STEAM

POWER
PLANT

Introduction
Works on Rankine Cycle
Steam produced in boiler (usually by burning coal) is

expanded in the prime mover (ie; steam turbine)

Condensed steam is fed back to boiler again
The steam turbine drives the alternator produces electricity
Steam power plants contribute about 65% of total electrical
energy generated in India

Rankine Cycle

LAYOUT OF
STEAM POWER PLANT

Layout of Steam Power

Plant
The schematic arrangement of a modern steam
power station can be divided into the following
stages:
Coal and ash handling plant
Steam generating plant: boiler, super heater,
economiser, airpreheater
Steam turbine
Alternator
Feed water
Cooling arrangement

Coal and Ash handling plant

Coal is transported to power station by rail or

road and stored in coal storage plant and then

pulverised
Pulverised coal is fed to the boiler by belt
conveyers
Coal gets burned in the boiler and ash
produced is removed to the ash handling plant
and then delivered to ash storage plant for
disposal
A 100MW station operating at 50% LF may
burn about 20000tons of coal per month and
produce 3000 tons of ash(10-15% of coal
fired)
Fuel purchasing and handling-50-60% of Total

Coal handling plant

Coal handling plant section

Wagon unloading system
Crushing system
Conveying system

ASH HANDLING PLANT

The Ash from the boiler is collected in two forms:
1. Bottom Ash(Slurry):Its a waste which is dumped
into a Ash Pond
2. Fly ash: Fly ash is separated from Flue Gases in
ESP(Electro static Precipitator).

Boiler

Bottom
ash(wet
ash)

Fly Ash
& Flue
Gases

Chimney
Economizer

Flue Gases

ESP

Fly ash

Ash Pond

Cylo

Cement

Steam generating plant

The steam generating plant consists of a boiler
for the production of steam and other
auxiliary equipment for the utilization of flue
gases
1) Boiler: The heat of combustion
in the boiler is utilized
to convert water into steam at
high temperature and pressure

Boiler at Kota Thermal Power

Station

Steam generating plant

2) Superheater: The steam produced in boiler
is wet and is passed through a superheater
where it is dried and superheated. Increases
efficiency

Steam generating plant

3) Economiser:
Its essentially a feed
water heater and
derives heat from the
flue gases

Steam generating plant

4) Air Preheater: Increases the temperature of
the air supplied for coal burning by deriving
heat from flue gases. Air is drawn from the
atmosphere by a forced drought fan and is
passed through air preheater before supplying
to the boiler furnace.

Steam Turbine
Dry and superheated steam from superheater

is fed to the steam turbine.

The heat energy of steam when passing over
the blades of turbine is converted into
mechanical energy.
After giving energy to the turbine, the steam
is exhausted to the condenser which
condenses the exhausted steam by means of
cold water circulation

Turbine Full View

Alternator
Steam turbine is coupled to an alternator

which converts the mechanical energy to

electrical energy

The electrical output of the alternator is

delivered to the bus bars through transformer,

circuit breakers and isolators.

Feed Water
The condensate from the condenser is used

as feed water to the boiler.

The water that may be lost in the cycle is
made up from the external source
The feed water on its way to boiler gets
heated up by water heaters and economiser.
This helps to improve the overall efficiency of
the plant

Water in a Power Plant is used for

1.Production of Steam- for rotating turbine.
2.Cooling Purpose- For cooling of various equipment
3% of water is wasted during this process. Appx 4
cubic mt water is lost /day/MW

Raw
Water

Conde
nser

Steam

Purified
DM
water

For
cooling
purpos
e

Cooling Arrangement
Condenser condenses the steam exhausted

from the turbine

Water is drawn from natural sources like river,
lake, canals
Circulating water takes up the heat and itself
gets heated up
This hot water can be discharged away or
used again by using a cooling tower

Choice of site for Steam

PS
Supply of coal
Availability of water
Transportation facilities
Cost and type of land
Nearness to load centres
Distance from populated area

Advantages of Steam PS

(i) The fuel (i.e., coal) used is quite

cheap.
(ii) Less initial cost as compared to
other generating stations.
(iii) It can be installed at any place
irrespective of the existence of coal.
The coal can be transported to the site
of the plant by rail or road.
(iv) It requires less space as compared
to the hydroelectric power station.
(v) The cost of generation is lesser
than that of the diesel power station

Disadvantages of Steam PS
(i) It pollutes the atmosphere

due to the production of large

amount of smoke and fumes.
(ii) It is costlier in running cost
as compared to hydroelectric
plant

Efficiency: Definitions
Thermal Efficiency: The ratio of heat equivalent of

mechanical energy transmitted to the turbine shaft to

the heat of combustion of coal is known as thermal
efficiency of steam power station.
Thermal efficiency = boiler turbine
The thermal efficiency of a modern steam power
station is about 30%.
It means that if 100 calories of heat is supplied by coal
combustion, then mechanical energy equivalent of 30
calories will be available at the turbine shaft and rest is
lost.
It may be important to note that more than 50% of
total heat of combustion is lost in the condenser. The
other heat losses occur in flue gases, radiation, ash
etc.

