Exergy and exergoeconomic analysis of a steam boiler

Abstract

Relying on coal as primary fuel in thermal power plants represents an unsustainable concept due to limited coal reserves and a negative environmental impact. Efficient utilization of coal reserves and a request for minimization of irreversibilities are imperative for thermal power plants operation. Numerous studies have shown that a steam boiler is a thermal power plant component with the highest irreversibility. The idea of this paper is to quantify the amounts and sources of irreversibilities within a steam boiler and its components, serving a 348.5MWe thermal power plant. Having this in mind, exergy and exergoeconomic analysis of a steam boiler is presented in this paper. Exergy destruction and exergy efficiency of all boiler components and of the boiler as a whole were calculated. Based on exergy flows and economic parameters (cost of the boiler, annual operation hours of the unit, maintenance factor, interest rate, operating period of the boiler), exergy analysis resulted in the cost of produced steam. The obtained results show that the boiler exergy efficiency is at 47.4%, with the largest exergy destruction occurring in the combustion chamber with a value of 288.07 MW (60.04%), and the smallest in the air heater with a value of 4.57 MW (0.95%). The cost of produced steam is calculated at 49,356.7 $/h by applying exergoeconomic analysis.