STEAM POWER PLANT

Steam power plant

converts the chemical energy of the fossil fuels (coal,gas,oil) into
mechanical /electrical energy.
Steam Applications:
• To produce electric power
• To produce steam for industrial purposes besides producing electric power.
• To use in textiles, food manufacturing, paper mills, sugar mills, refineries etc.
 Classification of steam power plants
A. Central stations: condensing type.
B. Industrial power stations or captive power stations: non
condensing type.
Central stations:
 Main power stations
 Electricity produced supplied to customers who wish to
purchase it.
 Exhaust steam is discharged into a condenser instead into
atmosphere.
Note: Advantage of condensing are energy extracted per kg of
steam is high and steam can be re-circulated again.
Industrial power stations or captive power stations:
 Run by manufacturing company for its own use
 Electricity produced is not available for general use
 Non-condensing type because a large quantity of steam (low
pressure) is required for different manufacturing operations.
 Continuous supply of fresh water is required
SELECTION OF SITE FOR STEAM POWER
PLANT
 Layout of a modern steam power
plant:
Modern steam power plant comprises of the
following four circuits:
Coal and ash circuit
Air and gas circuit
Feed water and steam flow circuit.
Cooling water circuit.
Steam power plant layout

(Makeup water)
 Coal and Ash circuit
 Coal arrives at storage yard after necessary
handling, passes on to the furnaces through
the fuel feeding device.
 Ash resulting from combustion of coal is
collected at the back of the boiler and is
removed to the ash storage yard through ash
handling equipment.
 Air and Gas circuit
 Air is taken from atmosphere through the
action of forced or induced draught fan and
passes on to the furnace through air preheater.
 Air is heated by the heat of the fuel gases which
pass to the chimney via preheater.
 Fuel gases after passing around boiler tubes and
superheater tubes in the furnace pass through a
dust catching device or preceptor then through
economiser and finally through air pre heater
before being exhausted to the atmosphere.
 Feed water and steam flow circuit.

 Feed Water and steam circuit condensate

leaving the condenser is first heated in a
closed feed water heater through extracted
steam from the lowest pressure extraction
point of the turbine.
 Then it passes through the deaerator and few
more water Heaters before going to the boiler
through economizer .
 Cooling water circuit

 The cooling water supply to the condenser helps

in maintaining a low pressure in it.
 Water may be taken from a natural resource such
as a river, lake or sea
or
 The same water may be cooled and circulated
over again before it is been passes through a
cooling arrangement such as cooling tower or
spray pound.
 Types of coal
coal are classified in the increasing order of their heating value (HV).

Peat Lignite Bituminous Anthracite coal

90% moisture 17-20% moisture Most popular form of Highest carbon

coal content

Not suitable for Should be properly 6-12% of ash content Very Hard in nature
power generation stored otherwise than bituminous .
combustion occurs. Little importance in
power generation

Used for domestic Appearance like a clay Used for metallurgical Pulverization is very
purposes or wood industries. difficult and costly.

It is sun dried to HV: 13800-23000kJ/kg HV: 23000-34750kJ/kg HV: 32000-

remove moisture 34000kJ/kg

Enthalpy of Neyveli power plant in 46-86% fixed carbon. Difficut to burn as it

combustion TN uses as a fuel contains >86% fixed
2930kJ/kg. carbon.
 Indian coal mines
• Bengal
• Bihar
• Madhya prdesh
• Raniganj
• Jharia
• Bokaro
• Neyveli
• 60.8% of total power generation in India is only
from coal.
 Coal Mines in IndiaCoal MineStatesFeatures/ProminenceJharia
Coal mine State Features/prominence

Jharia, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Jayanti, Godda,
Giridih (Karbhari Coal Field), Ramgarh,
Karanpura, Daltonganj
Jharkhand Dhanbad – One of the oldest in Jharkhand and the richest coalfields of
India. It is the storehouse of the best metallurgical coal i.e coking coal.
Gondwana Coalfield.
Giridih (Karbhari Coal Field) gives the finest coking coal in India for
metallurgical purposes.

