Dr.

Safaa Hameed Faisal Power Plants Lectures

Chapter-2-
STEAM POWER PLANTS
1- Basic idea of steam power plant:
A steam power plant is a power plant in which the working fluid is steam. Water is heated in the boiler
and turns into steam. The produced steam spins a steam turbine which in turn drives an electrical generator.
The electric generator consist of a stator and rotor coils (copper wires).

The basic idea of steam power plant can be improved by inserting two extra components. So, after the steam
passes through the turbine, it can be condensed in a condenser and recycled to where it was heated by using
a pump.
This is known as a Rankine cycle.

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Dr.Safaa Hameed Faisal Power Plants Lectures
3- Analysis of steam power plants:
Carnot Cycle :
Theoretically, the Carnot vapor cycle is the most efficient vapor power cycle operating between two
temperature levels. It is composed of the following four processes (all are difficult to apply, so Carnot cycle
is not practical):
1-2 isentropic compression
2-3 Isothermal heat addition
3-4 isentropic expansion
4-1 Isothermal heat rejection)
Analysis of the cycle:
W pump  Win  h2  h1
Qboiler  Qin  h3  h2  T2 ( s 4  s1 )
Wturbine  Wout  h3  h4
Qcondenser  Qout  h4  h1  T2 ( s 4  s1 )
The net work , which is also equal to the net heat ,
is:
Wnet  Wturbine  W pump  Qnet  Qboiler  Qcondenser
The thermal efficiency of the cycle is
Wnet Q T
 th   1  out  1  1
Qboiler Qin T2

Simple Rankine Cycle:

Modern steam power generation is based on the modified Rankine cycle. However, the simple Rankine
cycle comprises the processes:
1–2: Saturated liquid from the condenser at state 1 is pumped isentropically to state 2
2–3: Liquid is heated at constant pressure in the boiler to state 3 (saturated steam).
3–4: Steam expands isentropically through the turbine to state 4.
4–1: Constant-pressure transfer of heat in the condenser. (Point 1 is saturated liquid).

W pump  Win  h2  h1   1 ( p 2  p1 )
Qboiler  Qin  h3  h2
Wturbine  Wout  h3  h4
Qcondenser  Qout  h4  h1
The net work , which is also equal to the net heat , is:
Wnet  Wturbine  W pump  Qnet  Qboiler  Qcondenser
Wnet Q
The thermal efficiency of the cycle is:  th   1  out
Qboiler Qin

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Dr.Safaa Hameed Faisal Power Plants Lectures
5- Steam power plant characteristics:

Thermal efficiency: a more efficient power plant means the plant is more economical compared with low
efficient one.
Wnet
 th 
Qin

Specific Steam consumption (ssc) :it can be defined as the mass of steam required to produce one kWh of
power(kg/kWh). It gives an idea about the size of the plant.
3600
ssc(kg / kWh) 
Wnet (kJ / kg )

Heat Rate (HR): it is the amount of heat in kJ required to produce one kWh of power. It gives an idea about
amount of fuel used.
3600
HR(kJ / kWh) 
 th

6-Methods of increasing Rankine steam cycle: ‫طرق زيادة كفاءة دورة رانكن البخارية‬
The basic ideas behind all the modifications to increase the thermal efficiency of a power cycle are:
1- Increases the output work from the turbine while keeping the heat input to the cycle unchanged (or
slightly increases).
2- Decreasing the heat input to the cycle while keeping the output work from the turbine unchanged (or
slightly decreases). increasing the average temperature at which heat is added to the working fluid and/or by
decreasing the average temperature at which heat is rejected to the cooling medium.

