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Basic Calculations for a Power Plant-

Calculating the Coal Quantity
Written by: johnzactruba • Edited by: Lamar Stonecypher
Published Oct 15, 2009 • Related Guides: Electricity

How to make quick estimate of the coal required for running a power plant? This article
describes a simple method.

Very often, the Power engineer is required to perform some basic calculations regarding the key
parameters of a power plant. Most important is the quantity and cost of fuel that is required.This
article gives the simple calculation method. (A detailed calculation required in the context of a
contract, tender, performance repor,t or a legal document may require more accurate input data.)

We take the example of a 100 MW Coal Fired Power Plant.

Energy Content in Coal

The basic function of the power plant is to convert energy in coal to electricity. Therefore, the
first thing we should know is how much energy there is in coal. Energy content of coal is given
in terms of KiloJoules (kJ) per Kilogram (kg) of coal as the Gross calorific value (GCV) or the
Higher Heating value (HHV) of coal. This value can vary from 10500 kJ/kg to 25000 kJ/kg
depending on the quality and type of the coal.

You should have an idea of the type of coal, or the source or mine from where the the plant gets
the coal. Published data about the sources, mines, regions or the procurement data gives an idea
about the HHV of coal. For this example we use a HHV of 20,000 kJ/kg.

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Efficiency
Energy conversion takes place in two stages.

 The first part of the conversion is efficiency of the boiler and combustion. For this
example we take 88 % on an HHV basis that is the normal range for a well-optimized
power plant.

 Second part is the steam cycle efficiency. Modern Rankine cycle, adopted in coal fired
power plants, have efficiencies that vary from 32 % to 42 %. This depends mainly on the
steam parameters. Higher steam perssure and temperatures in the range of 600 ° C and
230 bar have efficiencies around 42 %. We assume a value of 38 % for our case.

 The overall conversion efficiency then is (38% x 88%) 33.44 %.

Heat Rate
Heat rate is the heat input required to produce one unit of electricity. (1 kw hr)

 One Kw is 3600 kJ/hr. If the energy conversion is 100 % efficient then to produce one
unit of electricity we require 3600 kJ.
 After considering the conversion efficiency in a power plant we require an heat input of
(3600 / 33.44% ) 10765 kJ/ kw hr.

Coal Quantity
 Since coal has a heat value of 20,000 kJ/kg, for producing one kw.hr we require (10765 /
20000) 0.538 kg of coal. This translates to (0.538 x 100 x 1,000) 53800 kg/hr (53.8 T/hr)
of coal for an output of 100 MW.

Coal Cost
Basic cost of coal depends on the market conditions. Transportation costs, regional influences
and government taxes are also part of the cost. Coal trader’s web sites give base prices in the
international market.

 We take a coal price of around 65 $ / Ton.

 The cost of coal consumed by 100 MW power plant is (53.8 x 65) 3497 $ /hr
 A 100 MW unit produces 100,000 units of electricity. So the cost of coal per unit of
electricity is (3497/100,000) 3.5 cents per unit.
Coal Fired Thermal Power Plant: The Basic
Steps and Facts
Written by: johnzactruba • Edited by: Lamar Stonecypher
Updated Sep 8, 2011 • Related Guides: Carbon Dioxide | Steam | Electricity

This article explains the basics of the working of a coal fired thermal power plant.

More than half of the electricity generated in the world is by using coal as the primary fuel.

The function of the coal fired thermal power plant is to convert the energy available in the coal to
Electricity.

Coal power plants work by using several steps to convert stored energy in coal to usable
electricity that we find in our home that powers our lights, computers, and sometimes, back into
heat for our homes.

image provided by the Tennessee Valley Authority

How Coal Power Plants Produce Electricity

The conversion from coal to electricity takes place in three stages.

Stage 1

The first conversion of energy takes place in the boiler. Coal is burnt in the boiler furnace to
produce heat. Carbon in the coal and Oxygen in the air combine to produce Carbon Dioxide and
heat.

Stage 2
The second stage is the thermodynamic process.

1. The heat from combustion of the coal boils water in the boiler to produce steam. In
modern power plant, boilers produce steam at a high pressure and temperature.
2. The steam is then piped to a turbine.
3. The high pressure steam impinges and expands across a number of sets of blades in the
turbine.
4. The impulse and the thrust created rotates the turbine.
5. The steam is then condensed and pumped back into the boiler to repeat the cycle.

Stage 3

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In the third stage, rotation of the turbine rotates the generator rotor to produce electricity based of
Faraday’s Principle of electromagnetic induction.

Check out this series describing the layout of thermal power plants.

Key Facts About Coal-Fired Electricity Production

In practice to effect these three stages of conversion, many systems and sub systems have to be
in service. Also involved are different technologies, like combustion, aerodynamics, heat
transfer, thermodynamics, pollution control, and logistics.

As an example consider these facts for typical coal fired power plant of capacity 500 MW.

 Around 2 million tons of coal will be required each year to produce the continuous
power.
 Coal combustion in the boiler requires air. Around 1.6 million cubic meter of air in an
hour is delivered by air fans into the furnace.

 The ash produced from this combustion is around 200,000 tons per year.

 Electrostatic precipitators capture almost all of this ash without dispersing this to the
atmosphere. Pollutants from coal power plants like carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and
nitrogen oxide can also affect the environment. Thermal power plants are the biggest
producers of Carbon Dioxide.

 The boiler for typical 500 MW units produces around 1600 tons per hour of steam at a
temperature of 540 to 600 degrees Centigrade. The steam pressures is in the range of 200
bar. The boiler materials are designed to withstand these conditions with special
consideration for operational safety.
  Heat transfer from the hot combustion gases to the water in the boiler takes place due to
Radiation and convection.

