Professional Documents
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EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENT IN
AUXILIARY EQUIPEMENT
National Symposium on Energy Conservation Measures in Generating Sector, Nov. 17-18, 2005, Bangalore
KEYNOTE ADDRESS ON
ENERGY CONSERVATION MEASURES IN THERMAL POWER
PLANTS
S. Rajaram,
General Manager, BHEL, Tiruchirapalli
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Energy is one of the foremost requirements for development in any country. Every nation ,developed
or developing, requires energy to increase productivity. Hence increasing the energy efficiency and
conservation of energy is the need of hour and is the concern for all in the power sector. For
achieving this each of the partners, the power equipment manufacturer, the utility and the service
provider, has to play his role effectively.
Energy Conservation can be achieved by increasing the efficiency of power generation, improving
the heat rate, reducing the auxiliary power consumption etc., And all this has to be achieved at the
least cost and without compromising on the environmental norms. Finally the cost and the equipment
availability are emerging as the two most important criteria governing the design of modern steam
generating equipment. BHEL as an equipment manufacturer for power plants is always geared up
to meet the energy conservation requirements and some of its contributions towards this are briefed
here.
S. Rajaram
KW-hr. BHEL is also gearing up to improve the plant efficiency and to further reduce the heat rate
by going in for supercritical pressure cycles and higher steam temperatures.
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S. Rajaram
under high temperature and pressure condition. Accurate assessment of the residual life of tubes
is the effective method to minimize forced outage due to tube rupture and improve the operating
availability of power plants.
3.0 CONCLUSION
Energy conservation is a continuous effort to be put forth by Equipment manufacturer, Utility and
Service provider. Introducing new/reliable technologies for improving the heat rate, improving the
boiler efficiency, reducing the auxiliary power consumption and developing new tools for predictive
maintenance and improved operational efficiency are some of the measures adopted by BHEL in
contributing to energy conservation and availability improvement.
BIO-DATA OF SPEAKER
Dr.S. Rajaram is General Manager (Engineering & Commercial/FB) in BHEL,
Trichy-14. He is a Post Graduate from REC, Trichy & Ph.D in Mechanical Engg
from Bharatidasan University. He joined BHEL, Trichy as Graduate Apprentice
in December 1969. He underwent training in Combustion Engineering USA.
He has over 35 years experience in Engineering, Commercial and Project
Management. He has been instrumental in development & commercialisation
of Fluidised Bed Boilers and Heat Recovery Steam Generators. He has several
Papers in International Seminars and Conferences to his credit. He is a Recipient
of Foster Wheeler Award of Institute of Energy, UK. At present, he is responsible
for Engineering, Contracts and implementation of Strategic Plan at BHEL, Trichy
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National Symposium on Energy Conservation Measures in Generating Sector, Nov. 17-18, 2005, Bangalore
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The thermal power plant availability depends largely upon the operational reliability of the auxiliary
equipment and the capability of the auxiliary system. Coal fired stations are the backbone of the
Indian power generating sector and account for over 76 % of the generated power [1,2]. The net
overall efficiency of the coal fired thermal power plants are in the range of 19.23 % (30 MW plant)
and 30.69 % (500 MW plant). The auxiliary power consumption is varying between 7 % (500 MW
plant) and 12 % (30 MW plant). The auxiliary power consumption is on higher side as compared to
other developed countries due to the use of poor coal quality, excessive steam flow, excessive
water flow, internal leakage in equipment, inefficient drives, lack of operational optimization of
equipment, ageing of equipment, hesitation in technology upgradation, obsolete equipment, design
deficiencies, oversizing of equipment, use of inefficient controls, etc.,
The auxiliary power consumption can be reduced, by improving the design of the equipment, by
operational optimization, adoption of control techniques and implementation of energy conservation
measures. The saved energy can be pumped into the grid with nominal investment.
Rajashekar P. Mandi
add larger unit sizes of 250 MW/500 MW capacity. Alongside the growth in unit sizes, considerable
technological innovations have also been taken place in upgradation of auxiliary systems and
improvement in designs of auxiliary equipment. These changes have increased the operational
reliability and efficiency of the auxiliaries.
The variation of auxiliary power with unit size can be computed by:
(1)
12
10
Total APC
8
In-house
Out-lying
4
2
0
70
75
80
85
90
95
100
105
(2)
(3)
( 4)
Rajashekar P. Mandi
operating with single stream (air cycle or water cycle) due to non-availability of other stream, the
fans and pumps are designed with high reserve capacities. Figure 2 gives the variation of reserve
capacities of major fans and pumps. Operating the equipment at partial load will reduce the efficiency
of equipment. This will increase the auxiliary power consumption.
Design value
Operating point
100
93.20 %
90
83.23 %
87.80 %
79.70 %
80
77.00 %
74.30 %
69.20 %
65.40 %
70
55.60 %
52.10 %
60
50
40
30
BFP (flow)
BFP (pressure)
CEP (flow)
CEP (pressure)
IDF (flow)
IDF (pressure)
FDF (flow)
FDF (pressure)
PAF (flow)
PAF (pressure)
It can be seen from the Figure 2 that the design capacity of ID fan pressure and flow are 52.1 % and
65.4 % respectively whereas the operating values are in the range of 70 79 % for flow and 45 95
% for pressure. The design capacity of FD fan pressure and flow are 55.6 % and 77 % respectively
whereas the operating values are very low i.e., 60 68 % for flow and 33 51 % for pressure.
Sometimes, the FD fan motors are under loaded to below 60 % whose efficiency and power factor
will be very low. The design capacity of PA fan pressure and flow are 69.2 % and 74.3 % respectively
whereas the operating flow are very low (40 61 %) and for pressure (69 79 %).
The design capacity of BF pumps are 79.7 % and 83.23 % respectively for flow and pressure. The
operating conditions of BF pumps vary between 71 91 % on flow and 74 88 % on pressure side.
The design capacity of CE pumps pressure and flow are 87.8 % and 93.2 % whereas the operating
pressure of CE pumps vary between 85 105 % and operating flow vary between 70 98 %. Some
times the CE pumps are overloaded.
variable frequency drives. The installation of VFD will reduce the energy consumption by 5.3 MU/
year per one 210 MW plant and the payback period will be 3 years. The other advantages over the
prevailing technology of hydraulic and fixed speed motor drives are:
a
no voltage dips in the system from direct-on-line starting of large size motors
simple arrangements & no necessity of large cooling equipment for hydraulic coupling
Rajashekar P. Mandi
Particulars
GRP
FRP
23.5
23.8
44.2
45.1
34.5
33.5
9.5
9.4
522.63
342.99
34.37
6.99
9.10
4632.1
6030.4
30.19
10
Range, ( C)
11
Approach, (oC)
12
Effectiveness, (%)
13
14
15
16
17
9.7
11.6
11.0
9.7
46.86
54.46
7.6
26.12
13.17
49.58
32.55
64.58
32.03
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The control system also contribute conservation of energy. The idle operation of crusher and conveyor
motors can be avoided by providing the automatic control signal to the crusher and conveyor motors
sequentially with minimum time lapse. The other control techniques like FD fan pitch operation can
be put in auto by sensing the oxygen in flue gas, PA air flow to the mill can be controlled by sensing
the coal air mixture temperature and coal-air ratio, etc..
When the wet bulb temperature is low, the circulating water temperature at condenser inlet will also
be low (when all the 9 fans are in service), then the condensate is cooled below its saturation
temperature for example, when 9 fans are in service, the condenser absolute pressure is 9.0 kPa,
the corresponding saturation temperature of condensate will be 43.76oC but the actual condensate
temperature at hot well is 38.7oC (less by 5.06 oC). This temperature has to be gained in the LP
heaters. Therefore, in order to maintain the correct CW temperature, automatic controller for CT
fans can be installed. The CT fan operation can be controlled by sensing the CW water temperature
at condenser inlet. The installation of controller will lead to energy saving of 14.77 MU/year. The
anticipated investment is about Rs. 80 lakhs and the pay back period is 4 months.
Some of the major auxiliaries require flow/ capacity adjustments to operate at varied loading
conditions of the unit. With fixed speed drives this is achieved by valves, dampers, etc. Inlet guide
vane control is commonly used for ID fan and vane or variable pitch control is used for FD fans. For
BFP a hydraulic coupling with scoop control is quite commonly used in 210 MW units. Such control
devices create turbulence in the path of the fluid, thereby drastically reducing the device efficiency
and consume full power even when partly loaded. Instead, when the flow is controlled by varying
the speed of the fan/ pump, smoother fluid flow results in higher efficiency for most of the operating
region of the devices and hence for the system as a whole. The energy input is also reduced at part
load, resulting in energy savings.
Suction pressure and discharge pressure of pumps and fans with different loading.
Furnace draft, windbox pressure and flue gas pressure at different locations for different
plant load
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Rajashekar P. Mandi
Some of the parameters to be monitored off-line and necessary actions required are:
a
Water to ash ratio (on daily basis) : The water flow of HP and LP flush pumps may be
adjusted.
