Energy Conversion and Management 50 (2009) 24282438

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Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Thermodynamic analysis of a FBCC steam power plant

Nurdil Eskin a, Afsin Gungor b,*, Koray zdemir a
a
b

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, 34437 Istanbul, Turkey

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Nigde University, 51100 Nigde, Turkey

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 21 March 2008
Received in revised form 24 October 2008
Accepted 30 May 2009

Keywords:
Thermodynamic analysis
Exergy
Second law
Optimization
Power plant
Fluidized bed

a b s t r a c t
This article presents the analysis of rst and second laws of thermodynamics in a 7.7 MW steam power
plant located in Torbali (Izmir, Turkey). It involves a uidized bed, a waste heat boiler (WHB) and an
economizer as subsystems. Fans, pumps, cyclone and chimney are also considered through the analysis
as auxiliary systems in the thermal plant. The analysis is performed for the whole system and subsystems
by considering the available energy balance. In this analysis which consists of a detailed uidized bed
coal combustor (FBCC) model, the amount of irreversibilities occurring in the system is calculated at each
location. Analysis results are compared with the test results obtained from the measurements at several
locations in the system and good agreement is observed. These measured values are the temperatures at
three levels in the FBCC and boiler, economizer exit temperatures as well as ue gas composition at the
boiler exit and steam ow rate. The maximum error observed in temperature values and steam ow rate
is about 3.03% and 4.03%, respectively. Through the developed and validated model, effects of excess air
and ambient temperature on rst and second law efciency of the subsystems and overall system are
investigated. The second-law analysis reveals that the FBCC has the largest irreversibility, with about
80.4% of the total system exergy loss. The FBCC temperature, rst and second law efciencies decrease
19.8%, 5.1% and 5.2%, respectively, as the excess air increases from 10% to 70%. Also steam ow rate
decreases 5.1%. As the ambient temperature increases from 25 to 45 C, the FBCC temperature, system
rst and second law efciencies increase 0.8%, 1.3%, and 1.3%, respectively.
2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The world has nite natural resources and innite necessities
concerning especially energy demand thus the development of design techniques for an energy system with minimized costs is
essential. Optimum designs are obtained by detailed analysis of energy systems where thermodynamics achieve its utmost importance. On the other hand, from the thermodynamics point of
view, it has long been understood that traditional rst-law analysis, which is needed for modeling the engine processes, often fails
to give the engineer the best insight into the engines operation. In
order to analyze engine performance that is, evaluate the inefciencies associated with the various processes second-law analysis must be applied [13]. For second-law analysis, the key
concept is exergy (or availability). The concept of exergy is a direct outcome of second law of thermodynamics. The exergy of a
system is dened to be its work potential with reference to a prescribed environment known as exergy reference environment.
The term work potential implies physically the maximum theoretical work obtainable if the system of interest and the prescribed
environment interact with each other and reach the equilibrium.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 532 397 30 88; fax: +90 388 225 01 12.
E-mail address: afsingungor@hotmail.com (A. Gungor).
0196-8904/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2009.05.035

The term exergy is sometimes referred by thermodynamically synonymous term availability and is a composite property of the system and the reference environment. The destruction of availability
is usually termed irreversibility. Unlike energy, exergy is not subject to a conservation law (except for ideal, or reversible, processes). Rather exergy is consumed or destroyed, due to
irreversibilities in any real process. The exergy consumption during
a process is proportional to the entropy created due to irreversibilities associated with the process. Summaries of the evolution of
exergy analysis through the late 1980s are provided by Kotas [1],
Moran and Sciubba [2], Bejan et al. [3], Rosen [4], and Dincer [5].
Reviews of literature reveal that the exergy analysis method overcomes the limitation of the rst law of thermodynamics and it is
based on the rst and second laws of thermodynamics. The use
of exergy principles enhances understanding of thermal and chemical processes and allows sources of inefciency to be quantied.
Lower exergy efciency leads in general to higher environmental
impact [6,7]. Applications of exergy analysis for the performance
evaluation of power-producing cycles have increased in the recent
years. A lot of works are now available in the literature where the
second-law-based analyses have been applied for optimizing
performance on coal-based power generation using conventional
[810], uidized bed and combined cycle technology [1113]
applications.

N. Eskin et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 50 (2009) 24282438

2429

Nomenclature
A
Ar
C
csolids
cp gas
Db
dp
E_
e
g
h
kbe
LHVchar
_
m
_ burn
m
NC
NCA
Ntube
n_
P
Q_
qc
qCO
qVM
R
s
T
U
U0
Umf
v
_
W
Xc
y

area (m2)
Archimedes number
gas concentration (kmol/m3)
specic heat of solids (kJ/kg K)
specic heat of gas (kJ/kg K)
bubble diameter (m)
particle diameter (m)
rate of exergy ow (W)
specic exergy (kJ/kg)
gibbs function (kJ/kmol)
specic entalpy (kJ/kg)
mass transfer coefcient (1/s)
lower heating value of fuel (kJ/kg)
mass ow rate (kg/s)
burnt char mass ow rate (kg/s)
cell number of FBCC
cell number in the bottom zone of FBCC
number of heat exchanger tubes
gas ow rate (kmol/s)
pressure (Pa)
rate of heat transfer (W)
reaction enthalpy of coal (kJ/kg)
reaction enthalpy of CO (kJ/kmol)
reaction enthalpy of volatile matter (kJ/kmol)
Universal gas constant (kJ/mol K)
specic entropy (kJ/kg K)
temperature (K)
overall heat transfer coefcient (W/m2 K)
supercial velocity (m/s)
minimum uidization velocity (m/s)
velocity (m/s)
rate of work (W)
weight fraction of the carbon in the coal (kg-carbon/kgcoal)
mass fraction of gas species (kmol-gas species/kmolgas)

