Thermodynamic modeling and performance evaluation of a supercritical coal-fired power plant situated in Western India

Abstract

ABSTRACT Energy consumption in India is increasing drastically due to the increase in its population every year. In this severe condition, it is highly desirable to focus on the performance of existing and upcoming power plants in India using thermal performance analysis of each plant. The subcritical power plants are going to be replaced by supercritical power plants (SUPP) in the present scenario in the country. The present study deals with the thermal performance analysis of a 660 MW capacity coal-fired SUPP situated in western India. The thermodynamic modeling with empirical relation of each of its components is done and executed in MATLAB programming interface. The pure sliding pressure with variation in plant load is taken for constructing a semi-empirical model. The properties of steam are considered as per the IAPWS IF-97 standard. The results obtained from the simulation model are validated with actual operational data of the plant. The amount of coal consumption, steam mass flow rate, plant overall efficiency with variation in plant load is analyzed and compared with the operational data. The output obtained from the simulated program found to be satisfactory by comparing it with the actual operational plant data under study. The condenser rejects 36.42% of total heat to cooling water. The predicted steam generator efficiency of 86.04% is validated with actual steam generator efficiency. The simulated model of the SUPP will help those technologists and investigators who are putting their effort into improving the performance of coal-fired power plants.