Pulverized coal fineness (once in a week for each mill): the classifier adjustment.
O2 measurement at APH O/L, ESP I/L, ESP O/L and ID I/L (on weekly basis).
Coal shortages. Due to shortfall in coal receipts, thermal units operate with very little
coal stocks and there have been a number of instances of units having to run at low
loads or shut down due to coal shortages. This results in low PLF for the unit as well as
the plant, and increases the auxiliary consumption of the unit.
b)
Poor coal quality. It is a common experience in thermal power plants that the coal
received deviates from design values in terms of calorific value as well as ash content.
The increased ash content in the coal increase the auxiliary of mills, PA fans and ID fans.
The increased ash content also increase the power consumption of crushers and conveyor
system. The presence of stones in the coal will increase the auxiliary power of crushers
and conveyor system. 20 % stone in uncrushed coal will increase the auxiliary power of
crushers by 12 % and 4 % of conveyor system. The other effects of high ash content in
coal are:
i)
Lower calorific value of coal and additional requirement of handling and milling
capacities. The existing design of power plants does not consider the effect of high
particulate presence on heat transfer and estimated value of gas temperatures.
This quite often leads to high exit flue gas temperatures and consequent loss of
efficiency.
ii)
iii)
The ash handling system has to be run for longer durations because of increased
flyash quantity to be handled. This will increase the auxiliary power consumption of
ash handling plant.
iv)
Fouling of heat transfer surfaces, resulting in forced outages due to tube leakages.
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b)
Operational constraints restrict the reduction in the number of auxiliaries in service during
part load operation. For instance, due to unreliable operation of coal mills, all mills are
required to be kept in service. Only the loading on the mills is reduced.
c)
There are some technical constraints in reducing the output of auxiliaries during part
load operation. Major auxiliaries like ID fans do not have variable speed drives (VSD).
Control is affected by inlet guide vane control resulting in higher losses at part loads.
Most of the auxiliaries have not been optimally sized from the point of view of part load
operation and therefore the number of auxiliaries in service cannot be optimally selected.
Some of the auxiliaries have technological constraints that prevent them from being shut
down and therefore have to be kept in service even when not required.
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Rajashekar P. Mandi
Design (MCR)
Pin
Pout
Pin
Pout
Gain in BFP
6.5
170
163.5
5.8
174.6
168.8
Gain in CEP
-0.9
20
20.9
-0.9
19.0
19.9
BFP HPT
170
147
23
174.6
144.5
30.1
HPH Train
170
166.9
3.1
174.6
168.5
6.1
166.9
163
3.9
168.5
161.5
7.0
Superheaters
136
152
11.0
161.5
149.1
12.4
Reheaters
38
36.5
1.5
36.4
34.9
1.5
LPH Train
20
6.5
13.5
19.0
5.8
13.2
Economizer
In small units i.e., 62.5 MW and 30 MW units, BF pump motors are provided with solid coupling.
In these situations, when the load reduces the water will be recirculated through the recirculation
valve. In order to reduce the recirculation, scoop coupling can be introduced in these units
which will reduce the energy consumption at BFP by about 10 to 25 % of power based on
loading and the payback period will be 3 to 4 years.
ii. The re-circulation valve of BFP will be closed during normal operation but it was observed
that the passing through their recirculation valve i.e., in a case study at 210 MW plant the
passing through re-circulation was measured to about 4.1 % and this increases the power by
3.1 % of input power.
iii. The hydodynamic pressure drop across BFP cicuit is 17.2 % of the BFP discharge
pressure(design value : 13.5 %) whereas for CEP circuit is 69.5 % of the CEP discharge
(design value : 67.5 %). This hydrodynamic resistance (pressure drop ) can be minimised to
13.5 % in BFP circuit and 67.5 % CEP circuit by chemical cleaning and optimising the pipe
lengths to improve the pump efficiencies by 3 to 4 % and will lead to energy saving 2.1 MU/
year.
iv. The higher power consumption by BFP and CEP due to increased specific steam consumption,
increased auxiliary steam consumption, HP/LP turbine by passing flow, increase in boiler
drum blowdown.
v.
The water to ash ratio in various plants was measured in the range of 14:1 to 5:1. The
increased water to ash ratio will increase the power at ash slurry pumps (ASP), LP and HP
water pumps, raw water pumps, etc., and also more water make up at the plant. Thus the
optimised value of water to ash ratio should be 5:1 or 4:1. This will reduce the energy
consumption by about 10 - 15 % of the power used by these pumps.
III-14
vi. The increased presure drop across the condenser tubes cause more power at CW pumps
and higher pressure of circulating water at the top of the cooling tower also cause the increased
power. Thus, it is suggested to optimise the pressure and reduce the pressure drop across
the condenser tubes by cleaing of tubes periodically. The normal pressure drop should be 0.4
to 0.6 kgf/cm2.
4.2 Fans
The SEC of PA fans is in the range of 2.4 and 7.4 kWh/t of primary air. The SEC of 30, 62.5 and 110
MW plants are lower because the PA fans are in series with FD fans. Thus, these units consume
less energy compared to 210 and 500 MW plants where the PA fans draw the atmospheric air
directly.
The SEC of FD fans are varying between 1.32 and 2.18 kWh/t of air. In 30, 62.5 and 110 MW plants
the FD fan has to handle total air, thus higher SEC compared to 210 and 500 MW plants.
The SEC of ID fans is varying between 1.95 and 3.15 kWh/t of flue gas. At lower load the SEC is
high for 500 MW plant
Figures 3, 4 and 5 show the variation of pressure drop across the air ducts and flue gas ducts.
Figure 3 : Variation of Secondary air pressure
Secondary air Pressure, mmWC
320
280
240
200
160
120
80
40
0
-40
FD fan suction
FD fan discharge
AH inlet
AH outlet
The air leakage through the air preheater increase the quantity of flue gas and subsequently
increase the power consumption of ID fans and air fans.
ii. Since the flue gas pressure inside the duct is negative, the air ingress is experienced in the
flue gas ducts and ESPs. The air ingress in the duct and furnace will increase the power
consumption of ID fans.
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Rajashekar P. Mandi
iii. The operating air pressure in the secondary air circuit will always be less than the design
value may be due to oversizing of equipment, furnace air ingress, etc.
iv. The operating air pressure in the primary circuit is higher than the design values may be due
to increased pressure drop in the ducts, air pre-heaters and mills. The increased pressure
drop increase the power of PA fans.
v.
The FD fans in most of the plants are oversized and their load factors are in the range of 30 to
50 %. At low load factor the motor efficiency and power factor will be low. Thus in a 210 MW
unit if the existing FD fan motors of 820 kW (load factor of 30 %) are replaced by 320 kW
motors (load factor 81 %), will lead to energy savings of 0.3 MU/year.
Figure 4: Variation of Primary air pressure
900
800
700
600
500
400
299 m m WC
300
200
100
43 m m WC
0
-100
PA fan suction
PA fan discharge
Mill Inlet
DP across AH
DP across Mill
vi. The operating pressure drop in the flue gas circuit is as high as 345 mmWC as against to the
design value of 270 mmWC. This higher pressure drop consume more auxiliary power. This
pressure drop can be reduced by clearing the debris in the ducts.
vii. The increase in excess air flow causes more auxiliary power for ID fans and air fans. 25 %
excess air will increase the ID fan power by 10.2 % and air fans by 3.8 %.
viii. The dust collection efficiency of ESP directly affects the increased power at ID fans.
ix. The leakage in Air preheater cause more power of air fans i.e., a leakage of 10 % will increase
the power of air fans by 9.7 %.
x. Maintaining the motor & fan bearing temperature by applying appropriate cooling system will
reduce the frictional losses.
xi. Maintaining the appropriate clearance between impeller and casing will help in reduction of
auxiliary power.
III-16
50
Furnace draft, mmWC
0
-50
-100
-150
-200
-250
-300
-350
Furnace
RH inlet
SH finish
inlet
LTSH inlet
ECO inlet
AH inlet
ESP inlet
ID inlet
ID outlet
4.3 Mills
Figure 6 gives the variation of specific energy consumption for mills at different units. It can be seen
from the figure that the SEC is varyiing between 5.31 kWh/t of coal and 15.89 kWh/t of coal.
In older units of 62.5 MW and 110 MW units are provided with drum type tube and ball mills whose
specific energy consumption is normally higher but it gives better performance and there is no mill
rejects. In present days 210 MW units and 500 MW units are provided with bowl mills of XRP type.
The SEC of these mills is lower but if the rolls are not changed intime the out let coal quality will be
poor and gives more mill rejects.
Figure 6 : Variation of SEC of M ills with plant load
17.0
30 MW
15.0
62.5 MW
13.0
11.0
110 MW
9.0
210 MW
7.0
500 MW
5.0
60
70
80
Plant Load, %
III-17
90
100
Rajashekar P. Mandi
Grinding the coal to more fine partii.e., more than 70 % below 75 micron size will increase the
mill power. 80 % pulverized coal below 75 microns will increase the mill power by 9 %.