Raniganj Coalfield, Dalingkot (Darjeeling) West Bengal Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri are the chief producing districts.
Birbhum, Chinakuri Gondwana Coalfields

Korba, Bishrampur, Sonhat, Jhilmil, Hasdo- Chhattisgarh Gondwana Coalfields

Arand
Jharsuguda, Himgiri, Rampur, Talcher Odisha Talcher – Ranks 2nd in reserves after Raniganj i.e. (24,374 million
tonnes)
Most of the coal is suitable for steam and gas production and utilised
in thermal power plants at Talcher.
Gondwana Coalfields

Singareni, Kothagudem, Kantapalli Telangana/ Andhra Most of the coal reserves are in Godavari valley. Non-coking variety is
Pradesh explored. The workable collieries are situated at Kothagudem and
Singareni.
Neyveli TN Tertiary coalfield

Darrangiri (Garo hills), Cherrapunji, Meghalaya Tertiary Coal Field

Liotryngew, Maolong and Langrin coalfields
(Khasi & Jaintia Hills)
Singrauli, Sohagpur, Johila, Umaria, Satpura Madhya Pradesh Singrauli is the largest coalfield of MP.
coalfield
Gondwanaland or “Gondwana” is the name for the southern half of the Pangaean
supercontinent that existed some 300 million years ago.
Gondwanaland is composed of the major continental blocks of South America,
Africa, Arabia, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, India, Antarctica, and Australia

Raniganj was the very first coalfield in India where coal mining started during
the East India Company i.e. in the year 1774.
 The role played by each constituent from coal as follows
 Carbon: highest % of carbon gives high heat value and reduces the size of
combustion chamber.
 Hydrogen: part of hydrogen exists in coal in form with oxygen know as
inherent moisture. High % of H2 is always desirable as it increases the heating
value of the coal.
 Oxygen: oxygen present in coal is in combined form with hydrogen. Low % of
oxygen is desirable as it reduces the % of hydrogen available for free heating.
 Nitrogen: N2 in coal does not play important role in combustion as it has no
heating value.
 Sulphur: 0.5–7 % sulphur is present in coal. It adds heating value, but leads to
many undesirable characteristics such as slagging of air-preheater, economiser
and stacks(impurities). Spontaneous combustion during storage and air
pollution.
 Ash: ash is a residue from combustion.
 Moisture: 1 to 40% of moisture is present in coal.
 Volatile matter: volatile matter may be as high as 50%( combustable gas and
incombustable gases.).
 FUEL HANDLING
Three types of fels can be burnt in any type of steam generating power
plants.
– Solid fuels : coal
– Liquid fuels : oil
– Gaseous fuels: gas
1. Supply of these fuels to power plant from various sources is one
important consideration.
2. Handling of fuels is second important consideration.
Factors to be considered in selecting fuel handling system

1. Plant fuel rate

2. plant location in respect of fuel shipping
3. storage area available.
Note: nearly 50% to 60% of total operating cost consists of fuel
purchasing and handling.
Requirements of good coal handling plants.

 It should need minimum maintenance

 It should be reliable
 It should be simple and sound
 It should require a minimum operatives
 It should be able to deliver requisite quantity of
coal at the destination during peak hours.
 There should be minimum wear in running the
equipment due to abrasive action of the coal
particles.
Coal handling

Coal from coal mines

is transported:
-By Sea or river
-By Railways
-By Ropeways
-By road
-By pipelines
 coal handling
Coal delivery:
Coal may be delivered to power plants through rail, road, river or sea.
Coal Unloading:
Coal delivered by road is by trucks, does not require any unloading as trucks dump the coal to
outdoor storage unit.
Coal delivered by sea-unloading equipment is normally used are:
Portable conveyor
Coal accelerator
Coal towers.
Unloading bridges
Self unloading boats.
Preparation: preparation is required if coal delivered is in form of lumps(not proper size).
preparation can be carried out by i. Breakers ii. Crushers iii. Sizers iv. Dryers v. Magnetic
separators.
Transfer: - handling of coal between unloading and the final storage point from where it is
discharged to the firing equipment.
i. Belt conveyors ii. Screw conveyors iii. Vee-bucket elevators and conveyors
iv. Pivoted bucket conveyors v. Grab bucket conveyor vi. Flight conveyors vii. Skip hoist
viii. Mass flow conveyor ix. Chutes.
 BELT CONVEYOR
Large quantities of coal is suitably
transported over large distances.
Belt made up of rubber, canvas or
balata running over a pair of end
drums or pulleys and supported by a
series of rollers
(knows as idlers) provided at regular
intervals.
Average speed of belt conveyor is
60 to 100m/min.
Load carrying capacity is in the
range of 50 to 100 tons/hr.
Inclination at which coal can be
successfully elevated is about 20 deg.
Advantages: most economical, large
quantities can be easily transported,
power consumption is minimum.
Rate of coal transfer can be easily
varied by adjusting belt speed.
Dis adv: not suitable for greater
heights & short distances. Max.
height is limited.
SCREW CONVEYORS
It consists of an endless helical screw
fitted to a shaft.
Driving mechanism is connected to one
end of the shaft and other end is
supported in an enclosed ball bearing.
Screw while rotating in a trough/housing
transfers coal from one end to other end.
Speed: 70 to 120 rpm.
Capacity: 125 tons/hr.

