Applied Energy 112 (2013) 907–917

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Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

Techno-economic analysis and optimization of the heat recovery

of utility boiler flue gas
Gang Xu, Shengwei Huang, Yongping Yang ⇑, Ying Wu, Kai Zhang, Cheng Xu
National Thermal Power Engineering & Technology Research Center, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China

h i g h l i g h t s

 Four typical flue gas heat recovery schemes are quantitatively analyzed.
 The analysis considers thermodynamic, heat transfer and hydrodynamics factors.
 Techno-economic analysis and optimization design are carried out.
 High-stage steam substitute scheme obtains better energy-saving effect.
 Large heat transfer area and high flue gas resistances weaken overall performance.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Coal-fired power plants in China consume nearly half of available coals, and the resulting CO2 emissions
Received 28 September 2012 cover over 40% of total national emissions. Therefore, reducing the energy expenditure of coal-fired
Received in revised form 8 April 2013 power plants is of great significance to China’s energy security and greenhouse gas reduction programs.
Accepted 12 April 2013
For coal-fired power plants, the temperature of a boiler’s exhaust gas reaches 120–150 °C or even higher.
Available online 10 May 2013
The thermal energy of boiler’s exhaust accounts for approximately 3–8% of the total energy of fuel input.
Given these factors, we conducted a techno-economic analysis and optimization design of the heat recov-
Keywords:
ery system using boiler exhaust gas. This research is conformed to the principles of thermodynamic, heat
Heat recovery
Utility boiler
transfer, and hydrodynamics. Based on the data from an existing 1000 MW typical power generation unit
Flue gas in China, four typical flue gas heat recovery schemes are quantitatively analyzed from the thermodynam-
Techno-economic analysis ics perspective. The impacts of flue gas heat recovery on net work output and standard coal consumption
Optimization rate of various schemes are performed. Furthermore, the transfer area of heat recovery exchanger and the
draft fan work increment due to the flue gas pressure drop are analyzed. Finally, a techno-economic anal-
ysis of the heat recovery schemes is conducted, and some recommendations on optimization design
parameters are proposed, with full consideration of various factors such as the decrease on fuel cost
due to energy conservation as well as the investment cost of heat recovery retrofitting. The results
revealed that, high-stage steam substitute scheme of flue gas heat recovery in power plant can obtain
higher energy-saving effects than that of low-stage steam substitute scheme. And the energy-saving ben-
efit of flue gas heat recovery, especially with high-stage steam substitute scheme, is weakened by large
heat exchange areas and flue gas pressure drop caused by lower temperature differentials. Therefore, the
techno-economic performance of the flue gas heat recovery in power plant may not always increase with
the increment of the recovered heat but have an optimum point.
Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction For coal-fired power plants, the temperature of a boiler’s ex-

In China, coal fired power plants consume nearly half of avail-
able coals; meanwhile, the resulting CO2 emissions cover over
40% of total national emissions. Therefore, energy conservation of
coal-fired power plants is of great significance to China’s energy
security and greenhouse gas control programs.
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: yypncepu@163.com, yyp@ncepu.edu.cn (Y. Yang).
haust gas can reach 120–150 °C or even higher. Its thermal energy
accounts for approximately 50–80% of a boiler’s thermal loss and
3–8% of the total energy input of the power plant [1]. Moreover,
the total energy of exhaust gas equals the heat value of nearly 70
million tons of standard coals. In other words, if 50% of the exhaust
energy can be recovered, 35 million tons of standard coal can be
saved annually, which is equivalent to the coal consumption of
40 sets of 600 MW coal-fired power units or to the annual power
generation of two sets of the Three Gorges Power Station. Suppose

0306-2619/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.04.048
908 G. Xu et al. / Applied Energy 112 (2013) 907–917

Nomenclature

4P work output increment

Abbreviations he,I steam enthalpy of extraction steam
GTI Gas Technology Institute h0 steam enthalpy of exhaust steam
DOE Department of Energy gri internal efficiency of low-pressure part
DEA deaerator Pnet net output of power unit
NAR net annual revenue Etotal net input of power unit
Eu Euler number bs coal conservation rate
s
Re Reynolds number bf increased coal consumption rate
RH Regenerative heater Tex exhaust gas temperature
ATD average temperature differential CostInv annual capital cost
LHV low heat value Costom annual O&M cost
WHE waste heat exchanger Inv total investment cost
O&M operation and maintenance
CRF capital recovery factor Subscripts
w condensed water
Symbols d drainage water
m mass e extraction steam
h enthalpy in inlet of heaters
D volume flow of flue gas out outlet of heaters
Q heat transfer capacity