Particulars
Less tan 12.5 mm
Between 12.5 mm 25 mm
Between 25 mm 125 mm
Above 125 mm
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Before
crusher, %
55.12
23.62
16.54
4.72
After
crusher, %
74.25
18.23
7.52
-
The reduced coal flow through the system, the SEC of crushers and conveyor motors increases.
The SEC of conveyor motors is very sensitive to the variation in coal flow. At 30 % of design coal
flow, the SEC of conveyor motors is doubled (i.e., increased from 0.67 to 1.34) whereas the SEC of
crusher motors is increased by 32 % (i.e., increased from 0.22 to 0.29). Therefore, it is economical
to operate the plant near full load.
Generally, the crusher motors are oversized and the load factors will be in the range of 20 30 %.
The oversizing will reduce the motor efficiency and power factor. The optimum sizing of these
crushers will enhance the energy saving of the order of 0.14 0.18 MU/year with a pay back period
of 3 4 years.
The no load power of crusher motor vary between 4 6 % whereas the no load power of conveyor
motors will be in the range of 8 10 %. But in many cases, the no load power of conveyor motors
will be high because of increased frictional loss, non working of supporting rollers, misalignment of
conveyor motors and drive system, improper ventilation for motors, etc.
The load factors of conveyor motors at full capacity vary between 20 and 60 %. At low load factor,
the motor efficiency and power factor will be poor. In order to improve the motor performance at
part load operation, the intelligent motor controller (POWER BOSS) can be used for these
conveyor motors. These controllers will reduce the energy consumption by 15 20 %.
The voltage unbalance at motor input terminal cause more loss in motor i.e., an unbalance of
3 % will increase the motor loss by about 28 %.
ii. The reduced voltage and frequency at the motor input will increase motor losses at the same
power output. 10 % voltage drop will increase the motor loss by 11 % and reduce the starting
torque by 19 %.
iii. The increased motor winding temperature cause more losses in motors. The higher
temperature may be due to improper heat removal (i.e., blocking of air passages by dust) or
by increased eddy current loss (i.e., melting of varnish inbetween the stator core stampings).
iv. The increased frictional losses due to poor heat removal at lub oil coolers. The cleaning of
lube oil coolers and adequate quantity of cooling medium will reduce the frictional losses.
Rajashekar P. Mandi
The power factor of auxiliary power is 0.80 to 0.83 (lag.) and can be improved by installing capacitor
banks. In a 210 MW plant, the estimated capacitor banks of about 12.5 MVAR will improve the
power factor to near unity and will reduce the in-house demand from 23.53 MVA to 19.54 MVA.
Capacitive compensation not only releases the MVA to the grid but also reduces the network I2R
losses and losses in transformers by about 13.3 % of total distribution losses (2.2 % of total
auxiliary power).
Power losses in transformers account for 12.8 % of total auxiliary power. Table 4 gives the load
factors of station auxiliary transformers for a 210 MW plant. The load factors vary between 3.6 %
and 50.3 %. Each transformer is provided with a stand-by transformer which will be charged on the
primary and provided with auto signal on secondary. It is suggested to de-energise the stand-by
transformer on the primary side and divert the load of all less loaded transformers on to a single
transformer whose load factor should be near to full load but should not exceed the full load. This
leads to power savings of 0.54 MW (2.8 % of total auxiliary power).
Table 4 : Load factors of auxiliary transformers.
Sl. ParticuNo. lars
Voltage,
kV
Rating, Load
MVA factor, %
Sl.
ParticuNo. lars
Voltage,
kV
Rating,
MVA
Load
factor, %
SST 1
6.6/0.415
1.60
12.9
13
A/C T 1
6.6/0.415
2.00
5.7
SST 2
6.6/0.415
1.60
17.9
14
A/C T 2
6.6/0.415
2.00
22.9
SST 3
6.6/0.415
1.60
9.3
15
A/C T 3
6.6/0.415
2.00
16.0
SST 4
6.6/0.415
1.60
5.7
16
A/C T 4
6.6/0.415
2.00
22.9
DMT 1
6.6/0.415
1.25
17
AHST 1
6.6/0.415
2.00
28.6
DMT 2
6.6/0.415
1.25
50.3
18
AHST 2
6.6/0.415
2.00
29.7
LT 1
6.6/0.415
0.315
30.8
19
AHST 3
6.6/0.415
2.00
40.0
LT 2
6.6/0.415
0.315
38.1
20
AHST 4
6.6/0.415
2.00
30.9
LT 3
6.6/0.415
0.315
23.6
21
CHPT A
6.6/0.415
1.60
7.6
10
LT 4
6.6/0.415
0.315
25.4
22
CHPT B
6.6/0.415
1.60
7.2
11
CWPT 1
6.6/0.415
1.25
23
CHPT C
6.6/0.415
1.60
12
CWPT 2
6.6/0.415
1.25
11.0
4.7 Lighting
Lighting is the most visible form of electricity consumption and lighting load in power plant accounts
for 5 7 % of auxiliary power. By increasing the efficiency of lighting system will have certainly
significant energy saving and improvement in the lighting level. A good lighting system design is to
increase the specific power consumption per illumination level index which can achieved by; use of
more efficient lighting source, suitable to the specific visual task; use of proper luminaries and
III-20
control gear; proper maintenance and automatic scheduling of the lamp groups; proper architectural
design of the plant to utilise the day light to the maximum extent.
Some of the energy conservation measures in lighting system are as follows:
i.
Use of LED lamps for indicating lamps will reduce the energy consumption.
ii. Use of compact fluorescent lamps in place of incandescent lamps, reduce the lighting energy
by 70 %.
iii. Use of mirror optic fluorescent lamps increase the lighting level by considerably.
iv. Use of HPSV lamps in place of MPSV lamps reduce the energy consumption by 60 %.
v.
As the lighting level is inversely proportional to square of the distance, optimizing the height of
lamp will aid in reduction of lighting energy.
vi. Use of electronic ballasts for discharge lamps, reduce the energy consumption by 20 %.
vii. Installation of intelligent lighting controller will help in controlling the lighting energy.
viii. Discharge lamps consume the rated power during starting only, afterwards a small portion of
the power is required for the lamp to maintain the lighting level and the rest of the power is
being dissipated in energizing the ballast. Therefore, the installation BEBLEC lighting
controller will reduce the energy consumption by 20 %.
ix. Use of photo sensor switch for street light controlling helps in conserving the lighting energy.
x. Installation of auto cut-off switch to put off lights during lunch hours at the office buildings
will reduce the lighting energy.
xi. At street lights, in many places, the reflectors inside the HPSV fittings are damaged, it is
suggested to replace the fittings with anodised aluminium reflectors. This will improve the
lighting level by 20-25 %.
xii. The bifurcation of the lighting circuits in plant area into three or four groups based on the
requirement and installing a intelligent lighting controller will lead to energy saving of the order
0.3 0.4 MU/year with a pay back period of 13 15 months. The different circuits may be:
a) Continuos operation : Continuously charged.
b) Night time operation : Charged during night hours through photo sensor switch.
c) Lighting for maintenance : Charged while attending the faults and other maintenance
activities.
d) Lighting for overhaul time : Charged for activities during overhaul.
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Rajashekar P. Mandi
5.0 CONCLUSIONS
The main conclusions from the study are as follows:
i.
Introduction of scoop coupling for BF pumps and ID fans will enhance the power generation
by 0.2 - 0.6 % of plant load in 30 MW and 62.5 MW units and ensuring the no passing in recirculation valve by perfect valve seat will save the energy.
ii. Reduction of hydrodynamic resistance of pipelines and ducts will reduce the energy
consumption at BF pumps, CE pumps, ID fans, FD fans and PA fans.
iii. Minimization of furnace ingress and air leakage through APH and ducts will reduce the auxiliary
power by about 0.2 to 0.6 %.
iv. Ensuring of correct size of coal at mill inlet i.e., below 25 mm and periodic adjustment of
spring setting at mills, periodic monitoring of mill fineness and mill rejects and corrective
action at intime will reduce the auxiliary power by about 0.1 to 0.4 %.
v.
Minimizing of voltage unbalance and maintaining the adequate level of voltage at motor
terminals, keeping the winding temperature and bearing temperature to minimum level by
periodic maintenance will reduce the motor losses by about 20 to 30 %.
vi. Peak demand reduction, capacitive power compensation and higher loading of transformers
will reduce the network and transformer I2R losses by about 4.0 % of the total auxiliary power.
vii. The overall energy conservation of the scheme will yield to reduction of auxiliary power
consumption from 9.3 % to 8.2 % at rated load in a 210 MW plant and energy savings of
15.84 MU/year.
6.0 REFERENCES
1. Srivastava, Indian power development scenario a success story, but ahead lies the challenge,
Electrical India, Vol. No. 37, Issue No.15, 15th August 1997, pp. 15-28.
2. Siddhartha Bhatt M. and Mandi R.P., Performance enhancement in coal fired thermal power
plants, part III: Auxiliary power, International Journal of Energy Research, No.23, 1999,
pp.779-804.
