Thermal Power Plants In India Research Articles

Experimental study on ash content & calorific value of coal used in thermal power station

Electricity has become a most important parameter for developing countries to improve their growth rate. On an average in India power generation is contributed using coal as fuel up to 75.9%. Higher the calorific value, higher would be the heat liberated from the coal, thus resulting in higher steam generation, which would contribute to increase in power generation. In this article experimental attempt has been made to study the performance of coal used in Indian thermal power plant in terms of calorific value and ash content. Coal used in Chandrapur super thermal power station was blended with charcoal of Prosopis Juliflora in proportion of 100, 80, 60, 40 and 20 percentage. Preparation of coal was also differentiate by crushing the coal manually and using ball miller. Result shows that blending coal with charcoal of Prosopis Juliflora showed increase in calorific value and decrease in ash content.

Erosion behaviour of boiler component materials at room temperature and 400 °C temperature

Degradation of boiler tube components in Indian thermal power plants is mainly done through solid particle erosion due to exposure in erosive ash environment. Some important parameter such as hardness, erodent velocity, temperature, impact angle, shape and size are majorly affected the erosion wear. In this study, the erosion wear behaviour of SAE 208 grade steel, SAE213-T12 boiler steel, SAE213-T91 boiler steel and IS 2062 structural steel were investigated using an air jet erosion test rig. The erosion tests were carried out at the impact angles of 30° and 90°, impact velocity of 42.3 m/s at room temperature and 400 °C. The position of sample holder was adjusted in such a way that erosion wear scar occur at the central region of the samples. For each experiment, the erosion test was continued until the steady state erosion rate was achieved as per ASTM standard. The variation in erosion rate data has been plotted against cumulative mass of erodent for boiler and structural steel samples. The steady state erosion rates for different steel samples are calculated and compared. The surfaces of tested samples are analyzed using scanning electron microscopy to understand the erosion mechanism. The results showed that the ductile behaviour of erosion mechanism is dominated at both room temperature and 400 °C temperature. Mechanism involved at 90° impact angle is plastic deformation with formation of craters and at 30° impact angle is cutting and ploughing.

An investigation on sustainable supply chain management challenges for Indian thermal power plants

An investigation on sustainable supply chain management challenges for Indian thermal power plants