the price of standard coal is 120 USD per ton, approximately 4.2
billion USD in fuel cost can be saved yearly. Recovering exhaust en-
ergy can also help to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 100
million tons, which brings huge economic and social benefits.
The boiler’s exhaust energy can generally be used to heat con-
densed water, cold air, and hot water of heating network [2–6].
Comparatively, the utilization of exhaust energy in the heating of
condensed water is given considerable attention worldwide [7–
10]. On one hand, energy utilization in the heating of condensed
water is a relatively mature technology and easy to realize; on
the other hand, it can save a large amount of extracted steam to in-
crease unit efficiency and to reduce energy consumption dramati-
cally. As an example, the German Schwarze Pumpe power plant
with a set of 2  800 MW lignite generation unit implements a flue
gas division system after the electrostatic precipitator and uses ex-
haust energy to heat condensed water. Furthermore, the German
Cologne Niederaussem 1000 MW power unit adopts the flue gas
division system and delivers part of the flue gas to heat condensed
water along the bypass flue, as a result of which, the exhaust heat
of flue gas is fully utilized, and the flue gas temperature is further
decreased. Since 2000, the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) in the US
has studied transport membrane condenser technology to recover
water and latent heat in the exhaust gas. In addition, the GTI has
also conducted a series of industrial tests and commercial projects
under the US Department of Energy [11]. In China, the Shanghai
Waigaoqiao No. 3 power plant utilizes condensed water in the en-
trance of the 7th low-pressure regenerative heater to retrieve the
heat energy of flue gas; this system reduces the design tempera-
ture of the flue gas from 125 °C to 85 °C, which improves boiler
efficiency by 2%-points and overall unit efficiency by 0.8–0.9%-
points [12].
However, only a few studies have focused on heat recovery
from the flue gas of a utility boiler since most studies have focused
on the introduction of existing projects. In addition, seldom studies
give importance to the thorough analysis and optimization of the
heat recovery system.
In view of these, this paper conducts systematic studies on the
heat recovery of a utility boilers’ flue gas based on a typical ultra-
supercritical power unit in China. The goals of this study are the
following: (1) to evaluate the energy-saving effect of the heat

Fig. 1. Schematic of flue gas heat recovery system within power plant.
 G. Xu et al. / Applied Energy 112 (2013) 907–917 909

recovery of utility boiler flue gas, (2) to reveal the influence of main Table 1
heat recovery schemes on energy-saving effects, (3) to disclose the Overall performance of the base case.
relationship of the heat recovery scheme with heat transfer area Items Unit Value
and flue gas pressure drop, and (4) to perform a techno-economic
Low heat rate of coal (LHV) MJ/kg, ar 21.13
analysis and optimization of various heat recovery schemes. Coal input rate kg/h 395,560
Total energy of coal input (LHV) MW 2321.7
Steam/water cycle performance
2. Research foundation Existing steam turbine generator output MW 1000
Total auxiliary power MW 57.60
Net output MW 942.4
2.1. Characteristics of heat recovery from a utility boiler
Overall plant performance
Net efficiency % 43.07
For the power unit, the boiler’s exhaust energy can be used to Net coal consumption rate g/kW h 302.62
heat condensed water, air, and heating water in the cogeneration
unit. Among these applications, the easiest and most effective
way to utilize exhaust energy is to heat condensed water. In a
modern steam power plant, a large amount of steam is extracted In view of the above restrictions, research on exhaust energy utili-
to heat the condensed water. The heat will increase the tempera- zation of flue gas should not only analyze the heat transfer and
ture of condensed water; however, the extraction steam will com- flow characteristics of the exhaust heat exchanger but also investi-
promise work output effectiveness. If the exhaust energy of the gate the flue gas working conditions and steam/water situations in
flue gas can be utilized to heat the condensed water and the extrac- the turbine side. Furthermore, better comprehensive assessments
tion steam is reduced simultaneously, the saved extraction steam and optimization results can be achieved if disciplinary knowledge
can also be utilized for more power output. Utilization of the such as thermodynamics, heat transfer mechanics, fluid mechanics,
extraction steam will raise work output and overall efficiency. and technical economics is combined.
Fig. 1 illustrates a typical flue gas heat recovery system in a
steam-powered generation unit. In this figure, the waste heat of 2.2. Description of a typical coal-fired power generation unit
the boiler replaces part of the seventh steam extraction to heat
the condensed water [13]. A typical coal-fired power unit with ultra-supercritical parame-
It is not difficult to find that the system with exhaust energy ters is selected as the research target in this paper. The plant uses
utilization has many special restrictions. In other words, the sys- bituminous coal, which contains 56.26% carbon, 3.79% hydrogen,
tem is ‘‘restricted’’: 12.11% oxygen, 0.82% nitrogen, 0.17% sulfur, and 18.1% water,
respectively.
(1) Flue gas inlet temperature in the exhaust heat exchanger is Under turbine heat acceptance (THA) working conditions, ac-
usually fixed. In addition, outlet temperature is restricted tual coal consumption rate is 395.56 t/h, boiler efficiency is
by material resistance to corrosion [14]. 94.08%, and exhaust gas temperature is 131 °C. For the main steam,
(2) Exhaust energy utilization is affected not only by flue gas steam temperature and pressure are 600 °C and 26.25 MPa respec-
temperatures and compositions in the boiler side, but also tively with flow rate of 2707.3 t/h. For the reheated steam, steam
by extraction conditions in the turbine side. temperature and pressure are 600 °C and 5 MPa. Additionally, the

HP T IP T LP T LP T

DEA
COND

RH1 RH2 RH3 RH5 RH6 RH7 RH8

Fig. 2. Steam/water cycle of the 1000 MW supercritical power unit.

