INTRODUCTION

1.1 Basic Rankine Cycle: The Rankine cycle is the oldest functional heat cycle utilized by man. The Rankine cycle is the very a basic vapor power cycle which is adopted in all the thermal power plants. It is a four step process (Figure 1.1) which involves the heating of the working fluid to its saturation temperature and vaporizing it isothermally, expanding the vapor on a turbine (work cycle), condensing the steam isothermally to the liquid phase and pumping it back to the boiler.

Figure 1.1 Basic Rankine Cycle

Figure 2 represents the temperature-entropy diagram for the simplest version of the Rankine cycle. Although this simple version is rarely used it gives a very clear and simple picture on the working of the cycle. Process 1-2 is the pumping of the working fliud (water) into the boiler drum. The power required is derived from the overall power developed. Process 2-3 is the heating of the water upto its saturation temperature (100C at 1 atm pressure for water) is reached and then isothermal heating of the water where the phase change from liquid to vapor occurs. Points 3 lie on the saturated vapor line. The steam here is completely dry. Process 3-4 is the

adiabatic expansion of the vapor/steam on the turbine to obtain mechanical work. It is an isentropic process. The temperature of the steam is reduced and it falls below the saturated vapor line. The dryness fraction is reduced to less than one and a mixed liquid vapor phase is present. Process 4-1 is the condensation process. This mixture is condensed in a condenser isothermally and brought to the liquid phase back to the pump.

FIGURE 1.2 Temperature vs. Entropy diagram for Rankine cycle

The steam is however, usually, superheated so as to obtain more work output. Increasing the superheat to greater extent would lead to more work output. However the energy spent in superheating the fuel is also high. The overall effect is an increase in the thermal efficiency since the average temperature at which the heat is added increases. Moisture content at the exit of the steam is decreased as seen in the figure 1.3. Superheating is considerations. usually limited to 620C owing to metallurgical

Figure1.3 Rankine cycle with superheating

1.2 Energy Analysis of the Rankine Cycle: All four components in the Rankine Cycle (pump, boiler, turbine and condenser) are steady flow devices and thus can be analyzed under steady flow processes. K.E and P.E changes are small compared to work and heat transferred and is thereby neglected. Thus the steady flow equation (per unit mass) reduces to: Q+hini = W+hfinal Boiler and condenser do not involve any work and pump and turbine are assumed to be isentropic. The conservation of Energy relation for each device is expressed as follows: Steam turbine: As the expansion is adiabatic (Q=0) and isentropic (S3=S4), then, W3-4=Wturbine= (h3-h4) kJ/kg

Condenser: Heat rejected in the condenser, Q4-1+h4=h1+W4-1 Since W4-1=0, Q4-1=h1-h4 Thus, Q4-1=-(h4-h1) kJ/kg

Pump: Work required to pump water: Wpump=h1-h2 kJ/kg (-ve work)

Boiler: Heat added in boiler: Q2-3=h3-h2 kJ/kg=h3-h1-Wpump kJ/kg

Thus, the Rankine Efficiency=Work done/Heat added = (h3-h4-Wp) / (h3-h1-Wp) Neglecting feed pump work as it is very small compared to other quantities, the efficiency reduces to: rankine= (h3-h4) / (h3-h1).

1.3 Factors increasing the Rankine Efficiency:

i.

Lowering the condenser pressure: Lowering the condenser pressure would lead to the lowering of temperature os steam. Thus for the same turbine inlet state, more work is obtained at lower temperatures. This method though cannot be extensively used as it reduces the dryness fraction x of the steam. This is highly undesirable as it decreases the turbine efficiency is reduced due to excessive erosion of the turbine blades.

ii.

Superheating the steam to high temperature: There is an increase in the work output if superheating of steam is done. It increases the thermal efficiency as the average temperature at which heat is added increases. There is also another benfit of superheating; the steam at the exit of the turbine is drier than in case of non superheated steam.

iii.