‫بينم ا بلغ ت ه ذة الكف اءة حالي ا ف ي‬. %١٠ ‫منذ بداية القرن الماضي كانت كفاءة المحطات البخارية التي تعمل تبعا لدورة رانكن البسيطة بح دود‬
‫نظرا لكبر حجم الوحدات‬.(‫ في الدورات المشتركة غازية وبخارية‬%٥٠ ‫ )اقتربت الكفاءة الحرارية بحدود‬%٤٠ ‫المحطات عالية اﻻداء بحدود‬
‫ كان ت الط رق المس تخدمة ف ي ب ادئ اﻻم ر ﻻ‬.‫التوليدية لذا فان أي تحسن بالكف اءة الحراري ة يعن ي ت وفيرا كبي را ف ي كمي ات الوق ود المص روفة‬
‫تشتمل على تغيرات صناعية كبيرة وارتكزت اساسا عل ى زي ادة ض غط او درج ة ح رارة البخ ار المول د ف ي المرج ل البخ اري او تقلي ل ض غط‬
‫ وفيما بعد ظهرت طرق جديدة متزامنة مع تغيرات صناعية كبيرة وهامة على دورة رانكن البخارية هي اعادة التسخين واﻻستنزاف‬. ‫المكثف‬

Development of Rankine cycle

*increase steam *making reheating

temperature. process.
*increase steam *making

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Dr.Safaa Hameed Faisal Power Plants Lectures

Rankine cycle with low condenser pressure:

Decreasing the condenser pressure will increase the output work from turbine while the heat input to the
cycle will slightly increase.
.‫يؤدي تقليل ضغط المكثف الى زيادة في شغل التوربين وهو ما يؤدي الى الزيادة في الكفاءة الحرارية‬

Requirements:
Decreasing condenser pressure imposes using condenser with heavy materials to withstand the vacuum
pressure.

Side effect:
1- Lowering the condenser pressure increases the moisture content of the steam at the final stages of the
turbine.
.‫لتقليل ضغط المكثف تاثير سلبي على نوعية البخار في مخرج التوربين‬
2- Lowering the condenser pressure will decrease the saturation temperature of the steam at the condenser.
This temperature must be higher than the cooling water temperature.
‫ان خفض ضغط المكثف يؤدي الى تقليل درجة حرارة البخار في المكثف والتي يجب ان تكون دائما اعلى من درجة حرارة ماء التبريد‬
.‫المتوفر‬
3- Lowering the condenser pressure will complicate the air leakage problem to steam cycle.
vacuum pressure ‫تعقد هذة الطريقة من مشكلة تسرب الهواء الى الدورة البخارية حيث ان ضغط المكثف يكون اقل من الجو بكثير‬

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Dr.Safaa Hameed Faisal Power Plants Lectures
Benefits of regenerative process:
1- This method can improve the thermal efficiency if the bled pressure is optimized well.
2- Prevent boiler tubes failure (due to the thermal stresses) since feed water is supplied to the boiler at high
temperature.
3- Helps to decrease the condenser size.
4- This method helps to find new way to remove the leaked air to the steam cycle (deaerator) by adoption
the open feed water heater and air ejector.
:‫من الممكن ان نلخص اهم فوائد عملية اﻻستنزاف باﻻتي‬
.‫ تقوم بتحسين الكفاءة الحرارية اذا تم اختيار ضغط اﻻستنزاف بشكل جيد‬.١
.‫ تساعد على تقليل اﻻجهادات الحرارية المسلطة على انابيب المرجل وتمنع انفجارها‬.٢
.‫ تساعد على تقليل حجم المكثف بسبب تقليل معدل الجريان‬.٣
‫ من ماء التغذية وذلك عند استخدام النوع المفتوح وكم ا سيوض ح‬deareation ‫ تساعد على ايجاد وسيلة ناجحة لنزع الهواء‬.٤
.‫في فصل مكثفات البخار‬

a) The two streams are mixed in open feedwater heaters، and the mixture leaves as a saturated liquid at the
heater pressure.
b) In closed feedwater heaters, heat is transferred from the steam to the feedwater without mixing.

Feed Water Heaters Types:

The purpose of the open feed water heaters is to increase the temperature of the boiler feed water to a
saturated liquid state prior to entering the boiler

open type ‫ النوعية المفتوحة‬.١

‫ وف ي ه ذه النوعي ة يج ري تس خين م اء‬direct contact heaters‫ اومس خنات التم اس المباش ر‬mixing type‫وتسمى ايظا مسخنات الخلط‬
‫التغذية الى حاله التشبع وذلك بخلطه مع البخار المستنزف من التوربين‬
advantages‫ومن اهم محاسنه‬
.‫ اﻻداء الحراري اﻻفضل‬.١
. mixing chamber ‫ بساطة التركيب فهو ﻻ يعدو كونه غرفه خلط‬.٢
‫ رخيص الثمن‬.٣
disadvantages:‫واما عن مساوءه‬
.‫ تلوث البخار بزيت التزييت المستخدم في التوربين‬.١
.‫ تعدد المضخات في الدورة البخارية حيث يحتاج كل مسخن الى مضخة اضافية‬.٢
.‫ ضروره تساوي ضغوط البخار المستنزف مع ضغط ماء التغذية‬.٣

