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Steam generation system

Gaurav Kohali | internship report | July 22, 2016


Overview
Sentiss pharma Pvt. Ltd is emerging company in field of medicine like ophthalmic production. And
as being a producer of lifesaving drugs, there standards for manufacturing protocols are quit high
so it’s manufacturing plant is very accurately controlled space. Everything is controlled be it air
humidity, temperature, man movement, particle count and even flow of air i.e. laminar or
turbulent.

There is a special division of the plant called Utility block, it is that complex, which is responsible
for providing some very important components which is used throughout the plant in different
process like chilled water used in HVAC, steam used for making WFI and pure steam, nitrogen
used in sterilizing and packing and air used for cleaning and pneumatic based machine
components. It also houses a substation which supply and controls required power to the plant and
also keep any hazard from happening by cutting off power.

My project is to study the boilers and find the amount of steam produced in the boiler house vs the
part of the steam actually being consumed in the plant, it is called consumption factor and thus
compute loss and identify its causes. The data used for calculation are averaged over a month.

Steam consumption and distribution


Here is a diagram to show how the steam generated here in boiler house known as ‘raw steam’ is
consumed throughout the plant.

raw steam

WFI pure steam direct heating

CIP SIP

batch
autoclave
manufacturing

 Pure steam-it is steam produced from pure water in four cylinder water column Pure water
is portable water after process like, MGF (major Grade filter), 2 RO passes and EDI
(electro-di-ionization) to attain TDS count ~ZERO, conductivity <1.3 µs cm -1 .

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 WFI- water for injection. Basically it is the water pure enough to be injected into the body.
It is manufactured by condensing pure steam.
 CIP- cleaning in place is basically rinsing all the tanks and pipeline used during batch
manufacturing and filling with WFI.
 SIP- sterilizing in place is process of sterilizing all the tanks and filling machine line used
during manufacturing by heating them with pure steam at 1.2 kgf/cm2 of pressure and at a
temperature of 121°C with the hold time of 30 min.
 Autoclave-it is a machine used for sterilizing different component used in manufacturing
batch, uniform worn by staff during their operation by same procedure as in SIP.
 Direct heating- raw steam is used in autoclave jackets to maintain the required
temperature.

Current steam generation system


It consists of two boilers with 850 kg capacity each, set to produce steam at a temperature ~180°C
and at a pressure of 10 kgf/cm2, currently running on HSD (high speed diesel). The current system
is designed so, it measures steam pressure in the supply pipe line and if it falls below a certain value
(currently set to 9 kgf/cm2) it automatically starts producing steam to compensate for it. So
basically the operating range of these boiler is set at 10 kgf/cm 2 to 9 kgf/cm2. These boilers are
equipped with economizer which pre-heats the feed water by using heat carried by stack (exhaust
gasses after combustion). So it takes up feed-water at a temperature of 85°C (after economizer) and
converts it into steam of 180°C at a pressure of 10 kgf/cm 2.

Schematic given below shows the working of plant’s steam generation system.

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Analysis of current system
RAW STEAM GENERATED IN THE BOILER HOUSE
It is given that on an average boiler consumes 36litre of HSD per hour, calculated through firing
gun orifice setting i.e., 300ml per 30 sec. and works for 18 hours a day and also as discussed above
feed water in at 85°C and steam leaves at 180°C at a pressure of 10 kgf/cm2. Boiler efficiency of 78%.

So, mf = mass of fuel consumed per day.


mf= (.036*18*850) kg/day
mf= 550.8 kg/day
Where 850 kg/m3 is the density of HSD.

η = 0.78, efficiency of the boiler.


s = 44800KJ/kg, calorific value of HSD.
ho = 2779.4KJ/kg, enthalpy of steam leaving @ 180°C temperature and 10 kgf/cm2 of pressure.
hi = 356.6 KJ/kg, enthalpy of feed water @ 85°C temperature and 10 kgf/cm2 of pressure.
mrs= mass of raw steam per day.

mrs = η*mf*s/ (ho-hi)


mrs =7.9014 ton/day

RAW STEAM ACTUALLY CONSUMED IN THE PLANT


Raw steam is consumed in various process and products like direct heating, WFI, pure steam. Out
of which direct heating accounts for very less amount and will be neglected in this analysis. So
major consumer of raw steam are WFI and pure steam. Both of them formed in four cylinder water
column which first produces pure steam which is then condensed to form WFI. So basically all the
raw steam is consumed in the four cylinder water column to form pure steam which is equal to the
sum of pure steam and WFI consumed throughout the plant plus some losses too but they will be
listed later.

WFI consumed.
Major consumption WFI is done in manufacturing batch and CIP of tanks and filling line,

On an average of 1600 liter of batch is manufactured in the plant every day.

WFI used in CIP is 1/3 volume of the tank being rinsed, CIP is done twice daily. And three different
tanks are used for a batch namely manufacturing tank, filtration tank and holding tank.

