UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA PAHANG

FACULTY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

BMM2683 - APPLIED THERMODYNAMICS

DESIGN PROJECT 1

QUESTION 1 : “Design a steam power plant cycle that can achieve a cycle thermal efficiency
of at least 40 percent under the conditions that all turbines have isentropic
efficiencies of 90 percent and all pumps have isentropic efficiencies of 80
percent. The system should be able to produce net power of at least 50 MW
with boiler pressure is limited to 15 MPa. Meanwhile, the superheated
condition of steam is limited to 800 oC. Prepare an engineering report
describing your design.”

LECTURER : SIR YUSOF BIN TAIB

SECTION : 01
GROUP : GROUP A
GROUP MEMBERS : MUHAMMAD ASYRAF BIN OSMAN MA16021
MUHAMAD FARID BIN ARIFIN MA16023
AMIRULHUSNI BIN AZMI MA16028
MUHAMMAD FARIS ADIB BIN MAZLAN MA16031
NUR-AIN SYAZLIANA BINTI MOHD ADNAN MA16132

[SUBMITTED ON: 19 DECEMBER 2018]

 Steam power plant is one of the facilities used in generating electricity for domestic and
industrial use. Generally, a steam power plant uses heat energy generated from burning fuel (wood,
coal, oil, natural gas) to convert the working fluid (typically water) into high pressure, high velocity
steam that will be directed towards steam turbine that will eventually generate electricity.

Because of the abundance of fuel (wood, coal, oil, natural gas), this kind of power plant can
be used to produce large amounts of electrical energy. In most countries these power plants are
used as base load power stations. This is because steam power stations are slow to start and cannot
be used to cater for peak loads that generally occur for a short duration. Steam power plants,
together with nuclear power plants, are kept running very close to full efficiency for 24 hours a day.
They have typical life of 30 to 40 years (although most governments have reduced this number to
35 years).

This type of power plant is widely used around the world. It usually uses the Rankine cycle
for its power generation cycle. This is the cycle of the steam produced in the boiler, then taken to
the steam turbine. From the turbine, the steam is cooled back to water in the condenser. Then, the
resulting water is fed back into the boiler to repeat the cycle. The Rankine cycle used in the steam
power plant exist in a few different configurations. Each of the configurations have their own
strength and weakness. In order to design the most reliable and dependable steam power cycle to
be used in power generation, there are a lot of different factors to be considered. Typically, the
cycle with a high efficiency is preferred as it is more dependable and reliable.
 As mentioned earlier, there are many different variations in the configuration of a Rankine
cycle used in the steam power plant. In selecting the most suitable Rankine cycle configuration for
the steam power plant, we have considered the following Rankine cycle configurations:

1. Simple Rankine Cycle

2. Reheat Rankine Cycle
3. Regenerative Rankine Cycle
4. Reheat-Regenerative Rankine Cycle

Each and every one of the variations of the Rankine cycle have their own advantages to a
certain extent. We have listed out the advantages and disadvantages of each cycle configurations
to help us decide on which configuration is the most suitable for the steam power plant.

CONFIGURATION ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

Simple Rankine Cycle The process is simple and have a The expansion process in the
low maintenance cost. turbine usually leaves the working
fluid in two phase condition (liquid
+ vapor)
Reheat Rankine Cycle The reheating reduces 4% to 5% The greater floor space is reduced
fuel consumption with a to accommodate the longer turbine
corresponding reduction in the and reheat piping.
fuel handling.
Regenerative The turbine efficiency increases For a given power a large capacity
Rankine Cycle and damage to the turbine is less. of boiler is required.
Reheat-Regenerative It has the highest thermal The plant will become more
Rankine Cycle efficiency range compared to complicated with complex
another configuration. automatic controller as it involves a
lot of different parts.
 In order to design a steam power cycle that could achieve the minimum requirement of 40
percent thermal efficiency as well as 50 MW of net output power, we need to consider the thermal
efficiency of each cycle configurations. Listed in the table below are the typical range of thermal
efficiency of each and every one of the configurations, based on the real-world application data
that are available on the internet.