Open feed water heaters

Steam extracted from the turbine is mixed directly with the boiler feed water. The boiler feed water must
be pumped to a pressure slightly less than the pressure of the extracted steam by a feed water pump. So, one
feed water pump is required for each open feed water heater. Each additional feedwater pumps require
additional capital expense and are a source of operational problems, service problems and noise problems.
Open feed water heaters are also used as deaerators because the open feed water liberates none
condensing gasses that are vented to the atmosphere

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Dr.Safaa Hameed Faisal Power Plants Lectures

7- Further improvement to steam power plant:

A large amount of fuel is used in thermal power plant and very large amount of heat is generated and
carried by flue gases. The loss would be very high if the flue gases carry all the heat away. The loss can
decreased by installing an economizer and a pre- heater in the path of the flue gases. The economizer
transfers the heat from the flue gases to the incoming feed water that leaves the last feed water heater. This
reduces the heat required to convert the feed water to steam. The air pre-heater increases the heat of the air
supplied into the boiler for combustion. This increases the efficiency of the boiler.
:‫تطويرات إضافية على محطات القدرة البخارية‬
‫ادخلت في اﻻونة اﻻخيرة تحسينات كبيرة على دورة البخار المطورة صناعيا )استنزاف واعادة تسخين(لغرض زيادة افضل ف ي كف اءة ال دورة‬
‫ ارتكزت هذه التطويرات على امكانية اﻻستفادة من طاقة الوقود المدخلة الى اعلى ما يمك ن وتقلي ل الخس ائر الحراري ة المفق ودة ف ي‬. ‫الحرارية‬
‫ يقع في المرحلة ما قبل‬FWH ‫غازات العادم وعلية فلقد تم ادخال شبكه جديدة من اﻻنابيب لتسخين ماء التغذية المغادر ﻻخر مسخن ماء تغذية‬
‫ ولﻼس تفادة اكث ر م ن طاق ة غ ازات الع ادم يمك ن اس تخدام‬. Economizer ‫ وتس مى بالمقتص د او الم وفر‬flue gases ‫اﻻخيرة لغازات الع ادم‬
‫ ال ذي يق ع ف ي المرحل ة النهائي ة م ن غ ازات الع ادم الت ي بات ت مس تعده لمغ ادرة المرج ل عب ر دكت ات‬air pre-heater‫مس خن اله واء المس بق‬
.‫ يقوم مسخن الهواء بتسخين الهواء الﻼزم لﻼحتراق وبالتالي يقلل من كمية الوقود المصروفه بشكل كبير‬, chimney ‫التوصيل للمدخنة‬

