ENERGY ENGINEERING UNIT-1

UNIT-1

STEAM POWER PLANT

In a steam power plant, the thermal energy is used to raise steam that runs a steam
turbine, which produces mechanical energy. This mechanical energy is then converted
to electrical energy in a generator. Steam power plants are suitable for large scale
production of electrical power.

LAYOUT OF STEAM POWER PLANT

(Either use the diagram above or the diagram explained in the class)

The layout of steam power plant can be understood with certain circuits namely:

a) Coal and ash Circuit

b) Air and gas circuit
c) Feed water and steam circuit
d) Cooling water circuit

1 Joseph Sajan, Asst. Professor, CMRIT, Bangalore

 ENERGY ENGINEERING UNIT-1

COAL AND ASH CIRCUIT

 The coal which is stored is sent to the boiler

through a coal handling plant.
 The coal is burnt inside the boiler through suitable
mechanisms and produces ash.
 The ash is collected and stored through ash
handling plant.

AIR AND GAS CIRCUIT

 Air is the component which contributes for

combustion in steam power plant.
 Air is drawn with the help of a Forced draft fan
or Induced draft fan.
 The air passes through a pre-heater in order to
make use of the heat of the flue gases.
 After burning, the flue gases passes around the
boiler tubes, super heater, economizer and the
air pre-heater and escapes through the chimney.

FEED WATER AND STEAM

CIRCUIT

 The feed water enters the

economizer where its
temperature is raised, which
then enters the boiler for
phase change process from
water to steam.
 The steam formed then enters the super heater, where its temperature is
raised above the saturation level.
 The super-heated steam enters the turbine, where it is expanded and thus
creates mechanical energy.
 The exhaust steam enters the condenser, where it is condensed back to the
liquid state.

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 ENERGY ENGINEERING UNIT-1

 The condensate then enters a set of heaters and pumps and enters the
economizer as feed water.

COOLING WATER CIRCUIT

 The purpose of the cooling water is to

change the phase of steam to liquid.
 The cooling water is obtained from a river or
canal.
 After extracting heat from the steam, the
cooling water is sent to cooling tower, where
it is cooled back and then sent back to the river or canal.

BURNING OF COAL

HAND
FIRED

OVERFEED
STROKER
BURNING STROKER
OF COAL FIRING
UNDERFEED
STROKER

UNIT
SYSTEM
PULVERISED
FIRING
BIN
SYSTEM

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SELECTION CRITERIA FOR COMBUSTION EQUIPMENT FOR COAL

While selecting the combustion equipment, the following criteria should be satisfied

 Initial Cost
 Sufficient combustion space
 Area of grate
 Operating cost
 Minimum smoke
 Flexibility of operation
 Arrangements for thorough mixing of air and fuel

STOKER FIRING
A stoker is a power operated fuel feeding mechanism and grate.

CLASSIFICATION OF STOKER FIRING

 Over feed Stoker
 Under feed Stoker

OVER FEED STOKER

Principle:
 The air along with water vapour enters from the bottom of the grate.
 In flowing through the grate opening, the air is heated as it cools the grate.

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 The warm air then passes through the layer of hot ashes and picks up the
heat.
 The immediate region above the ash is incandescent coke.
 As it passes through this region, O2 in air reacts with carbon and forms CO2.
The water vapour (H2O) reacts with coke and forms CO, CO2 and H2.
 On further travel along the coke region, CO2 reacts to form CO.
 Hence no more O2 will be present in the gases leaving the coke region.
 The region above the coke is the fresh coal, where due to immense heat the
volatile matter is distilled and forms coke, which settles below.
 Secondary air is provided to burn the combustible gases. It is supplied at high
speeds to create turbulence.
 The combustible gases then burn completely in the furnace.

TYPES OF OVERFEED STOKER

TRAVELLING GRATE STOKER

Construction
 The stoker consists of flexible endless chain which forms the support for the
fuel bed.
 The chain travels over two sprocket wheels one at front end and other at the
rear of the furnace.
 The speed of stoker is around 15cm to 50 cm per minute.

