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REDUCTION IN POWER PLANT SPECIFIC WATER CONSUMPTION
Conference Paper · February 2016
DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.1403.1125
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Indian Power Stations - IPS 2016, NTPC Ltd
International Power Plant O&M conference
REDUCTION IN POWER PLANT SPECIFIC WATER CONSUMPTION
M. Muthuraman
DGM, Project Engineering Mechanical (Steam Generator & Aux.),
NTPC Ltd, EOC Complex, Sector 24, Noida 201301, India, Email: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Water is essential & one of the key input requirements for thermal power generation. Among many
uses of water, cooling tower, which consume more than 80% of input water for make up. Cooling
- ater to
compensate for losses associated with evaporation, drift and blowdown. This makes a power plant
more water intensive.
However, as water resources become scarcer, human consumption like drinking and irrigation uses
have got high priority over industrial uses. In the recent past, the state governments have resorted to
abnormal increase in water charges approx. 94 to 718 %. Further, the government has issued a
notification (on 7 December 2015) to limit the specific water consumption to 2.5 m3/MWh. Hence,
Power plants need to optimize the conservation, recycling and reuse practices to meet this target.
This paper discusses a methodology to reduce evaporation from CT. Reduction in evaporative loss
from cooling has two advantages. First it will reduce the make up water required to compensate for
the evaporative loss. When evaporation itself reduced, the blow down also reduces proportionally. A
significant amount of water can be saved using this proposed methodology with little or no investment
and provides quick result.
A detailed study has been carried out to assess the acceptability & feasibility of using hot side blow
down compared to cold side of CW system. Data regarding nature of water consumption were
collected from various units in NTPC Ltd for an in-depth analysis. The study found that, max. of
3
approx. 23 to 36 m /h of water can be saved in a 500 MW unit depending on COC.
The study also highlights indirect benefits like reduction in CW pumping power, pre-treatment cost,
raw water pumping power, in addition to reduction in loss due to evaporation in cooling towers.
These saving can be multifold in the existing plants where the COC is less.
Keywords: water conservation, water foot print, specific water consumption, evaporative cooling
tower, evaporative loss.
1. INTRODUCTION
Water is one of the key input requirements for thermal power generation. Water is required for
process cooling in the condenser, ash disposal, removal of heat generated in plant auxiliaries, and
various other plant consumptive uses [1]. For power plants located on main land, the raw water is
generally drawn from fresh water source such as river, lake, canal, reservoir, barrage. Treated
sewage water may also be used as source of raw water for the power plants located adjacent to the
cities. For power plants located in coastal areas, water for cooling of condenser and auxiliaries is
drawn from the sea or creek which provides for water requirement of the wet ash handling system
also. The requirement of water for other plant consumptive uses is met from an alternative source or
by installing desalination plant. Hence water is a basic input to a thermal power plant.
Dr. M. Muthuraman, Dy.General Manager, NTPC Ltd Page 1 of 8
Indian Power Stations - IPS 2016, NTPC Ltd
International Power Plant O&M conference
In general large quantity of water is required for a thermal power plant operation. There are different
initiatives were taken to reduce the water demand like zero discharge systems, circulation water
system for condenser cooling together with Cooling Towers, Dry ash evacuation etc., But still sincere
& number of initiatives are required to reduce the water consumption. Water is a main input to many
industries and it is imperative for human life. Difficulties are already being faced in siting thermal
power plants due to non-availability of water, particularly in coal bearing states like Orissa, Jharkhand
and Chhattisgarh. This problem is expected to be aggravated in future when more sites would be
required. Thus there is a need to minimise consumptive water requirement for thermal power plants.
1.1 Water consumption Norms
On 7th December 2015, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had, notified change in
water consumption norms for thermal power plant as follows [2].
MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
NOTIFICATION
th
New Delhi, the 7 December, 2015
Sr. No Industry Parameter Standards
1 2 3 4
Thermal Water I. All plant with Once Through Cooling (OTC) shall install
Power consumption Cooling Tower (CT) and achieve specific water consumption up to
Plant (Water maximum of 3.5 m3/MWh with a period of two years from the date
consumption of publication of this notification.
limit) II. All existing CT-based plants reduce specific water consumption
upto maximum of 3.5m3/MWh within a period of two years from
the date of publication of this notification.
III. New plants to be installed after 1st January, 2017 shall have to
meet specific water consumption upto maximum of 2.5 m3/MWh
The above norms are a part of complete notification issued by the Govt. which also includes norms for other pollutants like
SOx, NOx and SPM.
As stipulated in the above notification, all thermal power plants (existing & future) needs to find a
better method to curtail the water consumption so as to meet the requirement.
1.2 Cost of Water
Further, as water resources become scarcer in country like India, human consumption like drinking
and irrigation uses have got high priority over industrial uses. In the recent past, the state
governments have resorted to abnormal increase in water charges approx. 94 to 718 % [3].
The state government of Orissa, Chhattisgarh & Madhya Pradesh has resorted to abnormal increase
in water charges. The increase in water charges in respect of stations located in these stations are
given in Table 1.
Table 1. Water Charges for a thermal power plant
Increase Existing Water Revised Water
%
Sl.No Station effective Charges Charges
3 3 Increase
from Rs. / m Rs. / m
1. Korba I & II 1/5/2010 3.6 7.0 94
2. Sipat II 1/5/2010 3.6 7.0 94
3. Talcher I 1/10/2010 0.55 4.5 718
4. Talcher II 1/10/2010 0.55 4.5 718
5. TTPS 1/10/2010 0.55 4.5 718
6. Vindyachal 1/10/2010 2.0 4.5 125
Dr. M. Muthuraman, Dy.General Manager, NTPC Ltd Page 2 of 8
Indian Power Stations - IPS 2016, NTPC Ltd
International Power Plant O&M conference
The increase in water charges led to the power plant generator to pray before CERC for recovery of
additional cost incurred due to abnormal increase in water charges.
Hence, from the trends of reduction in the norms for water consumption limit and increase in cost of
water, it is observed that water is becoming scarce, which needs to be properly utilized leaving no
room for wastage, to ensure a sustainable development. At present some of the projects those are
already in pipeline are facing hurdles in execution and lacks viability due to unavailability of water
allocation. Any level of initiative in the area of reduction in water consumption gains importance at
this current scenario. So measures to be taken for reducing consumptive water than the designed
value.
This paper aims at discussing different aspect of water consumption in a power plant & device a
simplified methodology to reduce the water consumption.
2. MATERIALS & METHODS
2.1 Water Requirement for a Thermal power plant [1]
Thermal power plants water requirement is governed by a number of factors such as quality of raw
water, type of condenser cooling system, quality of coal, ash utilization, type of ash disposal system,
waste water management aspects etc.
In the past, power stations were designed with water systems having liberal considerations for
various requirements and high design margins. Ash handling system used to be designed for disposal
of both fly ash and bottom ash in wet form using lean slurry with ash to water ratio of typically 1:10.
The consumptive water requirement for coal based plants with cooling tower used to be about 7 m3/h
3
per MW without ash water recirculation and 5 m /h per MW with ash water recirculation.
In recent past, plants have been designed with consumptive water requirement in the range 3.5 - 4
m3/h per MW. The typical break-up of plant consumptive water, taken as 4000 m 3/h, for a typical
2x500 MW plant with wet ash disposal without recycling of ash pond water is indicated in the Table 2.
Table 2. Types of Water consumption in a thermal power plant [2 x 500 MW]
Quantity
Sl.No Usage
[m3/h]
1. Cooling tower make up 3450
2. Ash disposal 1300*
3. DM water make up 120
4. Potable & service water 250
5. Clarifier sludge etc 110
6. Coal dust suppression 70
Total 4000
*To be tapped from CW system as blow down water and as such not considered in consumptive
Cooling tower make up amount to = 3450 / 4000 = 86 % to total water requirement.
