norochcholai power plant

Ceylon electricity board is governing the main body responsible for electricity generation, transmission and distribution. Therefore Total electricity supply of the country depends on this single entity. It is dedicated to be a utility providing high quality service to its customers maintaining Reliability, affordability and sustainability of the power sector. To address the remaining power crisis in sri lanka CE started its first coal power plant construction in !""# in norochcholai following a lot of feasibility studies..$ain contractor for the pro%ect is China &ational $acinery and Equipment import and E'port Corporation.(ro%ect was funded by E)I$ ank of China with the total pro%ect cost of *+ , -.. million/for stage one only0.1akvi%aya power plant pro%ect consists of three stages/2 ' 2""$30. Total area for three stages is 4!ha.5irst stage of the pro%ect covers the v 2""$3 coal fired power plant. v +ite infrastructure and au'illary systems including the %etty of .""m. v 667 km long ,!!"k8 double circuit transmission line from 8eyangoda to &orochcholai. Steam turbine

2"" $w 2""" rpm turbine is used here. The turbine is mainly divided in to 2 parts such as high pressure turbine, intermediate pressure turbine and low pressure turbine. The high pressure turbine and intermediate pressure turbine are connected in same shaft but low pressure turbine is connected in separately. Coal handling process

ituminous coal type is designed to use as main fuel in the plant which is mainly imported from Indonesia. Coal requirement for 1akvi%aya power plant is 77",""" tons per year /average0.

I studied coal handling process from %etty to bunker bay which is used to store coal before enter to the furnace. +tudying this process would be very hard because I had to go by foot more than 2 km but with the help of engineers and other workers I did it without any trouble. Coal handling process is very important process because it directly affects the power generation in the plant. This process can be e'plained as follow. The coal is imported from Indonesia or 9ustralia using cargo ships and then coal is transferred from ships to %etty using barges. There are 2 barges belonging to the CE and each one has capacity of .""" tons. 9fter that convey belt system is used to transfer coal from %etty to bunker bay. The coal is unloaded into the convey belt number " from barges using coal unloaders which looks like as a crane. There are two coal unloaders and each one has capacity of ."" tons per hour. The technician who controls the coal unloaders taught me how to unload coal using coal unloaders. It was not easy %ob but it was a good e'perience in my training period. Convey number " goes to the %unction tower and where coal path is divided into ! paths which are called emergency path and normal path /convey belt number #0.The emergency path is used when there is a problem occurred in the normal path, this is very important because any delay in the unloading process CE has to pay millions of money to the cargo ship company. In the %unction tower coal sample is taken in every one hour for quality checking purpose. The normal path goes through the stockpile and here there is equipment called bucket wheel stacker reclaimer.

ucket wheel stacker reclaimer is used to stack the coal in to the stock pile or reclaim coal in to the convey belt. This equipment has stacking capacity of 6."" tons per hour and reclaiming capacity of #"" tons per hour. The convey belt # ends in the transfer tower !.In here there is an equipment called iron separator which is used to remove iron from coal. If bucket wheel stacker reclaimer is out of service they have another option. Two underground reclaim hoppers laid in the coal yard and using convey belt . coal can be transferred to the transfer tower 2 and then using convey belt number - coal can be transferred to the transfer tower ! then. Then coal is transferred to crusher house using convey belt number 2. In the crusher house coal is crushed and then coal particle si:e is reduced to 2 cm. 9fter that coal is transferred to the transfer tower 6 using convey belt number ! and then these coals are fed to . bunkers. Every bunker is connected with pulveri:er which is used to crush the coal particles in to the !" ;m. Then coal is send to the furnace using primary air. Coal burning process Primary air and secondary air (rimary air is get from atmosphere by using ! primary air supply fans which each one has capacity of 6.! $w. This primary air is used to send coal particles into the furnace in the boiler. The portion of primary air is sent through the air pre heater to increase temperature of air and

then this hot primary air and cold primary air are mi'ed to get required temperature because it will increase efficiency of burning process. Two forced draft fans are used to supply secondary air to the furnace. The main purpose of secondary air is to supply <! for coal burning process. This secondary air also is heated using air pre heater. Air pre heater