Subscripts
amb
ambient
ash
ash

The development of analysis techniques based on the second

law of thermodynamics allows us to allocate and quantify irreversibilities in the production process and to identify which parts of
the system and for what reasons they affect the overall inefciency
[9,14,15]. The available literature concerning studies on uidized
bed applications [1113], generally consider the thermodynamic
analysis for the whole system and subsystems as a calculation of
measured data. Whereas the present study analyzes the whole system and subsystems using a detailed approach of step by step calculations for each system component. The system analyzed in this
study is a thermal system operating normally in a continuous steady state, steady ow process mode. The simulation of the plant has
been performed with a simulator at design and off design conditions. From this point of view this article presents a very detailed
analysis of rst and second laws of thermodynamics in a 7.7 MW
steam power plant located in Torbali (Izmir, Turkey). The analysis
is performed for the whole system and subsystems by considering
the available energy balance. In this analysis which consists of a
detailed FBCC model, the amount of irreversibilities occurring in
the system is calculated at each location [16]. It involves a FBCC,
a WHB and an economizer as subsystems. Fans, pumps, cyclone

asp
exhaust
b
bubble
bot
bottom
c
carbon
chem
chemical
chim
chimney
comb
combustion
cons rev consumed reversibility
cyc
cyclone
destr
destruction
e
emission
eco
economizer
ent
entrance
FB
uidized bed
f
uid
hor
horizontal
o
reference state
PP
power plant
phy
physical
ref
refractory
srf
surface
st.sat
steam saturation
stoker,mot stoker motor
VM
volatile matter
ver
vertical
WHB
waste heat boiler
Wtube
waste heat boiler tube
Greek symbols
_C
Dm
carbon mass ow rate consumed from physical/chemical process (kg/s)
Dn_
gas ow rate consumed from chemical processes (kmol/
s)
DV
volume of the cell/control volume (m3)
DT ln
log-mean temperature difference (C)
eb
bubble void fraction
gI
rst law efciency
gII
second law efciency
k
excess air
l
gas viscosity (kg/ms)

and chimney are also considered through the analysis as auxiliary

systems in the thermal plant.
The inputs for the model are the dimensions and the construction specications (insulation thickness and materials, etc.) of subsystems, auxiliary systems characteristics (power, ow rate, etc.),
coal feed rate and particle size, coal properties, inlet air pressure
and temperature, ambient temperature, the supercial velocity
and the steam pressure. The simulation model calculates the gas
emissions, pressure drop, water inletoutlet temperatures, amount
of heat transferred and the heat losses to the ambient of all components and the steam ow rate of the plant. Moreover, the pressure
losses in each device and connector equipments and their ttings
are considered in the model. Analysis results are compared with
the test results obtained from the measurements at several locations in the system and good agreement is observed. These measured values are the temperatures at three levels in the FBCC and
boiler, economizer exit temperatures as well as ue gas composition at the boiler exit and steam ow rate. Through the developed
and validated model, effects of excess air and ambient temperature
on rst and second law efciency of the subsystems and overall
system are investigated.

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N. Eskin et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 50 (2009) 24282438

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the analyzed plant.

2. Power plant description

The steam power plant is a 7.7 MW which involves a uidized
bed, a WHB and an economizer. The auxiliary components are fans,
pumps, cyclone and chimney in the thermal plant. It is located in
the city of Izmir located in western Turkey. The schematic diagram
of the analyzed plant is shown in Fig. 1.
The FBCC has a 1.92 m  3.76 m square cross-section and 7 m
height. The combustion air is supplied through the distributor (primary air) by a fan of capacity with 12,000 m3/h (90 kW), and the
secondary air inlets are located at 2 m above the distributor. The
fuels are introduced into the bed by means of a screw conveyor

Table 1
Operating parameters of the plant data referred to in this study.
Operating parameters

FBCC

Coal feed rate (range)

Operation velocity (range)
Bed temperature
Bed area
Size of coal feed (range)
Mean size of sorbent feed

1.451.55 t/h
1.601.70 m/s
840860 C
7.2192 m2
0.039 mm
0.3 cm

feeder. The technical parameters of the FBCC are steam capacity

of 12 t/h, steam pressure of 6.3 bar. The operating parameters of
FBCC are shown in Table 1. The design fuel for the bed is low grade
coal (Soma lignite) which compositions are given in Table 2.
The FBCC has horizontal and vertical heat exchangers. The horizontal heat exchangers are located along the wider side of the bottom zone. The heat exchanger tubes are placed 0.1 m distanced
from each other and in four lines consecutively. The vertical heat
exchangers are located along the bed height peripherally. The details of heat exchangers are given in Table 3. In the model, heat
transfer coefcients inside the tubes are considered as two-phase
ow conditions in both horizontal and vertical heat exchangers
[17,18]. The insulation used in the bottom zone is re bricks and
the whole of the riser wall is insulated with rock wool.
The power plant has a feedwater pump of a capacity with
16 m3/h (10 kW) and an exhaust fan of capacity with 20,000 m3/
h (75 kW). The chimney is made of steel and without any insulation. The detailed properties of WHB, economizer and chimney
are given in Table 3.
In the system, the feedwater rst passes through the deaerator,
then into the economizer and nally into the WHB. The steam generation in the plant takes places in the WHB via horizontal and vertical heat exchanger tubes.

