Developing an analytical model to predict the energy and exergy based performances of a coal-fired thermal power plant

Abstract In the present study, an analytical model has been developed to predict the effectiveness of the closed feedwater heaters based on the measured data available from a coal-fired thermal power plant. Invoking this model, a ‘Predictive Model’ has been developed to anticipate the energy and exergy-based behavior of the coal-fired power plants. In this model, all the components have been assumed to be installed, and hence they could not be changed. Based on this model, a numerical code has been developed to analyze an existing coal-fired power plant using Engineering Equation Solver software. Invoking this code, the impact of the operational conditions on the performance of the power plant is examined. The effects of superheater outlet pressure, superheater outlet temperature, and reheater inlet pressure upon energy and exergy-based parameters of the cycle have been examined. It has been observed that by increasing the superheater pressure by 100%, the net power delivered by the cycle increases more than 8%. While increasing the superheated steam temperature from 539.8 to 580 °C, the net power delivered by the cycle increases more than 6%. Further, by increasing the reheater pressure from 30 to 34 bar, the net power delivered by the cycle reduces 1.57%.