I observed air pre heater in several time and then I understood the working principle of air pre heater and importance of air pre heater but it was difficult to reach that place due to high heat. The e'haust flu gas has high amount of heat there for this heat is used to increase temperature of primary air and secondary air because it increases the efficiency of coal burning process. Therefore air pre heater is used to e'change heat from flue gas to the primary and secondary air. There is a 66 kw motor to rotate the air pre heater to 6 rpm. The inlet temperature of flu gas in the air pre heater is appro'imately 2.2 =C and outlet temperature is 6!6 =C. The inlet temperature of primary and secondary air is appro'imately 26 =C and outlet temperature of rimary is appro'imately 222 =C and outlet temperature of secondary is appro'imately 22> =C

Boiler This is the most important part of the power plant and there are several methods are used to increase the boiler efficiency and reduced air pollution. 5irst I visited boiler with an engineer and he e'plained basic information relating to the boiler. Then I studied boiler related notes which were given to me and got clear idea about the boiler. Then visited boiler number of times and learnt a lot of things with regard to the boiler. This boiler is the largest boiler in the +ri 1anka. The name of the boiler is inverted u type natural circulation balance draft subcritical boiler. I also studied the inside boiler arrangement. This boiler consists with burners, super heaters, re heaters, economi:er and air pre heater. Two induced draft fans are used to maintain negative pressure inside boiler and it helps to flue gas to go out inside the boiler easily. 9nother booster fan is also used to support this process. Furnace of the boiler Firing system of the furnace The firing system in the furnace is called circular firing system. Temperature of the furnace is always maintained below the 6!"" =C because it reduces &<' formation. I studied the main features of this firing system. There are ? +table ignition and combustion

? ?

1ow &<' emission *niform heat absorption

Bottom ash (Wet ash) handling 9fter the coal combustion the remaining residual in the furnace is called bottom ash and this is !"@ of the total ash production in the combustion. 3hen power plant runs in full load /2"" $w0 total bottom ash production is appro'imately !.. tonsAh. This value may be changed according to the quality of coal. +ubmerged scraper conveyor belt system is used to collect bottom ash from the furnace. I studied the how this belt system works and got clear idea with the help of a mechanical engineer in the plant. This bottom ash is used as land fill. Fly ash handling 5ly ashes are fine particles which are generated in the coal combustion and they rise with flue gas. The total fly ash production of the plant is 6-.4 tonsAh when plant runs in full load /2"" $w0. If these fly ash mi' with atmosphere then it will create a lot of environmental problems. 3hen establishing this 1akvi%aya power plant this point is highly concerned because numbers of environmental protection organi:ations opposed to establishing this kind of plant. Therefore especial mechanism is used in the plant to grab fly ash from the flue gas. This is called electrostatic precipitator. Collecting (lates

Collecting plates Every plate contains electrodes which are positively charged. 3hen the particulate gas enters the electrostatic precipitator and is struck with a negative charge electrode. The positively charged plates act as a magnet and pull the particulate gas to them. The plates are placed parallel to the incoming particulate gas. Bischarge Electrodes Bischarging electrodes are a high voltage unit that negatively charges the particulate gas as it enters. The discharge electrode is mounted to a frame in between the collecting plates

Sea water recovery system

9fter the absorption process the sea water consists with sulfite ions and hydrogen ions and then sea water flows to aeration basin by gravity. In the aeration basin, bicarbonate ions /CC<2D0 from the seawater react with hydrogen ions to form carbon dio'ide and thereby neutrali:e the acidity and raise the (C value. 9 mass of air aerate into the water through aeration pipe and seawater is further o'ygenated to complete the o'idation reaction and to bring the dissolved o'ygen to an environmentally acceptable level before discharge to sea. +<! is o'idi:ed to sulfate and sulfate is a natural ingredient in seawater, and there is only a slight increase in the sulfate in the seawater returned to the sea.