2431

N. Eskin et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 50 (2009) 24282438

Table 2
Coal properties.
Soma lignite
Carbon (wt.%, dry)
Hydrogen (wt.%, dry)
Nitrogen (wt.%, dry)
Sulphur (wt.%, dry)
Vol. Mat. (wt.%, dry)
Ash (wt.%, dry)
Moisture (%)
LHV (kJ/kg)

25.34
4.80
1.12
1.60
30.88
19.36
25.42
15591.00

3. Model description
The objective of this study is to conduct an energy and exergy
analysis as a thermodynamic consideration to better understand
and to compare the inuence of operational parameters on the process effectiveness, to develop a thermodynamic modeling of a
power plant, and to determine the most effective ways of improving the power plant process.
Two methods to determine the thermodynamic efciency of
power plant are described. These are energy efciency based on
the rst law of thermodynamics and exergy efciency based on
the second law of thermodynamics.
3.1. First law of thermodynamics
The fundamental thermodynamic relationships are described
by considering balance equations for appropriate quantities.

Energy, being subject to conservation law (neglecting nuclear

reactions), can be neither generated nor consumed. General balance equations for energy can be written as follows:

Energy Input  Energy Output Energy Accumulation

The steady state simulation of the plant has been performed

with a simulator at design and off design conditions. It involves
an atmospheric FBCC model with the details given below.
3.1.1. Fluidized bed model
Burning coal in FBCC has the capability to reduce both NOx and
SO2 levels from coal red power plants. It also reduces CO2 emissions, soil and water pollution [19]. The designing of the FBCC is
very important because it enables burning coal with high efciency
and within acceptable levels of gaseous emissions. To simulate and
optimize the behavior of a FBCC, rstly the mathematical modeling
of the hydrodynamic and kinetic characteristics is needed. In the
present study, previously developed FBCC model is used for power
plant analysis [16]. FBCC model can be divided into three major
parts: a sub-model of the gassolid ow structure, a reaction kinetic model for local combustion and a convection/dispersion
model with reaction. The latter formulates the mass balances for
the gaseous species and the char at each control volume in the ow
domain. The kinetic information for the reactions is supplied by the
reaction kinetic sub-model, which contains description of devolatilization and char combustion, and emission formation and
destruction, respectively.
The uidized beds exhibit very complex hydrodynamics due to
the non-linear interactions between the two independent media

Table 3
Details of system components.

Horizontal heat exchanger tubes

Vertical heat exchanger tubes
Waste heat boiler
Waste heat boiler tubes
Economizer
Economizer Tubes
Chimney

Inner diameter (mm)

Outer diameter (mm)

Length (mm)

53
42.4
1938
70
1000
70
1000

60
50
1948
76
1010
76
1010

3760
7500
6000
6000
7000
300
30,000

Insulation thickness (mm)

Number of tubes
56
88

150
222
150
40 (in ow direction)

Table 4
Energy balance equations for FBCC.
Fluidized bed
Bottom zone

Freeboard

Q_ gas;i1 Q_ solids;i1 Q_ water;hor;ent;i Q_ water;v er;i1  Q_ gas;i  Q_ solids;i

Q_ water;hor;i  Q_ water;v er;i  Q_ amb;i Q_ release;i 0

Q_ gas;i1 Q_ solids;i1 Q_ water;v er;i1  Q_ gas;i  Q_ solids;i

Q_ water;v er;i  Q_ amb;i Q_ release;i 0

_ w;i m
_ e;i cp gas;i n_ gas;i T i
_ e;i1 T i1  csolids;i m
csolids;i1 m
_ comb;i qc n_ b;WM;i qVM
_ w;i1 cp gas;i1 n_ gas;i1 T i1 m
csolids;i1 m
n_ e;VM;i qVM n_ CO;i qCO DQ_ water;hor;i DQ_ water;v er;i Q_ amb;i
DQ_ water;hor;i Ntube;hor;i Ahor;in U hor;i T i  T st:sat
DQ_ water;v er;i Ntube;v er Ad1;i U v er;i T i  T st:sat
Q_ amb;i N tube;v er Aref ;tube;i U amb;i T i  T amb

_ solids;i1 cp gas;i1 n_ gas;i1 T i1  csolids;i m

_ solids;i cp gas;i n_ gas;i T i
csolids;i1 m
_ comb;i qc n_ VM;i qVM;CO n_ CO;i qCO DQ_ water;v er;i Q_ amb;i
m

DQ_ water;v er;i Ntube;v er Av er;out;i U v er;i T i  T st:sat

Q_ amb;i N tube;v er ADtube ;i U amb;i T i  T amb

2432

N. Eskin et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 50 (2009) 24282438

where n_ k indicates the gas ow rate of gas components (volatile

gases, O2, CO, CO2, SO2, NO, and water vapor in the emulsion phase
and O2, CO2, SO2, and NO in the bubble phase, respectively), Vi is the
volume of the ith cell. The gas exchange, between the bubble and
the emulsion phases is a function of the bubble diameter and varies
along the axis of the riser and it is considered in the model as follows [21]:

with their own individual movement tendencies the particles

and the uid [20]. In the model, the combustor is characterized
by two ow regimes: a dense phase at the bottom (bottom zone),
and a dilute phase above the solid entry or secondary air inlet
(freeboard). The primary loop of the FBCC is broken down into
cells. These cells are homogenous, fully mixed sections. The cells
in the bottom zone and the freeboard are also subdivided into
two phases: the emulsion phase and the bubble phase.
The single-phase back-ow cell model is used for solid mixing
calculation. The overall material balance for the solids in the ith
cell, in terms of the backmix ow in emulsion and bubble phases,
_ b;i is given by the following equation.
_ e;i and m
m

 
dm
_ b;i1  m
_ b;i m
_ e;i1  m
_ e;i  m
_ burn;i m
_ ash;i
m
dt i

where Db is the bubble diameter predicted by a correlation established by Mori and Wen [22]. In the model, the minimum uidization velocity is obtained according to Wen and Yu [23]:

U mf

Two-phase bubble assemblage model is used for gas phase material

balances. The material balances are made for gases, O2, CO, CO2, SO2,
NO, and for water vapor in the bubble and emulsion phases. The
material balance for the gas phase in the ith cell for emulsion and
bubble phases, are given below, respectively.



dnk
n_ e;k;i1  n_ e;k;i  kbe DV i eb;i C e;k;i  C b;k;i Dn_ e;k;i
dt e;i


dnk
n_ b;k;i1  n_ b;k;i kbe DV i eb;i C e;k;i  C b;k;i Dn_ b;k;i
dt b;i

11
Db

kbe;g

l h
Cdp

i
33:72 0:0651Ar0:8  33:7

where C is the gas mixture concentration in the control volume, dp

is the particle diameter, Ar is the Archimedes number. For the char
at the bottom zone, complete vertical mixing is assumed. Char is
entering the bottom bed with feed coal, but also from the solid return leg with the recycled solids from the cyclone. The combustor
model takes into account, the devolatilization of coal [24], subsequent combustion of volatiles followed by residual char, SO2 captured by limestone particles [25], and reduction of NO by the char
in the combustor [26]. The heat transfer mechanisms of FBCC are

3
4

Table 5
Energy balance equations for WHB, economizer and chimney.
Waste heat boiler
Q_ fluegas;WHB;in  Q_ fluegas;WHB;out Q_ water;v er;in  Q_ water;v er;out
Q_ water;hor;in  Q_ water;hor;out Q_ water;feed  Q_ steam  Q_ amb 0

Q_ fluegas;WHB;in  Q_ fluegas;WHB;out U tot;Wtube AWtube;tot DT ln;Wtube

DT ln;WHB

T fluegas;WHB;in T fluegas;WHB;out

ln

T fluegas;WHB;in T st:sat
T fluegas;WHB;out T st:sat

Economizer

Chimney

Q_ fluegas;eco;in  Q_ fluegas;eco;out Q_ water;eco;in  Q_ water;eco;out Q_ amb 0

Q_ fluegas;chim;in  Q_ fluegas;chim;out Q_ amb

Q_ amb U eco;srf Ain;srf ;eco DT In;amb

Q_ amb U chim;srf Achim;srf DT In;amb

DT In;amb

T fluegas;eco;in T fluegas;eco;out

In

T fluegas;eco;in T amb
T fluegas;eco;out T amb

DT In;amb

T fluegas;chim;in T fluegas;chim;out

In

T fluegas;chim;in T amb
T fluegas;chim;out T amb

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N. Eskin et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 50 (2009) 24282438

considered as: (i) the heat transfer from the bed to the heat
exchangers, (ii) the heat transfer from the heat exchangers to the
ambient, (iii) the heat transfer from the bed to the ambient. The
structure and details of the FBCC model are given in the literature
[16].
The control of the feedwater of the system and the steam production are carried out by the WHB. In the boiler, the saturated
steam exists in the upper region and the saturated water exits in
the bottom region. The water level stays constant in the boiler.
The boiler feedwater mixes suddenly and reaches the uid saturation temperature. The water temperature in the boiler has the uid
saturation temperature. Since the water from the WHB is fully saturated the water temperature stays constant along the FBCC cell
where the quality of produced steam changes only in the heat
exchangers. e-NTU method is used to determine the ue gas and
water exit temperatures for the economizer calculations.
For a thermal system operating normally in a continuous steady
state steady ow process mode, energy balance equations for system subsystems (uidized bed, a WHB and an economizer) and
auxiliary systems (fans, pumps, cyclone and chimney) are given
in Tables 4 and 5.
In order to make the case the most general possible, the primary
air fan ow is taken as reference. It is assumed that all gases are
ideal gases, preserving the variation of the specic heat with temperature. This hypothesis is fully acceptable for the pressure and
temperature ranges of the cycle. The thermodynamic data are obtained from thermodynamic tables for water, steam and all gases
[18]. The thermodynamic properties of reference environment
are the ambient external conditions (T0 = 25 C, P0 = 101.3 kPa
and relative humidity of the air 70%). The pressure losses in each
device and connector equipments and their ttings are considered
in the model. The cyclone is considered to have 98% collection efciency [27].
The inputs for the model are the dimensions and the construction specications (insulation thickness and materials, etc.) of subsystems, auxiliary systems characteristics (power, ow rate, etc.),
coal feed rate and particle size, coal properties, inlet air pressure
and temperature, ambient temperature, the supercial velocity
and the steam pressure. The simulation model calculates the gas
emissions, pressure drop, water inletoutlet temperatures, amount
of heat transferred and the heat losses to the ambient of all components, and steam ow rate of the plant [17].
3.1.2. The model validation
The steady state simulation of the plant has been performed
with a simulator at design and off design conditions. The simulation results are compared with the test results obtained from the
measurements at several locations in the system as given in Table
6. These measured values are the temperatures at three levels in
the FBCC (at the inlet of bed and at the heights of 90 cm and
110 cm above the distributor plate) and WHB, economizer exit
temperatures and steam ow rate. TESTO 454 measurement unit
which uses NiCrNi, K-type thermocouple is used for the measurement of air temperature on the bed inlet (measurement ranges
30. . .+140 C, sensitivity 0.5 C) and TESTO 300 M-I measurement unit which uses NiCrNi, K-type thermocouple is used for
the measurement of the other temperature values (measurement
ranges 40. . .+1200 C, sensitivity 0.5 C). The comparisons are
performed using the actual power plant operational data. The FBCC
operating conditions for this comparison are given in Table 7. The
maximum error observed in temperature values is about 3.03%.
The predicted and measured steam ow rates in the power plant
are 7085.7 and 6799.8 kg/h, respectively, the maximum error observed in steam ow rate is about 4.03%.
The simulation results are also compared with test results in
terms of gas compositions (CO2 and SO2) based on 6% O2 in ue

Table 6
Comparison of model temperature predictions with power plant data.
Measurement points
TFB,in
Tbot,90
Tbot,110
TFB,out
TWHB,in
TWHB,out
Teco,in
Teco,out
a

Data (C)
60.7
857.6
852
597
597
261.2
261.2
185.2

Model (C)
a

60.7
831.6
830.3
579.9
579.9
255.1
255.1
181.2

Error (%)

3.03
2.54
2.86
2.86
2.34
2.34
1.65

Temperature value in uidized bed inlet is used as model input.