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Working
 The coal is supplied onto the grate with the help of a hopper as shown in the
figure.
 Since the grate should be protected from overheating, the coal should have
certain ash content, which forms a layer on the grate.
 The air is admitted from the underside of the grate which is divided into
several compartments, which is in turn connected to air duct.
 The secondary air is passed from the parts located above the stoker.
 This produces enough turbulence and also guides the gases towards the boiler.
 The gases after passing through the boiler, is sent back to the atmosphere
through the exhaust.
Advantages
 Simple in Construction
 Low Initial Cost
 Low Maintenance Cost
 Self cleaning
 High heat release rate per unit volume

SPREADER STOKER

Working
 The coal from the hopper is fed onto the grate with the help of Feeder and
Spreader
 The feeder is a rotating drum fitted with blades on its periphery.

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 ENERGY ENGINEERING UNIT-1

 The feeder supplies coal on to the spreader.

 The spreader is a fast moving drum with blades around it.
 The spreader throws the coal onto the grate. The lighter particles travel a
further distance, where as the heavier particles travel a shorter distance.
 The secondary air is supplied through nozzles located directly above the
ignition zone.
 The primary air is supplied from under the grate as shown in the figure.
 Unburnt coal and ash are deposited on the grate which can be moved
periodically to remove ash on the furnace.

UNDER FEED STOKER

Principle:
 Air entering through the holes in the grate comes in contact with the raw coal.
 It then passes through the incandescent coke where reactions similar to over
feed system take place. (Please write the reactions in detail as explained in
overfeed stoker)
 The difference between overfeed and underfeed is the position of layers.

(Types of underfeed stoker will be explained later

and will be updated soon)

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PULVERISED FUEL FIRING

In pulverized fuel firing system, the coal is reduced to fine particles with the help
of grinding mill and then projected into the combustion chamber with the help of hot
air.
The main advantage of pulverised firing is that the combustion is more effective and
the efficiency depends on the fineness of the coal.

Pulverised fuel firing can be classified into 2 types

 Unit System
 Bin System

UNIT SYSTEM

 The unit system is so called because each burner and a pulveriser constitute a
unit.
 The coal is fed into the pulveriser through a feeder. In the feeder, preheated
air is passed to dry the coal before being pulverised.
 The preheated air also acts as primary air.
 The dry coal is now sent to the pulveriser, where the coal is cut down to fine
particles.
 The fine coal through a separator enters the exhaust fan. Only fine particles
pass out of the separator.

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 The job of the exhaust fan is to create suction effect, so that air along with
the coal particles travels along the circuit.
 The secondary air is sent separately to the burner.

BIN or CENTRAL SYSTEM

 This system employs a limited number of pulverisers at a common point for all
the burners.
 The coal is pulverised in the pulverizing mill and is sent to the cyclone
separator, where the fine particles is sent to the burner and the heavier
particles are sent back to the pulveriser.
 The pulverised coal is stored in a storage plant. The coal is sent from the
storage to the burner through the feeder.

PULVERISED FUEL BURNERS

LONG FLAME BURNER

 It is also called U-shaped burner.
 The burner is placed in such a way that it
produces a long, u-shaped flame.
 The burner injects a mixture of primary air
and fuel vertically downwards in thin streams.

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 The secondary air is supplied at right angles, so that rapid combustion is in

place.
 The tertiary air is also supplied for better mixing of fuel through turbulence.

TURBULENT BURNER
 It is also called as short flame burner.
 The burners are built onto the furnace
walls, so that the flame travels in the
horizontal direction.
 The coal-air mixture and secondary air
pass through the burner in such a way
that there is good mixing and high
turbulence.
 Due to high turbulence, the mixture burn
intensely and combustion is completed in
short distance.

TANGENTIAL BURNER
 The construction is that four burners are
located in four corners of the furnace and
fired.
 The four flames meet such that they form a
tangent for an imaginary circle at the centre,
hence the name tangential burner.
 The swirling action produces enough
turbulence for the fuel to burn effectively.

CYCLONE BURNER
 The main disadvantage of the three burners is that the fly-ash produced
requires expensive dust collectors.
 This disadvantage is offset by cyclone burner.
 It consists of a cylindrical drum having a diameter of 2 to 4 meters and
around 2.5 meter in length.
 The coal-air mixture enters the burner from the left end. The coal is thrown
to the surface of the drum.

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 The secondary air enters through the tangential ports at high speeds. This
creates high turbulence.
 This causes the temperature inside the drum to around 2000˚C. Thus the ash
formed is in the molten state, which is formed over the inner wall of the
furnace.
 The burner is tilted at an angle. Hence the molten ash flows out of the burner.