3. CPRI, 2002, Instrumented & Diagnostic Energy audit at Firoz Gandhi Unchahar Thermal
Power Project, Unchahar, Report No: ERC/PS/02/2002, pp. 1 138 .
4. Rajashekar P. Mandi, R.K. Hegde & S.N. Sinha, Performance Enhancement of Cooling
Towers in Thermal Power Plants through Energy Conservation, published at
International conference on POWERTECH 2005 at St. Petersburg, Russia, Organized by
IEEE Power Engineering Society, 27-30 June, 2005. paper No. #461.
5. CPRI, 2000, Instrumented & Diagnostic Energy audit at Raichur Thermal Power Station, KPCL,
Raichur, Report No: ERC/PS/25/1999, pp. 1 71.
III-22
BIO-DATA OF AUTHOR
Rajashekar P. Mandi is working as Engineering Officer in Central Power
Research Institute, Bangalore since 1989. He received M.Tech. degree in
Energy Systems Engineering from Visweswaraiah Technological University,
Belgaum.
His industrial experience includes energy auditing and energy conservation in
thermal power plants, process industries, industrial establishments and
electrical distribution system. His research interests include renewable energy
systems, energy conservation, strengthening of electrical distribution systems, etc. He has published
more than 30 technical papers in International & Indian Journals, Conferences & Seminars in the
field of energy conservation and renewable energy systems.
III-23
National Symposium on Energy Conservation Measures in Generating Sector, Nov. 17-18, 2005, Bangalore
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The cost of electricity generation has been going up with time and the demand of electricity has
outstripped the availability. Energy conservation has become a key factor in the fields of utilization,
trans-mission and generation. Industries and Utilities have become appreciative of reducing the
consumption of power. Variable Frequency Drives have become popular for fans, pumps and
compressors because of the safety margins kept during the design stage to take care of the
uncertainties. This forces the equipment to operate at lower than rated capacity (and efficiency)
even during the base load operation of the plant.
In a power plant, the margins kept during selection of fans and pumps are even higher. Power
consumption in auxiliaries of a coal based power plant is of the order of 6 to 8%.To reduce
auxiliary power consumption, losses in air/flue gas and water/steam flow paths because of
mechanical flow control de-vices shall be reduced.
In a coal fired thermal power plant, there are basically two flow paths viz.
- Air / Flue gas path
III-24
III-25
Prachi Rao, V. Nagesh Rao, S. Chandrashekar, Subhas K. Iyengar & Rajiv Puri
much lower compared to ID Fans. However, it is desirable to check the economics on case to case
basis prior to selection of the type of drive.
Experience and operating confidence gained in VFDs for ID Fan drives in Indian Power Plants
have paved the way for use of VFD for the biggest auxiliary drive in fluid path, namely Boiler Feed
Pump. A techno-economic analysis for a typical 250 MW thermal power plant station under normal
and sliding pressure operation is presented. Description of VFDs and precautions required are
discussed below.
Absence of voltage dip problems associated with Direct On Line starting of large motors
since the starting current in this drive is limited to about 100% of the motor full load
current.
Increased motor life due to the lower thermal and mechani-cal stresses in view of the
absence of starting inrush currents and reduced speed operation.
LCI type VFD can be either (6 pulse) single channel type (Figure 2) or (12 pulse) dual channel type
(Figure 3). Each channel consists of an isolating transformer, source converter, DC link inductor
and load converter. In a single channel type VFD, synchro-nous motor will have one winding
whereas in dual channel type VFD, the synchronous motor will have two windings, one for each
channel. The source side converter operates in rectifier mode whereas the load side converter
operates in inverter mode. Commu-tation VARs for source side converter is taken from the source
whereas leading VARs produced by the synchronous motor is used for commutation of load side
converter. The DC link inductor effectively isolates load side frequency and source side frequency
and smoothens DC Link Current.
The demand signal received from the control system prompts the source side converter to provide
the required current to the DC link inductor at the DC voltage level set by the load side converter.
Thus the source side converter plus the DC link inductor become a current source controller to the
motor. The motor torque, frequency (hence speed), and voltage level get adjusted to the load
requirements.
The choice of (6 pulse) single channel or (12 pulse) dual channel VFD depends on harmonics that
are allowed to be injected into the grid and whether a redundant fan/pump is available.
III-26
A 12 pulse system is recommended where lower harmonic injection is desired (weak grids) and
fan/pump redundancy is not available. The components in each channel can be rated for desired
capac-ity and hence in case of dual channel, redundancy can be built into the VFD system. A 6
pulse system, because of lower cost, is recommended where redundant fan/pump is available and
the grid is strong.
Prachi Rao, V. Nagesh Rao, S. Chandrashekar, Subhas K. Iyengar & Rajiv Puri
The analysis is based on design parameters for a typical 250 MW unit. Again taking 7200 hours as
the operating time per year and 2400 oper-ating hours each at 100%, 80% and 60% of the
maximum generat-ing capacity, energy saved per year works out to 3.8 MU. If sliding pressure
operation for the boiler is considered, 5.1 MU of energy is saved per year (Table 4).
III-28
Table 3: Techno-economic analysis of 6 pulse VFD over hydraulic coupling for 250 MW
BFP drives (constant pressure operation) Motor rating : 3900 kW, 5300 rpm, No. of BFPs
per boiler : three
SL.NO
MCR (PERCENT)
SPEED (RPM)
FLOW (PER HOUR)
PRESSURE (MLC)
1
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
POWER INPUT TO
PUMP SHAFT FOR
ONE BFP (KW)
HYDRAULIC COUPLING
EFFICIENCY (INCLUDES
GEAR BOX LOSS) %
INDUCTION MOTOR
EFFICIENCY (%)
EFFICIENCY OF VFD
INCLUDING SYNCHRONOUS MOTOR (%)
POWER DRAWN FROM
GRID / BFP (KW)
POWER DRAWN FROM
GRID BY TWO BFPs (KW)
OPERATING HOURS
ENERGY CONSUMED
BY TWO BFPs (MW. HR)
ENERGY CONSUMED
BY AIR CONDITIONER,
AUXILIARIES (MW.HR)
TOTAL ENERGY CONSUMED / YEAR (MW.HR)
RUNNING ENERGY COST
AT RUPEE 2.00/KW.HR
SAVINGS IN ENERGY
COST / YEAR
PAYBACK PERIOD
OF VFD
HYDRAULIC COUPLING
60%
80 %
100%
4459
4596
4815
221
293
367
1780
1860
1965
60%
4459
221
1780
1398
1693
2141
1398
0.793
0.825
0.871
0.940
0.945
0.950
VFD SYSTEM
80 %
100%
4596
4815
293
367
1860
1965
1693
2141
0.900
0.905
0.910
1875
2172
2588
1553
1871
2353
3750
4344
5176
3106
3742
4706
2400
9000
2400
10426
2400
12423
2400
7455
2400
8981
2400
11295
120
_______31849_________
63.7 MILLION RUPEES
120
_______28091_________
56.18 MILLION RUPEES
III-29
120
Prachi Rao, V. Nagesh Rao, S. Chandrashekar, Subhas K. Iyengar & Rajiv Puri
Table 4: Techno-economic analysis of 6 pulse VFD over hydraulic coupling for 250 MW
BFPdrives (sliding pressure operation) Motor rating : 3900 kW, 5300 rpm, No. of BFP per
boiler : three
SL.NO
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
HYDRAULIC COUPLING
VFD SYSTEM
MCR (PERCENT)
SPEED (RPM)
60%
3493
80 %
4119
100% 60%
4746 3493
80 %
4119
100%
4746
POWER INPUT TO
PUMP SHAFT FOR
ONE BFP (KW)
HYDRAULIC COUPLING
EFFICIENCY (INCLUDES
GEAR BOX LOSS) %
INDUCTION MOTOR
EFFICIENCY (%)
EFFICIENCY OF VFD
INCLUDING SYNCHRONOUS MOTOR (%)
POWER DRAWN FROM
GRID / BFP (KW)
POWER DRAWN FROM
GRID BY TWO BFPs (KW)
OPERATING HOURS
ENERGY CONSUMED
BY TWO BFPs (MW. HR)
ENERGY CONSUMED
BY AIR CONDITIONER,
AUXILIARIES (MW.HR)
TOTAL ENERGY CONSUMED / YEAR (MW.HR)
RUNNING ENERGY COST
AT RUPEE 2.00/KW.HR
SAVINGS IN ENERGY
COST / YEAR
PAYBACK PERIOD
OF VFD
734
1265
2021
1265
2021
0.609
0.734
0.858
0.920
0.937
0.948
734
0.870
0.895
0.910
1310
1839
2485
844
1413
2221
2620
3678
4970
1688
2826
4442
2400
6288
2400
8827
2400 2400
11928 4051
2400
6783
2400
10661
120
_______27043_________
54.08 MILLION RUPEES
120
120
_______21855_________
43.68 MILLION RUPEES
have forced cooling fans, the noise pollu-tion because of the cooling fans need to be taken care of.