Table 7
Fluidized bed operational conditions for temperature comparisons.
Operational parameters of FBCC
Psteam (bar)
Tamb (C)
U0 (cm/s)
k (%)
_ coalfeed (kg/h)
m
_ air (N m3/h)
m
dp (cm)
dbed material (cm)

6.3
30
169.37
38
1518
8049.3
0.6
0.3

Table 8
Comparison of model emission predictions with power plant data.
Measured values

Data

Model

Error (%)

TWHB,out (C)
O2 (%)
CO2 (%)
SO2 (mg/m3)
k (%)

260.7
5.7
13.4
3648
37

251.7
6.5
14.1
3579.5
37a

3.4
14.03
5.2
1.9

Excess air value is used as model input.

Table 9
Fluidized bed operational conditions for emission comparisons.
Operational parameters of FBCC
Psteam (bar)
Tamb (C)
U0 (cm/s)
k (%)
_ coalfeed (kg/h)
m
_ air (N m3/h)
m
dp (cm)
dbed material (cm)

5.3
30
165.1
37
1490.6
7848.8
0.6
0.3

gas at the WHB exit which has the maximum error of about 5.2%
(Table 8). The analysis of the ue gas is carried out on the gas
stream exiting from the WHB. Composition of the ue gas is monitored by using TESTO 300 M-I (for O2, CO2 and SO2) analysis equipment which are the portable ue gas measurement devices
working on electrochemical principles. CO2 is calculated from the
composition of the O2. The sensitivities are as follows: 0.8%
(0. . .+25% O2) for O2, and 10 ppm (0. . .200 ppm) and 0.5 ppm
(200.1. . .5000 ppm) for SO2. The FBCC operating conditions for
this comparison are given in Table 9.
3.2. The second law of thermodynamics
The second-law analysis is useful to identify the components
having maximum irreversibility thus enables proper selection of
the process for maintaining high quality of energy.

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N. Eskin et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 50 (2009) 24282438

Exergy is dened as the maximum amount of work which can

be produced by a system or a ow of matter or energy as it comes
to equilibrium with a reference environment. Exergy is consumed
during a process due to irreversibilities and is, therefore, subject to
a non-conservation law. General balance equations for exergy can
be written as follows:

Exergy Input  Exergy Output

 Exergy Consumed Reversibility  Exergy Destruction
Exergy Accumulation

Exergy balance equations for system subsystems (uidized bed,

a WHB and an economizer) and auxiliary systems (fans, pumps, cyclone and chimney) are given in Tables 10 and 11.
3.3. Thermodynamic analysis
Studies of engineering designs and thermodynamic analyses for
power generation systems are of scientic interest and also essential for the efcient utilization of energy resources. For this reason,
the thermodynamic analysis has drawn much attention by scientists and system designers in recent years.

The energy efciency may be dened as the ratio of the energy

output to the energy input. The general efciency equations for energy can be written as follows:

gI

energy output
energy loss
1
energy input
energy input

The energy efciency of the FBCC based on the rst law of thermodynamics can be derived by considering the energy transferred
to the coolant inside the heat exchangers as the energy output and
the chemical exergy of the fuel as the energy input. The rst law
efciency for overall system and system subsystems (uidized
bed, a WHB and an economizer) are given in Table 12.
The parameter that gauges the effectiveness of a system in preserving its exergy in performing a physical process is known as
exergetic efciency. This is also called as second law efciency.
Lower is the irreversibility, higher is the exergetic efciency and
vice versa. The importance of the exergetic analysis is to diagnose
how much of the theoretical maximum work the system is able to
perform. The method of exergetic analysis used consists of evaluating each bearer of energy along the system identifying its chemical
composition, physical state and ow rate. In determining the
exergetic efciency of a process performed by a system, one has

Table 10
Exergy balance equations for FBCC.
Fluidized bed
Bottom zone

E_ gas;i1 E_ solids;i1 E_ water;v er;i1 E_ water;hor;in;i  E_ gas;i  E_ solids;i  E_ water;v er;i  E_ water;hor;i  E_ amb;i  E_ loss;consrev ;i  E_ destr;i 0
_ water;hor;i ephy;f echem;f
E_ water;hor;in;i m
_ water;hor;i 1  xhor;i ephy;f echem;f m
_ water;hor;i xhor;i ephy;steam echem;f
E_ water;hor;i m
_ water;v er 1  xv er;i1 ephy;f echem;f m
_ water;v er xv er;i1 ephy;steam echem;f
E_ water;v er;i1 m
_ water;v er 1  xv er;i ephy;f echem;f m
_ water;v er xv er;i ephy;steam echem;f
E_ water;v er;i m
P