Increasing the boiler pressure: Increasing the boiler pressure raises the average temperature at which heat is added and thereby increases the theramal efficiency. However the dryness fraction decreases for the same exit temperature of the boiler. This problem can be solved by employing reheating procedure. If however the boiler pressure is raised to supercritical point greater efficiency is obtained as the latent heat absorbed during phase change is reduced to zero.

SUPERCRITICAL RANKINE CYCYLE

2.1 Supercritical technology: When temperature and pressure of live steam are increased beyond the critical point of water, the properties of steam will change dramatically. The critical point of water is at 374 C and 221.2 bar (218 atm), Figure 2.1, and it is defined to be the point where gaseous component cannot be liquefied by increasing the pressure applied to it. Beyond this critical point water does not experience a phase change to vapor, but it becomes a supercritical fluid. Supercritical fluid is not a gas or liquid. It is best described to be an intermediate between these two phases. It has similar solvent power as liquid, but its transport properties are similar to gases.

Figure 2.1 Phase diagram of water

2.2 Efficiency: The Rankine cycle can be greatly improved by operating in the supercritical region of the coolant. Most modern fossil fuel plants employ the supercritical Rankine Steam Cycle which pushes the thermal efficiency of the plant (see equation 4) into the low to mid 40% range. supercritical = (h2-h1-h3+h4 )/( h2-h1) 2.3 Definition:

-(eqn 4)

Figure 2.2 T-S diagram for supercritical Rankine cycle

For water, this cycle corresponds to pressures above 221.2 bar and temperatures above 374.15C (647.3 K). The T-S diagram for a supercritical cycle can be seen in Figure 6. With the use of reheat and regeneration techniques, point 3 in Figure 2.1, which corresponds to the T-S vapor state of the coolant after it has expanded through a turbine, can be pushed to the right such that the coolant remains in the gas phase. This simplifies the system by eliminating the need for steam separators, dryers, and turbines specially designed for low quality steam.

2.4 Material Concerns: The primary concern with this cycle, at least for water, is the material limits of the primary and support equipment. The materials in a boiler can be exposed to temperatures above their limit, within reason, so long as the rate of heat transfer to the coolant is sufficient to cool the material below its given limit. The same holds true for the turbine materials. With the advent of modern materials, i.e. super alloys and ceramics, not only are the physical limits of the materials being pushed to extremes, but the systems are functioning much closer to their limits. The current super alloys and coatings are allowing turbine inlet temperatures of up to 700C (973 K). the fourth generation super alloys with ruthenium mono-crystal structures promise turbine inlet temperatures up to 1097C (1370 K). Special alloys like Iconel 740, Haynes 230, CCA617, etc. are used.

The metallurgical challenges faced and solutions: Normal Stainless steel proves of absolutely no use in building SC and USC Boilers. The high temperature and pressure in the boiler induce huge amount of stresses and fatigue in the materials. Also chances of oxidation are very high at such high temperature and pressure. To resist these stress levels and oxidation different advanced materials and alloys should be introduced. Also they should me machinable and weldable. This is a great metallurgical challenge.

CHAPTER 3 DESIGN AND WORKING

3.1 Boiler Design: The design of Super and Ultra supercritical boilers (also called as Benson Boiler) is very critical as the working pressures of these boilers are very high. The boiler shells, the economizer unit, super heaters, air preheaters are specially designed. Their location is also of great significance. i. Boiler shell: As shown in the figure 3.1 the geometry of the boilers and the configuration of the inlets determine the recirculation pattern inside boiler. The intensive recirculation created in the symmetric boiler results in a more uniform temperature field, lower temperature peaks, moderate oxygen concentration and complete burnout of the combustible gases and char

Fig 3.1 Predicted Recirculation inside the combustion chamber Table 3.1 lists the peak temperatures and burnout for designs A, B and C. the table also lists the standard deviations of the predicted temperature and oxygen fields. The

lowest values for C indicate the higher degree of homogeneity. Thus the symmetrical boiler seems to be the most suitable design. A Peak Temperature (K) Burnout % 2618 97 B 2437 99 238 C 2106 100 90

Standard deviation of 375 temperature (K) Standard deviation of 3 O2 concentration %

Table 3.1 Results of the boiler shape determination ii. Location of burners: The number of burners in the boiler shell is also of prime importance. Amongst all of them the downfired boilers are most suitable and advantageous. Table 3.2 gives a clear idea.