It may be observed that more than 86% of input water is required for make up to the cooling tower
itself. It is mainly due to evaporation of water in the cooling tower in the process of cooling CW.
Hence cooling tower make up has got enough potential for improvement and needs further study /
optimization.
Dr. M. Muthuraman, Dy.General Manager, NTPC Ltd Page 3 of 8
Indian Power Stations - IPS 2016, NTPC Ltd
International Power Plant O&M conference
2.2 Cooling Tower
A cooling tower (CT) is a type of heat exchanger that removes heat from circulating water (CW) and
transfers it to atmospheric air. As warm / hot water from the condenser allowed falling through the fill,
some of it evaporates, which cools the remaining water and hence it is called as evaporative cooling
process. The evaporation of water sustains the cooling process. The cooled water collected at the
bottom of the cooling tower is returned to the condenser for removing heat from Low Pressure turbine
exhaust steam through CW pumps and thus the cycle repeats.
When water is evaporated during cooling in the CT, leaves behind dissolved solids / salts in the
system and increases total dissolved solid (TDS) level. This will increases the cycles of concentration
(COC) in the circulating water system. COC refers to the ratio of impurities or the TDS in the
circulating water to the TDS in the make up water. Maintaining a particular COC in a CW system is
mandatory to avoid any deposition in the condenser heat transfer tubes, which hamper the condenser
performance and thus the plant efficiency. Hence to maintain a desirable COC, some amount of
circulating water is to be removed on continuous basis from the system, called blow down. The
amount of blow down is calculated by the following formula.
Blow down = Evaporation loss / (COC - 1)
The evaporation loss in CT, in general accounts for about 1.75 % of total CW flow, including drift loss
and spillage etc [1]., So there will be two types of loss in the CW system such as
1) Evaporation loss
2) Blow down loss.
Make up water is required to meet these losses. Since the CT is working on evaporation principle, it
is imperative for CT to incur this evaporation loss. In recent days, improvements in raw water quality /
water treatment technology, COC of CW system has been increased from 1 to 5. This leads large
reduction in blow down water requirement. In addition, a technology to reduce the loss still further
below the designed value will be very much essential considering importance of water.
2.3 Case Study in a 500 MW Unit
For a 500 MW unit, about 1050 Tons / hour of water has to be removed as blow down. For this
purpose the calculated amount of water from the CW system is drained / removed after CW pump i.e.
before entering the condenser in the cold water side as shown in Figure 1.
O O
30 C 40 C
CONDENSER
60000 m3/hour
1050 m3/hour
Blow Down at cold end - used for
1. Ash Water Tank (Bottom Ash & Fly
Ash disposal)
2. Service water tank - CHP Dust
suppression system, cleaning
3. Fire water Tank
Make up water
2100 m3/hour O 60000 m3/hour
40 C
Evaporation Loss
COOLING
= 1050 m3/hour
TOWER
O
@ 1.75 % 30 C
Figure 1. Present system of Blow down (cold water side)
Dr. M. Muthuraman, Dy.General Manager, NTPC Ltd Page 4 of 8
Indian Power Stations - IPS 2016, NTPC Ltd
International Power Plant O&M conference
Presently, this blow down water is used as a make up water for the following purposes along with
their original water source (either from raw water / clarified water, as the case may be).
1. Ash water in Ash handling system
2. Dust suppression in Coal Handling Plant (CHP)
3. Fire water
4. Service water
It is observed that, an entire amount of CW blow down is being used for the above said applications
by the plant to ensure water conservation like zero discharge system. Make up water is added to the
CW channel to maintain channel level. The amount of make up is given by
Quantity of Make up water = Evaporation loss + Blow down
Table 3 provides details about make up water quantity for different set of COC being practiced in
various plants.
