Computer-Aided Evaluation of Steam Power Plants Performance Based on Energy and Exergy Analysis

Master's Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject Engineering - Mechanical Engineering, grade: 90, , language: English, abstract: Energy is the cornerstone of the economic development, so it is bound to reexamine the energy policies and take drastic steps to cope with the growing energy consumption. One way used to overcome the power consumption problem is to seek for minimizing losses, which is made by studying the management of power production in steam power plants from the first and second laws of thermodynamics point of view. Some researchers adopt a new approach using a computer software in their studies. A computer program called Energy and Exergy Analyses (EEA) was proposed and built to cover the shortage and overcome the problems of the previous programs. EEA has an interactive form containing many systems which have not been studied in the earlier programs. The proposed program is applicable to any steam power plant. The reversible, isentropic and the actual power of each equipment in the plant are calculated. EEA calculates the thermophysical properties of all supplied streams. It calculates the thermal efficiency, the exergetic efficiency and the exergetic destruction of the power plant. Also, the energy loss and the exergy destruction in the power plant's systems are listed. It presents the exergetic efficiency and destruction of each component and make a comparison between them. As the boiler is a major and important system in the power plant, EEA presents its results in detail. The program gives the energy and exergy efficiencies of the boiler. Generated fuel model and its specifications is presented and it is used in the combustion process formula. Air fuel ratio and adiabatic flame temperature in the stoichiometric and actual combustion are shown. EEA produces the results in reports which contain tables and charts to facilitate the analyses of these results. The recorded parameters of Cairo West Thermal Power Plant (Units 7 & 8) are used to test and show the capabilities of the proposed program. It is found that the condenser is the main source of energy loss in the power plant. In the opposite, the boiler is the main source of exergy destruction in the power plant due to combustion and heat transfer processes. As a result of using Mazout as a main fuel for a long time, many problems occur in the boiler causing increase in the exergetic destruction in the combustion and heat transfer processes.