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Power Station
Engineering
By
Mrs. Sanhita Mishra
School of Electrical Engineering
Contact Number-9438268654
Email Id- sanhita.mishra@gmail.com
Sources of Energy:
• Non-renewable sources: Fossil fuels like coal,
natural gas, petroleum, Uranium and
Plutonium
• Renewable sources: Sunlight, Wind, Water,
Tides and waves, Geothermal heat, Biomass
Types of Power Plants:
• Thermal
• Hydro
• Nuclear
• Diesel
• Gas plants
• Renewable energy sourced plants
 Electricity sector in India
• Installed capacity: 329.23 GW
• Renewable Power Plants: 30.8% of total installed
capacity
• Gross electricity generated by utilities in India was
1,116.84 TWh
• Total electricity generation (utilities and non utilities)
in the country was 1,352 TWh or 1,075.64 kWh per
capita
• India is the world's third largest
producer and fourth largest consumer of
electricity.
• Electric energy consumption in agriculture
was recorded highest (17.89%) in 2015-16
among all countries.
Installed Capacity of various sources in India
• Around 65% of India’s electricity generation
capacity is from thermal power plants
• 85% plants are coal based
• 195,552.88 MW installed capacity
Top 10 thermal power plants in India
• Vindhyachal Thermal Power Station, Madhya
Pradesh
• Mundra thermal power station, Gujurat
• Mundra Ultra mega power plant, Gujurat
• Talcher Super Thermal Power Station, Odisha
• Sipat Thermal Power Plant, Chhattisgarh
• NTPC Dadri, Uttar Pradesh
• NTPC Ramagundam, Andhra Pradesh
• Korba Super Thermal Power Plant, Chattisgarh
• Rihand Thermal Power Station, Uttar Pradesh
• Jharsuguda Thermal Power Plant, Odisha
• Converts heat energy to electrical energy
• Coal is burnt in the boiler which converts water
into steam
• Expansion of steam in turbine produces
mechanical power which drives the alternator

