CHAPTER II

PROCESS SELECTION

2.1. Process Selection Alternatives
Electricity is produced at an electric power plant. Some fuel source, such
as coal, oil, natural gas, or nuclear energy produces heat. The heat is used to boil
water to create steam. The steam under high pressure is used to spin a turbine. The
spinning turbine interacts with a system of magnets to produce electricity. The
electricity is transmitted as moving electrons through a series of wires to homes
and business.
There are three kind of process to produce electricity, Steam Turbine
Electricity Generation Plants, Gas Turbine Electricity Generation Plants and
Combined Cycle Plant for Power Generation

2.1.1.Steam Turbine Electricity Generation Plants
The first practical electricity generating system using a steam turbine was
designed and made by Charles Parsons in 1885 and used for lighting an exhibition
in Newcastle. Since then, apart from getting bigger, turbine design has hardly
changed and Parson's original design would not look out of place today. Despite
the introduction of many alternative technologies in the intervening 120 years,
over 80 percent of the world's electricity is still generated by steam turbines
driving rotary generators. Electrical energy generation using steam turbines
involves three energy conversions, extracting thermal energy from the fuel and
using it to raise steam, converting the thermal energy of the steam into kinetic
energy in the turbine and using a rotary generator to convert the turbine's
mechanical energy into electrical energy.



Steam is mostly raised from fossil fuel sources, three of which are shown in
the above diagram but any convenient source of heat can be used.
Chemical Transformation
In fossil fuelled plants steam is raised by burning fuel, mostly coal but also
oil and gas, in a combustion chamber. Recently these fuels have been
supplemented by limited amounts of renewable biofuels and agricultural
waste. The chemical process of burning the fuel releases heat by the
chemical transformation (oxidation) of the fuel. This can never be perfect.
There will be losses due to impurities in the fuel, incomplete combustion
and heat and pressure losses in the combustion chamber and boiler.
Typically these losses would amount to about 10% of the available energy
in the fuel.
Nuclear Power
Steam for driving the turbine can also be raised by capturing the heat
generated by controlled nuclear fission. This is discussed more fully in the
section on Nuclear Power.
Solar Power
Similarly solar thermal energy can be used to raise steam, though this is
less common.
Geothermal Energy
Steam emissions from naturally occurring aquifers are also used to power
steam turbine power plants.
High pressure steam is fed to the turbine and passes along the machine
axis through multiple rows of alternately fixed and moving blades. From the
steam inlet port of the turbine towards the exhaust point, the blades and the
turbine cavity are progressively larger to allow for the expansion of the steam.
The stationary blades act as nozzles in which the steam expands and emerges at an
increased speed but lower pressure. (Bernoulli's conservation of energy principle -
Kinetic energy increases as pressure energy falls). As the steam impacts on the
moving blades it imparts some of its kinetic energy to the moving blades.

2.1.2. Gas Turbine Electricity Generation Plants
Gas turbine engines derive their power from burning fuel in a combustion
chamber and using the fast flowing combustion gases to drive a turbine in much
the same way as the high pressure steam drives a steam turbine. Gas turbines can
be used for large scale power generation. Examples are applications delivering
600 MW or more from a 400 MW gas turbine coupled to a 200 MW steam turbine
in a co-generating installation. Such installations are not normally used for base
load electricity generation, but for bringing power to remote sites such as oil and
gas fields. They do however find use in the major electricity grids in peak shaving
applications to provide emergency peak power. Low power gas turbine generating
sets with capacities up to 5 MW can be accommodated in transportation
containers to provide mobile emergency electricity supplies which can delivered
by truck to the point of need.
The thermodynamic process used by the gas turbine is known as the
Brayton cycle. Analogous to the Carnot cycle in which the efficiency is
maximised by increasing the temperature difference of the working fluid between
the input and output of the machine, the Brayton cycle efficiency is maximised by
increasing the pressure difference across the machine.
The gas turbine is comprised of three main components: a compressor, a
combustor, and a turbine. The working fluid, air, is compressed in the compressor
(adiabatic compression - no heat gain or loss), then mixed with fuel (usually use
natural gas) and burned by the combustor under constant pressure conditions in
the combustion chamber (constant pressure heat addition). The resulting hot gas
expands through the turbine to perform work (adiabatic expansion). Much of the
power produced in the turbine is used to run the compressor and the rest is
available to run auxiliary equipment and do useful work. The system is an open
system because the air is not reused so that the fourth step in the cycle, cooling the
working fluid, is omitted.
Gas turbine power generators are used in two basic configurations
Simple Systems consisting of the gas turbine driving an electrical power
generator.

Combined Cycle Systems which are designed for maximum efficiency in
which the hot exhaust gases from the gas turbine are used to raise steam to
power a steam turbine with both turbines being connected to electricity
generators.


2.1.3. Combined Cycle Plant for Power Generation
The process for converting the energy in a fuel into electric power
involves the creation of mechanical work, which is then transformed into electric
power by a generator. Depending on the fuel type and thermodynamic process, the
overall efficiency of this conversion can be as low as 30 percent. This means that
two-thirds of the latent energy of the fuel ends up wasted. For example, steam
electric power plants which utilize boilers to combust a fossil fuel average 33
percent efficiency. Simple cycle gas turbine (GTs) plants average just under 30
percent efficiency on natural gas, and around 25 percent on fuel oil. Much of this
wasted energy ends up as thermal energy in the hot exhaust gases from the
combustion process. To increase the overall efficiency of electric power plants,
multiple processes can be combined to recover and utilize the residual heat energy
in hot exhaust gases. In combined cycle mode, power plants can achieve electrical
efficiencies up to 60 percent. The term combined cycle refers to the combining
of multiple thermodynamic cycles to generate power. Combined cycle operation
employs a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) that captures heat from high
temperature exhaust gases to produce steam, which is then supplied to a steam
turbine to generate additional electric power. The process for creating steam to
produce work using a steam turbine is based on the Rankine cycle.

The most common type of combined cycle power plant utilizes gas
turbines and is called a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant. Because gas
turbines have low efficiency in simple cycle operation, the output produced by the
steam turbine accounts for about half of the CCGT plant output. There are many
different configurations for CCGT power plants, but typically each GT has its
own associated HRSG, and multiple HRSGs supply steam to one or more steam
turbines.

2.2 Selected Process