P
P



lnyk
E_ gas;i1 n_ gas;i1
k yk g k  g 0;k
k yk echem;k RT 0
k yk 
P
P
P



E_ gas;i n_ gas;i
y

g

g

RT
y
lny
e
0
0;k
k
k k k
k k chem;k
k k
k : gas species O2 ; CO; NO; SO2 and H2 O
_Esolids;i1 m
_ w;i1 X c;i1 fhc;i1  h0;c  T 0 sc;i1  s0;c echem;c g m
_ w;i1 1  X c;i1 fhash;i1  h0;ash  T 0 sash;i1  s0;ash g
_ e;i1 X c;i1 fhc;i1  h0;c  T 0 sc;i1  s0;c echem;c g m
_ e;i1 1  X c;i1 fhash;i1  h0;ash  T 0 sash;i1  s0;ash g
m
_ w;i X c;i m
_ e;i X c;i fhc;i  h0;c  T 0 sc;i  s0;c echem;c g m
_ w;i m
_ e;i 1  X c;i fhash;i  h0;ash  T 0 sash;i  s0;ash g
E_ solids;i m
E_ bot;in E_ char E_ air;bot;in
_ char echem;char
E_ char m
P

1 2


E_ air;bot;in n_ air
k yk g k  g 0;k 2 U air;in
Freeboard

E_ gas;i1 E_ solids;i1 E_ water;v er;i1  E_ gas;i  E_ solids;i  E_ water;v er;i  E_ amb;i  E_ loss;consrev ;i  E_ destr;i 0
_ solids;i1 X c;i1 fhc;i1  h0;c  T 0 sc;i1  s0;c echem;c g m
_ solids;i1 1  X c;i1 fhash;i1  h0;ash  T 0 sash;i1  s0;ash g
E_ solids;i1 m
_ solids;i X c;i fhc;i  h0;c  T 0 sc;i  s0;c echem;c g m
_ solids;i 1  X c;i fhash;i  h0;ash  T 0 sash;i  s0;ash g
E_ solids;i m


0
Q_ amb;i
E_ amb;i 1  TTamb

N. Eskin et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 50 (2009) 24282438

2435

Table 11
Exergy balance equations for WHB, cyclone, economizer and chimney.
Waste heat boiler

Cyclone

E_ fluegas;WHB;in E_ water;v er;in E_ water;hor;in E_ water;feed  E_ fluegas;WHB;out  E_ water;v er;out

E_ water;hor;out  E_ steam  E_ amb  E_ loss;consrev ;i  E_ destr;i 0

E_ fluegas;cyc;in  E_ fluegas;cyc;out  E_ cyc;solids;out  E_ loss;consrev ;i  E_ destr;i 0

_ water;v er 1  xv er;in ephy;f echem;f

E_ water;v er;in m
_ water;v er xv er;in ephy;steam echem;f
m
_ water;v er ephy;f echem;f
E_ water;v er;out m


P
_ water;hor;i 1  xhor;in;i ephy;f echem;f
m
E_ water;hor;in NCB
i1
_ water;hor xhor;in;i ephy;steam echem;f
m
_ water;hor ephy;f echem;f
E_ water;hor;out m
E_ fluegas;WHB;in E_ bot;NC
E_ fluegas;WHB;out n_ gas;NC ephy;WHB;out echem;WHB;out
_ solids;NC X c;NC ephy;c echem;c
m
_ solids;NC 1  X c;NC ephy;ash
m
_ water;feed ephy;f echem;f
E_ water;feed m
_ steam ephy;steam echem;f
E_ steam m

E_ fluegas;cyc;in n_ gas;NC 
ephy;cyc;in 
echem;cyc;in
_ solids;NC 1  X c;NC ephy;ash
_ solids;NC X c;NC ephy;c echem;c m
m
E_ fluegas;cyc;out n_ gas;NC ephy;cyc;out 
echem;cyc;out


_ solids;NC X c;NC ephy;c echem;c
m
1  gcyc
_ solids;NC 1  X c;NC ephy;ash
m


_ solids;NC X c;NK ephy;c echem;c
m
E_ cyc;solids;out gcyc
_ solids;NC 1  X c;NC ephy;ash
m

Economizer

Chimney

E_ fluegas;eco;in E_ water;eco;in  E_ fluegas;eco;out  E_ water;eco;out  E_ amb  E_ loss;consrev ;i  E_ destr;i 0

E_ fluegas;chim;in  E_ fluegas;chim;out  E_ amb  E_ loss;consrev ;i  E_ destr;i 0

ephy;eco;in 
echem;eco;in
E_ fluegas;eco;in n_ gas;NC 
_ solids;NC X c;NC ephy;c echem;c
m
1  gcyc
_ solids;NC 1  X c;NC ephy;ash
m
E_ fluegas;eco;out n_ gas;NC 
ephy;eco;out echem;eco;out
_ solids;NC X c;NK ephy;c echem;c
m
1  gcyc
_ solids;NC 1  X c;NC ephy;ash
m
_ water;feed ephy;f echem;f
E_ water;eco;in m
_ water;feed ephy;f echem;f
E_ water;eco;out m

E_ fluegas;chim;in n_ gas;NC 

ephy;chim;in 
echem;chim;in
_ solids;NC X c;NK ephy;c echem;c
m
1  gcyc
_ solids;NC 1  X c;NC ephy;ash
m
E_ fluegas;chim;out n_ gas;NC 
ephy;chim;out 
echem;chim;out

_ solids;NC X c;NC ephy;c echem;c
m
1  gcyc
_
msolids;NC 1  X c;NC ephy;ash



0
Q_ amb
E_ amb 1  TTamb

to consider the exergy quantities that cross the system boundaries

either as ow exergy associated with mass ux, or as exergy transfer built in with the transfer of energy quantities (heat and work).
Identifying the main sites of exergy destruction shows the direc-

tion for potential improvements. Exergy analysis of a complex system can be performed by analyzing the components of the system
separately. The exergy analysis includes the calculation of the exergy destruction and the exergetic efciency of the plant.