Sources of Energy:
• Coal
• Water
Composition
• Carbon
• Moisture
• Ash
• Sulphur
• Nitrogen
• Hydrogen
• oxygen
• Peat
• Lignite
• Bituminous
• Semi-bituminous
• Anthracite
• Calorific Value
• Weatherability
• Sulphur content
• Grindability index
• Caking characteristics
• Ash content
• Particle size
 Main and Auxiliary e q u i p m e n t s
1. Coal handling plant
2. Pulverizing plant
3. Draft fans
4. Boiler
5. Ash handling plant
6. Turbine
7. Condenser
8. Cooling towers and ponds
9. Feed water heater
10. Economiser
11. Superheater and Reheater
12. Air preheater
13. Alternator with exciter
14. Protection and control equipments
15. Instrumentation
• Minimum overall cost
• Ensures ease of operation
• Good appearance
• Future extension should be kept in view
• Ease of access to each equipment
• Main connections should be taken care of. Like
circulating water mains, main steam, pipe
feeding, coal conveyers, flues and electrical
connections
• Railway siding for coal delivery and ash disposal
A modern 2000MW station having 4 units of
500MW requires about 200 acres of land and
different parts occupy the area as under:
• Station building: 15 acres
• Coal store and siding: 70 acres
• Cooling towers: 55 acres
• Switch yard: 10 acres
• Surrounding area and approaches: 50 acres
1. Cooling tower 10. Steam Control valve 19. Superheater
2. Cooling water pump 11. High pressure steam turbine 20. Forced draught (draft) fan
3. transmission line (3-phase) 12. Deaerator 21. Reheater
4. Step-up transformer (3-phase) 13. Feed water heater 22. Combustion air intake
5. Electrical generator (3-phase) 14. Coal conveyor 23. Economiser
6. Low pressure steam turbine 15. Coal hopper 24. Air preheater
7. Condensate pump 16. Coal pulveriser 25. Precipitator
8. Surface condenser 17. Boiler steam drum 26. Induced draught (draft) fan
9. Intermediate pressure steam
18. Bottom ash hopper 27. Flue gas stack
turbine
1. Coal handling plant:
• The function of coal handling plant is automatic feeding of coal to
the boiler furnace.
• A thermal power plant burns enormous amounts of coal.
• A 200MW plant may require around 2000 tons of coal daily.
• Coal is weighed and led to hopper and then it is fed to the grate
through some form of stoker mechanism which are overfeed stoker
or underfeed stoker depending on whether the coal entry is above or
below the air entry.
• Has enough storage of coal for 15 days or so.
• Is divided into 3 sections:
• Uploading plant: wagon tipper
• Conveying plant: for conveying coal from unloading to the
coal yard or directly to the bunkers
• Crushing plant: for crushing the coal to the required size
• Uploading plant:
– Coal is brought to power station through rail
wagons
– 6-8 shunted wagons
– Each wagon adjusted on the tipper platform in
proper position
– The tipper tilts the wagon and unloads the coal
into the hopper
– Then from hopper coal is fed to conveyer belt A
and B by means of electrically vibrating feeders
• Conveying plant:
– Consisits of belt conveyors 1A, 1B, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
belt no.4 can be rotated in either direction while
all others have one direction only.
– Vibrating screens
– Crushers
– The crushed coal from crusher and small size coals
from screens fall on conveyer belt 4
– Direct bunkering coal on belt no-5
– Stocking coal falls on belt no 3
– Coal yard for stocking
– Tippers control the feeding of coal to bunkers
– Magnetic separators are present to remove any
magnetic material such as bolts, iron scrap, etc
which may be in the coal
• Crushing plant:
– Screens are provided to reduce the load on the crusher
– Coal size >19mm are crushed in the crusher
2. Pulverising plant:
• In modern thermal power plant , coal is pulverised i.e.
ground to dust like size and carried to the furnace in a
stream of hot air. Pulverising is a means of exposing a
large surface area to the action of oxygen and
consequently helping combustion.
• Pulverising mills are further classified as:
1. Contact mill
2. Ball mill
3. Impact mill
2. Pulverising plant:
• In modern thermal power plant , coal is
pulverised i.e. ground to dust like size and
carried to the furnace in a stream of hot air.
Pulverising is a means of exposing a large
surface area to the action of oxygen and
consequently helping combustion.
• Pulverising mills are further classified as:
1. Contact mill
2. Ball mill
3. Impact mill
3. Boiler:
• A boiler or steam generator is a closed vessel in which
water under pressure, is converted into steam.
• Steam pressures from 17kg/cm2 to 167.5 kg/cm2 and
temp from 315 to 575 deg cent.
• It is one of the major components of a thermal power
plant
• Always designed to absorb maximum amount of heat
released in the process of combustion
• Heat is transferred through conduction, convection and
radiation
• Boilers are of two types-
• Fire tube boiler
• Water tube boiler
• Fire tube boiler:
– The products of the combustion pass through the
tubes surrounded by water
– Vertical and horizontal tube boilers
– May be internally fed or externally fed
– In internally fed, the grate and combustion
chamber are enclosed in the boiler shell
– In externally fed, furnace and grates are separated
from boiler chamber
– Simple and compact
• Water tube boiler:
– Water flows inside the tube and hot gases flow outside the tube
– Classified as vertical, horizontal and inclined
– Circulation of water may be natural or through pump
– Advantages of forced circulation
• Lesser weight of boiler and cheap foundations
• Lighter tubes
• Freedom from scaling problems
• Freedom in configuration of furnace and tubes etc
• Uniform heating of all part
• Increased efficiency of boiler
• Better control of temp
• Quicker response to load changes
– But it is costly, uses more power and maintenance is difficult
Most of the modern boilers are having super heater and reheater arrangement.