910 G. Xu et al. / Applied Energy 112 (2013) 907–917

exhaust parameters of the low pressure part of steam turbine are
0.00576 MPa and 35.42 °C. The steam/water system is shown in
Fig. 2.
This unit adopts 8-stage extraction processes, including 3-stage
high-pressure heaters, 5-stage low-pressure heaters, and one
deaerator. Here, the deaerator can also be considered as one of
low-pressure heater. The overall performance of the unit is sum-
marized in Table 1. The thermal parameters of the regenerative
system are listed in Table 2.
2.3. Typical methods of exhaust energy utilization
As we have mentioned before, the flue gas exhaust energy can
replace part of the extraction steam in heating the condensed
water to increase work output. Based on the location of condensed
water, many cases of exhaust energy utilization can be imple-
mented. Several typical cases are illustrated in Fig. 3, and are pre-
sented as follows:
Case 1: The exhaust heat exchanger and 7th-stage regenerative
heater are installed in parallel (as illustrated in Fig. 3a). Part of
the condensed water at the entrance of the 7th-stage regenera-
tive heater will enter the low-temperature economizer and
return to the thermal system after absorbing a certain amount
of energy. Afterward, the condensed water will converge with
the main condensed water at the exit of the 7th-stage regener-
ative heater. At this moment, the flue gas exhaust heat can sub-
stitute for the steam extraction of the 7th-stage regenerative
heater.
Case 2: The exhaust heat exchanger and 8th-stage regenerative
heater are installed in parallel (Fig. 3b). Part of the condensed
water at the entrance of the 8th-stage regenerative heater will
the enter low-temperature economizer and return to the ther-
mal system after absorbing a certain amount of energy. After-
ward, the condensed water will converge with the main
condensed water at the exit of the 8th-stage regenerative hea-
ter. At this moment, the flue gas exhaust heat can substitute for
the steam extraction of the 8th-stage regenerative heater. That
is, this case is a kind of low-stage steam substitute scheme.
Case 3: The exhaust heat exchanger, 7th-stage regenerative hea-
ter, together with the 8th-stage regenerative heater are
installed in parallel (Fig. 3c). Part of the condensed water at
the entrance of the 8th-stage regenerative heater will the enter
low-temperature economizer and return to the thermal system

Table 2
Main parameters of the regenerative system.

Items Regenerative system parameters

RH1 RH2 RH3 DEA RH5 RH6 RH7 RH8
Extracted steam pressure (MPa) 8.307 6.103 2.518 1.234 0.626 0.2556 0.0671 0.0257
Extracted steam temperature (°C), 389.0 351.2 492.6 380.5 288.6 192.1 86.1 68.7
Extracted steam flow rate (kg/s) 39.98 75.80 31.28 26.20 30.74 35.40 21.17 20.96
Inlet feedwater temperature (°C) 268.7 219.4 189.9 153.3 122.1 83.3 60.8 38.9
Outlet feedwater temperature (°C) 290.0 268.70 219.4 183.3 153.3 122.1 83.3 60.8

RH6 RH7 RH7 RH8

tyy tyy

Waste heat exchanger Waste heat exchanger

tpy tpy

(a) Waste heat exchanger parallel to the 7th-stage (b) Waste heat exchanger parallel to the 8th-stage
regenerative heater regenerative heater

RH7 RH8 RH6 RH7

tyy tyy

Waste heat exchanger Waste heat exchanger

tpy tpy

(c) Waste heat exchanger parallel to the 7th and (d) Waste heat exchanger Series to the 6th and 7th-
th
8 -stage regenerative heaters stage regenerative heaters
Fig. 3. Main schemes of flue gas heat recovery within power plant.
 G. Xu et al. / Applied Energy 112 (2013) 907–917 911

