracitic to lignitic, and it permits combination firing (i.e., can use
coal, oil and gas in same burner). Because of these advantages, there is
widespread use of pulverized coal furnaces.
• The disadvantages of the pulverized coal furnace are that the coal pulverizer has
a significant power demand of its own and requires more maintenance, flyash
erosion and pollution complicate unit operation and increase exhaust system
maintenance requirements, and pulverized systems have higher initial cost and
require larger furnace volumes for the combustion process.
Fluidized-Bed Furnace
• For a fluidized-bed furnace, the velocity of combustion gas (air)
entering the bottom of the furnace is maintained such that the
coal and limestone or dolomite particles are suspended
(resembling a boiling liquid). The boiler tubes are immersed in
the fluidized bed. Fluidized-bed combustion systems are
categorized as pressurized vs. atmospheric bed systems, and
circulating vs. stationary bed systems.
Advantages of
Fluidized-Bed Furnice
• The primary advantage is reduced pollutants, for
example, the lower furnace temperatures means
reduced NOx production. In addition, the
limestone (CaCO3) and dolomite (MgCO3) react
with SO2 to form calcium and magnesium sulfides,
respectively, which are solids that do not escape
up the stack; however, it does require about 50%
more limestone/dolomite as compared to a wet-
scrubber system. This means the plant can easily
use high sulfur coal.
Disadvantages of
Fluidized-Bed Furnice
• Erosion of tubes by the particles rubbing the tubes,
• Requires more fan power to suspend the particles, and
• System appears better suited for low-power applications.
Supercritical
Boiler

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 Continue...
• The most recent method to produce economical electric power is by the
use of supercritical boiler in the power plant.
• In the supercritical boiler working under the pressure above critical
pressure (221.2 bar), so the enthalpy of evaporation is becomes zero. And at
the temperature of 3740 C. and the problems of bubbling is solved.
• The once through boiler is only type suited to supercritical boiler.

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 Advantages
• Heat transfer rates are very high.
• There is no drum, so it weight is reduced.
• There is no two phase mixture. So, there is erosion and
corrosion is minimised.

Disadvantages
• The high pressure and temperature restrict the use of it.
•The impurities remains in tubes after evaporation of water and
blocks the flow passages.

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 Fluidized bed combustion
Boiler
• Fluidized bed combustion (FBC) is a combustion technology
used to burn solid fuels.
• In its most basic form, fuel particles are suspended in a hot,
bubbling fluidity bed of ash and other particulate materials
(sand, limestone etc.) through which jets of air are blown to
provide the oxygen required for combustion or gasification.
• The resultant fast and intimate mixing of gas and solids
promotes rapid heat transfer and chemical reactions within
the bed.
• FBC plants are capable of burning a variety of low-grade solid
fuels, including most types of coal and woody biomass, at high
efficiency and without the necessity for expensive fuel
preparation (e.g., pulverising).
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 Principle of
FBC
FLUE GASES

STEAM
OUT
ASH
COAL +
DOLOMITE EVAPORATO
R TUBE

FEED WATER IN

DISTRIBUTOR PLATE
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Principle of
FBC

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 Advantages
• High thermal efficiency.
• Short commissioning and erection period.
• Efficient operation at temperatures down to 150° C ( i.e. well
below the ash fusion temperature).
• Reduced coal crushing etc. (pulverised coal is not a necessity
here).
• The system can respond rapidly to changes in load demand,
due to quick establishment of thermal equilibrium between
air and fuel particles in the bed.
• The operation of fluidized bed furnace at lower temperature
helps in reducing air pollution.

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 Disadvantages
• There may be problem in distribution of coal and dolomite.
• The direct contact of flue gases and tubes may erosion.
• High pressure air is required.

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 Types of
FBC
• Atmospheric FBC
- Classical FBC
- Circulation FBC
Classical
FBC
 Advantage
s
• Production of NOx is temperature depended as in FBC
temperature is less than other combustion processes Hence it
results in low production of NOx.
• Lower production of SOx because SO2, SO3 etc. are captured
by limestone.
• FBC has 10 times more heat transfer then other combustion
processes because of burning particle, hence it has a high
combustion efficiency.
• FBC has a lower combustion temperature of 750 °C whereas
an ordinary boiler operates at 850 °C.
• Less area is required for FBC due to high coefficient of
convective heat transfer.
Circulation
FBC

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Circulation
FBC

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Continue...

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 Advantages
• Increase in bed residence time.
• High lateral turbulence.
• Effective burning.
• Comparative low pollution.
• Easy removal of Ash.

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