CONFIGURATION TYPICAL THERMAL EFFICIENCY

Simple Rankine Cycle 15% - 30%
Reheat Rankine Cycle 38% - 46%
Regenerative Rankine Cycle 44% - 48%
Reheat-Regenerative Rankine Cycle 47% - 50%

In the end, we have decided to design the steam power cycle for the steam power plant
using the reheat-regenerative Rankine cycle with two feedwater heaters, one is open feedwater
heater and another one is closed feedwater heater. The open feedwater heater will heat the water
from the condenser by using part of the superheated steam extracted from the low-pressure
turbine, while the closed feedwater heater will heat the water from the open feedwater heater by
using part of the superheated steam extracted from the exhaust of the high-pressure turbine. The
use of closed feedwater heater is to eliminate the need for steam trap or expansion valve in the
cycle design. Although the reheat-regenerative cycle is complicated, complex, and required a
higher cost, it is one of the most efficient and dependable cycle compared to another configuration.
The use of reheater and feedwater heater will also reduce the amount of fuel consumption by a
significant amount. Being the most efficient cycle of all, it will require smaller input in terms of heat
and work in order to produce a significantly larger power output.
 The reheat-regenerative cycle will consist of a high capacity boiler, a high-pressure and a
low-pressure turbine, a condenser, three pumps, an open feedwater heater, a closed feedwater
heater, as well as a mixing chamber. Each of the components will be connected with a series of
piping system, as shown in the figure below.

Figure 1: System layout for reheat-regenerative Rankine Cycle with two feedwater heaters.

As mentioned earlier, some part of superheated steam will be directed to both open and
closed feedwater heater in order to raise the temperature of the working liquid before entering
the boiler. This practice will reduce the fuel consumption from the boiler, thus reducing the
operation cost.
 Below is the T-s diagram for the reheat-regenerative steam power cycle constructed
according to the system layout diagram. All of the blue line indicates the actual process flow in the
cycle as compared to the ideal process flow in red line. This is because of the impossibility of the
pump or the turbine to have a 100 percent efficiency as there will always be microleakage, pressure
drop, and also backlash. That is why we considered the isentropic efficiency for both the pump and
the turbine in order to gauge the actual efficiency of the cycle.

Figure 2: T-s diagram for reheat-regenerative Rankine cycle.

 OBJECTIVES : 1. To achieve a cycle thermal efficiency of at least 40% (ηth ≥ 40%)
2. To achieve a net power output of at least 50 MW (Ẇnet ≥ 50 MW)

WORKING : 1. Working pressure for boiler is limited to 15 MPa

CONDITIONS 2. Temperature of superheated steam is limited to 800 oC
3. All pumps have an isentropic efficiency of 80%
4. All turbines have an isentropic efficiency of 90%

ASSUMPTION : 1. Kinetic and potential energy changes are negligible

2. In both open and closed feedwater heaters, feedwater is heated to the
saturation temperature at the feedwater heater pressure.

ANALYSIS : All of the calculations were based on the system layout diagram and T-s
diagram as shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2. The analysis will be focused on
the enthalpy values of each important stages, the energy balance of both
open and closed feedwater heaters, as well as on the mixing chamber, and
the ideal and actual thermal efficiency of the cycle.

STATE 1

P1 10 kPa
T1 45.81 oC
v1 0.001010 m3/kg
h1 191.81 kJ/kg

𝑣1 (𝑃2 − 𝑃1 )
𝑤𝑃𝑢𝑚𝑝 1 =
𝜂𝑃

0.001010 (500 − 10)

𝑤𝑃𝑢𝑚𝑝 1 =
0.8

𝑤𝑃𝑢𝑚𝑝 1 = 0.619 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔

STATE 2

P2 500 kPa
T2 155.46 oC

ℎ2 = ℎ1 + 𝑊𝑃𝑢𝑚𝑝 1

ℎ2 = 191.81 + 0.619

ℎ2 = 192.429 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔

STATE 3

P2 500 kPa
T2 155.46 oC
v3 0.001093 m3/kg
h3 640.09 kJ/kg

𝑣3 (𝑃4 − 𝑃3 )
𝑤𝑃𝑢𝑚𝑝 2 =
𝜂𝑃

0.001093 (4000 − 500)