2436

N. Eskin et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 50 (2009) 24282438

Table 12
The rst and the second law efciencies of the system.
Fluidized bed
_

Q water;v er;in Q water;v er;out

gI;FB QQ_FB;out Q water;hor;in Q water;hor;out
_ char LHV char
m
FB;in

E_ FB;out
E_

gII;FB

FB;in

E_ water;v er;in E_ water;v er;out E_ water;hor;in E_ water;hor;out E_ gas;NC E_ solids;NC
E_
E_
char

air

Waste heat boiler

_

gI;WHB QQ_WHB;out Q_
WHB;in

Q_ steam Q_ water;feed

_
_
E_ steam E_ water;feed
_
_
E
E

gII;WHB EE_WHB;out E_

_
_
water;v er;in Ewater;v er;out Ewater;hor;in

WHB;in

water;v er;in Q water;v er;out Q water;hor;in Q water;hor;out Q fluegas;WHB;in Q fluegas;WHB;out

water;hor;out

_
fluegas;WHB;in Efluegas;WHB;out

Economizer
_

gI;eco QQ_eco;out Q_Q water;eco;outQ_Q water;eco;in

eco;in

E_ eco;out
E_

gII;eco

eco;in

fluegas;eco;in

fluegas;eco;out

E_ water;eco;out E_ water;eco;in

E_
E_
fluegas;eco;in

fluegas;eco;out

Overall system
_

gI;PP QQ_PP;out m_
PP;in

gII;PP EE_PP;out E_
PP;in

Q_ steam Q_ water;in

_
_
_
_
E_ steam E_ water;in
_
_ asp W
_ pump W
_
W
W

char LHV char W fan1 W asp W pump W stoker;mot

char Eair;out

fan

stoker;mot

The exergy efciency may be dened as the ratio of the exergy

output to the exergy input. The general efciency equations for
exergy can be written as follows:

gII

exergy output
exergy loss
1
exergy input
exergy input

The exergy efciency of the FBCC based on the second law of

thermodynamics can be derived by considering the exergy transferred to the coolant inside the heat exchangers, the ue gas exergy
and the exergy of the drifted waste solids as exergy output and the
chemical exergy of the fuel and the exergy of the air feed as the
exergy input. The second law efciency for overall system and system subsystems (uidized bed, a WHB and an economizer) are given in Table 12.
The exergy of the solids in the FBCC riser is considered as the
exergy of the coal. The exergy of the ash is neglected because of
its minor contribution when compared with the exergy of the coal
[9]. The exergy of the coal is calculated with both its physical and
chemical exergies. The fuel specic exergy value is considered in
the model as the fuel lower heating value (LHV).

The effects of excess air on the system temperature values

(FBCC at the inlet of bed and at the heights of 90 cm and
110 cm above the distributor plate and WHB and economizer
temperatures) and on the rst and second law efciency of the
thermal power plant subsystems and overall system in modeling
results are given in Tables 1315, respectively. The tables show
the predicted model results for four excess air ratios (of about
10%, 30%, 50% and 70%). For this assumption coal feed rate is
1515.6 kg/h, the steam pressure is 6 bar, the ambient temperature
is 30 C.
It can be seen that the total changes in the energy efciency are
found to be higher than the exergy efciency for the FBCC which is
directly derived from the very nature of their descriptions. It is observed that the excess air has the negative effect on the temperature values of the FBCC, especially in the bottom zone. As the
excess air value increases, the mean bed temperature decreases
due to higher heat losses with increasing ue gas ow rates to
the WHB. It is seen from the Table 13 that the energy efciency decreases as the combustion losses increase with increasing excess
air value. Excess air affects combustion efciency in two ways:
one is due to higher heat losses with increasing ue gas ow rates
to the WHB. As expected, decreasing the temperature decreases
the carbon combustion efciency due to the decrease in the reaction rates [28]. The other effect is that the bed temperature decreases as the excess air ratio increases and it affects the
combustion efciency due to decrease in the reaction rates and results in higher carbon content in the mass discharged from the
combustor. The decrease of the reaction rate of char combustion

Table 14
The effects of excess air on the rst law efciencies of the power plant.
Energy efciency

gI;FB
gI;WHB
gI;eco
gI;PP

Excess air (%)

Total changes (%)

10

30

50

70

0.531
0.987
0.931
0.703

0.496
0.987
0.941
0.694

0.459
0.986
0.944
0.680

0.426
0.985
0.946
0.667

19.8
0.2
1.6
5.1

Table 15
The effects of excess air on the second law efciencies of the power plant.

4. Results and discussion

The thermodynamic analysis has been performed to show how
different operational parameters affect the rst and second law
efciency of the thermal power plant. In the present study, the effects of the excess air and the ambient temperature on rst and
second law efciency of the subsystems and overall system are
investigated through the developed and validated model.

Exergy efciency

gII;FB
gII;WHB
gII;eco
gII;PP

Excess air (%)

Total changes (%)

10

30

50

70

0.367
0.819
0.577
0.230

0.363
0.800
0.575
0.227

0.366
0.781
0.570
0.223

0.369
0.764
0.565
0.218

0.5
6.7
2.1
5.2

Table 13
The effects of excess air on the system temperature values.
Calculation points (C)

Tamb
TFB,in
Tbot,90
Tbot,110
TFB,out
TWHB,in
TWHB,out
Teco,in
Teco,out
Tchim,out

Excess air (%)

Total changes (%)

10

30

50

70

30.00
66.98
875.56
874.74
581.61
581.61
248.60
248.60
172.34
165.57

30.00
62.25
844.90
843.71
580.91
580.91
252.40
252.40
178.25
169.42

30.00
56.99
809.86
808.38
575.36
575.36
255.10
255.10
183.57
173.27

30.00
54.72
775.60
773.93
566.21
566.21
256.85
256.85
188.10
176.79

18.3
11.4
11.5
2.6
2.6
3.3
3.3
9.1
6.8

2437

N. Eskin et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 50 (2009) 24282438

Steam flow rate (kg/h)

