Chapter 1

Th e b a s i c s o f s t e a m g e n e r a t i o n
a n d u s e
1.1 Wh y a n u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f s t e a m i s n e e d e d
St eam power is f undament al to what is by far the largest sector of t he elec-
t ri ci t y-generat i ng i ndust ry and wi t hout it t he face of cont empor ar y society
woul d be dr amat i cal l y di fferent from its present one. We woul d be forced
to rely on hydro-el ect ri c power plant, windmills, batteries, solar cells and
fuel cells, all of whi ch ar e capabl e of pr oduci ng onl y a fraction of t he elec-
tricity we use.
St eam is i mpor t ant , and t he safety and efficiency of its generat i on and
use depend on the appl i cat i on of cont rol and i nst rument at i on, often simply
referred to as C&I . The objective of this book is to provi de a bridge
bet ween t he discipline of power-pl ant process engi neeri ng and those of
electronics, i nst r ument at i on and cont rol engineering.
I shall st art by out l i ni ng in this chapt er t he change of state of wat er to
steam, followed by an overvi ew of t he basic principles of st eam generat i on
and use. Thi s seemi ngl y simple subject is ext remel y complex. Thi s will
necessarily be an overview: it does not pr et end to be a det ai l ed treatise and
at times it will simplify mat t ers and gloss over some details whi ch may
even cause t he t her modynami ci st or combust i on physicist to shudder, but
it should be underst ood t hat t he ai m is to provi de t he C&I engi neer wi t h
enough under st andi ng of t he subject to deal safely with pract i cal control-
system design, operat i onal and mai nt enance problems.
2 Power.plant control and instrumentation
1. 2 Bo i l i ng : t h e c h a n g e o f s t a t e f r o m w a t e r t o s t e a m
Whe n wat er is heat ed its t emper at ur e rises in a way t hat can be det ect ed
(for exampl e by a t her momet er ) . The heat gai ned in this way is called
sensible because its effects can be sensed, but at some poi nt t he wat er starts
to boil.
But here we need to look even deeper into the subject. Exact l y what is
meant by t he expression ' boiling' ? To st udy this we must consider the t hree
basic states of mat t er: solids, liquids and gases. (A pl asma, pr oduced when
t he at oms in a gas become ionised, is oft en referred to as the f our t h state of
mat t er, but for most pract i cal purposes it is sufficient to consi der onl y t he
t hree basic states.) I n its solid state, mat t er consists of many mol ecul es
t i ght l y bound t oget her by at t ract i ve forces bet ween them. Whe n the
mat t er absorbs heat t he ener gy levels of its mol ecul es increase and t he
mean di st ance bet ween t he mol ecul es increases. As mor e and mor e heat is
appl i ed these effects increase until t he at t ract i ve force bet ween the
mol ecul es is event ual l y over come and the particles become capabl e of
movi ng about i ndependent l y of each other. Thi s change of state from solid
to liquid is commonl y recogni sed as ' melting' .
As mor e heat is appl i ed to t he liquid, some of the mol ecul es gai n
enough ener gy to escape from t he surface, a process called evapor at i on
( wher eby a pool of liquid spilled on a surface will gr adual l y di sappear).
Wha t is happeni ng dur i ng the process of evapor at i on is t hat some of the
mol ecul es are escapi ng at fairly low t emperat ures, but as t he t emper at ur e
rises these escapes occur mor e rapi dl y and at a cert ai n poi nt t he liquid
becomes ver y agi t at ed, wi t h l arge quant i t i es of bubbl es rising to the
surface. It is at this t i me t hat the liquid is said to st art ' boiling' . It is in t he
process of changi ng state to a vapour, whi ch is a fluid in a gaseous state.
Let us consi der a quant i t y of wat er t hat is cont ai ned in an open vessel.
Her e, the air t hat bl anket s t he surface exerts a pressure on t he surface of
t he fluid and, as t he t emper at ur e of t he wat er is raised, enough energy is
event ual l y gai ned to over come t he bl anket i ng effect of t hat pressure and
t he wat er starts t o change its state i nt o t hat of a vapour (steam). Fur t her
heat added at this st age will not cause any furt her det ect abl e change in
t emper at ur e: t he energy added is used to change t he st at e of t he fluid. Its
effect can no l onger be sensed by a t her momet er , but it is still there. For
this reason it is cal l ed latent, r at her t hen sensible, heat. The t emper at ur e at
whi ch this happens is called t he ' boi l i ng point' . At nor mal at mospheri c
pressure t he boi l i ng poi nt of wat er is 100 C.
