Overview

Industrial visit was carried out at 50 MW rental powerplant of ENERGYPRIMA ltd. located at Kumargaon
Sylhet on 20th July , 2018 for 3rd year 1st semester students. The main objective behind the visit was to
make students aware about how chemical energy converted into electrical energy at power plants and
therefore satisfies the necessity of electricity . 44 students of Department of Chemistry , SUST left for
visit at 10 a.m. and took about fifteen minutes to cover the distance. The company is located at
Kumargaon in Sylhet city near to Shahjalal University of Science and Technology , Sylhet . After
introduction all students were divided in four groups of 11 students and were lead to the power plant by
one engineer who described the process of production of electricity and how they are added to the
national greed .The tour was finished just before lunch hour .

Company Background
Energyprima Limited (EPL), a sister concern of Hosaf Group, is one of the pioneers among the private
sector rental power generation companies in the country. The company’s vision is to provide
uninterrupted electricity to its customers by ensuring efficient utilization of capital, machinery, as well
as human resource. EPL has been involved in taking steps for continuously improving customer
satisfaction and resource management in order to establish itself as the leading private sector power
producer in the country.

Power shortage is a serious challenge to Bangladesh’s economic development and Hosaf Group
immensely contributed in the critical area of generation, following the establishment of Energyprima
Limited (EPL) as a private limited company in 15 January 2008 which was subsequently converted into
public limited company on 30 March 2010 with the aim of meeting the acute power crisis in the country.

EPL was awarded four rental power plants, totaling 170 MW in early 2008, which had been instrumental
in reducing the power shortage in Bangladesh. During the time, Energyprima Limited set up two units of
50 MW power plants projects in Kumargaon, Sylhet and Shahjibazar, Hobigonj which are currently in
operation with brand new caterpillar gas engines and have been successfully generating about 100MW
that was connected to the national grid within a short span of time. Both the plants came into
commercial operation from July and November 2008 respectively.

The 20 MW power plant at Bogra has completed commercial operation since November 2011. The 50
MW power plant at Fenchuganj, Sylhet came into commercial operation from February 2012 with brand
new GE Jenbacher gas engines.

At present, 170 MW power is being generated and supplied continuously to the National Grid by these
four power plants.

Considering the immense opportunities, Energyprima Limited (EPL) is determined to establish more
power plants around the country to meet the government objective of ensuring access to electricity for
all and to make Bangladesh free from load shedding.

The Company’s vision is to provide uninterrupted electricity to its customers by ensuring efficient
utilization of capital, machinery, as well as human resource.
Mechanism of the power plant

The operational process of power plant can be divided into few categories according to the machineries
involved .

Engine

This power plant uses four stroke natural gas operated engines as power generator . The principle of
operation of a gas engine power plant is similar to that of any four-stroke engine in a motorcar. Its fuel,
however, is natural gas. The natural gas is kept under pressure according to the demand of engine and it
is supplied to the cylinder mixed with air necessary for combustion.

This is done by the turbo compressor. Unlike engines in car, the gas engine works at constant
speed after the ignition. To increase the power output does not need change in speed; the
additional output comes from the growing amount of gas-air mixture fed to the cylinders. The
operator sets the necessary capacity; the gas-mixture amount is set by the control automatics.
The generator connected to the axis of the engine produces the electricity, which then gets to
the outer electric network through an appropriate transformer. There is special control
equipment to synchronise the generator and network, to protect, check and regulate the
generator and engine. This equipment also allows the operator to have different data and
possibilities of interference. While providing the necessary capacity for producing power, the
engine also warms up (just like the engines in cars). In addition to this, the systems necessary
for the operation of the engine also produce “waste heat”. Such “heat sources” are the hot
lubricating oil, the heat generated when the gas mixture is produced and, most of all, the
exhaust gas. This heat energy cannot be used for power generation, but it can be used through
heat exchangers to produce district heating. When using this leftover heat, the overall
efficiency of gas engines surpass 80 % while the efficiency of the condensing power plants does
not exceed 50-55 % even in the most modern gas-steam cycle units. This difference explains the
lower consumer price of heat produced with gas engines.
Engine Components
 Generator

In application generator is an integrated part of engine but for greater understanding we are discussing
about it separately

a generator[1] is a device that converts motive power (mechanical energy) into electrical power for use in
an external circuit. Sources of mechanical energy include steam turbines, gas turbines, water
turbines, internal combustion engines and even hand cranks. The first electromagnetic generator, the
Faraday disk, was invented in 1831 by British scientist Michael Faraday. Generators provide nearly all of
the power for electric power grids.
Other mentionable parts of the power plant is .
Transformer
Water treatment plant
Power plant water treatment systems extend the lifespan of plants by minimising scalingand deposits,
while better environmental practices and long-term cost-effectiveness can be realised.

Power plant water treatment systems

 Pre-treatment systems
Remove suspended solids, colloidals, organics, iron, and manganese from water
 Boiler feed water systems
Reduce impurities entering boiler feed systems, preventing deposition and scaling
 Condensate polishing plants
Reduce suspended solids, iron and ionic impurities that cause corrosion and downtime
 Cooling tower blowdown treatment plants
Reduce corrosion in blowdown systems and discharge cleaner water into environment
 Flue gas desulphurisation plants
Remove heavy metals, gypsum and other particles
 Recycling and re-use
Treat and recycle water within a power plant, reduce plant discharges and raw water intake

KEY POWER PLANT WATER TREATMENT TECHNOLOGIES INCLUDE:

Veolia provides numerous key technologies designed for industry. The following key technologies are
ideal for use with power plant water treatment solutions:

 Filtration
 Reverse osmosis (RO)
 Demineralisation
 Continuous electro-deionisation (CEDI)
 Combined pre-treatment (RO and CEDI)
 Mixed bed ion exchange
 Hydrex™ water treatment chemicals

The entire mechanism of a power plant can be understood by the flow chart given below
Chemical Processes Involving Power Generation
The very basic of power generation is involving chemical reaction . In this power plant four stroke engine
fed by natural gas is used for power generation . The engine works on combustion reaction .

The reaction takes place here is :

Things that can be done to improve the plants efficiency

Due to budget concern the power plant authority uses Aluminium cable as transfer medium of
electricity instead of copper . Development of any alloy that costs less than Copper and has almost as
less resistance as Copper will increase the efficiency of the plant in a great extent .

Conclusion
The Industrial tour was completed successfully . The objective of the tour was to understand the
involvement of chemistry with the powerplant and get some idea about industrial environment .
Although there were no post for chemists in the powerplant we visited , the involvements were clearly
understood . The conversion of chemical energy to electrical energy is the key factor here . The safety
and the regulations of the industrial zone were learnt too . So the main objectives of the industrial tour
was completed successfully .