Performance Evaluation of Coal Based Thermal Power Plants in India

Performance Evaluation of Coal Based Thermal Power Plants in India

Pressure drop calculation for fly ash slurry using rheological model

Purpose This paper aims to the transportation of high concentration slurry through pipelines that will require thorough understanding of physical and rheological properties of slurry, as well as its hydraulic flow behavior. In spite of several contributions by the previous researchers, there is still a need to enrich the current understanding of hydraulic conveying through pipeline at various flow parameters. The pilot plant loop tests, particularly at high concentrations, are tedious, time-consuming and complex in nature. Therefore, in the current research the prediction methodology for slurry pipeline design based on rheological model of the slurry is used for calculation of pressure drop and other design parameters. Design/methodology/approach It has been established that slurry rheology plays important role in the prediction of pressure drop for laminar and turbulent flow of commercial slurries through pipeline. In the current research fly ash slurry at high concentration is chosen for rheological analysis. The effect of particle size and solid concentration is experimentally tested over the rheological behavior of slurry and based on the rheological data a correlation is developed for calculation of pressure drop in slurry pipeline. Findings The present study strongly supports the analytical approach of pressure drop prediction based on the rheological parameters obtained from the bench scale tests. The rheological properties are strongly influenced by particle size distribution (PSD), shear rate and solid mass concentration of the slurry samples. Pressure drop along the pipeline is highly influenced by flow velocity and solid concentration. The presence of coarser particles in the slurry samples also leads to high pressure drop along the pipeline. As the concentration of solid increase the shear stress and shear viscosity increase cause higher pressure drop. Research limitations/implications The transportation of slurry in the pipeline is very complex as there are lot of factors that affect the flow behavior of slurry in pipelines. From the vast study of literature it is found that flow behavior of slurry changes with the change in parameters such as solids concentration, flow velocity, PSD, chemical additives and so on. Therefore, the accurate prediction of hydraulic parameter is very difficult. Different slurry samples behave differently depending upon their physical and rheological characteristics. So it is required to study each slurry samples individually that is time-consuming and costly. Practical implications Nowadays in the world, long distance slurry pipelines are used for the transportation of highly concentration slurries. Many researchers have carried out an experiment in the design aspects of hydraulic transportation system. Rheological characteristics of slurry also play crucial role in determining important parameters of hydraulic conveying such as head loss in commercial slurry pipeline. The current research is useful for the prediction of pressure drop based on rheological behavior of fly ash slurry at various solid concentrations. The current research is helpful for finding the effect of solid concentration and flow velocity on the flow behavior of slurry. Social implications Slurry pipeline transportation has advantages over rail and road transportation because of low energy consumption, economical, less maintenance and eco-friendly nature. Presently majority of the thermal power plants in India and other parts of the world dispose of coal ash at low concentration (20 per cent by weight) to ash ponds using the slurry pipeline. Transporting solids in slurry pipelines at higher concentrations will require a thorough knowledge of pressure drop. In the current research a rheological model is proposed for prediction of pressure drop in the slurry pipeline, which is useful for optimization of flow parameters. Originality/value All the experimental work is done on fly ash slurry samples collect from the Jharli thermal power plant from Haryana State of India. Bench scale tests are performed in the water resource laboratory of IIT Delhi for physical and rheological analysis of slurry. It has been shown in the results that up to solid concentration of 50 per cent by mass all the samples behave as non-Newtonian and follows a Herschel–Bulkley model with shear thickening behavior. In the present research all the result outcomes are unique and original and does not copied from anywhere.

What is driving the diurnal variation in tropospheric NO2 columns over a cluster of high emission thermal power plants in India?

We thank the Ministry of Earth Sciences, India for their support. We are grateful to TEMIS (http://www.temis.nl/airpollution/no2.html) making the satellite data used here available. All WRF-Chem model simulations were carried out at IITM, India on the IBM-HPC system ‘Aditya’.

Experimental Study on Various Mineral Admixtures in Fibre Reinforced Concrete

The quantity of fly ash produced from thermal power plants in India is approximately 80 million tons each year, and its percentage utilization is less than 10%. An attempt has been made to utilize these cheaper materials in concrete production. This thesis aims at investigating the characteristics of fresh concrete and various strengths of hardened concrete made with various mineral admixtures such as fly ash. GGBFS, silica fume. Rice husk ash along with polypropylene fibres in various proportions. M20 grade concrete is considered for experimental studies with 53grade Ordinary Portland Cement blended with varying percentages of mineral admixtures. The maximum size of coarse aggregate used is 20mm. Various mineral admixtures such as fly ash. GGBFS.Silica fume. Rice Husk Ash were added concrete in various percentages by partially replacing cement and the optimum percentage of the mineral admixtures will be found. Based on the obtained values, the admixture with maximum mechanical strength is determined and to this polypropylene fibre is added by varying 0 to 0.5 % by weight of cement to the mix. The test results obtained were compared and discussed with conventional concrete.

Management Of Coal Mine Overburden And Fly Ash using Bamboo Cultivation

Coal mine in India is one of the biggest source of energy production. Coal is the major component used in thermal power plants which helps in consuming 71% of electricity generated by these thermal power plants in India. In opencast coal mining excavation of coal is done and huge area is abandoned after coal is being excavated. The OBD soil which is present at these mine sites is very poor in nutrients that it is usually unfavorable for any type of plantation to be carried out. Keeping this in mind another factor comes across is that thermal power plants are located nearby coal mines which gives fly ash as combustion product of coal and disposal of this fly ash is very crucial. Therefore, this fly ash can be used along with coal mine OBD soil which it has efficiency in improving soil fertility in many ways. Revegetation is one of the most accepted way of soil reclamation and reduction in soil erosion. The suitability of soil for growth of bamboo is checked by planting bamboo saplings in an area of 3 x 3 feet having depth 1 foot in a systematic manner by attempting field trial.