Upfired Heat transfer rate, kW/m2 Outlet temperature, K 220 1722

Downfired 261 1568

Table 3.2 Results of the burner location determination

iii.

Boiler dimensions: One of the most important advantages of HTAC applications are high heat fluxes. Thus, compact combustion chambers can be built and the investment costs can be lowered. The fourth calculation series was carried out in order to find the combustion chamber dimensions which can, on one hand, ensure an efficient heat exchange between combustion gas and water/steam mixture and on the other hand, ensure high values of firing density. Three different sizes are tested and they are named in as the small boiler, the medium size boiler and the large boiler .It has been observed (see Table 3.3) that the small boiler is too short. At the top a region of high temperatures exists and its

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enthalpy cannot be efficiently used. On the contrary, in the large boiler although the heat fluxes are uniform, they are two times lower than in the medium size boiler. Therefore, the medium size boiler configuration is chosen for further investigations.

Small boiler Firing Density kW/m

3

Medium size boiler 238

Large boiler 89

774

Outlet temperature, K

1805

1558

1299

Table3.3 Results of the boiler size determination

3.2 Working: As already discussed, the working of Supercritical Boilers is similar to the working of sub-critical boilers. It works on the supercritical rankine cycle. Most supercritical boilers are being run at operating pressures above of 235 bars. The working of ultra supercritical boilers has operating pressures above 273 bars.

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MATERIAL SELECTION

4.1 Metallurgical Problems: The available materials today like stainless steel which are usually used for boiler parts are not suitable for SC and USC boilers. They do not have the enough creep strength to resist the high pressure. Also there is high rate of oxidation at such high temperature and pressures which are beyond the capability of these materials to resist. Capable, qualified materials must be available to the industry to enable development of steam generators for SC steam conditions. Major components, such as infurnace tubing for the waterwalls, superheater/ reheater sections, headers, external piping, and other accessories require advancements in materials technology to allow outlet steam temperature increases to reach 760C (1400F). Experiences with projects such as the pioneering Philo and Eddystone supercritical plants and the problems with the stainless steel steam piping and superheater fireside corrosion provided a valuable precautionary lesson for SC development. Industry organizations thus recognized that a thorough program was required to develop new and improved materials and protection methods necessary for these high temperature steam conditions.

4.2 Materials used: The materials used should be sustainable to the very high pressure being developed and should not get oxidized due to the very high temperature. Different high temperature materials are being used like 9 to 12% ferritic steels T91/P91, T92/P92, T112/P122 steel, Advanced Austenitic alloys TP347, HFG, Super 304, Nickel and chrome-nickel super alloys like Inconel 740. Table 4.2 gives a very brief idea about the boiler materials used for different parts of the boiler.

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Heat surface Economiser Furnace Walls Super heater/Reheater

Tube material SA-210 C SA-213 T12 SA-213 T12 SA-213 T23 SA-213 TP 304H SA-213 TP347HFG SUPER 304H

Header material SA-106 C SA-106 C SA-335 P12 SA-335 P91 SA-335 P911

Steam Piping

SA 335 P91

Table 4.1 Materials for different boiler parts

The materials for the other parts of the power plant (like turbine) also must be sustainable for the super critically heated steam. The following table gives a detail idea on the turbine materials of a plant operating on a supercritical cycle. (Table 4.3)

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Component Casings (shells, valves, steam chests, nozzles)

1,050 F CrMoV (cast) 10CrMoVMb

1,150 F 910% Cr (W) 12CrW (Co) CrMoWVNbN

1,300 F CF8C-Plus CCA617

1,400 F CCA617 Inconel 740

Inconel 625 CF8C-Plus Nimonic 263

Bolting

422 912% CrMoV Nimonic 80A

912% CrMoV CrMoWVNbN

Nimonic 105 Nimonic 115 Waspaloy

Nimonic 105 Nimonic 115 U700 CCA617

Rotors/Discs

1CrMoV

912 % CrWCo

CCA617

12CrMoVNbN 12CrMoWVNbN Inconel 625 Inconel 740

Nozzles/Blades 422

912% CrWCo

10CrMoVNbN 10CrMoVCbN

Wrought Ni-based

Wrought Ni-based

Table 4.2 Materials for other parts The following figures show some of the materials used for SC and USC boilers. Iconel 740 is widely used for steam pipings in almost all of them.