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Dr.Safaa Hameed Faisal Power Plants Lectures
The general layout of thermal power plant consists of mainly four circuits as shown in fig above. The four
circuits are
1- Fuel and Ash circuit.
2- Air and combustion gas circuit.
3- Feed Water and Steam circuit.
4- Cooling Water circuit.
5- Electric power circuit.
:‫تتالف المحطة البخارية عالية اﻻداء من خمﺲ دوائر مهمة وهي‬
‫ دائرة الطاقة الكهربائية‬-٥ .‫ دائرة ماء التبريد‬-٤ .‫دائرة ماء التغذية والبخار‬-٣ .‫ دائرة الهواء والغازات المحترقة‬-٢ .‫دائرة الوقود ومخلفاته‬-١.
1- Fuel and Ash Circuit:
This circuit consists mainly from:
1- Fuel storage devices.
2- Fuel filtration devices.
3- Fuel treatments devices (like heat exchangers for heating the fuel).
4- Fuel transmission equipments (like pumps).
So, the fuel from the storage is fed to the boiler's burners through a fuel handling unit. This unit is
responsible for heating, filtering, control the fuel pressure, and making any further treatment for the fuel.
Solid products (such as ash due to combustion of coal) and soot are removed at the bottom of steam
generator.
‫ مع دات معامل ة الوق ود كالمب ادﻻت الحراري ة الض رورية لتس خين‬-٣ .‫ معدات تنقية الوقود‬-٢ .‫وحدات خزن الوقود‬-١ :‫تتالف هذه الدورة من‬
.‫ معدات نقل الوقود كالمضخات‬-٤ .‫الوقود‬
2- Air and Flue Gases Circuit:
This circuit consists mainly from:
1- Air filtration.
2- Draught fans like (F.D. fan, I.D. fan, G..R. fan)
3- Air and flue gases ducts.
4- Air pre-heater.
5- Flue gases treatments equipments.
6- Chimney.
-٥ ‫ مس خن اله واء المس بق‬-٤ ‫ مج اري اله واء وغ ازات الع ادم‬-٣ ‫ م راوح دف ع وس حب اله واء‬-٢ ‫ مرشحات اله واء‬-١ ‫تتألف هذه الدورة من‬
.‫ المدخنة‬-٦ ‫معدات تنقية ومعاملة غازات العادم‬
Air is supplied to the combustion chamber of the boiler either through forced draught or induced draught
fan or by using both. The dust from the air is removed before supplying to the combustion chamber using
huge filters. The exhaust gases carrying sufficient quantity of heat are passed through the air pre-heater
where the heat of the exhaust gases is given to the air.
In modern steam power plant, exhaust gases are treated using extra equipments before exhausting the
gases to the atmosphere. These equipments include dust collectors and oxides removal systems.

3- Feed Water and Steam Circuit:

This circuit consists mainly from:
1- The boiler.
2- The turbine.
3- The condenser.
4- The feed water pump.
5- Feed water heaters.

The steam generated in the boiler is fed to the steam prime mover (turbine) to develop the power. The
steam coming out of the prime mover is condensed in the condenser and then pumped and pre-heated using
the feed water heaters via steam bled from the turbine. Finally, the feed water is fed to the boiler and the
cycle repeats.
Some of the steam and water are lost passing through different components of the system; therefore, feed
water is supplied to compensate this loss (make-up water). The feed water is supplied by the water treatment
plant. This plant is responsible for reducing the total dissolve salts (TDS) to an acceptable level and

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Dr.Safaa Hameed Faisal Power Plants Lectures
10- Binary Vapour Cycle
In this cycle two working fluids are used. Figure below shows elements of Binary vapour power plant. The
mercury boiler heats the mercury into mercury vapours in a dry and saturated state. These mercury vapours
expand in the mercury turbine and then flow through heat exchanger where they transfer the heat to the feed
water, convert it into steam. The steam is passed through the steam super heater where the steam is super-
heated by the hot flue gases. The steam then expands in the steam turbine.

11-Combined Gas–Vapor Power Cycles

The continued quest for higher thermal efficiencies has resulted in rather innovative modifications to
conventional power plants. The binary vapor cycle discussed above is one such modification. A more
popular modification involves a gas power cycle topping a vapor power cycle, which is called the combined
gas–vapor cycle, or just the combined cycle. The combined cycle of greatest interest is the gas-turbine
(Brayton) cycle topping a steam turbine (Rankine) cycle, which has a higher thermal efficiency than either
of the cycles executed individually.

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Dr.Safaa Hameed Faisal Power Plants Lectures
Home Work
Carnot Cycle and Simple Rankine Cycle:

Q1/A steady-flow Carnot cycle uses water as the working fluid. Water changes from saturated liquid to
saturated vapor as heat is transferred to it from a source at 250°C. Heat rejection takes place at a pressure of
20 kPa. Show the cycle on a T-s diagram relative to the saturation lines, and determine:(a) the thermal
efficiency,(b) the amount of heat rejected, in kJ/kg, (c) the net work output.
Ans(36.3%,1092.3kJ/kg,623.kJ/kg).

