A course on

‘’ Advanced Power Generation

System (MIEG 6352)’’
By : Abdulkadir Aman (PhD)
Assistant Professor in Thermal and Energy
Systems Engineering,
School of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Addis Ababa Institute of Technology (AAiT)
Addis Ababa University (AAU),
COURSEOUTLINE
 INTRODUCTION
 Power plant Engineering deals with the study of energy, its
sources and utilization of energy for power generation.
 What is a power plant?
 A power plant is assembly of systems or subsystems to
generate electricity, i.e., power with economy and
requirements
 The power plant itself must be useful economically and
environmental friendly to the society.
 It can also be defined as:
 A machine or assembly of equipment that generate and deliver
a flow of mechanical or electrical energy.
 A power plant will convert one form of energy (nuclear,
thermal, hydro, solar etc.) to electrical energy.
CLASSIFICATION OF POWER PLANTS
 CHAPTER ONE

STEAM POWER PLANTS

 1.1 ANALYSIS OF STEAM CYCLES
 A steam power plant continuously converts the energy stored in
fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) or fissile fuels(uranium, thorium)
into shaft work and ultimately into electricity. The working
substance, water, follow along the B-T-C-P path of the cycle
interacting externally as shown undergoing a cycle.

Fig 1.1 steam power plant-bulk energy converter from fuel to electricity
 1.1.1 RANKINE CYCLE
 for each process in the vapor power cycle it is possible to
assume a hypothetical or ideal process which represents the
basic intended operation and does not produce any
extraneous effect (like heat loss).
 For steam boiler: a reversible constant heating process of
water to form steam
 For turbine: reversible adiabatic expansion of steam
 For condenser: reversible adiabatic constant pressure heat
rejection as the steam condenses till it becomes saturated
liquid
 For the pump: the reversible adiabatic compression of the
liquid ending at the initial pressure
Fig 1.2 A simple steam plant representing Rankine Cycle
Fig 1.3 Rankine cycle on p-v, T-s and h-s coordinates (a,b,c)
 Applying the steady flow energy equation (SFEE) to each of
the processes on the basis of a unit mass of fluid and
neglecting changes in kinetic and potential energy, the work
and heat interactions can be evaluated in terms of the
properties of the fluid.
 For 1 kg of fluid, the SFEE for the boiler as the control
volume gives:
 For boiler the control volume gives

 The SFEE for the turbine gives as the control gives

 Similarly, the SFEE for the condenser is

 And the SFEE for the pump gives:

 The efficiency of the Rankine cycle is given by:

 The pump handles liquid water which is incompressible, i.e.
its density or specific volume undergoes little change with
an increase in pressure.
 For reversible adiabatic compression by the use of the
property relation

 The capacity of steam plant is often expressed in terms of

steam rate or specific steam consumption(s.s.c). It is defined
as the rate of steam flow (kg/s) required to produce unit
shaft output (1 kW)
 ECONOMISER,EVAPORTOR AND SUPERHEATER
 Heat transfer to water in the steam generator takes place in three
different regimes (fig 1.2 and 1.3). Water is first heated sensibly in
the economizer in the liquid phase at a certain pressure from state 4
to state 5 till it becomes saturated liquid.
 In the evaporator or the boiler proper, there is phase change or
boiling with the state changing from 5 to 6 by absorbing the latent
heat of vaporization at that pressure. The saturated vapor at state 6 is
further heated at constant pressure in the superheater to state 1 in the
vapor or gaseous phase.
 For unit mass of fluid, heat transfer in these three types of heat
exchangers is given by:
 As demonstrated in fig 1.4 by the areas under the respective processes
at the particular isobar, the fractions of the total heat transfer absorbed
in the economiser, evaporator and superheater are given by:

Fig 1.4 Fraction of total heat transfer absorbed in the

economiser, evaporator and superheater
 As the pressure increases, the latent heat decreases and so the heat
absorbed in the evaporator decreases and the fraction of the total heat
absorbed in the superheater increases.
 In high pressure boilers, more than 40% of the total heat is absorbed
in the superheaters.
 For steam generators operating above the critical pressure (approx.
221 bar) there is no evaporator or boiling section. How ever there is a
transition zone where all the liquid on being heated suddenly flashes
into vapour/

Fig 1.5 Rankine cycle with supercritical boiler pressure

 Internally Irreversible Rankine Cycle
 Internal irreversibility of Rankine cycle is caused by fluid
friction, throttling and mixing. Due to fluid friction the
expansion and compression processes are not reversible and
entropy of the fluid in turbines and pumps increases.
 The internal or isentropic efficiencies of the turbine and
pump are given by:

 The actual pump work would thus be

 The liquid leaving the pump must be at a higher pressure than at the
turbine inlet because the pressure drops due to friction etc. in boiler, heat
exchangers, feed water heaters, pipes, bends, valves etc.