Superheater :
Superheater is a component of a steam-generating unit in which steam, after it
has left the boiler drum, is heated above its saturation temperature. The amount
of superheat added to the steam is influenced by the location, arrangement, and
amount of super heater surface installed, as well as the rating of the boiler. The
super heater may consist of one or more stages of tube banks arranged to
effectively transfer heat from the products of combustion. Super heaters are
classified as convection , radiant or combination of these.
A reheater is basically a superheater that superheats
steam exiting the high-pressure stage of a turbine.
• The reheated steam is then sent to the low-pressure
stage of the turbine.
• By reheating steam between high-pressure and low
pressure turbine it is possible to increase the
electrical efficiency of the power plant cycle beyond
40%.
• The reheat cycle is used in large power boilers since it
is feasible economically only in larger power plants.
• Reheater design is very much similar to super heater
design because both operate at high temperature
conditions.
Re-heater: Some of the heat of superheated steam is used to rotate the
turbine where it loses some of its energy. Re-heater is also steam boiler
component in which heat is added to this intermediate-pressure steam,
which has given up some of its energy in expansion through the high-
pressure turbine. The steam after reheating is used to rotate the second
steam turbine where the heat is converted to mechanical energy. This
mechanical energy is used to run the alternator, which is coupled to turbine,
there by generating electrical energy.
Flue gases coming out of the boiler carry lot of heat. An economizer
extracts a part of this heat from flue gases and uses it for heating feed
water. This use of economiser results in saving coal consumption and
higher boiler efficiency.
After flue gases leave economiser, some further heat
can be extracted from them and used to heat incoming
heat. Cooling of flue gases by 20 degree centigrade
increases the plant efficiency by 1%.
Air preheaters may be of three types
Plate type
Tubular type
Regenerative type
 Steam turbine

A steam turbine converts heat energy of steam into mechanical

energy and drives the generator. It uses the principle that steam
when issuing from a small opening attains a high velocity. This
velocity attained during expansion depends on the initial and final
heat content of the steam. This difference b/w initial and final heat
content repesents the heat energy converted into kinetic energy.
These are of two types :-
Impulse turbine
Reaction turbine
Impulse turbine:
• Steam is expanded in steam nozzle and attains a high
velocity
• The steam jet impinges on the blades fixed to rotor
periphery
• Two types of rotors:
– Built-up rotor: consists of a forged steel shaft and the
blades are forged steel discs which are shrunk and keyed
– Integral rotor: the blades and shafts are formed from one
solid forging. HPT and IPT are always forged type
• Complete expansion of steam takes place in the nozzle
• Pressure is same through out the turbine and on both
side of the blades
• Blades have symmetrical profile
• Reaction turbine:
– Only partial expansion takes place in the nozzle
and further expansion takes place on the rotor
blades
– Pressure difference on both side of the blade
– The relative velocity increases as it expands while
passing over the blades
– Aerofoil sectioned blades
– The blades are all similar and each is so arranged
that the area through which steam leaves is less
than the one through which it enters to increase
the velocity of the steam.
 Ash handling plant
The percentage of ash in coal varies from 5% in good quality
coal to about 40% in poor quality coal
Power plants generally use poor quality of coal , thus amount
of ash produced by it is pretty large
A modern 2000MW plant produces about 5000 tons of ash
daily
The stations use some conveyor arrangement to carry ash to
dump sites directly or for carrying and loading it to trucks and
wagons which transport it to the site of disposal
• About 84% of the total ash content of the coal
goes with the flue gases in the form of dust or fly
ash
• Remaining 16% drops into the furnace bottom
slag hopper in the form of ash lumps formed on
the water walls
• The dust and fly ash contained in the flue gas is
collected and separated in electrostatic
precipitator whose efficiency is about 98-98.5%
• There are 2 types of precipitators:
– Electrostatic precipitator
– Mechanical cyclone type precipitator
 FEED WATER HEATER
A feedwater heater is a power plant
component used to pre-heat water delivered
to a steam generating boiler. Preheating the
feedwater reduces the irreversibilities
involved in steam generation and therefore
improves the thermodynamic efficiency of
the system.

