Operation & Maintenance of Power Plants
Improved sustainability in the power market
Today’s power market is characterised by extremes. Lots of energy is required, resources are becoming scarce and more expensive and on that top of that waste regulations are becoming increasingly stricter. Femke Schaefer reports.
S
ustainability has only recently turned into something more than just a buzz- word in the power market. Top managers of companies such as Shell and DSM are rated based on their sustainability
performance. And the European Union has set regulations on CO2
emissions making the old
fashioned way of waste management, landfill, no longer applicable and additionally are forcing countries and companies to look for more sustainable and environmentally friendly ways of waste management. In this context every issue involves large amounts of time and money. In the power market these kinds of challenges
touch process related heat transfer and fluid flow problems but also sustainability related issues such as noise restrictions and energy conservation. Tese four examples emphasise potentials for these kinds of environmental challenges.
District heating An example of achieved sustainability in a district- heating facility: A new power station requires an air- cooled vacuum condenser and a district-heating heat exchanger, both taking exhaust steam from the same turbine.
Te control of capacity and pressure is difficult,
requiring a complicated system with steam butterfly control valves and split condensate packages. Careful analyses and a balanced re-design of the complete unit (piping and instrumentation design) leads to a system with fewer components (fewer heat exchangers, condensate tanks and pumps and auxiliaries), less maintenance (costs) and much lower power consumption, while being easier to operate.
Heat transfer An example of improved heat transfer and fluid flow: Especially the design and mechanics of dry-cooling towers and A-frame condensers faces challenges in heat transfer and fluid flow. Why? When this kind of equipment is used in a closed cycle the design can meet high environmental requirements. Such as? In the integration approximately 20 per cent lower electric power is consumed. In that case a supplier is needed which is capable of designing and supplying complete and integrated cooling systems including steam ducting, condensate
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Fig 1. A-frame condenser in a power plant.
tanks, valves and other auxiliary equipment. Tat is the improvement (Fig. 1).
Another example of sustainability achieved through better energy efficiency: As a result of a recent change in the process, a client now has an excess of steam. Tey wish to generate as much electricity as possible with a well yielding investment.
Parasitic load Apart from the amount of extra electric power generated it is also important to pay close attention to the parasitic load of this new installation and possible improvements in the whole cycle. Te solution can be straight forward. By using a custom designed turbine and a high efficiency air-
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