𝑤𝑃𝑢𝑚𝑝 2 =
0.8

𝑤𝑃𝑢𝑚𝑝 2 = 19.811 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔

STATE 4

P4 15 MPa
T4 250.35 oC

ℎ4 = ℎ3 + 𝑊𝑃𝑢𝑚𝑝 2

ℎ4 = 640.09 + 19.811

ℎ4 = 659.901 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔
STATE 5

P5 15 MPa
T5 250.35 oC

The temperature at 5 is equal to the temperature at 6 since they both exit the same closed
feedwater heater. Therefore, we can assume:

ℎ5 = ℎ𝑓@250.35𝑜 𝐶 = 1087.4 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔

STATE 6

P6 4 MPa
T6 250.35 oC
v6 0.001252 m3/kg
h6 1087.4 kJ/kg

𝑣6 (𝑃7 − 𝑃6 )
𝑤𝑃𝑢𝑚𝑝 3 =
𝜂𝑃

0.001252 (15000 − 4000)

𝑤𝑃𝑢𝑚𝑝 3 =
0.8

𝑤𝑃𝑢𝑚𝑝 3 = 17.215 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔

STATE 7

P7 15 MPa
T7 342.16 oC

ℎ7 = ℎ6 + 𝑊𝑃𝑢𝑚𝑝 3

ℎ7 = 1087.4 + 17.215

ℎ7 = 1104.615 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔
STATE 9

P9 15 MPa
T9 800 oC
h9 4091.1 kJ/kg
s9 7.2037 kJ/kg•K

STATE 10

P10 4 MPa
s10 = s9 7.2037 kJ/kg•K

sg@4MPa ˂ s10 : Point 10 is in superheated condition

Interpolation between T = 500 oC and T = 600 oC at P = 4 MPa in Table A-6 will yield:

ℎ10 = 3537.675 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔

STATE 11

P11 4 MPa
T11 800 oC
h11 4142.3 kJ/kg
s11 7.8523 kJ/kg•K

STATE 12

P12 500 kPa

s12 = s11 7.8523 kJ/kg•K

sg@500kPa ˂ s12 : Point 12 is in superheated condition

Interpolation between T = 400 oC and T = 500 oC at P = 0.5 MPa in Table A-6 will yield:

ℎ12 = 3313.347 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔

STATE 13

P13 10 kPa
s13 = s12 = s11 7.8523 kJ/kg•K

sg@10kPa ˃ s13 : Point 13 is in saturated mixture condition

𝑠13 − 𝑠𝑓@10𝑘𝑃𝑎
𝑥=
𝑠𝑓𝑔@10𝑘𝑃𝑎

7.8523 − 0.6492
𝑥=
7.4996

𝑥 = 0.96

ℎ13 = ℎ𝑓@10𝑘𝑃𝑎 + 𝑥ℎ𝑓𝑔@10𝑘𝑃𝑎

ℎ13 = 191.81 + 0.96 (2392.1)

ℎ13 = 2488.226 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔

ENERGY BALANCE AT CLOSED FEEDWATER HEATER

𝐸̇𝑖𝑛 = 𝐸̇𝑜𝑢𝑡

𝑦(ℎ10 ) + (1 − 𝑦)ℎ4 = (1 − 𝑦)ℎ5 + 𝑦(ℎ6 )

𝑦(3537.675) + (1 − 𝑦)(659.901) = (1 − 𝑦)(1087.4) + 𝑦(1087.4)

𝑦 = 0.1486

ENERGY BALANCE AT CLOSED FEEDWATER HEATER

𝐸̇𝑖𝑛 = 𝐸̇𝑜𝑢𝑡

𝑧(ℎ12 ) + (1 − 𝑦 − 𝑧)ℎ2 = (1 − 𝑦)ℎ3

𝑧(3313.347) + (1 − 0.1486 − 𝑧)(192.429) = (1 − 0.1486)(640.09)