Figure 4.1 TP347HFG

Figure 4.2 Iconel 740

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SUPERCRITICAL BOILERS
5.1 A typical Supercritical Boilers: Largest CFB and first supercritical CFB sold to date is the Lagisza 460 MWe unit Ordered by Poludniowy Koncern Energetyczny SA (PKE) in Poland. The design is Essentially complete with financial closing expected in the first quarter of 2006 at which time Fabrication and construction will commence. The largest capacity units in operation today are the two (2) 300 MWe JEA repowered units which were designed to fire any Combination of petroleum coke and bituminous coals. The physically largest Foster Wheeler boilers in operation are the 262 MWe Turow Units 4, 5, and 6 which were designed to fire a high moisture brown coal. The design and configuration of these units with Compact solids separators and INTREX heat exchangers were used as the basis for the Lagisza design as well as for this study. The Lagisza design was adjusted to accommodate a typical bituminous coal and the steam cycle.

Figure 5.1 The Lagisza 300 MWe plant in Poland

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The following table gives a detail report on the performance of the Lagisza 800MWe Power plant.

Parameters Steam Conditions Main Steam Pressure(barg) Main steam Temperature(C) Reheat Steam temperature(C) Feed Water temperature(C) Emissions SO2 mg/NM3 NOx mg/NM3 Power generation Gross power MWe Net power MWe Net Plant Efficiency %

Values

315 604 615 289

111 100

805 739 40.7 Table 5.1 Performance Parameters

5.2 Super and Sub Critical Boilers (comparative study): There are many advantages of super critical boilers over normal subcritical boilers, the prime advantage being the increased efficiency and reduced emissions. There are many more advantages like no need of steam dryers, higher operating pressures leading to more work output etc. It is thus very important to have a comparative study of both the boilers.

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Technology

Efficiency (%)

Steam pressure/temperature

Typical emissions

Ultra Supercritical

>242 593.33C 3335

bar

and SO2-0.408 kg/MHh NOx-0.286 kg/MWh CO2-0.96 T/MWh

Supercritical

>221.2 537C 3640

bar

and SO2-0.431 kg/MHh NOx-0.304 kg/MWh CO2-1.02 T/MWh

Subritical 4245

165 bar 537C

SO2-0.445 kg/MHh NOx-0.31 kg/MWh CO2-1.02 T/MWh

Table 5.2 Comparison of sub and supercritical boilers

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ADVANCE IN SC TECHNOLGY AND FUTURE IN INDIA

6.1 Natural Gas Production with a Supercritical Geothermal Power Application Byproduct: In many cases, the source for Natural Gas production is geothermally heated brine. In these cases, the brine temperatures range from 240 F (390 K) up to 360 F (455 K) depending linearly upon well depth. In this temperature range, the brine passes through a heat exchanger to feed a supercritical Rankine cycle for Propane, which has a critical temperature of 206 F (370 K) and a critical pressure of 616 psia. Theoretically, the brine may be able to run the cycle directly but there are too many contaminants and compositional variations for this to be feasible. If a power cycle like this were employed, the sites producing Natural Gas could potentially generate power for Grid use or, at a minimum, generate the majority of the plants electrical Requirements. In the United States, there are several areas along the Texas and the Louisiana Gulf Coast where this type of power cycle is feasible. The benefit to this cycle is that it is extremely simple in terms of system components. The system Requires only a single phase heat exchanger, a turbine, an air cooled condenser, and a pump. The nominal operating pressure of this system is approximately 1000 psia, which suggests that all of the support piping and equipment is commercially available. Given a 15 Million BTU/hr brine source, this system could generate approximately 400 kW net powers with a thermal efficiency of 9%. Additionally, the system can be built to be self regulating by using the power grid as a dynamic brake for the turbine-generator set. In effect, this acts as a speed control for the turbine during slight variations in system demand under normal operating conditions. Additional controls can be implemented to automate the system based on brine temperature and flow rates, all of which minimize the need to have a full-time operator, thus reducing operational costs.

