Thermodynamic Assessment and Parametric Study of a Supercritical Thermal Power Plant

A thermodynamic analysis of an operational 315 MW supercritical steam power plant (SPP) using the actual data is performed to assess the plant performance and identify the sites of energy losses and exergy destructions in each component of the plant. Various performance parameters such as component energy and exergy efficiencies, energy loss rate, exergy destruction rate, improvement potential (IP) rate and different plant efficiencies based on first and second thermodynamic laws were calculated and compared. Also, a parametric study is performed to investigate the effects of various turbine system operating conditions such as high pressure turbine (HPT) inlet pressure, HPT inlet temperature, intermediate pressure turbine (IPT) inlet pressure, HPT inlet temperature, and IPT inlet mass flow rate on plant efficiencies and exergy destruction of plant components.