Fig 1.6 Internally Irreversible Rankine cycle

 Thus, p4 represents the exit pump pressure, p1 the turbine inlet pressure,
and p5 the steam generator exit pressure. Steam leaves the boiler at state 5
and enters the turbine at state 1.
 The pressure of steam drops from p5 to p5’ (or p1) due to friction in the
pipeline and entropy decreases from 5’ to 1 due to heat loss.
 Externally Irreversible Rankine Cycle
 External irreversibility of the Rankine cycle is caused due to the
temperature differences between the combustion gases and the
working fluid on the source side, and the temperature difference
between the condensing working fluid and the condenser cooling
water on the sink side (fig 1.7)

-flue gases get cooled from a to d

- working fluid temperature 1 to 4
- The minimum temp. diff. between
the two fluid are c-5 and a-1, and the
Points where these occur are called
Pinch points.

Fig 1.7 Externally Irreversible Rankine cycle

 Too small a pinch point temperature difference
causes a lower thermal (external) irreversibility and
an increase in surface area resulting in a large
expensive steam generator.
 A large pinch-point temperature difference results
in small, inexpensive steam generator but with a
reduced plant efficiency due to a large thermal
irreversibility.
 The most economical pinch-point temperature
difference is obtained by optimization which takes
in to account the fixed charges (based on capital
costs) and operating costs (based on efficiency and
hence fuel costs)
Example 1: Steam at 40 bar, 500 oC flowing at the rate of 5500 kg/h expands in a h.p.
turbine to 2 bar with an isentropic efficiency of 83%. A continuous supply of steam at 2
bar, 0.87 quality and a flow rate of 2700 kg/h is available from a geothermal energy
source. This steam is mixed adiabatically with the h.p turbine exhaust steam and the
combined flow then expands in a 1.p. turbine to 0.1 bar with an isentropic efficiency of
78%. Determine the power output and the thermal efficiency of the plant. Assume that
5500 kg/h of steam is generated in the boiler at 40 bar, 500 oC from the saturated
feedwater at 0.1 bar. Had the geothermal steam not been added, what would have been
the power output and efficiency of the plant? Neglect pump work.
1.1.2 REHEATING OF STEAM
 It is desirable to keep the steam as dry as possible in the lower
pressure stages of the turbine. The wetness at exhaust should be not
greater than 10%.
 The increasing of boiler pressure increases the thermal efficiency, but
it also increases the wetness of the exhaust steam to unacceptable
levels. The exhaust steam can be improved by REHEAT the steam,
the expansion being carried out in two stages

Fig 1.7 Reheat Cycle

Fig 1.8 Reheat Cycle T-s and h-s diagrams
 By increasing the number of reheats, still higher steam
pressures could be used, but the mechanical stresses
increase in much higher proportion than the pressure
because of the prevailing high temperature. The cost and
fabrication difficulties will also increase.
 The maximum steam pressure gets fixed in that way, and no
more than two reheats have not yet been used. The use of
more than two reheats results in cyclic complication and
increases capital costs that are not justified by improvement
in cycle efficiency.
 The cycle efficiency in a single reheat plant is influenced by
the pressure at which steam is reheated.
 The optimum reheat pressure for most of the modern power
plants is 0.2 to 0.25 of the initial steam pressure.
1.1.2 FEEDWATER HEATERS
 Feed water heater are of two types.
 Open heaters (contact type heaters): the extracted steam is allowed to
mix with feedwater and both leave the heater at a common
temperature

Fig 1.9 Regenerative cycle with two direct contact feedwater heaters
 Closed feedwater heaters: the fluids are kept separate and are not
allowed to mix.
 The condensate sometimes called heater drip, passes through a trap
into the next lower pressure heater. This, to some extent, reduces the
steam required by that heater.

Fig 1.10 Regenerative feedwater heating with two closed heaters

 The trap passes only liquid and no vapour. The drip
from the lowest pressure heater could similarly be
trapped to the condenser, but this would be throwing
away energy to the condenser cooling tower.
 To avoid this waste. A drip pump feeds the drip
directly into the feedwater stream.
 For the heaters the energy balance gives:
 Considering the l-p heater of fig 1.10, wet stream at state 3 is
used to heat tap the h.p subcooled feedwater at state 6. The
temperature length diagram is shown in fig 1.11(a).