PULVERISING MILLS or PULVERISERS

 Pulverisers are the devices used for crushing the coal into finer particles
before burning them.
 There are mainly four types of pulverizing mills
o Ball mill
o Bowl mill
o Ball and Race mill
o Impact mill

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BOWL MILL

 The bowl mill consists of stationary roller and a rotating bowl.

 The stationary roller is attached to a spring which provides enough pressure
to crush the coal.
 A bowl is rotated slowly by means of a bevel gear which is connected to the
motor.
 The motor is also connected to the fan, which draws the air by creating
suction.
 The raw coal is fed to the rotating bowl through a hopper, which falls in the
space between the rotating bowl and the roller.
 Due to the pressure applied by the spring, the coal gets crushed due to
attrition.
 Hot air is supplied from the bottom of the bowl, which carries the fine coal
towards the classifier.
 The classifier, as the name suggests separates the fine coal from course coal.
 The coarse coal is sent back to the bowl and the fine coal is sent to the burner
through the fan.

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BALLL MILL

 The major components of a ball mill consist of a cylinder, feeder, classifier,

and exhaust fan.
 The cylinder consists of balls of varying size.
 Raw coal enters initially to the classifier through the feeders.
 Since there is no fine coal, all the coal particles enters the cylinder.
 The cylinder is rotated slowly with respect to the horizontal axis.
 The coal particles get in between the balls in the cylinder and due to attrition
the coal particles gets crushed.
 Hot air is passed into the cylinder, which carries away the fine particles to the
classifier.
 The coarse particles are sent back to the cylinder and fine particles are sent
to the burner or furnace through the exhaust fan.

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BALLL AND RACE MILL

 It is also known as contact mill, consisting of races, ball and classifier.

 The crushing takes place between the races and the balls.
 The pressure required for crushing is given by the spring which is connected
to the upper race.
 The upper race is stationary and the lower race is rotated by means of a gear
arrangement, which also rotates the classifier
 Coal is fed to the space between the races and due to the rotation of the
lower race and the moving balls, the crushing takes place.
 Hot air is supplied from the side, which carries the fine coal.
 Above the upper race, a classifier is placed, which is rotated by the gear.
 The classifier creates a cyclone effect, which throws the lighter particles to
the discharge and heavier particles back to the race.

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IMPACT MILL

 This is called as impact mill since the primary stage of grinding takes place due
to impact.
 The mill consists of an impact block, rotating pegs and stationary pegs.
 It also consists of a shaft. The rotating pegs and the primary air fan is
connected to it.
 Coal from the feeder enters the mill through the opening provided.
 As the coal enters, it is first crushed into finer particles by the impact
blocks, which acts similar to a hammer.
 The impact block is operated by means of an hydraulic system.
 The crushed coal then enters the space between the stationary pegs and
rotating pegs.
 The crushing here takes place due to attrition.
 The fine coal now passes through a rejector arm, where the fine coal and
coarse coal are separated.
 The fine coal enters the next region, where the fan is situated and later is
sent back to the furnace.
 The Primary air fan acts an exhaust fan, which creates suction and hence the
coal travels along the system.

15 Joseph Sajan, Asst. Professor, CMRIT, Bangalore

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COAL HANDLING
The various steps involved in coal handling is shown below

COAL DELIVERY The coal is supplied to the power plant mainly

through railway wagons

The coal is then unloaded into underground

UNLOADING hoppers either manually or through some
mechanism

The coal which is in the form of big lumps is

PREPARATION crushed into small particles (not necessarily
pulversing)

The coal is then transferred from the

TRANSFER
unloading point to the storage.

Coal is stored in order to ensure adequate

OUTDOOR
supply of coal irrespective of delay of
STORAGE
transportation

COVERED Covered storage also called as live storage is

STORAGE the coal required for the day’s requirement

WEIGHING AND Before firing the coal, the coal is to be

MEASURING measured and weighed for consistent burning

The coal is burned using certain firing

FURNACE mechanisms to supply heat for the formation
FIRING
of steam.

16 Joseph Sajan, Asst. Professor, CMRIT, Bangalore

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ASH HANDLING SYSTEMS

17 Joseph Sajan, Asst. Professor, CMRIT, Bangalore