Past experience has shown that a duct should be provided to throw the hot air from the VFDs
above false ceiling of VFD room to reduce noise. The layout should be such that control panels are
housed separately from the thyristor/cooling fan panels.
Prachi Rao, V. Nagesh Rao, S. Chandrashekar, Subhas K. Iyengar & Rajiv Puri
than 150 MW).The Alternator is soft started by SFC and accelerated till it gets into Generation
mode.
3.3KV
MDBFP : 10MW
FD FAN : 1175KW
ID FAN : 4MW
CE PUMP : 760KW
CW PUMP : 3170KW
PA FAN : 2450KW
Auxiliary losses in 500MW TPP are approximately 6 7 %. Based on the exhaustive data collected
and experience in power plants worldwide the following are the possible new areas for VFD
application.
1.
2.
3.
Power for DOL start, (kW) Power for VFD, (kW) Power saving, (kW)
ID fan 9A
348
175
173
ID fan 9B
348
179
169
ID fan 10A
348
155
193
ID fan 10B
348
171
177
These drives can be easily employed for Condensate Extraction Pumps (CEP). A typical analysis
indicates a saving of 2 MU for a 500 MW power plant and 0.7 MU for a 250 MW power plant.
9.0 CONCLUSION
The use of Variable frequency drives for ID fans (in place of modulating damper or hydraulic
coupling) and for Boiler feed pumps (in place of gear box and hydraulic coupling) in a power
plant reduces the auxiliary power consumption approxi-mately by 10% at peak generation and by
15 % at 60 % generation. The payback periods for the additional investment are quite attractive.
However, provision of space is an additional requirement.
Harmonic analysis and torsional analysis must be carried out and corrective measures taken, if
required.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The authors are thankful to M/s Tata Electric Companies, M/s Tata
Consulting Engineers, M/s Hindalco Renusagar and APGENCO for providing the data used in this
paper. The authors are also thankful to BHEL management for allowing the publication of this
paper.
III-33
National Symposium on Energy Conservation Measures in Generating Sector, Nov. 17-18, 2005, Bangalore
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The pulverizing process in a thermal power station is composed of several stage. The very first is
the feeding system which regulates the feed rate to the steam generator according to demand and
the air rates for drying and transporting the pulverized coal to the burner. The next stage is drying.
These dryers are an integral part of the pulverisers. The primary air from the air pre-heater is
forced into the pulveriser at 300C or higher, by the primary air fan. There it is mixed with the coal,
as it is being circulated and ground. This equipment is the pulveriser, also called grinding mill.
Grinding is accomplished by impact, attrition, crushing or combinations of these. The pulverisers
are classified [1] as follows:
1. Low speed
2. Medium speed
- 75 to 225 rpm; the ball and race and roll and race mill
3. High speed
- above 225 rpm; the impact or hammer mill and the attrition mill
2.0 BACKGROUND
Pulverising constitutes 8.4 % of the auxiliary power consumption in a coal fired thermal power
station among the in-house auxiliaries [2]. Based on the earlier studies carried out over 22 thermal
power stations by M.S.Bhatt et al [2], the operating specific energy consumption ranges from 7.75
to9 8.55 kWh/t for bowl mills, 10.20 to 23.00 kWh/t for drum mills and 8.40 to 10.25 kWh/t for ball
and race mills. The other study carried established a specific technology and reference equipment
(EMIR II) for a more accurate and easier characterization coal and air supplies to the boiler. Further
reductions in mill energy consumption of up to 10% have already been achieved, with potential
reductions in fan consumption of over 25%. Furthermore, reductions in unit heat rate of up to 1%
have been reached by milling and boiler adjustments, with significant reductions in NOx emissions
(up to 30%)[3].
III-34
80
% Deviation from mean
Coal flow, %
30
25
20
15
10
5
Pipe: C
Pipe: D
0
1
Cor n er
Elevation A
Elevation B
60
40
20
0
Corner 1
Corner 2
Corner 3
Corner 4
-20
-40
Coal pipe
Particular
Unit
Value
01
2.00
02
10.00
03
5.00
04
1.80
05
75.00
06
0.3
This kind of situation was observed in the present study in most of the thermal power stations. This
is mainly due to.
1.
2.
In most of the power stations, only clean air flow test is carried out and dirty air flow (coal
and air two phase flow) is not carried out due to lack of instrumentation and hence the
unbalance goes unnoticed
III-35
Particular
01
Type
BBD, double
ended, ball
tube mill
02
t/h
56.00
130.92
03
Coal flow
t/h
28.6
74.25
04
1.96
1.76
05
65 95
85.00
06
70.00
76.00
07
HGI
45
58.00
08
8 - 12
12.00
Unit
Value
3.
4.
5.
2.
3.
4.
The percentage of pulverized coal passing through 75 micron mesh (200 No. mesh {BSS
and ASTM}) is varying widely from 50 to 80%
2.
The raw coal fed to the mills is having a high percentage of coal larger than 25mm.
Unit
Elevation A
Corner
Elevation B
Corner
24.31
22.90
25.61
25.26 24.41
23.09
9.19
13.09
7.78
7.80
6.96
16.05
2.65
1.75
3.29
3.24
3.51
1.44
2.68
-0.77
-6.14
t/h
23.53
22.46
t/h
93.20
98.37
03 Coal flow
t/h
9.72
12.86
t/h
44.86
38.59
2.42
1.75
2.08
2.55
07 % deviation of dirty
air flow from mean
0.99
-3.61
4.33
-1.72
4.11
08 % deviation of coal
flow from mean
-13.33
14.62
-18.01
16.72
-19.37
-19.16 -27.87
66.39
68.60
58.74
64.00
74.60
68.40
78.00 60.60
66.40
10 Fineness
(+300 micron)
0.80
0.50
0.30
0.50
0.60
0.40
0.30
11 Power
kW
12 Specific energy
consumption
kWh/t
0.40
1250.00
14.98
Crusher screens must be maintained properly to ensure that the oversized raw cola particle
of size larger than 25 mm is not conveyed for bunkering. This will reduce energy
consumption required for milling
2.
3.
All types of mills must be loaded optimally. During part load operation, mill operation
must be taken on manual control to ensure high loading rates in individual mills
4.
In drum-type ball mills, minimize the ball charge hold up when the coal quality is better,
ensuring a mill inlet air temperature of 300C and mill outlet fuel-air temperature of
85-90C
III-37
5.
In medium speed large ball and race mills, balls of 660 mm can be allowed to reduce to
585 mm at which point a filler ball is to be inserted. When the size is below 560-570 mm,
the balls must be replaced. The gap between the ring and throat must be adjusted to 10
mm. The pressure of the tempering air must be lowered to ensure a high fuel air mixture
temperature at the mill outlet.
The pulverized coal flow unbalancing can be overcome by using fixed geometry devices
such as combined riffle and egg box bifurcator or variable geometry devices such as
foster wheeler or variable orifice dampers[4]
2.
Online pulverized fuel flow meters based on electrostatic, acoustic and microwave-based
technologies can be used to optimize the mill performance.
3.
Alternatively, the iso-kinetic sampling and coal flow measurement can be made using
dirty pitot tube (as per ASTM) or rotary probe (as per ISO: 9931) on a defined schedule to
monitor the mill performance.
5.0 CONCLUSIONS
The main conclusions of the study is, by making use of the operational optimization and various
technology options, the pulveriser performance can be improved. This will in turn improve the
energy efficiency of the milling system and reduce the auxiliary power consumption.
6.0 REFERENCES
1.
2.
Siddhartha Bhatt M. and Mandi R.P., Performance enhancement in coal fired thermal
power plants, part III: Auxiliary power, International Journal of Energy Research, No.23,
1999, pp.779-804
3.
Salvador-Camacho L., Rodriiguez F., Cortes V., Canadas L., Albaladejo J.L. and Otero
P., Cost reduction in coal fired power stations through optimization of milling systems
Sixth international conference on technologies and combustion for a clean
environment, Oporto (Portugal), July 2001.
4.
Pulverised Fuel (PF) Flow Measurement and Control Methods for Utility Boilers,
Technology Status Report, Department of Trade and Industry, United Kingdom,
January 2001.
III-38
BIO-DATA OF AUTHOR
N.Rajkumar is working as Engineering Officer in Central Power Research
Institute, Energy Research Centre, Trivandrum since 1996. He received M.Sc
in Energy Science from Madurai Kamaraj University and M.Tech in Energy
Management from Devi Ahilya Viswavidyalaya, Indore.
He has carried out energy audit in thermal power stations, buildings and various
process industries. He has designed and developed solar thermal systems.
He has published more than 20 technical papers in international and national
journals, conferences and seminars in energy conservation and renewable
energy. He is a life member of Solar Energy Society of India (SESI).
