Case Study 2:

Electrical Power Generation

1
 Kilowatt-hour
The energy unit known as the kilowatt-hour,
which is the product of dimensions for power
and time, is the amount of energy produced
during one hour by a one-kilowatt source of
power.
A 100-W lightbulb, for instance, consumes 0.1
kWh of energy each hour.

2
 In the macroscopic view, an electrical power plant receives
fuel and air as its inputs. In turn, the plant produces
electricity, along with two side effects that are released into
the environment: the by-products of combustion and waste
heat.
As we know, heat engines are not able to convert all of the
heat supplied to them into useful mechanical work, and
some amount of heat must be rejected. To disperse the
wasted heat, electrical power plants are often located near
large bodies of water, or they employ cooling towers.
This by-product is sometimes called thermal pollution, and
it can disturb the habitats of wildlife and the growth of
vegetation.

3
 Energy Cycle in an Electrical Power
Generation Plant
The cycle for a fossil fuel power plant comprises two loops.
The primary loop consists of the steam generator, turbine, electrical generator,
condenser, and pump. Water circulates in that closed loop, and it is continuously
cycled between liquid and steam.
The purpose of the secondary loop is to condense the low-pressure steam in the
primary loop back into liquid water after it exits the turbine. Cold water is drawn
from a lake, river, or ocean, and it is pumped through a bank of many tubes. When
the steam exiting the turbine makes contact with those tubes, it cools and
condenses into liquid water. As a result, the water in the secondary loop is heated
slightly before it is returned to the original source.
In areas without a large natural body of water, cooling towers are used. In that
case, the water in the secondary loop is drawn from a pond, heated in the
condenser, and then sprayed around the base of the tower. Natural convection
currents draw the water up the tower to cool it. Much of the water can be
recaptured, but a small amount evaporates into the atmosphere.
Note that the water circulating in the primary loop is entirely separate from the
cooling water in the secondary loop; no mixing occurs between the two loops.

4
Energy Cycle in an Electrical Power
Generation Plant

5
 Rankine Cycle
Continuously converting water between liquid
and steam, the power plant operates on a
cycle named in honor of the Scottish engineer
and physicist William John Rankine (1820-
1872).
Water and steam are used to physically move
energy from one location in the power plant
(for instance, from the steam generator) to
another (the turbines).
Why is water the chosen liquid
to transport energy?
6
Energy Cycle in an Electrical Power
Generation Plant

7
 Description of the Cycle
Beginning our description of the power plant at its pump, liquid water is pressurized
and pumped to the steam generator.
Mechanical work, which we label as Wp, is drawn from the power plant to drive the
pump.
As fuel is burned, the combustion gases heat a network of tubes in the steam
generator, and the water in the primary loop turns into steam as it is pumped through
those tubes. In the steam generator, the quantity of heat Qsg is transferred to the water
in the primary loop to create steam at high temperature and high pressure.
The steam then flows to the turbine and performs mechanical work by causing the
turbines shaft to rotate. Each stage of the turbine is analogous to a water wheel, and as
jets of high pressure steam strike the blades in the turbine, its shaft is forced to rotate.
The turbine is connected to a generator that ultimately produces the electricity that
leaves the power plant. The turbines work output is denoted by Wt. The spent low-
pressure steam leaves the turbine and next enters the condenser, where the quantity of
waste heat Qc is removed from it and released into the environment.
The steam is condensed to low-pressure and low-temperature water so that it can be
pumped and recirculated through the system; water is more easily pumped than steam.
The cycle repeats as the water exits the pump and is fed into the steam generator.
8
 Efficiency of the Power Plant
Because the pump is normally driven by drawing power from the
turbines, the plants net output is Wt - Wp.
With the adage that the real efficiency is the ratio of what you get
to what you paid, the efficiency is measured by the power plants
net output and the amount of heat supplied:
Wt Wp Wt

Qsg Qsg
In the last portion of this equation, we have made the very good
simplification that the work supplied to the pump is small when
compared to the turbines total output.
The real efficiency of most power plants, beginning with a fossil fuel
and ending with electricity on the grid, is 30 40%.

9
 Nuclear Power Plants
In a nuclear power plant, the reactor functions as the heat
source, and fuel rods, made of a radioactive material,
replace the fossil fuels of coal, oil, or natural gas.
Reactors operate on the principle of nuclear fission by
which the structure of matter is altered at the atomic level
Energy is released in large quantity as the nucleus of an
atom is split.
Fuels consumed in this manner store an enormous amount
of energy per unit mass. Just 1 g of the uranium isotope U-
235 is capable of releasing the same amount of heat as
some 3000 kg of coal.

10
11
 The layout of a nuclear power plant is shown in the previous slide. It differs from a
fossil fuel plant in that it requires two distinct internal loops. Water flowing in the
primary loop comes into direct contact with the reactors core, and its purpose is
to transfer heat from the reactor to the steam generator.
For safety reasons, the primary loop and the water in it do not pass outside a
hardened containment wall. The steam generator functions as a means to transfer
heat from the water in the primary loop to the water in the secondary loop; in
short, it keeps the two loops entirely isolated from one another.
The steam in the secondary loop drives the turbines and electrical generators in
the same manner as in a conventional fossil fuel cycle.
At the outermost level, the tertiary loop draws water for cooling purposes from a
lake, river, or ocean, and passes it through the condenser. In that manner, the low-
pressure steam leaving the turbines is condensed back into liquid water so that it
can be pumped back into the steam generator.
The water supplies in the three loops do not mix, but heat is exchanged between
them via the steam generator and the condenser.

12