I f the pressure of t he air bl anket on t op of t he wat er were to be
increased, mor e ener gy woul d have to be i nt roduced to the wat er to enabl e
The basics o f steam generation and use 3
it to break free. I n ot her words, t he t emper at ur e must be raised furt her to
make it boil. To illustrate this point, i f t he pressure is increased by 10%
above its nor mal at mospheri c value, t he t emper at ur e of t he wat er must be
raised to j ust above 102 C before boiling occurs.
The st eam emergi ng from t he boiling liquid is said to be sat urat ed and,
for any given pressure, t he t emper at ur e at whi ch boiling occurs is called
t he saturation temperature.
The i nformat i on rel at i ng to st eam at any combi nat i on of t emperat ure,
pressure and ot her factors may be found in st eam tables, whi ch are
nowadays available in software as well as in t he mor e t radi t i onal paper
form. These tables were originally published in 1915 by Hugh Longbour ne
Cal l endar (1863-1930), a British physicist. Because of advances in
knowl edge and measur ement technology, and as a result of changi ng units
of measur ement , ma ny di fferent vari ant s of st eam tables are t oday in
existence, but t hey all enable one to look up, for any pressure, t he sat ura-
tion t emper at ur e, t he heat per unit mass of fluid, t he specific vol ume etc.
Under st andi ng st eam and t he st eam tables is essential in many stages
of t he design of power-pl ant cont rol systems. For exampl e, i f a desi gner
needs to compensat e a steam-flow measur ement for changes in pressure, or
to correct for density errors in a water-level measur ement , reference to
these tables is essential.
Anot her t er m rel at i ng to st eam defines t he quant i t y of liquid mi xed in
with t he vapour. I n t he UK this is called t he dryness f r act i on (in the USA t he
t er m used is steam qual i t y). What this means is t hat if each ki l ogram of t he
mi xt ur e cont ai ns 0.9 kg of vapour and 0.1 kg of water, t he dryness fract i on
is 0.9.
St eam becomes superheated when its t emper at ur e is raised above t he
sat urat i on t emper at ur e correspondi ng to its pressure. Thi s is achi eved by
collecting it from t he vessel in whi ch t he boiling is occurri ng, l eadi ng it
away from t he liquid t hr ough a pipe, and t hen addi ng mor e heat to it. This
process adds furt her ener gy to t he fluid, whi ch improves t he efficiency of
t he conversion of heat to electricity.
As stated earlier, heat added once t he wat er has st art ed to boil does
not cause any furt her det ect abl e change in t emperat ure. Inst ead it changes
t he state of t he fluid. Once t he st eam has formed, heat added to it contri-
butes to t he total heat of t he vapour. This is t he sensible heat pl us t he l at ent
heat p l u s t he heat used in increasing t he t emper at ur e of each ki l ogram of
t he fluid t hr ough t he number of degrees of superheat to whi ch it has been
raised.
I n a power plant, a maj or objective is t he conversion of energy locked
up in t he i nput fuel into ei t her usable heat or electricity. I n t he interests of
economics and t he envi r onment it is i mpor t ant to obt ai n t he highest
4 Power-plant control and instrumentation
possible level of efficiency in this conversion process. As we have already
seen, the greatest efficiency is obtained by maximising the energy level of
the steam at the point of delivery to the next stage of the process. When as
much energy as possible has been abstracted from the steam, the fluid
reverts to the form of cold water, which is then warmed and treated to
remove any air which may have become entrained in it before it is finally
returned to the boiler for re-use.
1. 3 Th e n a t u r e o f s t e a m
As stated in the Preface, the boilers and steam-generators that are the
subject of this book provide steam to users such as industrial plant, or
housing and other complexes, or to drive turbines that are the prime
movers for electrical generators. For the purposes of this book, such
processes are grouped together under the generic name ' power plant' . In
all these applications the steam is produced by applying heat to water until
it boils, and before we embark on our study of power-plant C&I we must
understand the mechanisms involved in this process and the nature of
steam itself.