Barriers identification and analysis of solar power implementation in Indian thermal power plants: An Interpretative Structural Modeling approach

Present day India has tremendous energy requirements, and with each day it is becoming more difficult to meet those needs through conventional power sources. The never-ending demand of population which is growing exponentially has become very tough to fulfill. To enhance its energy security, mitigate carbon emissions and augment its economic development, it becomes an urgent need to implement innovative policies and mechanisms for the adoption of green and clean energy. India because of its demographics has good solar energy potential. This study aims to examine the solar power implementations in thermal power plants situated all across India. This paper contributes to the literature on solar power by identification of barriers for the adoption of solar power in thermal plants. Still, there is some lack of study about solar power implementations in different areas. In this paper, investigating efforts have been made to examine the solar power implementations in thermal power plants within the Indian context by identifying key barriers. In this study, Interpretative Structural Modeling (ISM) has been adopted to find the contextual relationships among key barriers and Matriced’Impacts Croises- Multiplication Applique’ an Classment (MICMAC) analysis has been carried out for validation of the model. Requirement of gigantic investment, longer recovery period, safety implications, environmental implications, and societal concerns emerge at the top level in ISM structure. Lack of adequate government policies and lack of political leadership appears at the bottom of a structured model and these emerged as the most influential barriers. This research also suggested how to mitigate the key barriers by the installation of solar power in electricity generation utilities.

Improving the hot corrosion resistance of boiler tube steels by detonation gun sprayed coatings in actual boiler of thermal power plant

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the hot corrosion behavior of Ni-Cr and Cr3C2-NiCr coatings, deposited on T11, P91 boiler steels by detonation gun spray coating (D-Gun) process to enhance high temperature corrosion resistance.Design/methodology/approachHot corrosion studies were conducted in secondary super heater zone of boiler at 900 °C for 10 cycles on bare and D-Gun coated steel specimens. The microhardness and porosity values of as-sprayed coatings were measured before exposing the specimens in the boiler environment. Each cycle consisted 100 h of heating in the boiler environment followed by 20 min of cooling in air. The weight change measurements were performed after each cycle to establish the kinetics of corrosion using thermogravimetric technique. X-ray diffraction, SEM techniques were used to analyze the corroded specimens.FindingsUncoated boiler steel experienced higher weight loss. The Cr3C2-NiCr coating was found to be more protective than Ni-Cr coating. The phases revealed the formation of oxide scale on coated specimens, mainly consist of nickel and chromium, which are reported to be protective against the hot corrosion.Originality/valueThere is very limited reported literature on hot corrosion behavior of Ni-Cr and Cr3C2-NiCr coatings deposited on the T11 and P91 substrates by detonation gun (D-gun) spray technique. T11 and P91 alloy steels have been chosen for this study because these two alloys are used to manufacture boiler tubes used in Indian thermal power plants.

Occurrence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in air and soil surrounding a coal-fired thermal power plant in the south-west coast of India.

This investigation focused on the potential sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in different matrices and their temporal variations surrounding a coal-fired thermal power plant in India. Samples were collected in different seasons for 1year. Gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) was used to perform the measurement of 16 priority PAHs. Average PAH concentrations were ranged from 0.71 to 2.99ng/m3 in air and 1.59-22.7ng/g in soil respectively. High levels of PAHs were found in soil compared to air, which indicated deposition in soil. This could be because of the fallout of high-molecular-weight compounds. During the monsoons, PAH concentrations in the air were the lowest compared to the other seasons because of the dilution effect. Phenanthrene, fluoranthene, and pyrenes were dominant in the air, contributing up to 32.5%, 22.7%, and 19.2% of total PAHs, respectively. On the other hand, soils contained fluoranthene (12.3%), pyrene (10.7%), benzo[b]fluoranthene (10%), chrysene (9.82%), and indeno[123-c,d]pyrene (9.64%) compounds. The occurrence of indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene (9.14ng/g) indicated that the soil is contaminated from fly ash and diesel emissions from the thermal power plant and vehicular emission. The diagnostic ratios, thematic maps, and principal component analysis revealed that the fly ash, diesel emissions from the thermal power plant, vehicles, and biomass burning were the probable sources of PAHs in the study area. The human health risk assessment studies reveal that the soil samples are more prone to carcinogenicity than air samples. As per our knowledge, this is the first report on the impact of PAHs on air and soil in this region.