Q2// Water is the working fluid in a Carnot vapor power cycle. Saturated liquid enters the boiler at a
pressure of 18 MPa, and saturated vapor enters the turbine. The condenser pressure is 6 kPa. Determine:(a)
the thermal efficiency.(b) the back work ratio.(c) the net work of the cycle per unit mass of water flowing,in
kJ/kg.(d) the heat transfer from the working fluid passing through the condenser, in kJ per kg of steam
flowing.

Q3// Water is the working fluid in an ideal Rankine cycle. The condenser pressure is 8 kPa, and saturated
vapor enters the turbine at (a) 18 MPa and (b) 4 MPa. The net power output of the cycle is 100 MW.
Determine for each case the mass flow rate of steam, in kg/h, the heat transfer rates for the working fluid
passing through the boiler and condenser, each in kW, and the thermal efficiency.
Answ((a) 4.01E5, 258.4E3,158.4E3, 38.7%)

Q4// Water is the working fluid in an ideal Rankine cycle. Saturated vapor enters the turbine at 18 MPa. The
condenser pressure is 6 kPa. Determine
(a) the net work per unit mass of steam flowing, in kJ/kg.
(b) the heat transfer to the steam passing through the boiler.
(c) the thermal efficiency.
(d) the heat transfer to cooling water passing through the condenser.
Answ(921.6, 2339.5, 39.4, 1417.9)

The Reheat Rankine Cycle:

Q5//in a reheat Rankine cycle ,steam at 8 MPa,400 oC enter the high pressure turbine ,then at pressure of
500 kPa it is reheated to the initial superheated temperature and supplied to the low pressure turbine . the
condenser pressure is 10 kPa . Determine the thermal efficiency of this cycle.(Answer: 37.67%)

Q6// Steam at 10 MPa, 600C enters the first-stage turbine of an ideal Rankine cycle with reheat. The steam
leaving the reheat section of the steam generator is at 500C, and the condenser pressure is 6 kPa. If the
quality at the exit of the secondstage turbine is 90%, determine the cycle thermal efficiency. Answ(44.2%)

The Regenerative Rankine Cycle:

Q7// in a regenerative Rankine cycle ,having one open feed water heater ,the dry saturated steam is supplied
from the boiler at a pressure of 30 bar and the condenser pressure is 1 bar. The steam required for the FWH
is bled at a pressure of 5 bar. Determine the amount of bled steam per kg of steam supplied from the boiler
and the thermal efficiency of the cycle. What would be the efficiency of the cycle without the regenerative
process?Answer (y=0.11 , 24.98% , 23.8%)

Q8/A steam power plant operates on an ideal regenerative Rankine cycle with two open feedwater heaters.
Steam enters the turbine at 10 MPa and 600°C and exhausts to the condenser at 5 kPa. Steam is extracted
from the turbine at 0.6 and 0.2 MPa. Water leaves both feedwater heaters as a saturated liquid. The mass
flow rate of steam through the boiler is 22 kg/s. Show the cycle on a T-s diagram, and determine:A)the net
power output of the power plant .B)the thermal efficiency of the cycle. Answers: (a) 30.5 MW,(b) 47.1
percent.

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Dr.Safaa Hameed Faisal Power Plants Lectures
Q14//find the enthalpies of points 1-12 for the cycle shown below.

Enthalpy
Point NO
(kJ/kg)
1 192
3 763
5 1154
6 3570
7 3222
8 3666
9 3138
10 2305
11 1154
Closed FWH open FWH

Q15/ modern steam power plant for which the T-S diagram is shown below. The plant consist of two
turbines ,three FWHs,and single reheating process.
1- sketch the power plant equipments showing boiler main components (fans, coils,..etc)
2- Find the enthalpies 1-17 using the Mollier chart and steam tables (make table)
3- Find the thermal efficiecy of the plant given that y3=0.03329.

Fig.Q1
T
Not to scale 1
4
2

13 14
Y1
5
12
3
11 15
10 Y2 6
Y3
9
16

17
8 7

Pressre (bar) Temperature (oC) Dryness Fraction

P12=P13=P1=200 T1=550oC x6=1
P14=P2=50 T4=525oC x7=0.95
P3=P4=25
P9=P10=P11=P15=P5=5
Answ(efficiency=0.4389, Qin=2687 kJ/kg, Wnet=1179 kJ/kg, y1=.2786, y2=0.003348, y3=0.03452)

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