First, we must pause to consider some basic thermodynamic processes.
Two of these are the Carnot and Rankine cycles, and although the C&I
engineer may not make use of these directly, it is nevertheless useful to
have a basic understanding of what they are how they operate.
1.3.1 The Carnot cycle
The primary function of a power plant is to convert into electricity the
energy locked up in some form of fuel resource. In spite of many attempts,
it has not proved possible to generate electricity in large quantities from
the direct conversion of the energy contained in a fossil fuel (or even a
nuclear fuel) without the use of a medium that acts as an intermediary.
Solar cells and fuel cells may one day achieve this aim on a scale large
enough to make an impact on fossil-fuel utilisation, but at present such
plants are confined to small-scale applications. The water turbines of
hydro-electric plants are capable of generating large quantities of electri-
city, but such plants are necessarily restricted to areas where they are
plentiful supplies of water at heights sufficient for use by these machines.
Therefore, if one wishes to obtain large quantities of electricity from a
fossil fuel or from a nuclear reaction it is necessary to first release the
energy that is available within that resource and then to transfer it to a
generator, and this process necessitates the use of a medium to convey the
The basics o f steam generation and use 5
energy from source to destination. Furt hermore, it is necessary to empl oy
a medi um t hat is readi l y avai l abl e and which can be used with relative
safety and efficiency. On pl ant Eart h, wat er is, at least in general, a
plentiful and cheap medi um for effecting such transfers. Wi t h the develop-
ment of t echnol ogy duri ng the t went i et h cent ur y ot her possibilities have
been considered, such as the use of mercury, but except for applications
such as spacecraft where entirely new sets of limitations and conditions
apply, none of these has reached active use, and st eam is universally used
in power stations.
The use of wat er and steam to provi de mot i ve power has a l ong
history. In the first cent ur y AD Her o of Al exandri a showed t hat steam
leaving via nozzles at t ached to a heat ed cont ai ner filled wi t h wat er woul d
cause the vessel to rotate, but in this simple machi ne (the aeolipile) the
st eam leaving the vessel was wast ed and for cont i nuous operat i on t he
process t herefore necessitated cont i nual l y repl aci ng the water. Wi t h the
nat ur e of Hero' s design, it was not a saimple task to refill the vessel while it
was in operat i on, but even i f a met hod had been found, using wat er in a
one- way process like this necessitates the provision of endless supplies of
t hat fluid. It was not until 1824 t hat a French engineer, Sadi Carnot ,
proposed a way to resolve this probl em. He used a cycle, where the transfer
medi um is par t of a closed l oop and the medi um is r et ur ned to its starting
conditions after it has done the work requi red of it.
Car not framed one of the t wo laws of t hermodynami cs. The first,
Joul e' s law, had rel at ed mechani cal energy to work: Carnot ' s law defined
the t emper at ur e relations appl yi ng to the conversion of heat energy into
mechani cal energy. He saw t hat i f this process were to be made reversible,
heat coul d be convert ed into work and then ext ract ed and re-used to make
a closed loop. In his concept (Figure 1.1), a piston moves freely wi t hout
encount eri ng any friction inside a cylinder made of some perfectly insu-
lating mat eri al . The piston is dri ven by a ' worki ng fluid'. The cylinder has
a head at one end t hat can be switched at will from bei ng a perfect
conduct or to being a perfect insulator. Out si de the cylinder are two bodies,
one of which can deliver heat wi t hout its own t emper at ur e ( T~ ) falling, the
ot her bei ng a bot t oml ess cold sink at a t emper at ur e (7-2) which is also
constant.
The operat i on of the system is shown graphi cal l y in figure 1.2, which
shows the pr essur e/ vol ume relationship of the fluid in the cyl i nder over t he
whol e cycle. As the process is a repeat i ng cycle its operat i on can be st udi ed
from any conveni ent st art i ng point, and we shall begin at the poi nt A,
where the cyl i nder head (at this time assumed to be a perfect conduct or of
heat), allows heat from the hot source to ent er the cylinder. The result is
t hat the medi um begins to expand, and i f it is allowed to expand freely,
6 Power-plant control and instrumentation
Cylinder head
, l
. I . . . . . . . . . . . . . / I
W o r k i n g , , u i ]
Figure 1.1 Carnot's heat engine
Boyle's law (which states t hat at any t emper at ur e t he relationship
bet ween pressure and vol ume is constant) dictates t hat the t emperat ure
will not rise, but will stay at its initial t emper at ur e (Tl). This is called iso-
t hermal expansion.