7000

6900

6800

6700

6600

6500

20

40
60
Excess air

80

100

Fig. 2. Effects of excess air on steam generation in the plant.

with increasing excess air causes an increase of the loss due to the
unburnt carbon contained in the discharged mass. Although the
amount of oxygen increases with increasing excess air, decreasing
bed temperature causes a negative effect on the combustion efciency [29]. The lower mean bed temperature values lead to a decrease of heat transfer from the bed to the heat exchanger surfaces.
As Table 14 displays that the energy efciencies are found to be
very small in other plant devices. The increasing excess air decreases the FBCC heat exchanger performance and the amount of
steam generated in the WHB. The lower mean bed temperature decreases the amount of heat transfer in the WHB. Thus, as the excess
air increases it is observed that the availability of the WHB is affected negatively, which are further caused by the heat transfer
based descriptions of the WHB and economizer (Table 15). The rst
law efciency of the plant decreases with the increase of the excess
air. The main reason of the efciency loss is the increase of energy
loss from the chimney.
The role of the FBCC becomes less important as the increasing
excess air affects the amount of heat transferred to the water
whereas the effect of the WHB and economizer increases in view
of the exergy efciency. The overall second law efciency of the
system decreases 5.2% as the excess air increases from 10% to
70% (Table 15). It is observed that as a general trend, the results obtained for energy efciency are similar to the results obtained for
exergy efciency for overall system from the thermodynamic
viewpoint.
The increase of excess air causes a decrease of energy transferred to the water and results in lower amounts of steam generation in the plant as seen in Fig. 2. The amount of the decrease of the
generated steam becomes 5.1%, in case the excess air is increased
from 10% to 70%.

The system irreversibilities and their rates for the excess air value of 30% are given in Table 16. The second-law analysis reveals
that the FBCC has the largest irreversibility, with about 80.4% of
the total system exergy loss. Chemical reaction and physical transport processes are the sources of irreversibilities in combustion
process in FBCC. In many situations, the major part played among
all physical processes is the internal thermal energy exchange.
The effects of the ambient temperature on the system temperature values and on the rst and second law efciency of the thermal power plant subsystems and overall system in modeling
results are given in Tables 1719, respectively. Tables show the
predicted model results for two ambient temperature values (of
about 25 C and 45 C). For this assumption coal feed rate is
1515.6 kg/h, the steam pressure is 6 bar, the excess air ratio is 30%.
When the power plant operates at varying ambient temperatures, the exergy loss at a higher ambient temperature is less than
at a lower ambient temperature. Ambient air density varies inversely with its temperature, directly affecting the inlet air mass ow
rate and thus directly impacting the FBCC output. For an increase of
about 20 C in the ambient temperature, the increasing of energy
efciency is about 1.4% and for exergy efciency is only about
0.8% for the FBCC. On the other hand the results of the exergy efciency show that the ambient temperature does not affect the
exergetic efciency of the WHB and the economizer. The overall
efciency of the system has increased 1.3%. The increase of the
ambient temperature causes an increase of the steam generation
in the plant. The amount of the increase of the generated steam becomes 1.3%, in case the ambient temperature is increased from
25 C to 45 C.
Table 17
The effects of the ambient temperature on the system temperature values.
Calculation points (C)

Tamb
TFB,in
Tbot,90
Tbot,110
TFB,out
TWHB,in
TWHB,out
Teco,in
Teco,out
Tchim,out

Tamb

Total changes (%)

25 C

45 C

25.00
56.17
843.13
841.93
579.78
579.78
252.06
252.06
178.04
168.42

45.00
76.05
850.27
849.09
583.87
583.87
252.99
252.99
178.44
172.03

80.0
35.4
0.8
0.9
0.7
0.7
0.4
0.4
0.2
2.1

Table 18
The effects of the ambient temperature on the rst law efciencies of the power plant.
Energy efciency

gI;FB
gI;WHB
gI;eco
gI;PP

Tamb

Total changes (%)

25 C

45 C

0.494
0.987
0.941
0.691

0.501
0.987
0.942
0.700

1.4
0.0
0.1
1.3

Table 16
System irreversibilities and their rates for excess air value of 30%.
Calculation points

Irreversibility (kW)

Irreversibility rate (%)

FBCC
Waste heat boiler
Cyclone
Waste solids
Economizer
Flue gases
Heat transfer to the ambient,
fans and pumps
Total rreversibility

3639.4
319.0
3.6
47.7
42.3
351.0
123.2

80.4
7.0
0.1
1.1
0.9
7.8
2.7

4526.1

100.0

Table 19
The effects of the ambient temperature on the second law efciencies of the power
plant.
Exergy efciency

gII;FB
gII;WHB
gII;eco
gII;PP

Tamb

Total changes (%)

25 C

45 C

0.362
0.799
0.575
0.226

0.365
0.799
0.575
0.229

0.8
0.0
0.0
1.3

2438

N. Eskin et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 50 (2009) 24282438

5. Conclusions
In the present study, the effects of the excess air and the ambient temperature on rst and second law efciency of the subsystems and overall system of a 7.7 MW steam power plant are
investigated through the developed and validated model. In this
analysis which consists of a detailed FBCC model the amount of
irreversibility occurring in the system are calculated at each location and the FBCC has the largest irreversibility, with about 80.4%
of the total system exergy loss. The increase of the excess air causes
a decrease of the overall energy efciency in the plant. It is observed that as a general trend, the results obtained for energy efciency are similar to the results obtained for exergy efciency for
overall system from the excess air viewpoint. It is also important
note that the ambient temperature is an effective parameter it self.
A future suggestion is to study the thermoeconomics of this
process.
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