VEE-BUCKET ELEVATOR
V-shaped bucket are rigidly fastened to an endless chain
going around sprockets. Buckets are equally spaced on the
chain and receives their load by dipping into coal pocket at
the lower end of the system. Material elevated in v-buckets
is discharged either by centrifugal force at top of the
elevator or by drawing back the buckets on the discharge
side.
Adv: less power required, coal is discharged at elevated
place, less floor area is required.
Dis Adv: capacity is limited and not suitable for large
capacity plants.
 PIVOTED BUCKET CONVEYOR
This conveyor consists of
malleable iron buckets
suspended by pivots midway
between the joints of two
endless chains, which are
driven by a motor located at
some convenient point,
usually at top of a vertical
rise. While travelling
horizontally, buckets
maintain their position due
to gravity and support joints.
Conveyor is loaded by
passing below a crusher. The
coal is charged into bunker
by a tripling device.
Adv: less floor area required
High capacity
Low operating cost
DiaAdv: high initial cost of the
equipment .
 Grab bucket conveyor
It is a form of hoist which lifts
and transfers the load on a
single rail or track from one
point to another. This is costly
machine and is justified only
when other arrangements are
not possible.
Capacity: 50 tons/hr.
 Flight conveyor(scraper)
• Used for transfer of coal when
filling number of storage bins
situated under the conveyor is
required. It consists of one or
two strands of chain to which
steel scrapers are attached.
Scraper, scraps the coal
through a trough and the coal
is discharged in the bottom of
the trough.
• Capacity: 10 to 100 ton/hr.
• Used extensively for conveying
coal horizontally and for
inclination up to 35 deg.
 Skip hoist
Used for high lifts and
handling is non-continuous.
Arrangement is simple and
cheap & operation cost
including labour is low.
Oldest method of elevating
coal or ash.
 STORAGE OF COAL
• Adequate quantity of coal should be stored.
• For storage of coal the following points should be considered:
• There should be no standing water near the storage area.
• Storage area should be a well drained area.
• Storage area should be solid and not loose or porous.
• Piles should be built up in successive layers and as far as
possible compact.
• Conical piling should be avoided
• In order to protect against wind erosion, piles should be sealed.
• Storage should be done in such away that handling cost is
minimum.
• At storage sight fire fighting equipment should be easily
available.
 IN PLANT HANDLING
( coal handling between the final storage and the firing
equipment)
Inplant handling may include equipment such as belt
conveyors, screw conveyors, bucket elevators etc to
transfer coal.
• 1. unloading equipment: self loading boats, lift trucks,
cranes and buckets.
• 2. preparing equipment: crushers, sizers, driers etc.
• 3.transfer equipment: belt conveyors, screw conveyors,
bucket elevators, skip hoist & flight conveyors.
• 4. storage equipment: bulldozers, scrapers, tramways,
cranes & conveyor systems.
• 5. covered storage equipments: bins,bunkers, indicators
gates and values.
 Weighing & Measuring
To weigh the quantity of coal the following
equipment is used.
• Weigh bridge
• Belt scale
• Weigh lorry
• Automatic scale bridge.
 Weighing of Coal
• Various methods are used to weigh the coal at delivery
point and also the amount of coal fired in various
boilers. Usually a movable weigh lorry is used for
weighing the coal to be supplied to the furnace and it
is placed in front of the boiler. The weighed coal is
dropped into the stoker hooper of the boiler.
• Coal weighing methods are as follows :
• Mechanical
• Pneumatic
• Electronic
Magnetic Separators :
Magnetic separators are provided to remove coal
tramp iron which find its way from coal mines in the
form of coal cutters, bolts, nuts, wires etc. It is placed
before the coal burnkers.

Crushers :
Crushers are used to reduce the coal to optimum size.
Coal is crushed into pieces of 25 to 30 mm size for
stoker firing and 10 to 20 mm for pulverized coal firing.
In the later case, the crushed coal is milled to a fine
powder. It is then carried through automatic weigher
to transfer tower from where it is lifted and distributed
between boiler hoppers by a conveyor.
Fuel handling system