Optimization of Boiler Efficiency at Mettur Thermal Power Station

Electricity generation and environment protection are two important aspects of a coal-fired power plant. In this framework, it is required to optimize the boiler efficiency which in turn helps to generate maximum amount of power in an optimized environment. Boiler efficiency can be increased by reducing losses inside the boilers which are done using good quality fuels (Coal). This could provide environmental protection by minimizing the amount of green house gases that exit the boilers which also indirectly increase the efficiency of the boilers. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a nontraditional approach, applied to the observed and collected data from mettur thermal power station (MTPS). MATLAB tool is used for programming and simulating the results. The optimal result obtained from PSO is compared to the existing parameters which control the boiler efficiency and PSO technique is found to give better result to improve the boiler efficiency.