An Investigation on sustainable supply chain management challenges for Indian thermal power plants

The coal option for power generation has to play most important role in the Indian power sector for long times to come. Though it is most obvious and viable option, it comes with some salient issues like coal quality, import tie ups, mining, transport and port infrastructure, etc. which need to be analysed and addressed with long-term perspective. A low-quality, high-ash coal also creates problems for power stations, including erosion in parts and materials, difficulty in pulverisation, poor emissivity and flame temperature, low radiative transfer, and excessive amounts of fly ash containing large amounts of unburned carbons. The awareness against the environmental pollution and clean energy is increasing all over the world. As the thermal power sector is blamed for creating environmental pollution, so they are more focused on sustainability issues and subsequently trying to develop a sustainable supply chain strategy to carry out their business.

Carbon-sensitive meta-productivity growth and technological gap: An empirical analysis of Indian thermal power sector

This paper measures carbon-sensitive efficiency and productivity growth in technologically heterogeneous coal-fired thermal power plants in India for the period of 2000 to 2013. It uses a unique data set of 56 plants, obtained petitioning the Right to Information Act 2005. We apply ‘within-MLE’ fixed effects stochastic frontier model to get consistent estimates of meta-directional output distance function. The thermal power plants are grouped into two categories: central sector and state sector. We find that the state sector plants have higher potential to simultaneously increase electricity generation and reduce carbon emissions than the central sector plants. If all the state and central sectors plants were made to operate on the meta-frontier, reduction of 98 million tonnes of CO2 could have been achieved. Carbon-sensitive productivity growth in the central sector plants is higher than the plants in state sector, though in both the sectors productivity growth is governed by carbon-sensitive innovation effect. Commercialisation or autonomy in electricity generation also induces carbon-sensitive productivity growth and reduces carbon-sensitive productivity growth gap.

Fuzzy AHP model for challenges to thermal power plant establishment in India

Thermal power plant is a huge project in context of resource utilisation, time required for its completion and also large amount of funds are required for its establishment. So, delay in any activity especially activity of critical path would results in delay of whole project. Due to delay, the stress on the resources would also increase, which may further result in substandard quality of work. A fuzzy AHP process model has been used to prioritise the challenges to thermal power plant establishment through the inputs by experts from managers at the actual construction sites, designers, and consultants. The challenges identified in the present study can be categorised in three categories viz. high impact, medium impact and least impact challenges. This paper presented the ranking of 19 challenges faced in the establishment of a new thermal power plant in India.

Fuzzy AHP model for challenges to thermal power plant establishment in India

Thermal power plant is a huge project in context of resource utilisation, time required for its completion and also large amount of funds are required for its establishment. So, delay in any activity especially activity of critical path would results in delay of whole project. Due to delay, the stress on the resources would also increase, which may further result in substandard quality of work. A fuzzy AHP process model has been used to prioritise the challenges to thermal power plant establishment through the inputs by experts from managers at the actual construction sites, designers, and consultants. The challenges identified in the present study can be categorised in three categories viz. high impact, medium impact and least impact challenges. This paper presented the ranking of 19 challenges faced in the establishment of a new thermal power plant in India.