Table 3. CW Make up water quantity (for 500 MW Unit)
Evaporation Blow down Make up water
Sl. No COC
[T/hr] [T/hr] [T/hr]
1 2 1050 1050 2100
2 2.5 1050 700 1750
3 3 1050 525 1575
4 3.5 1050 420 1470
5 4 1050 350 1400
6 4.5 1050 300 1350
7 5 1050 263 1313
Where
COC Cycle of Concentration
Evaporation loss = 1.75 % of CW flow (60000 T/hr)
Blow down = Evaporation loss / (COC -1)
Make up water = Evaporation + Blow down
The present study aims at reducing the evaporation loss in CT and to conserve water in the CW
system. This proposal suggests to carryout blow down of CW system from hot water side of CT i.e.
after condenser, in the hot water side, as shown in the Figure 2.
By taking blow down before it enters the CT, the total flow to the CT reduces by an amount equivalent
to the amount of blow down. As the evaporation loss in the CT is directly proportional to the amount
of CW flow, less water will be evaporated in CT. Because the hot water which is removed as blow
down from hot water side before it enters the CT, do not subject to evaporation process in the CT.
Hence less water will be evaporated in the CT compared to present system of cold water blow down
for the same operational performance. This leads to saving of water, of around 37 Tons / hour for a
500 MW unit.
This kind of water saving is very well applicable & appreciable in any kind of thermal power plant
irrespective of their unit capacity / size and the type of cooling tower (natural draft [NDCT] /
mechanical draft [IDCT]).
Dr. M. Muthuraman, Dy.General Manager, NTPC Ltd Page 5 of 8
Indian Power Stations - IPS 2016, NTPC Ltd
International Power Plant O&M conference
O
O
30 C 40 C
CONDENSER
60000 m3/hour
1050 m3/hour
Blow Down at Hot water side
1. Reduction in evaporation
1. More flow to condenserloss
2. Reduction in blow down
3. 2. Less
Power Heat load
saving to CT
in CW pump
4. Less Heat loadinto
3. Reduction CT
evaporation loss
4. Power saving in CW pump
Make up water
2064 m3/hour O 58950 m3/hour
40 C
Evaporation Loss Saving of water in
= 1032 m3/hour
Evaporation = 18 m3/hour
@ 1.75 % O
30 C Blow down = 18 m3/hour
Figure 2. Proposed system of Blow down (Hot water side)
Table 4 provides comparison in the make up water requirement between hot & cold water blow-down,
for a 500 MW unit at different COC limits.
Table 4. CW Make up water quantity (for 500 MW unit)
Present system Proposed system Saving
Sl. Make up Blow Make up Water *Annual
COC Evaporation Blow down Evaporation
No water down water saving water
[T/hr] [T/hr] [T/hr]
[T/hr] [T/hr] [T/hr] [T/hr] saving [T]
1 2 1050 1050 2100 1032 1032 2063 37 261954
2 2.5 1050 700 1750 1038 692 1730 20 145530
3 3 1050 525 1575 1041 520 1561 14 98233
4 3.5 1050 420 1470 1043 417 1460 10 73347
5 4 1050 350 1400 1044 348 1392 8 58212
6 4.5 1050 300 1350 1045 299 1343 7 48114
7 5 1050 263 1313 1045 261 1307 6 40930
* Considering 330 days / year and 90 % availability
Hence considerable amount of water can be saved in a thermal power plant by this simple
modification. In addition the following advantages are envisaged
1. Reduction in heat load of CT
2. Reduction in consumption of water / MW (specific water consumption)
3. Reduction in water cost / water cess.
4. Reduction in CW treatment cost in channel.
Dr. M. Muthuraman, Dy.General Manager, NTPC Ltd Page 6 of 8
Indian Power Stations - IPS 2016, NTPC Ltd
International Power Plant O&M conference
5. Reduction in water treatment cost (cost of clarified water, where used)
6. Reduction in pumping cost of blow down water (where additional pump is installed for
blow down from open channel)
Based on experience, it is found that, hot CW blow down water can safely replace cold blow down
water without any process related difficulty in the applications like ash water, CHP dust suppression,
service water & fire water etc.,
2.4 Specification requirement for blow down.
At present, the specification requirement stipulates tapping of blow down from cold water side,
considering earlier practice of dumping of entire blow-down water outside the plant boundary to meet
the environment regulation, which prevents hot water discharge from plant premises.