Overall efficiency: definition

The ratio of heat equivalent of electrical output

to the heat of combustion of coal is known as

overall efficiency of steam power station
The overall efficiency of a steam power station is
about 29%.
It may be seen that overall efficiency is less than
the thermal efficiency. This is expected since
some losses (about 1%) occur in the alternator.
The following relation exists among the various
efficiencies.
Overall efficiency = Thermal efficiency
Electrical efficiency

Why it is quite low?

Firstly, a huge amount of heat is lost in the

condenser and secondly heat losses occur at

various stages of the plant.
The heat lost in the condenser cannot be avoided.
It is because heat energy cannot be converted into
mechanical energy without temperature
difference. The greater the temperature difference,
the greater is the heat energy converted* into
mechanical energy. This necessitates to keep the
steam in the condenser at the lowest temperature.
But we know that greater the temperature
difference, greater is the amount of heat lost.
This explains for the low efficiency of such plants.

Example :1
A steam power station has an overall

efficiency of 20% and 06 kg of coal is

burnt per kWh of electrical energy
generated. Calculate the calorific value of
fuel.

Example :1
Solution: Let x kcal/kg be the calorific value of

fuel.
Heat produced by 06 kg of coal = 06 x kcal
Heat equivalent of 1 kWh = 860 kcal
overall =Electrical output in heat units/Heat
of combustion

or 02 = 860/0.6x
x =860/0. 6 0 .2
x = 716667 kcal/kg

Example :2
Question: A steam power station

spends Rs. 30 lakhs per annum for

coal used in the station. The coal has
a calorific value of 5000 kcal/kg and
costs Rs. 300 per ton. If the station
has thermal efficiency of 33% and
electrical efficiency of 90%, find the
average load on the station.

Example :3
Question: A 100 MW steam station uses
coal of calorific value 6400 kcal/kg.
Thermal efficiency of the station is 30% and
electrical efficiency is 92%. Calculate the coal
consumption per hour when the station is
delivering its full rated output.

Steam Powerstations in INDIA

More

than
65%
of
India's
electricity
generation
capacity
comes from thermal power plants,
with about 85% of the country's
thermal power generation being
coal-based.
The 10 largest thermal power
stations operating in India are all
coal-fired, with seven of them
owned and operated by state-run

The top 10 biggest thermal power plants in India

Mundra Thermal Power Station located in the Kutch
district of Gujarat- 4,620MW-Adani group
Vindhyachal Thermal Power Station in the Singrauli
district of Madhya Pradesh, with an installed
capacity of 4260MW, ranks as the second-NTPC
The 4,000MW Mundra Ultra Mega Power Plant
(UMPP), also located in the Kutch district of Gujarat,
ranks as the third largest thermal power plant in
India. It is a coal-fired power plant owned and
operated by Coastal Gujarat Power Limited (CGPL), a
subsidiary of Tata Power.
Talcher Super Thermal Power Station or NTPC Talcher
Kaniha, located in the Angul district of Odisha, is a
3,000MW coal-fired power plant - owned and
operated by NTPC. ranks as the fourth largest

The top 10 biggest thermal power plants in India

The 2980MW Sipat Super Thermal Power Plant located

at Sipat in the Bilaspur district of Chhattisgarh, ranks as

the fifth largest thermal power station in India. It is a
coal-based power plant owned and operated by NTPC.
NTPC Dadri or National Capital Power Station (NCPS)
owned and operated by NTPC is located in the Gautam
Budh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh, about 48km from
the Indian capital New Delhi. The power station, with an
installed capacity of 2637MW (1820MW- coal based and
817MW gas based), ranks as the sixth largest thermal
plant in India.
NTPC's Ramagundam thermal power plant in the
Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh ranks as the
seventh largest thermal power plant in India and the
largest in south India. The coal-fired power plant has an

The top 10 biggest thermal power plants in India

Korba Super Thermal Power Plant located

in the Korba district of Chhattisgarh, with

2600MW of installed capacity, also ranks
as the seventh largest thermal power plant
in India. It is a coal-fired power plant
owned and operated by NTPC.
Rihand Thermal Power Station at
Rihandnagar in the Sonebhadra district of
Uttar Pradesh ranks as the ninth largest
thermal power plant in India. The coalbased power plant with an installed
capacity of 2,500MW is owned and
operated by NTPC.

Steam Powerstations in Tamilnadu

ENNORE -ETPS : Tamilnadu
NEYVELI-NLC: Tamilnadu
Tuticorin - TTPS:Tamilnadu
Mettur-Tamilnadu

References
Principles of Power System- V.K. Mehta
A Course in Power Systems- J.B. Gupta
http://www.power-technology.com/(TOP 10

THERMAL POWER PLANTS)

Generation of electrical energy B.R.Gupta