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6.2 Supercritical Boilers in India: There havent been any supercritical boilers in use in India so far. The European countries, USA, Japan have been using supercritical technology since the last two decades. However, there are upcoming projects to build power plants working under the supercritical technology in India. The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) had entrusted a techno economic study to M/s EPDC for super-critical Vs Sub-critical Boilers for their proposed Sipat STPS (4x500 MW) in Madhya Pradesh. M/s EPDC has recommended that a first step to the introduction of supercritical technology, the most proven steam conditions may be chosen and the most applicable steam conditions in India shall be 246 kg/cm2, 538 C/566 C. With these steam parameters, M/s EPDC has estimated that the capital cost for a supercritical power station (4x500 MW) shall be about 2% higher than that of sub-critical power plant but at the same time the plant efficiency shall improve from 38.64% to 39.6%. Being a pit head thermal power project, the saving in fuel charges is not justified by increase in fixed charges. Here are some upcoming projects in India: North Karanpura, Jharkhand 3x660 MW Darlipali, Orissa 4x800 MW Lara, Chattisgarh 5x800 MW Marakanam, Tamilnadu 4x800 MW Tanda-II, Uttar Pradesh - 2x660 MW Meja, Uttar Pradesh - 2x660 MW Sholapur 2x660 MW New Nabinagar-3x660 MW Many more projects including 800 MW ultra super critical units under consideration

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CONCLUSION
The supercritical Rankine cycle, in general, offers an additional 30% relative improvement in the thermal efficiency as compared to the same system operating in the subcritical region. The cycle has been successfully utilized in fossil fuel plants but the current available materials prohibit reliable application of the supercritical cycle to nuclear applications. There is much work to be done in order to advance materials to the point where they will be able to reliably withstand the stresses of a supercritical environment inside a nuclear reactor for a designed life span of 60 years. Supercritical boiler technology has matured, through advancements in design and materials. Coal-fired supercritical units supplied around the world over the past several years have been operating with high efficiency performance and high availability.

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REFERENCES
1. Design Aspects of the Ultra-Supercritical CFB Boiler; Stephen J. Goidich, Song Wu, Zhen Fan; Foster Wheeler North America Corp. 2. Novel conceptual design of a supercritical pulverized coal boiler utilizing high temperature air combustion (HTAC) technology; Natalia Schaffel-Mancini, Marco Mancini, Andrzej Szlek, Roman Weber; Institute of Energy Process Engineering and Fuel Technology, Clausthal University of Technology, Agricolastr. 4, 38678 ClausthalZellerfeld, Germany; 6 February 2010. 3. Supercritical (Once Through) Boiler Technology; J.W. Smith, Babcock & Wilcox, Barberton, Ohio, U.S.A.; May 1998. 4. Steam Generator for Advanced Ultra-Supercritical Power Plants 700 to 760C; P.S. Weitzel; ASME 2011 Power Conference, Denver, Colorado, U.S.A; July 12-14, 2011. 5. Supercritical boiler technology for future market conditions; Joachim Franke and Rudolf Kral; Siemens Power Generation; Parsons Conference; 2003. 6. Steam Turbine Design Considerations for Supercritical Cycles; Justin Zachary, Paul Kochis, Ram Narula; Coal Gen 2007 Conference;1-3 August 2007. 7. Technology status of thermal power plants in India and opportunities in renovation and modernization; TERI, D S Block, India Habitat Centre, Lodi Road, New Delhi 110003. 8. Applied Thermodynamics; Dr. H.N Sawant; January 1992; revised July 2004. 9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiler#Supercritical_steam_generator

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