When the pressure and vol ume of t he medi um have reached t he values
at poi nt B, the cylinder head is switched from being a perfect conduct or to
being a perfect insulator and t he medi um allowed to cont i nue its
expansi on wi t h no heat being gai ned or lost. Thi s is known as adiabatic
expansion. When t he pressure and vol ume of the medi um reach t he values
at poi nt C, t he cylinder head is switched back to being a perfect conductor,
but the external heat source is removed and replaced by the heat sink. The
piston is dri ven towards the head, compressing t he medi um. Heat flows
t hr ough t he head to the heat sink and when the t emper at ur e of the
medi um reaches t hat of the heat sink (at poi nt D), the cylinder head is
once again switched to become a perfect insulator and t he medi um is com-
pressed until it reaches its starting conditions of pressure and t emperat ure.
The cycle is t hen complete, havi ng t aken in and rejected heat while doing
external work.
1. 3. 2 T h e Ra n k i n e cycle
The Car not cycle postulates a cylinder with perfectly insulating walls
and a head whi ch can be switched at will from Being a conduct or to being
The basics of steam generation and use 7
A
I s o t h e r m a l
A d i a b a t i c n
I
o D o
I I
; ; ,
i !
' ~ I s o t h e r m a l ;
; i o
I !
|
Figure 1.2 The Carnot cycle
B
A d i a b a t i c
b C
I
I
I
V o l u m e
an insulator. Even with modifications to enabl e it to operat e in a worl d
where such things are not obt ai nabl e, it woul d have pr obabl y r emai ned a
scientific concept wi t h no pract i cal application, had not a Scottish
professor of engineering, William Ranki ne, proposed a modification to it
at t he begi nni ng of t he t went i et h cent ur y [I]. The concepts t hat Ranki ne
devel oped form t he basis of all t her mal power plants in use today. Even
todays combi ned-cycl e power plants use his cycle for one of t he two phases
of t hei r operation.
Fi gure 1.3 illustrates t he principle of t he Ranki ne cycle. St art i ng at
poi nt A again, t he source of heat is applied to expand t he medi um, this
t i me at a const ant pressure, to poi nt B, aft er whi ch adi abat i c expansi on
is agai n made to occur until t he medi um reaches t he conditions at poi nt
C. Fr om here, t he vol ume of t he medi um is reduced, at a const ant
pressure, until it reaches poi nt D, when it is compressed back to its initial
conditions.
8 Power-plant control and instrumentation
o
o
T
A
B
B
I
J
I
' i
!
! ,
C
Votumo
Figure 1.3 The Rankine cycle
All of this may seem of onl y t heoret i cal interest, but it takes on a
pract i cal form in a t hermal power pl ant , where wat er is compressed by
pumps, t hen heat ed until it boils to pr oduce st eam which t hen expands
( t hr ough a t urbi ne or in some process) until it reverts to water. Thi s
oper at i on is shown in Fi gure 1.4 whi ch this t i me shows t emper at ur e
pl ot t ed against a quant i t y called ent r opy for the processes wi t hi n the boiler
and t ur bi ne of a power pl ant . ( Chapt er 2 describes in detail the functions
of t he vari ous i t ems of plant.) Ent r opy is a measure of t he port i on of the
ener gy in a syst em t hat is not avai l abl e for doi ng wor k and it can be used
to cal cul at e heat transfer for a reversible process.
In t he system shown in Fi gure 1.4, wat er is heat ed in feed heat ers (A to
B) using st eam ext r act ed from the turbine Wi t hi n t he boiler itself, heat is
used to furt her pr ewar m the wat er (in the economi ser) before it enters the
evaporat i ve stages (C) where it boils. At D superheat is added until the
condi t i ons at E are r eached at t he t ur bi ne inlet. The st eam expands in the
t ur bi ne to the condi t i ons at poi nt F, aft er which it is condensed and
r et ur ned to the feed heater. The energy in the st eam leaving the boi l er is
conver t ed to mechani cal ener gy in the turbine, whi ch t hen spins the
gener at or to pr oduce electricity.