after absorbing a certain amount of energy. Afterward, the con-
densed water will converge with the main condensed water at
the exit of the 7th-stage regenerative heater. At this moment,
the flue gas exhaust heat can substitute for the steam extraction
of the 7th-stage and 8th-stage regenerative heaters.
Case 4: The exhaust heat exchangers, 6th-stage regenerative
heater, together with the 7th-stage regenerative heater are
installed in series (Fig. 3d). A shunt valve is installed at the exit
of the 7th-stage regenerative heater to regulate part or all of the
condensed water that enters the low-temperature economizer.
Additionally, a booster pump is needed to deliver the con-
densed water to the thermal system. Afterward, the condensed
water will converge with the main condensed water at the
entrance of the 6th-stage regenerative heater. At this moment,
the flue gas exhaust heat can substitute for the steam extraction
of the 6th-stage regenerative heater. That is, this case is a kind
of high-stage steam substitute scheme.
In all these cases, the temperature of the exhaust flue gas is as-
sumed to be at 131 °C. Considering the coal ranks, materials of flue
gas duct, acid corrosion points, and other factors, the minimum ex-
haust gas temperature is set at 90 °C. Combined with the practical
situation, the four cases listed above represent several typical situ-
ations in the power unit.
3. Theoretical analysis of flue gas heat recovery system
3.1. Thermodynamic analysis
3.1.1. Heat equivalence of flue gas heat recovery process
For a specific heater (Fig. 4), thermal equilibrium can be repre-
sented in the following form:
0 0 0 0
ðm0w;out hw;out  m0w;in hw;in Þ ¼ m0e;i he;i þ m0d;in hd;in þ Q
0
 m0d;out hd;out
Suppose the energy of flue gas exhaust is ignored for the same
heater, thermal equilibrium can be expressed as follows:
ðmw;out hw;out  mw;in hw;in Þ ¼ me;i he;i þ md;in hd;in  md;out hd;out
where m, h, and Q are the mass, enthalpy, and absorbed exhaust
heat of the flue gas; for the subscripts, w, d, and e are the condensed
water, drainage water, and extraction steam; and in and out are the
inlet and outlet condition of the heaters. The exhaust utilization
parameter is expressed with single quotation marks, whereas the
non-utilization parameter is shown without any quotation marks.
3.1.2. Calculation of the saved steam extraction
The saved steam extraction Dm can be expressed as the
following:
Dm ¼ me;i  m0e;i ð3Þ
According to the working conditions (m0w;out ¼ mw;out ,
0 0 0
hw;out ¼ hw;out , m0d;in ¼ md;in , hd;in ¼ hd;in , he;i ¼ he;i ), mass conservation
(m0w;out ¼ m0w;in þ m0e , mw,out = mw,in + me, m0d;out ¼ m0d;in þ m0e and md,-
out = md,in + me), and Eqs. (1)–(3), the relationship between the
saved steam extraction Dm and exhaust gas temperature are ob-
tained (Fig. 5).
In Fig. 5, the recovered energy and substitute extraction steam
Dm will augment with the drop of exhaust gas temperature; there-
fore, the substitute extraction steam Dm in different cases is sim-
ilar to each other when the exhaust gas temperature remains
constant.
3.1.3. Calculation of work output increment
Saved steam extraction increases the work output of a turbine.
The increase in work output DP can be expressed as the following:
DP ¼ Dm  ðhe;i  h0 Þ  gri =3600 ð4Þ
where he,i and h0 denote the steam enthalpy of extraction steam and
exhaust steam, respectively; gri is the internal efficiency of the low-
pressure part of steam turbine.
Based on the above analysis, the relationship between net in-
creased output DP and exhaust gas temperature Tex in the each
scheme is obtained (Fig. 6).
Based on Fig. 6, work output increases with the decrease of ex-
haust gas temperature. However, the increase in work output un-
der different cases greatly differs when exhaust gas temperature
is constant. Compared with Case 2, the work output increase in
Case 4 is four or five times larger.
As seen in Eq. (4), DP varies with Dm, he,i, h0, and gri. In Fig. 5,
ð1Þ when exhaust gas temperature remains constant, Dm in different
cases only changes slightly and has little influence on exhaust en-
thalpy h0 and internal efficiency gri. Therefore, DP in different cases
is mainly affected by extraction steam enthalpy he,i. The extraction
steam enthalpy he,i varies in different cases; thus, DP in different
ð2Þ cases vary dramatically.
3.2. Heat transfer analysis
3.2.1. Calculation of average temperature difference
In this paper, the waste heat exchanger operates at low temper-
atures and has a low risk of overheating. Therefore, a counter-cur-

22
case 1
m e , he case 2
20 case 3
Saved steam extraction, kg/s

case 4

18

mw,out, mw,in, 16
hw,out hw,in
RHi
md,in, md,out, 14
hd,in Waste heat hd,out
exchanger
12

10

Q 110 105 100 95 90

Exhaust gas temperature, ºC

Fig. 4. Heat balance of a regenerative heater. Fig. 5. Variation curves of saved steam extraction.
912 G. Xu et al. / Applied Energy 112 (2013) 907–917

12 the high-stage steam substitute scheme is more effective (Sec-

tion 3.1); however, its temperature differential of the substitute
case 4
scheme is lower and decreases at a faster rate. Among the four
Work output increment, MW

10 cases, temperature differential is the highest and decreases at a

faster rate in Case 4. When the exhaust gas temperature reaches
8 90 °C, average temperature differential is approximately 15 °C,
which is close to the engineering limit [14].

6 case 1 3.2.2. Calculation of heat transfer coefficient

Flue gas heats condensed water through light tubes; the related
case 3 equation is expressed as follows [16]:
4
case 2 hy ¼ 0:2  C z  C s  ky  Re0:65
f  Pr0:33
f =d ðW=ðm2 KÞÞ ð7Þ

2 where ky , Re, and Pr independently represent the thermal conduc-

tivity, Reynolds number, and Prandtl number of the flue gas; Cz
110 105 100 95 90 and Cs represent the tube correction coefficient and arrangement
Exhaust gas temperature, ºC correction coefficient, respectively. The tube correction coefficient
can be calculated as follows:When tube numbers
Fig. 6. Variation trends of work output increment. z < 10, Cz = 0.91 + 0.0125  d2, when tube numbers z P 10; C z ¼ 1.
For the heat transfer process wherein the condensed water
lengthways passes lengthways against the inner wall of the heat
rent layout is selected to enlarge the temperature differential and
pipe, the heat transfer coefficient in the condensed water side
reduce the heat transfer area.
can be calculated using the following formula:
For the exhaust heat exchanger, the heat transfer equation is
expressed as follows: ha ¼ 0:023  C t  C d  C l  ks ðws  d=ms Þ
Q ¼ kADt m ð5Þ  Pr0:4 =d ðW=ðm2 KÞÞ ð8Þ