As by the data given,

Line 1 and Line 2 accounts for 1300 liters, so WFI in CIP for these lines is

2000*2/3 + 300*2/3 + 2* 1300*2/3 = 3266.667 liters

For line 3 about 300 liters of batch is manufactured everyday

So, WFI used in CIP for this line is

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300*6/3 = 600 liters

So total volume in CIP alone is 3866.667 liters. Including WFI for CIP of pipeline and filling line.
This value becomes ~ 3900 liters.

Combining with total volume manufactured i.e. 1600 with CIP it becomes 5500 liters.

So on an average of 5500 kg of WFI is being consumed in the plant as the density of water is
1kg/liter.

Pure steam consumed.


Pure steam is used for mainly sterilizing, sterilizing is done by heat with pure steam at 1.2 kgf/cm 2
of pressure and at a temperature of 121°C as heating medium. Documented hold time for sterilizing
say 20 min is enough but here 30 min hold time is employed and also instead of 121°c temperature
of 130°c is employed. Sterilizing is done in two ways for removable parts and clothing autoclave is
used while for tanks and filling line process called SIP is used. Although sterilizing procedure is
same.

There are three autoclave in facility. On an average the portion of volume of autoclave chamber
steam can occupy is about ~40%.

Volume of autoclaves is 0.93 + 1.23 m3 = 2.457 m3.


Volume available for steam to occupy = 40% of 2.457 =0.9828 m 3.

About 6 cycles of autoclave runs every day.


So total volume of pure steam used in autoclave is 6*0.9828 = 5.8968 m 3.

And total volume of pure steam utilized in SIP is about 7.63 m3.
So total volume of pure steam utilized is 5.8968+7.63 = 13.5268 m3.
Density of steam at 121°C and 1.2 kgf/cm2 pressure is 0.703 kg/m3.

So mass of pure steam utilized is 0.703*13.5268 = 9.50928 kg/day.

But this doesn’t include pure steam consumed in micro autoclave and terminal sterilizer. But they
account for only minimal consumption.
So even after considering them into account mass of pure steam utilized will be ~10 kg/day.
Total mass of pure steam utilized is 10 kg/day.

Amount of Raw steam actually needed for conversion


Since all the WFI consumed is produced from the pure steam so total amount of pure steam
produced is pure steam utilized for sterilization plus WFI consumed by the plant.

So amount of pure steam produced is 5500 + 10 =5510 kg/day of pure steam.

So basically plant is consuming 5510 kg/day of pure steam.

For producing 5510 kg of pure steam at 130°C and 1.21 bar of pressure form pure water at 30°C and
3.5bar pressure from four cylinder water column readings mass of raw steam needed can be
calculated as follows.

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mars = mass of actually needed raw steam.
mps = mass of pure steam consumed in the plant. = 5510 Kg
hri= enthalpy of raw steam in. = 27779.4 KJ/Kg @ 180°C and 9.8 bar
hro= enthalpy of raw steam out. = 419.7 KJ/Kg @ 100°C and 9.8 bar
hpi= enthalpy of pure water in. = 126KJ/Kg @ 30 and 3.5bar
hpo=enthalpy of pure steam out. = 2734.5 KJ/Kg @ 130°C and 1.2 bar

so, mars(hri-hro)=mps(hpo-hpi)
mars*2359.7=mps*2608.5
mars = 1.10544 * 5510 = 6090.9744 Kg/day.

CONSUMPTION FACTOR
Consumption factor is the ratio of mass of raw steam actually being utilized to the mass of raw
steam being produced to compensate for losses.

Consumption factor = mars/mrs

= 6090.97/7901.4 = 77.087%

So about 77% of raw steam produced is being consumed or properly utilized.


23% of steam is wasted in different form of losses which includes.

TYPES OF LOSSES
 Condensate in pipe.
 Temperature loss due to pipe surfaces.
 Pressure drop in the pipe line.
 Heat loss in heat exchanger in four cylinder water column.

The main factor for major of these losses is length of the pipe line. The more the length of the pipe
line the more is the losses. But reduction of pipe line length is not feasible as it depends upon the
plant architecture which can’t be altered.1

References
Mr. Deepak Khungar
Mr. Sanjay Anand
Mr. Shantosh Shukla
Pardeep sir (validation)
Laxman sir
Ashok sir
Ramesh sir
Sunny sir
Surrendra sir
Mr Dikshit Talwar

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Energy saving ideas

Current operation
It includes usage of HSD as a fuel. Which ensures proper burning operation and flawless
performance. It is revealed that previously plant had been using furnace oil as a boiler fuel, but due
to price hike it was decommissioned and there was also major issues of breakdown which seeks
frequent maintenance as well. On further discussion it was found that breakdowns were due to
partial compatibility of furnace oil with non IBR boilers. But recently company has bought a new
1000Kg capacity IBR boiler. It’s a shell type boiler so it is compatible with HSD as well as furnace
oil.

Now one problem with furnace oil is that it requires pre-heating before it can burn in the boiler,
which is done by dedicated heaters placed near the boiler, into the pipe line and into the storage
tank as well. So the basic energy saving idea is to use stack after economizer and utilize its heat to
preheat the furnace oil.

