Exergy Analysis Of 19 MW Power Plant

Abstract

Energy sector is one of the important areas in the economic development of any country meeting the grooving energy demand at acceptable cost in various sectors like industries, transport, etc. is the challenge to the energy planner.

The energy is generally evaluated on the basis of quantity in energy analysis. However, the exergy analysis evaluates the energy on the basis of quantity as well as the quality. The aim of the exergy analysis is to identify the magnitudes and to find out the locations of real energy losses in process, to improve the systems process or component.

Energy resources and their utilization intimately relate to sustainable development. In attaining sustainable development, increasing the energy efficiency of processes utilizing sustainable energy resources plays an important role. A sustainable energy system may be regarded as a cost efficient reliable and environmentally friendly energy system that effectively utilizes local resources and networks. Exergy analysis has been widely used in the design, simulation and performance evaluation of energy systems.

The present project deals with an exergy analysis performed on an operating 19 MW power plant in ESSAR LTD, HAZIRA. The exergy losses occurred in the various subsystems of the plant and their components have been calculated using the mass, energy and exergy balance equations. The distribution of the exergy losses in several plant components has been assessed to locate the process irreversibility. The first law efficiency (energy efficiency) and the second law efficiency (exergy efficiency) of the plant have also been calculated.

The real losses of energy which has a scope for the improvement are given as maximum exergy losses that occurred in the boiler.