Condenser and Cooling Water System

By Aklilu Tesfamichael (Dr.)

Condenser
What is the purpose of condenser in a power plant? 1. To reduce the turbine exhaust pressure so that The turbine specific output (thermal efficiency of the plant) increases. (for p=1 atm (1 bar) Tsat=100 oC and P=0.074 bar (Tsat=40 oC) this can reject heat to 30 oC cooling water. Reduce the steam flow rate for a given plant power output 2. To recover high quality feedwater in the form of condensate and reuse it without any further treatment. Hence, only makeup water that is required to top up the water lost in the cycle needs treatment

Types of condensers
They are two types
1. Direct contact: where the condensate and the cooling water directly mix and come out as a single stream

Fig: Schematic diagram of a direct contact condenser and its T-s diagram

2. Surface condensers
They are shell and tube heat exchangers. Cooling water and condensate are separated by a solid surface. Heat transfer is through the walls of the tubes into the cooling water. For cleaning purpose cooling water flows inside the tubes and the steam condenses outside the tubes.

Fig: schematic of one and two-pass surface condensers

Condensing process and design consideration

Steam contacts the cold surface The average heat transfer coefficient as given by Nusselt

hav hav hav hav

1/ N 1 4 , N 1/ h fg
14 14

number of horizontal tubes t sat t w

14

0.725

kf

3 f f

gh fg

do

The inside heat transfer coefficient on the water side may be obtained as

Nud

0.023 Re d

0.8

Pr0.4

Condensing process and design consideration (contd.)

Energy balance between the steam and the cooling water gives:

ms hs ,in hs ,out
tlm ti ln ti te te

mcwc p ,cw Tcw,out Tcw,in

U o Ao tlm

mcw

ms h c p ,cw tcw,e tcw,in

tin 3o C 17 o C

Recommended range 11o C te

The rise in cooling water temperature is limited to about 8-10 oC. For every kg of steam condensate, 75 to 100 kg of water is required. Hence, to meet the water demand the plant is located where water is available in plenty.

Cooling Water Outlet Temperature Calculation

The surface area needed by the condenser is obtained by:

Ao

ms h U o Tlm

n d ol

where n number of tubes, and l length of one tube (for a single pass condenser). The water flow rate in the tubes is : 4 where density of water V velocity of water (1.8 2.5m/s) mc n di
2

Air removal
What will happen if air enters to the condenser? Affects the condenser performance badly because
1. 2. It reduces the heat transfer considerably as air has low thermal conductivity It reduces the condenser vacuum pressure and increase the turbine exhaust pressure thus reducing the turbine output.

Source of air leakages

Turbine gland, large diameter flanges such as the steam inlet or turbine exhaust, open valves or steam chest on the ejectors.

The air pressure infiltrate d into the the shell can be estimated by Dalton' s law of partial pressure. Fig: Turbine shaft gland Shell measured total pressure air pressure steam saturated pressure p sh,m p air p sat ; p sat is the saturated pressure at shell measured temp

Air removal (contd.)

Assuming air behaves as an ideal gas at such low pressure, p air m s 2 m a R a (t sh,m 273) where
2

specfic volume of exhaust steam characteristic gas constant of air 0.287 kJ/kgK

Ra

Hence, the rate of air leakage can be estimated from the above equation. This air has to be continuous ly removed from the condenser shell.

Condenser performance
Vacuum efficiency Vacuum produced by steam condenser inlet Barometric pressure - saturation pressure at exhaust steam pressure Actual temperature rise of cooling water Maximum temperature rise of cooling water

Condenser efficiency

Cooling water
Circulating water system supplies cooling water to the turbine condenser thus it act as a medium through which heat is rejected from the steam cycle to the environment. Cooling water can flow through the condenser in two ways (a) One through system (b) Closed loop system

Once through system

Used when there is a large source of water like river, lake or ocean are available.

Fig: schematic of once-through circulating water system

Closed loop water circulating system

More universal to avoid thermal pollution of river or oceans plus huge water is not every where available But this system needs cooling tower
Condenser

Fig: schematic of wet cooling tower operating in closed system

Cooling Towers
Cool the warm water discharged from the condenser by atmospheric air and feed it back to the condenser.

According to the main mode of heat transfer there are two types: wet (evaporative) cooling tower and dry (sensible) cooling tower.

Wet cooling tower

Air entering the tower is unsaturated when it comes in contact with the water spray, the water continues to evaporate till the air becomes saturated. According to the draft type the wet cooling tower is further classified as 1. Mechanical draught a. Induced draught b. forced draught 2. Natural draught

Evaporation Causing cooling

Fig: Natural draught cooling tower

The minimum temperature to which water can be cooled is the adiabatic saturation or wet bulb temperature of the ambient air.