𝑧 = 0.1221
ENERGY BALANCE AT MIXING CHAMBER

𝐸̇𝑖𝑛 = 𝐸̇𝑜𝑢𝑡

1(ℎ8 ) = (1 − 𝑦)ℎ5 + 𝑦(ℎ7 )

ℎ8 = (1 − 0.1486)(1087.4) + 0.1486 (1104.615)

ℎ8 = 1089.958 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔

HEAT

𝑞𝑖𝑛 = (ℎ9 − ℎ8 ) + (1 − 𝑦)(ℎ11 − ℎ10 )

𝑞𝑖𝑛 = (4091.1 − 1089.958) + (1 − 0.1486)(4142.3 − 3537.675)

𝑞𝑖𝑛 = 3515.920 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔

𝑞𝑜𝑢𝑡 = (1 − 𝑦 − 𝑧)(ℎ13 − ℎ1 )

𝑞𝑜𝑢𝑡 = (1 − 0.1486 − 0.1221)(2488.226 − 191.81)

𝑞𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 1674.776 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔

WORK

𝑤𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑏,𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 𝜂 𝑇 [(ℎ9 − ℎ10 ) + (1 − 𝑦)(ℎ11 − ℎ12 ) + (1 − 𝑦 − 𝑧)(ℎ12 − ℎ13 )]

𝑤𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑏,𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 0.9[(4091.1 − 3537.675) + (1 − 0.1486)(4142.3 − 3313.347)

+ (1 − 0.1486 − 0.1221)(3313.347 − 2488.226)]

𝑤𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑏,𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 1674.861 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔

𝑤𝑝𝑢𝑚𝑝,𝑖𝑛 = (1 − 𝑦 − 𝑧)𝑤𝑃𝑢𝑚𝑝 1 + (1 − 𝑦)𝑤𝑃𝑢𝑚𝑝 2 + (𝑦)𝑤𝑃𝑢𝑚𝑝 3

𝑤𝑝𝑢𝑚𝑝,𝑖𝑛 = (1 − 0.1486 − 0.1221)(0.619) + (1 − 0.1486)(19.811) + (0.1486)(17.215)

𝑤𝑝𝑢𝑚𝑝,𝑖𝑛 = 19.877 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔

THERMAL EFFICIENCY OF THE REHEAT-REGENERATIVE STEAM POWER CYCLE

𝑤𝑛𝑒𝑡 𝑤𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑏,𝑜𝑢𝑡 − 𝑤𝑝𝑢𝑚𝑝,𝑖𝑛

𝜂𝑡ℎ = =
𝑞𝑖𝑛 𝑞𝑖𝑛

1674.861 − 19.877 1654.986

𝜂𝑡ℎ = =
3515.920 3515.920

𝜼𝒕𝒉 = 𝟎. 𝟒𝟕𝟎𝟕 @ 𝟒𝟕. 𝟎𝟕%

*The design of the steam power plant cycle has a thermal efficiency of 47.07%, which exceed the
required minimum thermal efficiency of 40%.

NET POWER GENERATED

𝑊̇𝑔𝑒𝑛 = 𝑤𝑛𝑒𝑡 ⋅ 𝑚̇

𝑊̇𝑔𝑒𝑛
𝑚̇ =
𝑤𝑛𝑒𝑡

50 𝑥 103 𝑘𝐽/𝑠
𝑚̇ =
1654.986 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔

𝒎̇ = 𝟑𝟎. 𝟐𝟏𝟐 𝒌𝒈/𝒔 ≅ 𝟑𝟏 𝒌𝒈/𝒔

*In order to achieve the minimum required net power generated of 50 MW, the steam power plant
must operate with a mass flowrate of at least 31 kg/s. With the use of a higher capacity boiler that
is capable of producing a higher mass flowrate, the designed cycle will be able to generate more
power.