III-39
National Symposium on Energy Conservation Measures in Generating Sector, Nov. 17-18, 2005, Bangalore
Rajashekar P. Mandi
Energy Conservation & Development Division,
Central Power Research Institute, Bangalore -560 080
Phone: 080 2360 4682, Fax: 080 2360 1213,
E-mail: rajashekarmandi@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT : Overall efficiency of a thermal power station i.e. energy conversion
from coal to electricity export to grid, in India, ranges between 30 38 %. It implies
that energy conversion / use efficiencies of various processes / equipments require
critical performance analysis vis--vis design and, if done judiciously, potential
opportunities for optimising select processes / equipments could be identified along
with probable reasons responsible for overall poor operating efficiency. By way of
involving various working groups & initiating suitable actions considerable quantum of
energy can be conserved within the power station premises and additionally exported
to grid.
Avoiding visible wastages, minimising extra-running equipments, optimising
performance of running equipments and maximising generation during low frequency
yields substantial dividends in terms of energy and profitability mainly as a result of
optimised in-house energy consumption & thus increased energy exports to grid. Paper
describes, selectively, eye-opening findings of energy audits yielding energy saving
possibilities in selected auxiliaries.
Staggering of auxiliary loads, reduction in hydrodynamic resistance of pipes and ducts,
minimising visible leakages, optimizing excess air, reduction in furnace ingress,
monitoring of coal size at mill inlets, adopting latest control techniques & technological
up- gradations will result into substantial energy savings. The energy conservation
schemes are economically attractive with break-even / payback periods ranging
between few months to < 5 years.
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Installed capacity has crossed 1,24,000 MW, out of which 81566 MW i.e. 70 % is thermal, 31877
MW hydro, 3130 MW nuclear & 3650 MW grid connected wind out of 6100 MW grid connected
renewable energy based generation. Despite continual increase in installed capacity and thus
generation energy shortages are prevailing across the country and ranging between 8 10 %.
III-40
Due to increasing energy insecurity it is of paramount importance that energy should be used most
efficiently everywhere & it was the basic reason that Govt. notified initially Energy Conservation act
2001 and later comprehensive Electricity Act 2003. Creation of additional capacity requires huge
investment, long execution periods and conventional energy sources for operating power stations
thus it becomes increasingly important to manage & operate power stations at optimum efficiencies.
NTPC Ltd owns 24664 MW i.e. 20.1 % of grid / 30.2 % of thermal capacity. The auxiliary consumption
of thermal plants, in India, varies between 7 17 % depending on station capacity, units sizes,
edge of the plant etc. More than 5 years working experience of CPRI & NTPC together in NTPC
plants, in the field of energy auditing, brought out that performance of equipments, sub-systems &
systems has improvement margin of upto 15 % & thus energy could be conserved in power stations
by way of auditing, process benchmarking and operating processes review without requiring much
investments. It is worthy to bring out that even 1 % absolute auxiliary power consumption optimisation
could yield additional dispatch of energy to grid amounting equivalent generation by 1200 MW by
acting upon & implementing selective energy conservation measures.
Importantly, energy conservation measures requires a fraction of fund and payback period ranges
between few months to < 5 years. Additionally these measures contribute in optimising green
house gases released into environment, improvement in fuel oil consumption, lubes, chemicals
and water conservation.
The auxiliary power is tapped through station transformers during start-up of unit from the grid / unit
auxiliary transformers during most of the period i.e. units own generation remain > 30 % of the unit
capacity.
graph. The auxiliary power includes the power used within the plant & township premises & it is
varying between 7.9 % at a PLF of 102 % and between 9.0 10 % at a PLF of < 70 %.
1 0. 0
9.5
9.0
8.5
8.0
7.5
7.0
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
Energy measured,
MWh/day
Energy
MWh/day
% of AP
Generator-1
Generator-2
Generator-3
Generator-4
Total
UAT-1A
UAT-1B
UAT-2A
UAT-2B
UAT-3A
UAT-3B
UAT-4A
UAT-4B
ST-1
ST-2
ST-3
ST-4
5064
5088
5071.2
5117.76
20340.96
132
156
120
180
199.44
198.48
128
98
431
38
BFP
Mills
CWP
IDF
PAF
CEP
FDF
Ash handling pumps
SW pumps
CT pumps
Air Compressor
CHP
ACW pumps
DMCW pumps
CLPRW pumps
HP Flush pump
CW service pump
558.58
181.85
177.36
155.5
153.36
95.83
40.22
45.41
28.97
28.47
24.95
24.53
21.88
18.98
9.31
5.76
3.77
33.85
11.02
10.75
9.42
9.29
5.81
2.44
2.75
1.76
1.73
1.51
1.49
1.33
1.15
0.56
0.35
0.23
Total
1680.82
Total
1574.73
95.44
1B
8.62
16.90
8.28
163.5
155.22
359.9
80.50
58.68
63.20
3500
2909
83.12
76.84
58.54
8.25
8.08
19.90
1C
8.43
16.70
8.27
177.6
169.33
305.0
80.50
52.41
56.17
3500
3020
86.30
76.84
52.20
8.25
9.90
19.90
III-43
2A
8.00
17.80
9.80
182.7
172.90
342.5
80.50
60.44
65.27
3500
3047
87.06
76.84
60.00
8.25
8.90
25.50
2B
9.27
17.10
7.83
191.1
183.27
389.9
80.50
72.04
76.74
3500
3034
86.68
76.84
71.40
8.25
7.78
25.50
3A
8.20
17.50
9.30
180.0
170.70
345.0
82.00
64.61
69.63
3500
2802
80.05
78.27
64.64
8.50
8.12
16.85
3C
7.70
17.30
9.60
173.0
163.40
320.00
82.00
56.30
60.93
3500
2852
81.48
78.27
56.68
8.50
8.91
16.85
4A
8.04
17.02
8.98
177.5
168.52
368.0
82.00
62.64
67.43
3500
3028
86.51
78.27
62.93
8.50
8.23
16.29
4B
7.60
17.49
9.89
177.0
167.11
326.0
82.00
56.76
61.44
3500
2953
84.36
78.27
57.15
8.50
9.06
16.29
The operating efficiency of BFPs found varying between 71 - 52 % vis--vis design 76.8 & 78.3 %
in case of stage - I & stage-II (refer Table 2). The main causes of poor performance / excess energy
consumption found were high discharge pressure, leakages in pump internals, cartridge
performance, and increased hydrodynamic resistance & re-circulation by-pass valve passing.
1E
1F
2A
2B
2C
2D
2E
2F
16.6 12.4 31.7 34.7 22.7 32.6 41.2 24.5
59.5 56.6 64.3 53.6 64.8 57.2 56.2 50
95
93
93
91
93
89
97
93
760
760
760
760
760
760
760
760
8.9
Specific energy consumption of mills found varying between 6 - 18 & 17 - 23 kWh/t of pulverized
coal respectively for stage I & II. Variation was observed due to poor mill loading, increased size of
incoming coal, accumulation of stones, primary air pressure, classifier setting i.e., coal fineness,
DP across mills, air to coal ratio, life of the internals, lubrication, operation & maintenance practices,
etc.
4.0 CW PUMPS
The energy used in CW pumps was 10.75 % of total auxiliary power. 6 CW pumps at stage I out of
which four pumps remain in service continuously and two are maintenance / emergency stand-by.
In stage II, out of five pumps four remain in service. Performance test data are presented in
Table 4.
Table 4: Performance results of CW pumps
Particulars
Discharge
pressure - kgf/cm2
CW flow - m3/h
Electrical power kW
Load factor of
motor - %
Design overall
(pump+motor)
eff. - %
Operating
(pump+motor)
eff. - %
Design SEC kWh/t
Operating SECkWh/t
Pr. at condenser
I/L- kgf/cm2
Pressure drop
across condenser,
kgf/cm2
Flow at
condenser inlet,
m3/h
1
0.50
2
0.50
Stage I
3
4
0.40
0.50
5
0.30
6
0.50
3A
1.45
3B
1.45
Stage II
4A
4B
1.45
1.4
5
1.45
11280 10880 12550 10700 13650 10820 11700 12700 13095 13044 12350
1013.3 1013.9 1092.0 1045.6 1124.1 988.09 783.8 843.0 801.5 713.9 864.4
90.47 90.53 97.50
1.10
1.10
1.10
1.10
1.10
1.10
1.44
1.44
1.44
III-45
1.44
1.44
The operating efficiency of CWPs found varying widely, mainly in stage-I, due to aging / internal
erosion, increased differential pressure across condensers, silt accumulation in pump house fore
bay, flow & pressure, duct leakages etc.
1A
-324
3.90
1B
-345
3.53
2A
-255
3.50
8.30
471.5
1086.5
83.58
63.91
54.54
60.75
9.90
489.1
1138.5
87.58
63.91
59.43
60.75
51.66
4A
-267
3.65
4B
-234
3.65
8.60
9.10
7.40
7.30
430.7 439.41 437.01 427.47
880.3 889.35 660.59 621.96
67.72 68.41 45.56 42.89
63.91 63.91 79.32 79.32
48.87 51.48 69.36 73.97
60.75 60.75 75.40 75.40
6.20
429.38
655.82
45.23
79.32
69.11
75.40
6.70
425.1
546.17
37.67
79.32
73.48
75.40
56.18
46.05
48.50
64.21
68.09
64.03
66.99
1.94
1.94
1.94
1.94
2.40
2.40
2.40
2.40
2.30
2.33
2.04
2.02
1.51
1.45
1.53
1.28
-5.00
-5.00
-9.40
-9.40
-10.00 -10.00
2B
-260
3.00
3A
-260
3.67
3B
-266
3.67
-10.00 -10.00
energy consumption found were poor suction pressure, high loading due to air ingress between
economizer and fan inlet, dust deposition in flue gas ducts, the increased hydrodynamic resistance
because of more pressure drop in furnace i.e. in Economizer coils, APH, Super heaters, ESP, etc.