Advantages of heating water before feeding

back to the boiler:-

 Feed water heating improves overall plant

efficiency
 The dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide
which would otherwise cause boiler
corrosion are removed in feed water
heater
 Thermal stresses due to cold water
entering the boiler drum are avoided
 Quantity of steam produced by the boiler
 ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPITATOR
An electrostatic precipitator (ESP) is a
filtration device that removes fine
particles, like dust and smoke, from a
flowing gas using the force of an
induced electrostatic charge minimally
impeding the flow of gases through
the unit.

• Consists of 2 electrodes which are

completely insulated from each
other
• High voltage electrostatic field is
maintained across them
• One set is called emitting or
discharge electrode which is in the
form of thin wires
• Other set is called collecting
electrode
• The emitting or discharge
electrodes are placed in the middle
 ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPITATOR
• The emitter is connected to
negative polarity of HVDC source
of 25-100kV
• Collector is connected to positive
polarity and is earthed.
• High electrostatic field is thus set
up between both of them which
creates corona discharge and
ionises the gas molecules as the
flue gas flow through the tube or in
between the plates
• The dust particles in the gas
acquire negative charge and are
attracted towards the collectors
and get deposited there
• The deposited dust is made to fall
off the electrodes when rapped
mechanically
• Types of ESP:
 ASH HANDLING PLANT
• What is Ash?
Ash is the residue remaining after the coal is
incinerated.
• Composition of ash handling system?
SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, CaO , MgO.
• Why Ash Handling System is required?
In Thermal Power Plant’s coal is generally used as fuel
and hence the ash is produced as the byproduct of
Combustion.
Ash generated in power plant is about 30-40% of total
coal consumption and hence the system is required to
handle Ash for its proper utilization or disposal.
• Ash terminology in power plants?
Fly Ash ( Around 80% is the value of fly ash generated)
Bottom ash (Bottom ash is 20% of the ash generated in
coal based power stations.
• What is fly ash?
Ash generated in the ESP which got carried out with
the flue gas is generally called Fly ash.
It also consists of Air pre heater ash & Economiser ash
(it is about 2 % of the total ash content).
• What is bottom ash?
Ash generated below furnace of the steam generator is
 ASH HANDLING PLANT
System Description: The ash handling system handles the ash by bottom ash handling system,
coarse ash handling system, fly ash handling system, ash disposal system up to the ash disposal
area and water recovery system from ash pond and Bottom ash overflow. Description is as
follows:

A. Bottom Ash Handling System: Bottom ash resulting from the combustion of coal in the
boiler shall fall into the over ground, refractory lined, water impounded, maintained level,
double V-Section type/ W type steel- fabricated bottom ash hopper having a hold up volume to
store bottom ash and economizer ash of maximum allowable condition with the rate specified.
The slurry formed shall be transported to slurry sump through pipes.
B. Coarse Ash (Economizer Ash) handling System: Ash generated in Economizer hoppers
shall be evacuated continuously through flushing boxes. Continuous generated Economizer
slurry shall be fed by gravity into respective bottom ash hopper pipes with necessary slope.
C. Air Pre Heater ash handling system: Ash generated from APH hoppers shall be evacuated
once in a shift by vacuum conveying system connected with the ESP hopper vacuum conveying
system.
D. Fly Ash Handling System: Fly ash is considered to be collected in ESP Hoppers. Fly ash
from ESP hoppers extracted by Vacuum Pumps up to Intermediate Surge Hopper cum Bag Filter
for further Dry Conveying to fly ash silo.
Under each surge hopper ash vessels shall be connected with Oil free screw compressor for
conveying the fly ash from Intermediate Surge Hopper to silo. Total fly ash generated from each
 AUXILIARIES
The equipment which help in proper functioning of the plant are called plant auxiliaries.
They can be grouped under:
Boiler auxiliaries: induced draught fans, boiler feed pumps, secondary air fans, air
preheaters, soot blowers , forced and induced draught fans, pulverised fuel, conveyers,
feeders, pulverising mills, exhausters, air heaters etc
Coal and ash auxiliaries: wagons, tipplers, elevators, skiphoists, conveyers, cranes, pumps,
exhausters etc
Turbo-alternator auxiliaries: circulating water pumps, condensate extraction pumps,
governer control, evaporator, sludge or distillate pumps, ventilating fans, oil pumps, oil
purifier, exciter, exciter field, rheostat, turning gear etc
Miscellaneous auxiliaries: air compressor, water and fire service pump, workshop
machinery and equipments.