Furnace oil
For proper burning its firing temperature must be around 90°C-130°C and its temperature in the
pipeline must be maintain around 60°C. Amount of furnace oil required to meet the current steam
requirement is about same as HSD. Price of furnace oil is 50% of HSD. But preheating cost and
maintenance cost compensate for the 50% saving. So currently cost of HSD and Furnace oil from
the production point of view is kind of same.

Suggested solution
The boiler efficiency is 78% so, about 22% energy in the fuel is carried away by stack gases and
economizer utilizes some part of it to increase the temperature of feed water by 20°C.

So, energy left with stack after economizer is 0.22* mf *s- mrs*(hfi-hfo)

mf = mass of fuel consumed every day, which is 550Kg


mrs = mass of raw steam produced which is equal to mass of feed water in , which is 7.9014 ton
s = 44800KJ/kg, calorific value of HSD.
hfi = enthalpy of feed water in @ 65°C and 9.8 bar. Which is 272.9 KJ/Kg
hfo = enthalpy of feed water out @ 85°C and 9.8 bar. Which is 356.6 KJ/Kg

So the energy left with stack is comes out to be 4.76 GJ which is about 19.31% of total fuel energy.

But considering that air standard cycle is not applicable here and some heat need to be rejected
using proper approximation of about 50% of this energy is only usable that is 2.38GJ.

cp of furnace oil is about 1.88 KJ/Kg-K. It is the amount of energy required to raise 1 K temperature
of 1 Kg of fuel at constant pressure.

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So for increasing 550 Kg of furnace oil’s temperature from 30°C to 60°C, about 31 MJ of energy is
required which is 1.3% of the usable energy carried by stack. And for increasing its temperature to
130°C about 103.4MJ of energy is required which is 4.35% of the usable energy carried by stack.

So it seems quit feasible to use stack gases for preheating furnace oil. But it requires a good and
reliable system to control it as it can more than pre heat furnace oil. The below design is based on
the assumption that two pre-installed boiler will run on HSD only as it should be.

SUGGEST DESIGN FOR THE SYSTEM

Design 1
It includes the use of a heat exchanger with a heating oil as a working fluid which can exchange
heat between fuel oil pipe line and stack gases just after the economizer. The heat exchanger can
also be used to heat fuel storage tank itself along with the pipe line. Below schematic will explain
the working more clearly.

Cons
Pros
Significant amount modification of the
Easy control over circulation of existing facility is required. So the time for
working fluid and hence cost recovery will be more.
maintaining temperature within
the range. Unlike heaters it can’t be shutdown instantly
as heating oil will require some time to cool
Can be easily automated for down. But unlike other employee boiler run
more effective functionality. all the time everyday even on Sundays. So
instant shutdown is not an issue unless there
is an emergency. PAGE 7
Design 2
The good thing about boiler is that they run almost every time even one of them is under
maintenance other take its place so there is always stack gas flow present which eliminate the case
of cold start happening too often. The second design requires less components then Design 1 but
may be same amount of modifications. It requires to build a bypass in the chimney line and fitting
a heat exchanger there, and then circulating furnace oil over the HEX before passing to the boiler
and even this heated oil can be circulated back to the storage tank thus heating fuel oil in the
storage tank itself. It eliminates the use of additional heating oil as a working fluid because the
furnace oil itself can be used as heating oil.

Pros Cons

Not too many modification to Regular cleaning of CV


make. Less components then assembly may be required as
previous design is required and it may get blocked due to
also not additional heating fluid is stack particles.
required

Can be easily automated for more


effective functionality.

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Energy saving idea contd.
Chiller are really very important part of this facility, they play very important role in AHU (air
handling unit) by condensing moisture out of the air and hence helps controlling humidity of the
air that going into the area. So this idea is about increasing efficiency of the chillers.

Basic working of chiller is based on simple vapor compression refrigeration cycle. Here R-134a is
used as a refrigerant. So basically chiller’s efficiency is depends parameters like the temperature at
which it rejects heat and temperature at which is accept heat. Lower the heat rejection temperature
is higher the efficiency of the chiller and also higher the temperature at which heat is accepted
higher will be the efficiency. Since the temperature at which heat is accepted is temperature of
chilled water supplied, its plants demands, which cannot be altered right now. But the temperature
at which heat is rejected is the temperature of cooling water coming from cooling towers and its
temperature depends on the ambient conditions like air temperature and humidity.

Working of cooling tower is simply based on the principle of evaporative cooling so basically higher
the amount of evaporation higher will be degree of cooling obtained. In summer when the
humidity of the ambient air is high rate of evaporation falls drastically. This idea utilizes the fact
that hot air is less humid and has more tendency to attain moisture.

By using heat from boiler stack gases, air that supposed to be passed through chilling tower water
can be preheated and hence dehumidified so the rate of evaporation can be increased and the
temperature of cooling water can be decreased and hence the efficiency of the chillers can be
increased.

Below is shown a schematic of above process.

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