Fig. 1.11 Temperature-length diagram for l.p feedwater heaters

The water exit temperature at 7 cannot reach the inlet bled steam
temperature at 3. A terminal temperature difference (TTD) is defined for
all closed feedwater heater as
 The value of TTD varies with heater pressure. For l-p
heaters receiving wet steam, the TTD is positive and often
of the order of 3 oC.
 Too small a value, although good for plant efficiency, would
require a larger heater. Too large a value would reduce the
cycle efficiency.
 If the extracted steam upon condensation gets subcooled, a
drain cooler may be used. The heater would then have two
sections, a condensing section and a draincooler section
(Fig.1b)
 For the h.p. heater receiving superheated steam [Fig. 1.12]
bled steam from the turbine at state 2, the stream is first
desuperheated, then condensed and finally subcooled to
state 11, whereas the feedwater gets heated from 9 to 12.
 Fig. 1.12 Temperature-length diagram for h.p feedwater heaters

It may be noted that the exit water temperature (t12) is higher

than the saturation temperature at p2 and the TTD is here
negative. The heater is then composed of a desuperheating
section, a condensing section and a drain cooler section
 The advantages of the open heater are simplicity, low cost and high
heat transfer capacity. The disadvantage is the necessity of a pump at
each heater to handle the large feedwater stream.

 A closed heater requires only a single pump for the main feedwater
stream regardless of the number of heaters. The drip pump, if used, is
relatively small.

 Closed heaters are costly and may not give as high a feedwater
temperature as do open heaters. In most steam power plants, closed
heaters are favored but at least one open heater is used, primarily for the
purpose of feedwater dearation.

 The open heater in such a system is called the deaerator.

 Closed heaters are mostly horizontal. Sometimes, the are made vertical
to reduce the floor areas needed for their installation.
EXAMPLE 2
 A steam power plant (Fig. E2.2) with inlet steam to the h.p turbine
at 90 bar and 500 oC, and condensation at 40 oC produces 500 MW.
It has one stage of reheat optimally placed which raises the steam
temperature back to 500 oC. One closed feedwater heater with drains
cascaded back to the condenser receives bled steam at the reheat
pressure, and the remaining steam is reheated and then expanded in
the l.p. turbine. The h.p. and l.p turbines have isentropic efficiencies
of 92% and 90% respectively. The isentropic efficiency of the pump
is 75%. Calculate
a) the mass flow rate of steam at turbine inlet in kg/s

b)The cycle efficeincy, and

c) the cycle work ratio. Use TTD = -1.6 oC
Table 1.1 Energy and Exergy Efficiency of Some Important Devices for Power Generation
1.1.4 REHEATING-REGENERATIVE STEAM RANKINE CYCLE

 The vast majority of power stations are based on reheating-

regenerative steam Rankine cycles. These types of cycles are very
complex as they comprise many types of components, including
preheater, boiler, superheater, reheater, closed (CFWH) and open
(OFWH) feedwater heaters, mixer, condenser, deaerator, pumps, and
steam traps (ST).
 The cycle design depends on the type of heat source and heat sink.
For most cases of large power generation the heat source is derived
from coal combustion.
 The heat sink is in general a lake; however, there are many cases in
which power plants use air as a heat sink. In this case the plant is
equipped with cooling towers—either with natural convection or with
forced convection.
An illustrative example of a reheating-regenerative steam Rankine cycle
is presented in Figure 1.13

Fig 1.13 . Rankine power plant with single reheating and multiple feedwater heaters (M, mixer; CFWH,
closed feedwater heater; OWFH, open feedwater heater; ST, steam trap).diagram for h.p feedwater heaters
 The power plant in fig 1.13 comprises eighteen main components.
There are also four steam extraction ports with corresponding steam
extraction fractions denoted with f12, f17, f20, f21.
 The thermodynamic analysis of the cycle becomes complex because
multiple variables and equations are involved and optimization is
required for energy efficiency maximization.
 Mass, energy, entropy and Exergy balance equations must be written
for each component of the power plant in order to form a system of
equations that can be solved to determine thermodynamic parameters
defining each state.
 The following observation is very useful for simplifying the mass
balance equations:
- in state 11 (turbine inlet) the mass flow rate is the maximum for
the plant; also