Design parameters of cooling towers

A cooling tower is specified by a. Approach b. Range c. Cooling efficiency a. Approach (A): the difference between the exit cooling water temperature and the wet bulb temperature of the ambient air (minimum achievable), or A tc 2 twb ; 6o C to 8o C b. The cooling range or simply range(R) is defined as the difference in temperature of the incoming warm water (tc1) and the exiting cooled water (tc2), or R tc1 tc 2 ; 6o C to 10o C c. The cooling efficiency is defined as the ratio of the actual cooling water to the maximum cooling possible, or
cooling

actual cooling maximum cooling possible

t c1 t c 2 t c1 t wb

Dry cooling towers

Advantages of dry cooling towers: 1) There is no thermal pollution and loss of water due to evaporation. 2) Power plant can be located closer to the load centre (does not large supply of cooling water) Disadvantages: 1) they are not as effective as evaporative cooling. As their performance is dependent on the atmospheric conditions and so turbine exhaust temperatures are much higher resulting in a substantial loss of turbine efficiency , most critical in warm climates. 2) Due to low heat transfer coefficient , dry cooling towers require enormous volumes of air, large surface areas and are less effective at high natural air temperatures.

Wet Cooling Tower Analysis

Ambient air is used to cool the warm water exiting the condenser. Properties associated with air-water vapor mixture Atmospheric air (dry air plus water vapor) pressure is given by

pw

pa
pw ps

Relative humidity
RH ( ) partial pressure of the water vapor in air saturation pressure at the air temperature

Dew point temperature (tdw) is the temperature at which water vapor starts to condense when cooled at constant pressure Dry bulb (tdb) is the temperature recorded by a thermometer with a dry bulb. Wet bulb (twb) is the temperature recorded by a thermometer when the bulb is enveloped by a cotton wick saturated with water

ps pw td.p.

td.b.

Wet Cooling Tower Analysis(contd.)

Humidity Ratio (w)
Mass of water vapor in the air Mass of dry air mw ma mw [kg vapor / kg dry air] ma

If dry and water vapor act as ideal gases

pw 0.622 p pw

Degree of saturation is the ratio of the actual specific humidity to the saturated specific humidity, both at the same temperature T,
pw ps p ps p pw

Wet Cooling Tower Analysis(contd.)

If mm wis the make-up water supplied to replenish the evaporative loss, then

mm w

ma where ma

mass flow rate of dry air; specfic humidity, kg vapor / kg dry air

Energy balance,
ma1h1 mcw3hcw3 mm whw
mcw hcw3 hcw4

ma 2 h2
ma

mcw4 hcw4
2 1

ma h2 h1

hw

Range ( R) tcw3 tcw4

ma h h cw 2 1 c pwm

ma

hw

Approach ( A) tcw3 t wb1

Fig: temperature relationship in counter flow cooling tower

Example 1
A surface condenser receives 250 ton/h of steam at 40oC with 12% moisture. The cooling water enters at 32oC and leaves at 38oC. The pressure inside the condenser is found to be 0.078 bar. The velocity of circulating water is 1.8 m/s. The condenser tubes are of 25.4 mm OD and 1.25 mm thickness. Taking the overall heat transfer coefficient as 2600 W/m2K, determine (a) the rate of flow of cooling water, b) the rate of air leakage into the condenser shell, c) the length of tubes, and d) the number of tubes.

Example 2
The following readings were taken during a test on surface condenser: Mean condenser temperature = 35oC, Hot well temperature= 30oC, condenser vacuum=69 cmHg, Barometric reading 76 cmHg. Condensate collected 16 kg/min. Cooling water enters at 20oC and leaves at 32.5oC, flow rate being 37,500 kg/h. Calculate (a) mass of air present per cubic meter of condenser, b) quality of steam at condenser inlet, c) vacuum efficiency, and d) condenser efficiency.

Example 3
Water at 30 oC flows into a cooling tower at the rate of 1.15 kg/kg air. Moist air enters the tower at 8 m3/s volumetric flowrate, 20 oC dbt and a relative humidity of 60%. It leaves at 28oC dbt and 90% relative humidity. Makeup water is supplied at 20oC. Determine (a) evaluate the mass flow rate of the dry air, b) the temperature of water leaving the tower, c) the make up water, and d) the approach and range of the cooling tower. Assume the atmospheric pressure is 1 atm.

Example 4
Water exiting the condenser of a power plant at 45 C enters a cooling tower with a mass flow rate of 15000 kg/s. A stream of cooled water is returned to the condenser from the cooling tower with the same flow rate. Make-up water is added in a separate stream at 20 C. Atmospheric air enters the cooling tower at 30 C with a wet bulb temperature of 20 C. The volumetric flow rate of moist air into the cooling tower is 8000 m3/s. Moist air exits the tower at 40 C and 90% relative humidity. Assume an atmospheric pressure of 101.3 kPa. Determine: a) the mass flow rate of dry air, b) the mass flow rate of make-up water, and c) the temperature of the cooled liquid water exiting the cooling tower.