III-46
Other major energy consuming areas are ESP's, ash handling system, compressed air system and
air conditioning system. Installation of automatic temperature controller for CT fans and ESP heaters
yields substantial energy savings. Lighting requires small proportion of energy but enormous
opportunities exists to conserve energy by avoiding visible wastage, increasing use of natural lighting,
time based switching and also by voltage optimization.
6.0 CONCLUSION
Unchahar Power Station have well equipped dedicated "Energy Conservation Lab" and gained
adequate experience to carry out most of the audits using in-house expertise. Expert services of
CPRI are being used selectively and as a result substantial improvement have been attained.
Energy audit findings immerging are being acted upon and thus improvement in auxiliary power
consumption is being realized progressively. Aiming further, "Benchmarking" study of auxiliary power
consumption have been completed and subsequently "Performance optimization Group" have been
set-up.
With an objective of real time consumption deviation tracking, "on-line energy metering, monitoring
and management system" is under implementation & it will enable various groups to interact closely
and initiate timely actions aiming continual improvements.
Systematic energy auditing is the first step and visual / walk-through audit itself helps in identification
of various measures yielding savings up to 5 % of the in-house energy consumptions. Detailed
energy audit requires in-depth understanding and variety of instruments / equipment and should
follow afterwards.
III-47
National Symposium on Energy Conservation Measures in Generating Sector, Nov. 17-18, 2005, Bangalore
1.0 INTRODUCTION
India has an installed capacity of 1,12,581 MW ( as on 1st May 2004) of which the thermal share is
77,931 MW (69%). Its worth considering that even a 1% reduction in auxiliary power consumption
from the existing levels, would yield energy of the order of 480 MU annually, worth Rs.100 Crores
( @Rs.2/kWh).
Realising this need and opportunity, several progressive power stations (like NPTC) have already
initiated voluntary energy audits, quite a while ago.
As per the Energy Conservation act 2001, it is now mandatory for all the power generating stations
to audit their facilities by an accredited energy auditor. The process of implementing the provisions
contained in the EC Act, digs in from March 2007 onwards.
On the strength of several energy audit & conservation studies undertaken by National Productivity
Council (NPC), India, in various thermal & super thermal power stations, the authors in this paper
present a comparison of auxiliary power consumption trend and its break-up, amongst different
capacity units, ranging from 500 MW, 210 MW to 110 MW units.
The 500MW units, register the least Auxiliary Power Consumption (APC), largely due to the
incorporation of Turbine Driven Boiler Feed Water Pumps (TDBFP), in these units. Energy audit in
a vast Thermal Power Station (TPS) , is better tackled when the thermal power plant operations
are segregated into different sub-areas like: Main plant auxiliaries, Draft system (consisting of ID/
FD/PA fans), Feed water system (consisting of BFPs /CEPs, CW system-including CTs) , and Off
sites (consisting of Coal handling Plant, Ash Handling Plant, Air Compressors, A/c plant, Station
lighting etc.).
The Table 1 presents a comparison of the typical break-up of APC for different capacity ratings, all
of which, have Cooling towers with fans.
BFPs constitute the single largest contributor to the APC (excepting in the case of 500 MW units
where TDBFPs are used), ID Fans, FD fans, PA Fans, CW Pumps follow, all of these are generally
HT Drives.
III-48
500 MW
Actual
Load kW
BFP
0
CEP
1903
CW pump 4754
ID fans
6289
PA fans
2845
FD fans
1368
Mills
2776
CT fans
1083
Air
385.5
Compr.
A/C
175
Plant
CHP
591
AHP
455
Lighting
266
Others
10709.5
Aux.
33600
Power
Cons.
Gen.
480000
210 MW
110 MW
% of
Gen.
0.00
0.40
0.99
1.31
0.59
0.29
0.58
0.23
0.08
% Of
APC
0.00
5.66
14.15
18.72
8.47
4.07
8.26
3.22
1.15
Actual
Load kW
5380
534
1329
2523
1360
800
1157
630
249
% of
Gen.
2.69
0.27
0.66
1.26
0.68
0.40
0.58
0.32
0.12
% Of
APC
33.63
3.34
8.31
15.77
8.50
5.00
7.23
3.94
1.56
Actual
Load kW
2793
364
1197
1622
1648
243
789
456
228
% of
Gen.
2.94
0.38
1.26
1.71
1.73
0.26
0.83
0.48
0.24
% Of
APC
24.50
3.19
10.50
14.23
14.46
2.13
6.92
4.00
2.00
0.04
0.52
150
0.08
0.94
105
0.11
0.92
0.12
0.09
0.06
2.23
7.00
1.76
1.35
0.79
31.87
100.00
272
266
160
1190
16000
0.14
0.13
0.08
0.60
8.00
1.70
1.66
1.00
7.44
100.00
275
290
100
1290
11400
0.29
0.31
0.11
1.36
12.00
2.41
2.54
0.88
11.32
100.00
100.00
200000
95000
Note: 1. Others include: Raw water pumps, DM plant, ESP's, service & Admin. Buildings, etc.
2. Power consumption in common auxiliaries like Air Compressors, A/c Plant, CHP, AHP,
Lighting are divided per unit basis.
3. BFP - Boiler Fed Pumps, CEP - Condensate Extraction Pumps, CW-Circulating Water,
ID-Induced Draft, PA-Primary Air, FD-Forced Draft,
CT-Cooling Tower
III-49
(ID) Fans which together account for more than 30% of the auxiliary power consumption (around
12-13 MW of power in 500 MW Units).
Interestingly there exists ample scope for conservation in the draft system. NPC experience suggest
scope for improvement, potentially for at least 15-20% energy savings.
The audit of the above fans would involve measurement of duty parameters like air flow, head
developed and motor input power drawal.
The analysis, based on comparison of as-run combined (motor and fan) efficiency and specific
energy consumption (SEC) with corresponding rated values, would indicate the margins available
for improvement in performance. The typical bench mark SEC values for the fans are given below:
a
PA fan
FD fan
ID fan
NPC studies have been able to demonstrate upto 1100 KW (in all FD, ID and PA fans of NTPC
power station), simply by arresting air ingress in the flue gas path.
Power plant O&M ersonnel are certain to be familiar with the phenomena of sizeable power reduction
in fans systems, immediately after an overhaul of the fans and it's associated ducting system. All
the more reason why it is so vital to periodically assess % O2 levels at different locations in the flue
gas path, which reflect the extent of stray air ingress through the Air pre-heater and ESP system.
Simple corrective measure to arrest identified stray air in leaks, bring about huge energy savings.
Given the fact that, very often, all these fans are required to operate below their rated discharge
capacity and head, (to achieve this dampering is resorted to), imposing by default an intrinsic
inefficiency on these equipment.
The situation offers an opportunity for power saving in the draft systems by judicious incorporation
of VFDs for PA and ID Fans.
In the case of FD fans, the operating duty parameters are so low that one could easily justified
replacement of existing oversized fan with more efficient properly matched smaller fans.
Recent genre power stations are incorporating VFDs at the design stage itself for PA and ID Fans.
For a typical 210 MW unit, the difference in power consumption in ID fans alone with and without
VFDs, is 500 KW/Unit, a reduction 2.4% in power consumption worth around Rs.75 lakhs/annum
per 500 MW unit. VFDs, of course are very expensive, and HT VFDs (3.3, 6.6 kV) are doubly so.
Some smart industries, adopt the less expensive route by employing LT VFDs with step down and
step up transformers back to back, to reduce their initial investment.
III-50
Export
CW PUMPS(8.3%)
ID FANS(15.8%)
PA FANS(8.5%)
FD FANS(5%)
MILLS(7.2%)
APC
(8%)
CT FANS(3.9%)
AIR
COMPRESSORS(1.5%)
A/C PLANT(0.9%)
CHP(1.7%)
AHP(1.7%)
LIGHTING(1%)
OTHERS(7.4%)
LP heaters,
Deaerator,
HP Heaters and
Economisers.
A detailed energy audit and analysis of energy performance parameters of LP and HP heaters and
Deaerator often brings out scope for heat rate reduction (extraction steam use reduction) in power
plants. As, we are now dealing with auxiliary power consumption, this paper restricts its discussion
to CEP's and BFP's.
The audit of BFP and CEP, involves the assessment (through field measurement of duty parameters)
of their efficiencies and specific energy consumption.