- thesteam injection fractions are defined with respect to as

follows:
 In addition, in Figure 1.13 it can be observed that mass balance
equations can be reduced to the following set of equations expressed
as a function of flow fractions in other state points of the power plant,
defined by, namely:

Using the flow fractions fi, the energy, entropy, and exergy balance
equations are written for each component as indicated in Table 1.2.
The balance equations together with the parameters that quantify exergy
destructions (e.g., isentropic efficiencies of pumps and turbines,
temperature differences due to heat transfer) form a closed system of
equations which can be solved for temperatures, pressures, and specific
enthalpy, entropy, and volume at each state point provided that all
extraction fractions are specified (f12, f17,f20, f21) and the condensation,
boiling, and superheating temperatures (T1, T9, T11) are given.
Table 1.2 Balance Equations for Ideal Rankine Cycle of Power Plant in Figure 2.13
Table 1.2 Balance Equations for Ideal Rankine Cycle of Power Plant in Figure 1.13…. Cont’d
 As seen in Table 1.22 the balance equations can be written
using mass-specific quantities. These quantities are
defined with respect to the mass flow rate at the HPT inlet;
thus: . Furthermore, the energy
efficiency can be maximized according to the following
objective function:

where F(f12, f17, f20, f21) represents the functional relatio

between steam extraction fractions and the energy efficienc
of the cycle, a relation which is established by the nonlinea
system of equations mentioned above.
Note that the certain additional assumptions must be made in
order for the optimization problem to be completely specified.
These assumptions are as follows:
• at pump suction the liquid is saturated, hence x1= x4 = x13 = 0
•at the steam traps inlet the liquid is saturated, hence x18= x22 = 0
•at the OFW outlet there is a saturated liquid, hence x4= 0
•there is a minimum temperature difference at the closed feedwater
heater outlet denoted with Thx; it is assumed that
Example
Let us consider a steam cycle of the configuration described in Figure
2.13. The following parameters are assumed: Tc=30C; Tb=293C;
Tsh=Trh=400 oC; DThx= 10 oC, where Tsh and Trh are the superheating and
reheating temperatures, respectively. We want to determine the optimum
steam extraction fractions that maximize cycle energy efficiency for two
cases:
(i) all pumps and turbines operating reversibly and
(ii) the isentropic efficiency of the pumps and steam turbines is
0.85. Exergy destructions for each of the components will be
determined for case (ii).

Solution
 1.1.5 ORGANC RANKINE CYCLE
 Unlike the more common steam Rankine cycles, an organic
working fluid is used in the ORCs. Local and small-scale
power generation as well as renewable energy systems and
low-grade heat recovery systems are the best applications
for ORC technology.
 Some examples of low-temperature heat sources from
renewable sources are solar radiation, biomass combustion
systems, heat recovery systems from engine exhaust gases,
geothermal energy, and ocean thermal energy.
TABLE 1.3 List of some ORC Manufacturers and Technology Descriptions
 Working fluid characteristics have great influence in determining the
cycle configuration. Selection of the working fluid must be done in
compliance with the ORC application, which is influenced by the type
of heat source, level of temperature, modes of heat transfer, and scale
of the application.
 One important feature related to organic working fluid refers to the
fact that a large pressure ratio over the turbine can be obtained for
relatively small pressure differences.
 For example, with the organic fluid R123 the ORC operates at a
boiling pressure of 5.87 bar and a condensation pressure of 0.85 bar.
The pressure ratio is thus 6.9 and the pressure difference is 5.02 bar.
This point signifies the advantage of using organic fluids as the
working fluid in Rankine cycles.
TABLE 1.4 Classes of Working Fluids for ORC and Typical ORC Applications
 The regenerative schemes for ORC do not require (in general) vapor
extraction (as in the case of steam cycles). Rather an additional heat
exchanger is inserted between the turbine exit and the pump exit,
which allows for a transfer of heat between the hotter working fluid
at the turbine exhaust and the colder liquid at the pump discharge
 . The configuration of a regenerative ORC is presented in Figure
2.14. An example of ORC with regeneration that uses R134a as
working fluid is presented in Figure 2.15

Fig 1.14 Regenerative ORC configuration.

 In this cycle, boiling occurs at 353
K; it starts with saturated liquid in
state 4a and reaches saturated
vapor in state 4b (pressure drop
is neglected). In the condenser,
there is a de-superheating process
according to line 6–1a,
where 1a represents saturated
vapor . Further, the condensation
process continues until reaching
saturated liquid in state

Fig 1.15 Regenerative ORC with R134a for low-grade heat sources.