where Q, k, and DP are the heat transfer capacity, overall heat trans- where Ct refers to the temperature correction coefficient, and is
fer coefficient, and heat transfer area, respectively; DI is the average approximately equivalent to 1; Cd refers to the passage shape cor-
temperature differential of the heat exchanger. For the heat exchan- rection coefficient, and is approximately equivalent to 1 for the cir-
ger with a counter-current layout, Dtm can be expressed as follows cular tube; Cl refers to the tube length correction coefficient, and is
[15]: approximately equivalent to 1; ws, ks , ms, and Pr refer to the inner
tube velocity of inner tube condensed water, thermal coefficient,
Dt d  Dt x kinematic viscosity coefficient, and Prandtl number, respectively.
Dt m ¼ ð6Þ
lnðDtd =Dt x Þ In engineering applications, heat transfer calculation of a spiral
finned tube can be corrected on the foundation of basic heat trans-
where Dt d ¼ t01  t 002 and Dt x ¼ t 001  t02 , t 01 stand for the exhaust tem-
fer calculations. Compared with light tubes, the thermal resistance
perature without the heat exchanger; t02 and t 002 stand for the inlet
of a flue gas outside a spiral finned tube can be corrected by the fol-
and outlet temperature of condensed water in the heat exchanger;
lowing equation:
and t 001 stands for the exhaust flue gas temperature when the heat
exchanger is installed. 1
Ry ¼ ððm2 KÞ=WÞ ð9Þ
Based on the aforementioned analysis, the average temperature hy  b1
differential curve of the decrease in flue gas temperature is illus-
where b1 is the ratio of the external surface area to the internal sur-
trated in Fig. 7.
face area of thermal convection.
In Fig. 7, the temperature differential in all cases decreases with
Compared with light tubes, the thermal resistance of spiral
the drop of exhaust gas temperature. The energy-saving effect of
finned tube materials can be corrected by the following equation:
d
80 Rb ¼ ððm2 KÞ=WÞ ð10Þ
kb  b2
Average temperature differential, ºC

70 where b2 is the ratio of the external surface area to the internal sur-
face area of thermal conduction.
60 case 2 When waste heat is lengthways transferred lengthways to con-
densed water, thermal resistance can be calculated as follows:
50 case 3
1
Ra ¼ ððm2 KÞ=WÞ ð11Þ
40
ha
case 1
The overall heat transfer coefficient is expressed as the
30 following:
1
20 K¼ ðW=ðm2 KÞÞ ð12Þ
Ry þ Rb þ Ra
case 4
10

110 105 100 95 90 3.2.3. Calculation of heat transfer area

Exhaust gas temperature, ºC The heat transfer coefficient can be calculated by the aforemen-
tioned corrected equation. Finally, heat transfer areas can be calcu-
Fig. 7. Variation trends of the average temperature differential. lated by the heat transfer formula:
 G. Xu et al. / Applied Energy 112 (2013) 907–917 913

60000
1600
case 4 case 4
50000 1400
Heat exchange area, m2

gas pressure drop, Pa

The increment of flue
1200
40000
1000
30000
800

20000 600 case 1

case 1
case 3
case 3 400
10000 case 2 case 2
200

110 105 100 95 90 110 105 100 95 90

Exhaust gas temperature, ºC Exhaust gas temperature, ºC

Fig. 8. Variation curves of heat transfer area. Fig. 9. Variation curves of flue gas pressure drop.

Q of flue gas, wy is the average velocity of flue gas, z is the total tube
A¼ ðm2 Þ ð13Þ
K  Dt m numbers along the direction of flue gas flow.
According to the above analysis, the curve relationship between
In this paper, all cases use spiral finned tubes. According to Eqs.
flue gas pressure drop and exhaust gas temperature is illustrated as
(9)–(13), we get the curve relationship between heat transfer area
follows:
and exhaust gas temperature (Fig. 8).
From Eqs. (14)–(16) and Fig. 9, we can conclude that with the
From Eq. (13), we conclude that when heat transfer capacity (or
decline of exhaust gas temperature, flue gas pressure drop in all
exhaust gas temperature) remains constant, heat transfer area is
cases will increase. When exhaust gas temperature reaches 90 °C
approximately inversely proportional to temperature differential.
(that is, the temperature reduction of the flue gas in the heat ex-
Thus, from Fig. 8, it is obvious that the highest substitute scheme
changer gets to 40 °C), the flue gas pressure drop of the heat ex-
in Case 4 has the largest heat transfer area and increases
changer can reach 1512 Pa, which is nearly three times of that in
exponentially.
Case 1 (573 Pa) and 5 times of that in Case 2 (359 Pa).

3.3. Fluid mechanic analysis

3.3.3. Fan work increment caused by the increment of flue gas pressure
3.3.1. Flow parameters of flue gas drop
The added heat exchanger will increase the pressure drop of Based on flue gas capacity in the heat exchanger, the increment
flue gas, leading to the increment of induced fan work. And the of flue gas pressure drop, and induced draft fan efficiency, the in-
increment of induced fan work is approximately proportional to crease of fan power can be calculated as follows:
flue gas capacity and pressure drop.
D  DP
Flue gas capacity can be calculated as follows: Nf ¼ ð17Þ
1000  gf
o
D T in þ 273:15
D¼  ð14Þ
3600 273:15 In this formula, DNf represents increment of fan work after adopting
In this formula, D is the actual volume flow of flue gas (m3/s) in the the waste heat recovery (kW), gf refers to induced draft fan effi-
heat exchanger; D0 is the standard volume flow of flue gas (m3 n/h) ciency (%). And D is flue gas flow (m3 n/s).
of the boiler; Tin is the inlet flue gas temperature in the system Eq. (17) reveals that the energy consumption of a booster fan is
(131 °C is selected for this paper). affected by flue gas flow D, the increment of flue gas pressure drop
For the heat exchanger, high frequency finned tubes with inline
positions are selected; for single row serrated finned tubes, the fol- 2200
lowing equation is adopted [16–18]: case 4
2000
 c  d
The increment of fan work, kw

pf S1
Eu ¼ aReb ð15Þ 1800
d0 d0
1600
p
where Re stands for Reynolds number, d0f stands for the ratio of 1400
finned pitch space to wing space, dS10 stands for the relative pitch of
1200
high frequency finned tubes, and a, b, c, and d are empirical data ob-
tained from related design parameter diagrams. Here, the quantita- 1000
tive value of a, b, c, and d are selected as 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. 800 case 1
600 case 3
3.3.2. The increment of flue gas pressure drop due to waste heat case 2
recovery 400
Flue gas pressure drop can be further calculated as follows: 200