The basics of steam generation and use 9
E
Superheater
C ~ Evapo~tor
~ Feed heaters I <
F
A Condenser
Entropy
Figure 1.4 The Rankine cycle in a steam-turbine power plant
The di agr am shows t hat t he energy delivered to t he t urbi ne is
maxi mi sed i f poi nt E is at t he highest possible val ue and F is at t he lowest
possible value, and now we begin to see t he i mpor t ance of under st andi ng
these cycles if pl ant operat i on is to be underst ood and optimised. It
explains why t he t emper at ur e of t he st eam leaving t he boiler is super-
heat ed and why t he t urbi ne condenser operat es at very low pressures,
whi ch correspond with low t emperat ures.
1.4 T h e r m a l e f f i c i e n c y
The efficiency of a power pl ant is t he measur e of its effectiveness in con-
vert i ng fuel into electrical energy or process heat. This fact or sets t he cost
per uni t of electricity or heat generat ed, and in a net work of i nt ercon-
nect ed power stations it is this cost t hat det ermi nes t he revenue t hat will be
ear ned by t he plant. Al t hough several steps ma y be t aken to reduce losses,
some heat is inevitably lost in t he flue gases and in t he cooling wat er t hat
leaves t he condenser, and a realistic limit for t he efficiency of such a pl ant
is j ust over 40%. Al t hough it has long been underst ood that, for every unit
of money put into t he operat i on of t he plant, over hal f was bei ng lost, very
10 Power-plant control and instrumentation
little could be done about this situation until devel opment s in materials
t echnol ogy br ought forward new opportunities.
One of the most dr amat i c power-pl ant devel opment s of t he second hal f
of t he t went i et h cent ury is t he realisation t hat by empl oyi ng one cycle in
combi nat i on wi t h anot her one, heat wasted in one could be use by t he
ot her to at t ai n enhanced efficiency, this is t he combi ned cycle.
1.5 The gas t ur bi ne and c o mbi ne d- c y c l e pl a nt s
The combined-cycle power station uses gas turbines to increase the effi-
ciency of t he power-generat i on process. Like many ot her machines that we
assume to be product s of the t went i et h century, t he gas t urbi ne isn' t t hat
new. I n fact, Leonar do da Vinci (1452-1519) sketched a machi ne for
ext ract i ng mechani cal energy from a gas stream. However, no practical
i mpl ement at i on of such a machi ne was considered until the ni net eent h
century, when George Brayt on proposed a cycle t hat used a combust i on
chamber exhaust i ng to t he atmosphere. I n 1872 Germany' s F. Stolze
pat ent ed a machi ne t hat ant i ci pat ed many features of a moder n gas-
t urbi ne engine, al t hough its performance was limited by t he constraints of
t he materials available at t he time.
Many ot her devel opment s across Europe cul mi nat ed in t he develop-
ment of an efficient gas t urbi ne by Frank Whi t t l e at the British Royal
Aircraft Establishment (RAE) in the early 1930s. Subsequent develop-
ment s at RAE led to viable axial-flow compressors, which could at t ai n
hi gher efficiencies t han t he centrifugal count erpart devel oped by Whittle.
All these gas turbines empl oyed t he Brayton cycle, whose pressure/
vol ume characteristic is shown in Figure 1.5. St art i ng at poi nt A in this
cycle air is compressed isentropically (A-B) before being fed into a com-
bustion chamber, where fuel is added and bur ned (B-C). The energy of the
expandi ng air is t hen convert ed to mechani cal work in a t urbi ne (C-D).
From C to D heat is rejected, and in a simple gas-turbine cycle this heat is
lost to t he atmosphere.
The rot at i on of the gas t urbi ne can be used to drive a generat or (via
suitable reduct i on gearing) but, when used in a simple cycle with no heat
recovery, t he t hermal efficiency of the gas t urbi ne is poor, because of the
heat lost to the at mosphere. The gases exhausted from the t urbi ne are not
only plentiful and hot (400-550C), but they also cont ai n substantial
amount s of oxygen (in combust i on terms, t he excess air level for the gas
t urbi ne is 200-300%). These factors poi nt to t he possibility of using the
hot, oxygen-rich air in a st eam-generat i ng plant, whose steam out put
drives a turbine.