But presently, due to lack of availability of water, various plants were already utilizing the entire blow-
down water to different purposes. As such entire amount of CW blow down is being utilized in the
plant premises, leaving no water will be discharged outside the plant, which confirms the
environmental regulations as well.
In this scenario, it is advised to change the point of tapping of blow down from cold to hot side, in
order to reduce evaporation loss and thereby the water consumption.
2.5 Requirement for modification
Basically this modification requires an extra length blow down pipe and an isolating valve. The hot
CW water after condenser may be withdrawn from the common header CW line which goes to CT.
This requires laying of 250 mm NB diameter (of required size) pipe from CW duct to the present point
of CW blow down line. Although this proposed modification requires only a pipe line from CW duct, it
was observed that the layout of tapping of CW water and the end point of use varies from plant to
plant; hence suitable modification (in length) plan is to be prepared / required on case to case basis.
2.6 Implementation road map
The system of cold side blow down can be implemented under two categories:
Category-I: The modification in the present proposal can be suitably incorporated for the upcoming
new plants of coal / gas, which are under pipeline / planning stage.
Category-II: The proposed modification may be implemented in the operating units of coal / gas, by
incorporating required minor modification in the blow down tapping, as such these units are running
with low COC, the potential for water savings is high.
3. CONCLUSION
The present study establishes that by taking blow-down from hot side of cooling tower, reduction in
evaporation loss and reduction in the water make up to the CW system is achieved, compared to
cold side blow-down. The proposed modification may be taken up as a measure of conserving water
and energy to promote sustainable electricity generation for the present / future plants.
3
1. Use of Hot side blow-down in Cooling Water system saves max. of approx. 37 m /hr of water
compared to cold side blow-down system in a single 500 MW unit.
2. The proposed modification has many advantageous in addition to saving in water like,
reduction in pumping power, reduction in CT heat load, water cost etc.,
3. The water saving potential is inversely proportional to the COC of the CW system, which
varies from plant to plant.
Dr. M. Muthuraman, Dy.General Manager, NTPC Ltd Page 7 of 8
Indian Power Stations - IPS 2016, NTPC Ltd
International Power Plant O&M conference
Considering the total water consumption in a coal based thermal power plant, the water savings
obtained by this proposed method is very small in quantity. However whatever savings in water
consumption even in very small quantity is very much essential in country like India, where demand
for water is huge and in many states water availability is a major point of concern.
4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author gratefully acknowledges the permission granted by the NTPC management for publishing
this work.
5. REFERENCES
1. Report on minimisation of water Requirement in coal based Thermal power stations, Central
Electricity Authority, January 2012.
2. The Gazette of India, Ministry of Environment, Forest and climate change, notification, New
th
Delhi, The 7 December, 2015.
3. Recovery of additional cost incurred due to abnormal increase in water charges, Before the
CERC, www.ntpc.co.in; http://www.cercind.gov.in/2014/technical_validation/NTPC121MP.pdf
Dr. M. Muthuraman, joined NTPC in the year 1999, received M. E. (Design &
Production of Thermal Power Equipment) from NIT, Trichy, India and Ph. D.
(Environmental Science & Technology) from Tokyo Institute of Technology,
Tokyo, Japan. He is presently holding the post of DGM in Project Engineering
(PE Steam Generator & Aux.) Department, NTPC Ltd., Noida, India. Before
joining PE, he has worked at NETRA (R&D wing of NTPC), O&M Department in
Talcher Super Thermal Power Station of NTPC Ltd. His research interests
include Combustion, Heat transfer, renewable energy, waste to energy, carbon
capture, Boiler Design, improvement in operational practices & Optimum use of
resources. Email: [email protected]
Dr. M. Muthuraman, Dy.General Manager, NTPC Ltd Page 8 of 8
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