 The Electrical generators carry very large electric currents that produce heat and are be
cooled by Hydrogen and water.

 The steam leaving the turbine is condensed and the water is pumped back for reuse in the
boiler. To condense all the steam it will require around 50,000 cubic meter per hour of
cooling water to be circulated from lakes, rivers or the sea. The water is returned to the
source with only an increase of 3 to 4 degrees centigrade to prevent any effect to the
environment.

 Apart from the cooling water the power plant also requires around 400 cubic meter per
day of fresh water for making up the losses in the water steam cycle.

Details of Generating Electricity from Coal

These are some of the facts to highlight the complexities of the working of a Coal Fired Power
Plant generating Electricity.

For more details, discover how coal is blended to the right mix to maximize energy production or
learn about the specific caloric energies of coal and how moisture in the coal can affect a power
plant's efficiency. Also learn how the coal is prepared to be fired in the boiler.

You may also learn about the parts of a thermal power plant and site selection.

General Layout of a Thermal Power Plant

Written by: Ricky • Edited by: Lamar Stonecypher
Published Jan 22, 2009 • Related Guides: Generating Electricity

The coal which you use in your backyard for barbeque performs much more important functions
such as generating electricity for us in thermal power plants. Learn about the layout of these
plants in this article.
Introduction
With the world on a development spree, there is shortage of power in most places whilst the
demand seems to be in a never ending upward spiral. There are several answers to this challenge
such as the nuclear power plants, but the conventional thermal power plants also play an equally
important role in this power equation. Learn about these power plants in this article.

General Layout of the Plant

Though each plant is unique in itself in terms of specific features and functionalities, still there is
a broad outline to which all thermal power plants confirm to and in this article we will study
about the general layout of a typical power plant.

There are four main circuits in any thermal power plant and these are

1. Coal & Ash Circuit – this circuit deals mainly with feeding the boiler with coal for
combustion purposes and taking care of the ash that is generated during the combustion
process and includes equipment and paraphernalia that is used to handle the transfer and
storage of coal and ash.
2. Air & Gas Circuit – we know that air is one of the main components of the fire triangle
and hence necessary for combustion. Since lots of coal is burnt inside the boiler it needs a
sufficient quantity of air which is supplied using either forced draught or induced draught
fans. The exhaust gases from the combustion are in turn used to heat the ingoing air
through a heat exchanger before being let off in the atmosphere. The equipment which
handles all these processes fall under this circuit.
3. Feed Water & Steam Circuit – this section deals with supplying of steam generated from
the boiler to the turbines and to handle the outgoing steam from the turbine by cooling it
to form water in the condenser so that it can be reused in the boiler plus making good any
losses due to evaporation etc.
4. Cooling Water Circuit – this part of the thermal power plant deals with handling of the
cooling water required in the system. Since the amount of water required to cool the
outgoing steam from the boiler is substantial, it is either taken from a nearby water source
such as a river, or it is done through evaporation if the quantity of cooling water available
is limited.

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The above breakdown of the plant would give you a clear idea about the components of the plant
but a complete picture shown below would be more useful in getting an idea how these circuits
are integrated together to form the complete power plant.

References
Image of Power Plant Layout: Arora, S.C. & Domkundwar, S. (1993) A Course in Power Plant
Engineering. Delhi: Dhanpat Rai & Sons.

Proper Site Selection for a Thermal Power

Plant
Written by: Ricky • Edited by: Lamar Stonecypher
Published Jan 22, 2009

You might think that selecting a site for a thermal power plant is based on requirements of power
of the nearby regions but it is not so in actual practise. The engineer needs to take dozens of
factors into account before commencing such a project and here is a list of the same.

Introduction
Selecting a proper site for a thermal power plant is vital for its long term efficiency and a lot
many factors come into play when deciding where to install the plant. Of course it may not be
possible to get everything which is desirable at a single place but still the location should contain
an optimum mix of the requirements for the settings to be feasible for long term economic
justification of the plant.

The Requirements for the Site

As the name implies the power plant is meant for generating power which obviously means that
it will consume huge quantities of fuel. The exact quantity would depend on the size of the plant
and its capacity but it is a general fact that ample quantities of fuel must be available either in the
vicinity or it should be reasonably economical to transport the fuel till the power plant. Since
most thermal power plants use coal (they can use other fuels as well) it must be ensured that
sufficient coal is available round the clock. Just to give you a rough idea a power plant with 1000
MW capacity approximately would require more than ten thousand tons of coal per day hence
the necessity for continuous supply and storage capability of coal in the power station.

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Ash if the main byproduct of combustion and since the amount of coal used is huge, you can
intuitively imagine the amount of ash generated and it is certainly in the region of thousand tons
per day. Ash is much more difficult to handle as compared to coal since it comes out hot from
the boiler and is very corrosive in nature. Disposing of such huge quantities of ash requires a
large amount of empty space where it can be safely dumped.

There must be ample space for the storage of coal, disposal of ash, building of the power plant,
residential colony of workers, markets and so forth. An approximate analysis suggests that for
every MW of power generated there must be at least 3 acres of land available for the purpose.
Hence the power plant site needs to have good amount of land and this land should have good
bearing capacity in order to survive the static and dynamic loads during the operation of the
plant.
As we saw in the previous article of this series, large amount of water is required for cooling
purposes in the power plant hence it is better if such a source is available nearby in the form of
rivers etc.

Apart from these major requirements there are also other requirements which are equally
important such as the availability of skilled people to work for the plant and good transport
facilities in the vicinity.

Hence we see that setting up a thermal power plant requires a lots of factors to be considered
simultaneously.