Exergy and exergo-environmental analysis of a 660 MW supercritical coal-fired power plant

This paper presents the exergy and exergo-environmental analysis of the 660 MW supercritical coal-fired unit situated in western India. The study is based upon the SPECO approach, which is followed in the case of exergoeconomic analysis. The proposed research includes evaluating values of exergy of each stream, using F and P principal to find out exergy of fuel, the product of each component, and its exegetic efficiency. It further includes allocation of Eco-indicator 99 assessment grading values to perform life cycle assessment of each component, solving simultaneous equations by suitable solver formed from the environmental impact of components to calculate the exergo-environmental factor of each stream. The exergy efficiency obtained for the supercritical unit is 35.54%. The effect of variation of exergetic efficiency with an inlet pressure of high-pressure turbine for major components is studied. The major components such as steam generator, high-pressure turbine, intermediate-pressure turbine, low-pressure turbine, condensate extraction pump, and boiler feed pump exhibit higher exergetic efficiency at 247 bar. An increase in environmental impact in the exergy flows has been identified for components with having heat, work or fuel at the inlet. The cooling water used in condenser and flues gases exhausted from the supercritical power plant represent the environmental impact rate per unit electricity generated of 2.89 and 3.689 mPts kWh−1. The electricity generated had an environmental impact rate of 39.71 mPts kWh−1. The environmental impact per unit of electricity generated for 660 MW supercritical power plant is evaluated as 46.29 mPts kWh−1. The result obtained from semi-empirical model for environmental impact per unit of electricity is validated by comparing with subcritical and ultra-critical coal-fired power plant. The supercritical coal-fired power plant is proved to be better technology as compared with subcritical coal-fired power plant. The exergo-environmental variable for the steam generator offers high potential to reduce environmental impact by introducing an exhaust gas treatment unit.