Figure 1.5
B
; i
i
i
; i
;
;
; ~ . . ;
;
; I s e n t r o p i c ;
. - . ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
;
! !
I I
I I
, !
! I
The Brayton cycle
The basics of steam generation and use 11
C
I s e n t r o p k :
I
!
I
I
I
D
V o l u m e
T h e use of s uch ot he r wi s e wa s t e d he a t i n a he a t - r e c ove r y s t e a m
g e n e r a t o r ( HRS G) is t he basis o f t he ' c ombi ne d- c yc l e ga s - t ur bi ne '
( CCGT) p l a n t whi c h has be e n a ma j o r d e v e l o p me n t o f t he pas t few
decades . Wi t h t he h e a t us ed t o g e n e r a t e s t e a m i n t hi s way, t he whol e p l a n t
be c ome s a b i n a r y u n i t e mp l o y i n g t he f eat ur es o f b o t h t he Ra n k i n e a n d t he
Br a y t o n cycles t o achi eve efficiencies t h a t ar e s i mpl y n o t possi bl e wi t h
ei t her cycl e on its own. I n fact , t he a d d i t i o n o f t he H R S G yi el ds a t h e r ma l
effi ci ency t h a t ma y be 5 0 % h i g h e r t h a n t h a t of t he gas t u r b i n e o p e r a t i n g
i n s i mpl e- cycl e mode .
On c e agai n, t he r e is n o t h i n g r eal l y n e w a b o u t t hi s concept Fr o m t he
mo me n t wh e n t he gas t u r b i n e b e c a me a pr a c t i c a l r eal i t y i t was ver y
obvi ous t h a t t he hot c o mp r e s s e d ai r i t e xha us t e d c o n t a i n e d h u g e a mo u n t s
o f heat . The r e f or e , t he c o mb i n e d cycl e was c ons i de r e d i n s ome d e p t h
a l mos t as s oon as t he gas t u r b i n e was r el eased f r om t he c ons t r a i nt s o f
mi l i t a r y appl i cat i ons . Howe ve r , be c a us e of t he i r use o f gases at e xt r e me l y
hi gh t e mp e r a t u r e s , ear l y ma c h i n e s suf f er ed f r om l i mi t e d bl ade life a n d
t h e y we r e t he r e f or e us ed onl y i n a ppl i c a t i ons wh e r e n o o t h e r s our ce o f
p o we r was r eadi l y avai l abl e. Wi t h i mp r o v e me n t s i n ma t e r i a l s t e c h n o l o g y
t hi s di f f i cul t y has been o v e r c o me a nd, nowa da ys , c ombi ne d- c yc l e pl a nt s
12 Power-plant control and instrumentation
empl oyi ng gas t urbi nes form t he mai nst r eam of moder n power-st at i on
devel opment .
But whet her it is in a combi ned-cycl e pl ant or a simple-cycle power
station, our interest in this chapt er is in st eam and its use, and this vapour
will now be exami ned in mor e detail. We shall see t hat what seems a fairly
simple and commonpl ace t hi ng is, in fact, qui t e complex.
I n spite of its complexities it is i mpor t ant to tackle this subject in some
dept h, because t he power-pl ant cont rol and i nst r ument at i on engi neer will
need to deal wi t h t he physical par amet er s of st eam t hr ough t he various
stages of designing or using a pract i cal system.
1.6 S u mma r y
In t he above sections we have looked at the nat ur e of st eam and briefly
expl ai ned how it is deri ved and used in various part s of t he power station.
We have also studied simple and combi ned cycles, and seen t hat t he l at t er
provi de an oppor t uni t y of achi evi ng hi gher efficiencies, t her eby maxi-
mising t he revenue ear ned by t he plant.
I n t he following chapt ers we shall look at t he pl ant in mor e detail,
st art i ng wi t h t he wat er and st eam circuits and t hen movi ng on to discuss
t he combust i on process. Once t he pl ant is underst ood, t he principles of its
cont rol systems can be bet t er appreci at ed.
1.7 Re f e r e nc e s
1 RANKI NE, W.J.M.: ' A manual of the steam engine and other prime
movers' (Griffin, London, 1908)