Experimental Study on Online Measurement of Unburned Carbon in Pulverized Fuel Boilers by Thermal Oxidation of Ash

The unburned carbon (UC) in the ash in Indian power plants is presently measured offline by manually collecting the samples and analyzing it by loss on ignition or thermogravimetric analysis methods. The manual collection and offline analysis of samples take 6-8 h. By this time, the existing operating conditions of the boiler may be different from the conditions when the samples were collected. The combustion optimization and corrective maintenance activities can be performed immediately by plant operation and maintenance team if the UC values are available online along with furnace flame intensity and the percentage of CO in flue gases at economizer outlet. The presence of high amounts of the UC in ash decreases the boiler efficiency and reduces the utilization of ash in cement industries. In this paper, 20 ash samples were collected from five Indian thermal power plants of range 150-500 MW. An experimental setup has been developed for the measurement of the UC using the percentages of CO2 and CO obtained by thermal oxidation of ash. The experimental results were compared with the laboratory results. The maximum deviation between experimental and laboratory results was within the range of ± 0.30. The percentages of the UC is more accurate when CO2 and CO both are considered in comparison to the present existing online measurement based on CO2 only.

Identifying and Hierarchizing the factor of Delay Factors with Interpretive Structure Modelling a case in Indian Thermal Power Plant

Identifying and Hierarchizing the factor of Delay Factors with Interpretive Structure Modelling a case in Indian Thermal Power Plant

Interpretive Structural Modeling-based Framework for Analysis of Sustainable Supply Chain Management Enablers: Indian Thermal Power Plant Perspective

Indian thermal power industries, being perceived as the most polluting, are experiencing tremendous pressure to implement sustainable supply chain practices. In this light, the purpose of this article is to explore the factors that initiate sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) adoption in Indian thermal power industries and understand the interrelationship existing among them. Interpretive structural modeling (ISM) technique is employed to extract the structural relationship existing among the SSCM enablers and portray the same through a hierarchical model. Further, MICMAC (Matrice d’Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée á un Classement) analysis has been employed to classify the enablers by taking their driving and dependence power as a measure. Eleven SSCM enablers have been explored through an extensive review of the literature. The interpretive structural model of selected enablers indicates that SSCM adoption in thermal power plants is mainly due to “pressure from environmental advocacy groups” and “government policies and employee pressure”. Prior knowledge of these influential factors and their interdependence will help the decision makers to develop suitable strategies that would enable the organizations to reduce the impact of barriers while optimizing the benefits derived from the enablers.

Shadow price of CO2 emissions in Indian thermal power sector

This paper estimates production efficiency and shadow prices of CO2 emissions for coal-fired thermal power plants in India. It employs a unique sample of 56 power plants for 2000–2013 acquired primarily by invoking the Right to Information Act 2005. It estimates parametric quadratic directional output distance function using linear programming approach. We find that CO2 intensity of electricity generation could be reduced by about 16 and 23% if the power plants were made to operate efficiently. The estimated average shadow prices of US$ 14.54 and 18.68 for a ton of CO2 emission, depending upon a plant’s strategies for enhancing electricity and reducing CO2 emissions, reflect that the prevailing Clean Energy Cess of US$ 6.15 on a ton of coal or US$ 3.81 on a ton of CO2 emissions is not enough to induce the required emission mitigation. Significant variation in the estimates of shadow prices across the thermal power plants calls for use of economic instruments to reduce the emissions.

Technical efficiency of coal-based thermal power plants in India: a stochastic frontier analysis

We analysed the technical efficiency of coal-based thermal power plants in India by employing the stochastic frontier production function methodology for the period of 2007-2008 using annual data. We had employed, further, the Frontier 4.1 statistical package for both ordinary least square (OLS) and maximum likelihood (MLE) estimations. We found that the technical efficiency varies across plants - ranges from 61.05% to 99.53% - and is a time-invariant. However, about 50% of the plants were operated under the mean technical efficiency of 88.20% which had warranted policy makers to take appropriate steps by either increasing the plant output level by 11.80% with existing resources and technology or reducing the existing input level by 11.80% to produce the given level of output. We concluded that the new policy implementations of Government of India had improved the technical efficiency of coal-based thermal power plant operations and also suggested further scope for research. [Received: February 4, 2016; Accepted: August 13, 2016]