DP ¼ Eu  q  w2y z ð16Þ 110 105 100 95 90

Exhaust gas temperature, ºC
In the formula, DP refers to the increment of flue gas pressure drop
(Pa), Eu represents characteristics of tube resistance, q is the density Fig. 10. Variation curves of increased fan power.
914 G. Xu et al. / Applied Energy 112 (2013) 907–917
DP, and fan efficiency gf. Among these factors, flue gas flow is
mainly influenced by coal ranks and unit loads. Fan efficiency is
usually dependent on fan shape selection, design, and operation
adjustment.
From the above formula, when flue gas capacity D and fan effi-
ciency gf remain constant, the increment of fan work DNf has an
approximately linear relationship with the increment of flue gas
pressure drop DP. Fig. 10 shows the variation curve between the
increment of fan work and flue gas temperature when the waste
heat exchanger is added. We can also conclude that the electric
consumption curve is proximate to flue gas pressure drop curve
(Fig. 9).
4. Discussion
4.1. Energy conservation effect of heat recovery system
4.1.1. Brief introduction of evaluation criteria
In the electricity industry, standard coal consumption rates are
commonly applied to evaluate the thermal performance of coal-
fired power generation units.
Standard coal consumption rate bs is defined as the following:
s Etotal  3600=Hsu Etotal
b ¼ ¼ 122:8  ðg=kW hÞ ð18Þ
Pnet P net
In Eq. (18), Etotal refers to the total energy input per unit time, and
its quantitative value is approximately equivalent to the total heat
input value of fossil fuel per unit time; Pnet refers to net power out-
put, which removes auxiliary power from gross power output. Etotal
and Pnet should have the same unit of measure such as kW, MW,
GW, or kW h. Number 3600 refers to 3600 kJ/kW h; Hsu , with a unit
of kJ/g, refers to the heat value of standard coal (usually LHV in Chi-
na), its value is 29.308 kJ/g or 7000 kcal/kg; the unit of standard coal
consumption rate bs is g/kW h, representing standard coal con-
sumption in grams per kW h of electricity output.
Taking the net efficiency gnet = Pnet/Etotal into Eq. (18), it is easy
to find that bs = 122.8/gnet. In other words, standard coal consump-
tion rate has a direct relationship with net efficiency. Thus, bs re-
flects the thermal and economic performance of a power unit in
a more effective manner. The selected base power unit mentioned
above has a net power output of 942.4 MW and input fuel value
Etotal of 2321.7 MW. According to Eq. (18), net efficiency and stan-
dard coal consumption rate is 43.07% and 302.62 g/kW h,
respectively.
When the waste heat of flue gas is recovered, part of the steam
extracted for condensed water heating is saved, which will in turn
increase the work output of the power generation unit. Taking
work output increase DP into account, we obtain the standard coal
consumption rate after waste heat recovery:
s Etotal
bHR ¼ 122:8  ðg=kW hÞ ð19Þ
Pnet þ DP
Therefore, the coal conservation rate Dbs is deduced as the
following:
s s s s DP
Db ¼ b  bHR ¼b  ðg=kW hÞ ð20Þ
Pnet þ DP
From Eqs. (19) to (20), we determine that standard coal consump-
tion rate bs is a constant value because net output power Pnet and
net efficiency gnet remain unchanged. As a result, coal conservation
rate Dbs has a corresponding relation with increasing work output
DP.As for the waste heat recovery system, the coal conservation rate
Dbs can be easily calculated. Moreover, the coal conservation rate
can directly reflect the energy-saving effect of a power unit after
waste heat recovery. Thus, the coal conservation rate is selected
as the main evaluation criteria in the following chapters for the en-
ergy-saving effects of flue gas waste heat utilization.
4.1.2. Gross coal conservation rate
From Eqs. (19) to (20) and in accordance with Table 1 and Fig. 6,
we obtain the relationship between gross coal conservation rate
and exhaust gas temperature. Fig. 11 reveals the following: (1)
gross coal conservation rate Dbs has a similar variation curve with
net output power increment DP under exhaust gas temperature
Tex. The similarity is attributed to the interrelationship of Dbs and
DP, as illustrated in Eq. (20); (2) the replaced steam in Case 4
has the highest stage number and pressure, which leads to the
highest net work output increment DP. As a result, the gross coal
conservation rate Dbs in Case 4 is larger than that in other cases;
(3) the maximum value of gross coal conservation rate Dbs in Case
4 reaches up to 3.27 g/kW h, which is 1.79 times of that in Case 1
and 3.18 times of that in Case 2. The results show the remarkable
energy-saving effects of Case 4.
4.1.3. Additional coal consumption rate due to the increment of flue
gas pressure drop
In practical engineering operations, flue gas pressure drop is in-
creased by installing a heat exchanger in the tail flue, which leads
to fan work increment. As a consequence, the coal consumption
rate of a power unit is also increased. Thus, additional coal con-
sumption rates and consequent effects caused by the increment
of flue gas pressure drop in each scheme should be taken into
consideration.
Combining Eqs. (18)–(20) and considering the fan work caused
s
by flue gas pressure drop, the increased coal consumption rate bf is
calculated as follows:
s s Nf
bf ¼ b  ðg=kW hÞ ð21Þ
Pnet þ Nf
Therefore, the variation curve of increased coal consumption
caused by fan work is deduced (Fig. 12).
4.1.4. Net coal conservation rate
After comprehensive consideration of the gross coal conserva-
tion rate due to waste heat utilization (Fig. 11) and the additional
coal consumption rate caused by the increment of flue gas pressure
drop (Fig. 12), the variation rule of net coal conservation rate is ob-
tained (Fig. 13).
From Figs. 11–13, we can find that: (1) with the drop of exhaust
gas temperature Tex, gross coal conservation rate, the additional
coal consumption rate and net coal conservation rate of all cases
3.5
Gross coal conservation rate, g/KWh
case 4
3.0
2.5
2.0
case 1
1.5 case 3
case 2
1.0
0.5
110 105 100 95 90
Exhaust gas temperature, ºC
Fig. 11. Variation curves of gross coal conservation rate.
 G. Xu et al. / Applied Energy 112 (2013) 907–917 915
Additional coal consumption rate, g/kWh

