International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume IX, Issue VIII, August 2022 | ISSN 2321–2705
Boiler Efficiency Analysis of A 220mw Steam Power Plant Using Direct Method
Akerekan Opeyemi Ernest1, Oyim Akachukwu David2
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bells University of Technology Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria.
2Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology, Lagos State Polytechnic Ikorodu, Lagos State, Nigeria.
Abstract: This paper presents a boiler efficiency analysis of a 220MW steam power plant using the direct method. The procedure employed to determine the boiler efficiency was done using the input-output method based on ASME PTC 4.1 standard. The experimental data used for the analysis were obtained from boilers installed in Egbin Thermal Power Plant located at Ikorodu, Lagos, Nigeria. Instantaneous data on boiler thermal efficiency can determine the condition of boiler operation, heat generation, and heat loss. It was established that boilers#-1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 have 72.51%, 67.66%, 69.50%, 78.16%, and 79.73% efficiencies respectively, which is an indication of good performance achieved through condition monitoring, combined with routine maintenance. Similarly, boiler#-2 and boiler#-6 have a 1.02 factor of evaporation, which tells that both boilers generate steam at the same rate when 1 kg of natural gas is burnt. In the same way, boiler#-1 and boiler#-4 have a 1.05 factor of evaporation when 1kg of natural gas is burnt to generate 16.13kg and 15.47 kg of steam respectively. Whereas boiler#-5 boiler has a factor of evaporation of 1.08 when 1 kg of natural gas is burnt to generate 17.40 kg of steam. Furthermore, a load factor of the various boilers indicates that each of the boilers can generate 73.31%, 99.32%, 97.05%, 76.16%, and 88.53% of its installed capacity respectively.
Keywords: Efficiency, Boiler, Direct Method, Evaporation, Analysis, Maintenance, Thermal
I. INTRODUCTION
Aboiler is one of the high energy-consumption equipment to provide dry steam for power generation. The boilers installed at Egbin Power Plant are supercritical dual front fired, natural draught, and horizontal drum water tube of Babcock and Wilcox design. The boiler generates steam at high pressure of 12.5MPa and at a high temperature of 5410C, the steam turbine converts the heat energy of the steam into mechanical energy. This analysis was carried out to determine the available present efficiency of the boilers and to compare them with design values stipulated in the Egbin power plant standard operating procedure. Hence, it is an indicator for tracking day-to-day and season-to-season variations in boilers efficiencies and energy efficiencies improvement [1].
Boiler efficiency is a measure of the goodness of the chosen process and equipment to transfer combustion heat in fuel to the heat in steam. Esa [2] defined boiler efficiency as the ratio of useful heat output to the sum of energy input. Boiler efficiency also known as fuel-to-steam efficiency or fuel-to-water efficiency estimates the relationship between the energy input and energy output of a boiler system. This proportion is expressed as a percentage and is utilized to assess the