III-51
The 500 MW Units in India are usually provided with a steam Turbine Driven Boiler Feed Pump
(TDBFP) an hence the APC in 500 MW units is as low as 5 % whereas in 210 MW units and 110
MW units it is in the range of 34 % and 25 % respectively. This gives an indication of the awesome
impact that an electric driven BFP has on APC, and hence the need for a closer look and observation
of these pumps from time to time.
The specific power energy consumption of BFP range between 8 - 9 kWh/m3 feed water and that
for CEP ranges between 0.8-1.0 kWh/m3 of condensate.
Due to their criticality, the BFP always operate with a standby and hence it is easy to perform
overhaul of the spare BFP without disturbing the main stream activity, and thus ensure that the BFP
are always at peak efficiency and performance.
It would be worthwhile to remember that even a 1 % power reduction in BFP could mean a huge
savings in terms of energy (around 60 - 70 Million Units (MU) annually in a 500 MW unit).
Similarly the CEP also always have a stand-by and frequent performance assessment to determine
margins for saving and prompt overhaul augurs well for CEP energy conservation.
Some of the best practices and energy conservation scope areas in BFP and CEP are:
a
Clipping of one stage from the multi stage BFP to balance the pressure drop requirements
between HP heaters, Economiser and boiler drum etc.
Running of two CEP instead of 3 CEP (3 CEP are run to avoid tripping due to lower
frequency in some of the power plants)
Installation of hydraulic turbine instead of feed regulating section to avoid pressure drops
and generate additional power.
III-52
The specific power consumption varies from 8 - 9 kWh/t of coal for bowl mills. This value is slightly
higher for tubular mills ranging from 10-12 kWh/t of coal.
The key contributing factors towards higher SEC are
a
Grindability index
Wetness of coal
Classifier settings
Rejects etc.
The designed Air to Fuel ratio would normally be in the range of 1.5 - 2.0 tons of air/ton of coal. This
ratio largely depends on the moisture content in the coal (quality of coal), and temperature of the
primary air. One can measure coal flows and air flows by employing a dirty pitot tube, for
measurements.
The desired air to fuel ratio, for the as-run operating conditions, can be assessed by drawing up a
heat balance across the mill. The pulverized fuel distribution in the each of the outlet coal pipes,
has a profound influence on air to flue ratio and is a key issue while attempting to maintain proper
combustion.
Mill fineness has a direct impact on the specific power energy consumption. Normally fineness of
75% passing through, is desirable. Over grinding, drastically increases the power consumption.
By systematic energy audit of the milling system, one can optimize power consumption by identifying
those mills having higher specific power consumption.
In one 500 MW unit for instance, normal overhauling and periodic maintenance of the badly
performing mills yielded it energy savings to tune of 2.77 MU per annum.
Similarly, in another instance, optimizing air to fuel ratios yield a reduction of 3.1 MU per annum in
the energy consumption of PA fans.
One of commonly employed 'best practice' for reducing auxiliary power consumption in milling
system is by operating only 4 mills instead of 5 mills in 210 MW units and modification/retrofitting of
the existing XRP type of mills.
The contribution of APC in CW system ranges from 9-17%, depending on, whether it is a once
through system or a re-circulating Cooling Tower system, or a combination of both CW pumps and
CT pumps.
By conducting an energy audit of CW system, the performance of CW pumps can be evaluated.
The measurements of water flows (by online flow meters where ever feasible or by ultrasonic flow
meters) and simultaneous head and motor input power measurements need to be made at site.
The specific energy consumption, along with combined (motor and pump) efficiency of the pumps
gives clues about the margins and scope for improvement.
The specific energy consumption figures typically vary from 0.06 - 0.1 KWh/M3 CW water. The
variation in specific energy consumption largely depends on factors like:
a
bowl condition
throttling
The design efficiency levels of most of the vertical centrifugal CW pumps would be in the range of
85 - 89 %.
Inter-se comparison of the battery of pumps in the CW pump house is strongly recommended,
mainly from the point of view that it would be profitable and energy efficient to work the more
efficient pumps for longer periods in preference to the inefficient ones. In the intervening period the
inefficient pumps could be examined closely and necessary corrective measures be incorporated,
at leisure.
It is possible to achieve substantial energy saving by judiciously switching off one or more of the
pumps, based on favourable condenser vacuum and favourable weather conditions.
Optimised cleaning schedules for condenser tube cleaning augurs well for the overall performance
of the station and CW water flow optimization in particular (reduction in CW pumping energy
consumption).
Depending on the quantum of cooling water flow needed, in tune with the weather condition and
condenser cleanliness as well as forebay level variation, it is possible to reduce CW pump energy
consumption by incorporating two speed motors.
Refurbishing the casing and impellers and alternatively, going in for application of special coatings
to improve the impeller the casing profile condition, it is possible to increase the efficiency of the
CW pumps by 3-4%, thus lowering SEC and realizing energy savings.
III-54
The contribution of Cooling Tower alone (with fans), to APC would be around 3-4%.
Periodic assessment of CT performance would enable timely intervention of corrective action that
would result in cooler CW water enabling better condenser vacuum & heat rate.
It is worth remembering that priority should always be given for improvement in condenser back
pressure (through any means) in preference reduction in fans power consumption in CT's (by
shutting off fans during favourable weather.
A useful performance indicator applicable in Thermal power plants would the specific circulation
flow rate i.e. CW flow/MW. This value ought to be around 120-150 m3/MW in 500 MW and 210 MW
plants.
Reduction of energy consumption in CT's could include blade angle reduction, shutting of CT's
cells in conjunction with favourable weather conditions, and replacing existing aluminum cast and
GRP blades with FRP blades. Also incorporation of efficient nozzles for efficient water spare/
atomization, incorporation of efficient fill material for providing mass and heat transfer areas are
other option that can be considered.
III-55
Reducing ash to water ratios directly result in pump power savings as also water savings.
NPC studies have shown savings to the tune of 0.2 MU/annum for every 1% reduction in
ash water ratio.
Changing of worn out series pump internals based on periodic pump efficiency assessment
Variation of scoop angle (control position) of Ash slurry disposal pumps based on slurry
level in the pit etc.
Optimization of pump operations (reduced hours are operation or use of smaller pumps)
1- 1.5%.
The best way to assess the performance of Air compressors is by generating specific energy
consumption figures for each of the bank of compressors. An inter-se comparison of SEC's would
help decide which air compressor to operate for longer duration of time to achieve reduced energy
consumption.
Simultaneous measurement of power and flow delivered (by FAD test method), would enable
calculation of specific power consumption (SPC) values. These can be compared with either
Design or with Performance Guarantee (PG) values to assess margins for improvement.
For typical reciprocating Air Compressors or screw compressors, the SECs values very between
from 7.5 - 8.5 kW/Nm3. The present genre of modern modular screw compressors have SECs as
low as 6.7 kW/Nm3.
III-56
A selection of best practices, for reducing power consumption in the compressed air system are
presented as under-:
a
Reduction of air leaks. Conducting leakage tests would be difficult in continuous running
plants (a plant shutdown is essential for evaluating leakage by this method). How ever by
physically identifying leaks, one can quantify compressed air leakage to a fair extent
(tables showing leakage from different hole sizes are available).
Optimizing discharge pressure by toning down as per needs. This can be affected through
pressure settings alterations.
Regular assessment of Inter Cooler/ After Cooler performance and periodic cleaning of
tubes
Based on NPC's energy audit experience in compressed air systems it is possible to save 25-30%
of energy in compressed air systems.
A recent compressed air system follow-up study, at one of the thermal power stations, by NPC, has
indicated savings to the tune of 28%, worth Rs.73 Lakhs annually.
III-57
Improving CT performance
Incorporation of CFLs
Incorporation of timers
3.0 CONCLUSION
It is evident that thermal power stations offer tremendous scope of reducing auxiliary power
consumption. In fact the auxiliary power consumption of 200 MW unit is closed to the connected
load of large cement plant.
Detailed energy audit and analysis, can help identify a number of energy conservation options.
NPC has brought out energy audit procedures for all these systems and identified some of the best
practices that are applicable in thermal power stations.
III-58
It is immaterial whether energy audit is mandatory or not. Ample scope for energy conservation and
one needs to continuously identify ways and means to conserve energy and retain ones competitive
edge in this fiercely competitive world.
BIO-DATA OF AUTHORS
R. Virendra is presently working as Director, National Productivity Council, Hyderabad. He has
obtained degree in Chemical Engineering and PG Diploma in Energy Management. He had
undergone advanced training in Energy efficiency at Stratholyde University, Glasgow, UK.
His areas of specialization are: Energy Management (Audit & Conservation); Resource Conservation;
Cleaner Production - Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management
G. Subramanyam is presently working as Senior Deputy Director in National Productivity Council,
Hyderabad. He has obtained degree in Chemical Engineering and PG Diploma in Energy
Management. He had undergone advanced training in Power Plant Practice - organised by National
Power Training Institute; Productivity Improvement in Foundry - Indonesia and Management
Consultancy for Productivity Improvement - Tokyo, Japan
His areas of specialization are: Energy Management (Audit & Conservation); Water Conservation
and Demand Side Management
III-59