Annual coal-saving revenue, Million USD

0.7 1.8
case 4
1.6 case 4
0.6

1.4
0.5
1.2
0.4
1.0 case 1

0.3 0.8 case 3

case 1
0.2 case 3 0.6 case 2
case 2
0.4
0.1

0.2
110 105 100 95 90
110 105 100 95 90 85
Exhaust gas temperature, ºC
Exhaust gas temperature, ºC
Fig. 12. Variation curves of additional coal consumption rate.
Fig. 14. Variation curves of annual coal-saving revenue.

3.0
shown in Fig. 14. The basic economic assumptions employed here
Net coal conservation rate, g/kWh

2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
110 105 100 95
Exhaust gas temperature, ºC
Fig. 13. Variation curves of net coal conservation rate.
will increase; (2) the gross coal conservation rate, additional coal
consumption and net coal-saving consumption of the high-stage
steam substitute scheme. (Case 4) is much larger than other
schemes; (3) for gross coal conservation rate curve, all of the four
cases increases linearly with the decline of Tex. Case 4 is the highest
case. As shown in Fig. 11, when Tex equals to 90 °C, the gross coal
conservation rate of Case 4 can reach 3.27 g/kW h, which is nearly
1.79 times of that in Case 1 and 3.15 times of that in Case 2. As
shown in Fig. 11, (4) for additional coal consumption rate curve,
all of the four cases increases rapidly with the decline of Tex. Among
case 4
include: (1) The assumed coal price, 120 USD per ton standard coal
(750 CNY per ton standard coal), was the average cost to China
electric generators in 2012. (2) The exchange rate is set as 6.25
CNY/USD. (3) The annual utilization hours of the unit are set as
5000 h.
case 1
From Fig. 14, we can see that the annual coal-saving revenue
case 3
and the net coal conservation rate have similar variation curves.
The annual amount and revenue of coal saving in Case 4 can reach
case 2 nearly 13,000 tons and 1.56 million USD per year with minimal ex-
haust gas temperatures (90 °C).
4.2.2. Analysis of annual capital cost caused by waste heat recovery
According to data of similar domestic retrofitting projects of
90
utility boilers in China, the capital investment of a unit heat trans-
fer area is approximately 120 USD/m2 [12]. Therefore, according to
the heat transfer areas of various cases (Fig. 8), we calculated the
total investment cost (Fig. 15).
To evaluate the costs and benefits of the engineering project in
different periods, we convert capital cost using equivalent conver-
sion. According to the model of equivalent payment calculation, we
introduce the capital recovery factor (CRF) concept [2,19,20]:
CRF ¼ ½i  ð1 þ iÞn =½ð1 þ iÞn  1 ð22Þ
7
case 4
6
Total investment, Million USD

them, Case 4 is also the highest one and exponential growing with
the increment of Tex. As shown in Fig. 12, when Tex equals to 90 °C,
the additional coal conservation rate of Case 4 can reach 0.657 g/ 5
kW h, which is nearly 2.63 times of that in Case 1 and 4.63 times
of that in Case 2, and (5) for net coal conservation rate curve, all 4
of the four cases increases with the decline of Tex. As shown in
Fig. 13, Case 4 still ranks first among the cases. But its curve is obvi- 3
ously more flat than other cases. When Tex equals to 90 °C, the net case 1
coal conservation rate of Case 4 can reach 0.657 g/kW h, which is
2 case 3
nearly 1.65 times of that in Case 1 and 2.96 times of that in Case 2.
case 2
1
4.2. Techno-economic analysis of heat recovery system
110 105 100 95 90
4.2.1. Annual coal-saving revenue due to waste heat recovery Exhaust gas temperature, ºC
Based on the above analysis of net coal conservation rate, the
annual coal-saving revenue of various cases can be obtained, as Fig. 15. Variation curves of total investment of heat recovery system.
916 G. Xu et al. / Applied Energy 112 (2013) 907–917

where i refers to the fraction interest rate per year, and n refers to 0.30
the number of years that the capital has been borrowed over a fixed case 4