Two main sources of supply:

 From grid via station transformer
 From main generators through unit transformers
Essential auxiliaries supplied from unit transformers, non essentials from station transformers

For 200MV unit, the rating of unit transformer is 12.5 MVA and rating of station transformer is
20 MVA. Such a station can provide:
 Starting load of 1 unit - 8 MVA
• The ash collected in this precipitator is either
pneumatically moved with air under pressure or
vacuumatically up to the main ash silos
• The furnace bottom slag is either handled by
chain or fluidised operation.
– Belt conveyors and bucket conveyers are used to
transport slag ash from boiler bottom hopper to slag
silos
– Dumper is used to dump in the ash dumping site
– Most reliable, clean and efficient way is ash sluicing
system
– Ash slurry is formed by mixing it with water and
discharged from the power station to a suitable valley
away from the power station.
Steam after rotating steam turbine comes to condenser. Condenser
refers here to the shell and tube heat exchanger (or surface
condenser) installed at the outlet of low presssure turbine in Thermal
power stations of utility companies generally.
These condensers are heat exchangers which convert steam from its
gaseous to its liquid state, also known as phase transition.
The purpose is to condense the outlet (or exhaust) steam from
steam turbine to obtain maximum efficiency and also to get the
condensed steam in the form of pure water, otherwise known as
condensate, back to steam generator or (boiler) as boiler feed water.
o A condenser needs huge quantity of water to condense the steam .
o Typically a 2000MW plant needs about 1500MGallon of water.
oMost plants use a closed cooling system where warm water coming from
condenser is cooled and reused
oSmall plants use spray ponds and medium and large plants use cooling towers.
oCooling tower is a steel or concrete hyperbolic structure having a reservoir at the
base for storage of cooled water
oHeight of the cooling tower may be 150 m or so and diameter at the base is 150 m
• Wet cooling tower:
– A cooling tower is a steel or concrete hyperbolic structure
having a reservoir at the bottom for storage of cooled
water
– Warm water is led to the top.
– Air flows from the bottom to the top
– Water drops falling from the top come in contact with air,
lose heat to the air and get cooled
– 1% loss of water due to evaporation and other 2% used in
purging the system of dissolved salts concentrated in the
system due to continuous recirculation
– So 3% make up water is circulated back to the system
– Air circulated is either through natural draft, forced draft
or induced draft.
– Height of the tower- 150m, diameter of the base-150m
• Dry cooling:
– No separate make up water is required
– Condenser is of jet type where cooled water is
spread to the exhaust steam
– Resulting condensate is circulated through the
tower as part of a closed circuit from which 2%
water is bled continuously as boiler feed water.
– It is larger and expensive than wet cooling tower
 Feed water heater

Advantages of heating water before feeding back to the boiler:-

a) Feed water heating improves overall plant efficiency.

b) The dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide which would otherwise
cause boiler corrosion are removed in feed water heater
c) Thermal stresses due to cold water entering the boiler drum are
avoided.
d) Quantity of steam produced by the boiler is increased.
e) Some other impurities carried by the steam and condensate, due
to corrosion of boiler and condenser are precipitated outside the
boiler.