Annual O&M Cost, Million USD

rate of interest. In this paper, i = 0.08 and n = 20.
0.25
Therefore, the annual capital cost (CostInv) can be calculated as
follows:
0.20
Cost Inv ¼ CRF  Inv ð23Þ
where ‘Inv’ refers to the total investment capital. 0.15
Fig. 16 illustrates the variation curve of annual capital cost in
the four cases. The annual capital cost has a similar variation curve case 1
0.10
with the total investment (Fig. 15). With the drop of exhaust gas
case 3
temperature Tex, both total investment and annual capital cost in- case 2
crease in all cases. However, total investment and annual capital 0.05
cost in Case 4 still ranks first and increase fastest with decline of
exhaust gas temperature (Figs. 15 and 16). The reason mainly lies 0.00
in that the heat exchanger of Case 4 has the lowest temperature 110 105 100 95 90
differential and the largest heat transfer area (Fig. 8). As shown Exhaust gas temperature, ºC
in Fig. 16, when exhaust gas temperature Tex reaches 90 °C, the an-
Fig. 17. Variation curves of annual O&M cost.
nual capital cost in Case 4 reaches the maximum, which is nearly
2.64 times of that in Case 1 and 4.22 times of that in Case 2.

4.2.3. Analysis of annual operation and maintenance (O&M) cost due 1.0
optimal
to waste heat recovery
To simplify O&M cost calculation, we assumed that annual O&M Net annual revenue, Million USD 0.9

cost is proportional to the total investment cost (Inv) with propor- 0.8
tionality coefficient aOM, i.e., CostOM = aOM  Inv. According to re-
lated literature [19], aOM can be set as 4%, that is, the O&M costs 0.7 case 4
are fixed at 4% of the total investment cost per year.
0.6 case 1
Fig. 17 illustrates the variation curves of annual O&M in the four
cases. It can be seen that, the variation curves of CostOM in Fig. 17 0.5
correspond to that of total capital requirement in Fig. 15. case 3
0.4

4.2.4. Comprehensive economic analysis and optimization case 2

0.3
Based on the aforementioned analysis, we obtain the net annual
0.2
revenue (NAR) as follows:
NAR ¼ Incomecoal  Cap  Cost OM ð24Þ 0.1
110 105 100 95 90
Here CostOM represents the O&M cost of the waste recovery system. Exhaust gas temperature, ºC
Fig. 18 illustrates the variation curves of NAR for the heat recov-
Fig. 18. Variation curves of net annual revenue.
ery system. As seen from this figure, Case 4 still ranks first among
the cases. However, the NAR of Case 4 will increase to an optimal
point before decreasing as exhaust gas temperature decreases. This
simultaneously increase on a large scale (Figs. 9 and 16), which
is owing to the fact that, with the drop of exhaust gas tempera-
counteracts part of coal-saving benefits. Finally, when temperature
tures, coal-saving rate and revenue increase greatly (Figs. 13 and
decrease reaches a certain value, the increasing capital cost will ex-
14), but on the other hand, heat exchange areas and capital cost
ceed the coal-saving benefits. As a consequence, the comprehen-
sive performance curve will increase rather than decrease with
0.7 variation of exhaust gas temperature. The optimal exhaust gas
case 4 temperature is 98 °C, which enables the NAR to reach 0.889 million
Annual Capital Cost, Million USD

0.6 USD.
Therefore, there is an interesting result. That is, from the tech-
0.5 no-economic perspective, the performance of the high-stage steam
substitute scheme of flue gas heat recovery system will not always
0.4 increase with the increment of the recovered heat (the drop of ex-
haust gas temperature). Instead, there is an optimum point.
0.3
Fig. 19 illustrates the variation rule of the optimal exhaust gas
temperature, annual capital cost, annual O&M cost, annual coal-
case 1
saving revenue and net annual revenue (NAR) in the best scheme
0.2 case 3 (Case 4) when the coal price varies. As seen in Fig. 19, with the in-
case 2
crease of coal price, the optimal exhaust flue gas temperature will
0.1
gradually decrease and annual coal-saving revenue will increase
dramatically. Meanwhile, the annual capital and O&M cost in-
0.0
110 105 100 95 90 creases gently while the net annual revenue increases greatly.
Exhaust gas temperature, ºC This is due to that with the increase of coal price, the lower ex-
haust gas temperature is suitable for the waste heat recovery sys-
Fig. 16. Variation curves of annual capital cost. tem, as a consequence of which, more waste heat recovery and
 G. Xu et al. / Applied Energy 112 (2013) 907–917 917

2.0 (5) Based on the data from an existing 1000 MW typical power
Optimal exhaust gas temperature, ºC

104

Economic parameters, Million USD

Annual coal-saving revenue
generation unit in China, the annual amount and revenue of
Optimal exhaust gas temperature coal saving in an optimal high-stage steam substitute
1.6
102 scheme (Case 4) can reach nearly 13,000 tons and 1.56 mil-
Net annual revenue lion USD per year with minimal exhaust gas temperatures
1.2 (90 °C). However, the net annual revenue of the optimal
100 high-stage steam substitute scheme (Case 4) can reach high-
est value (0.889 million USD) when the exhaust gas temper-
0.8 ature is 98 °C.
98

Annual capital cost 0.4

Acknowledgements
96 Annual O&M cost
0.0 This paper is supported by the National Major Fundamental Re-
80 100 120 140 160
search Program of China (2011CB710706), the National Nature Sci-
Standard coal price, USD/ton ence Fund of China (U1261210, 51006034) and the 111 Project
Fig. 19. Sensitivity analysis with standard coal price.
(B12034).

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