Abstract

Fossil fuel based power plants normally uses fue gas stack for discharging
combustion products to atmosphere. The fue gas contains harmful pollutants
like SOx, NOx etc which will be diluted with ambient air on discharge at aried
leel based on atmospheric conditions. The height of these stacks would ary
according to the power plant capacity and the dispersion leel re!uired for SOx,
NOx etc to meet the preailing ambient air !uality "##$% norms applicable for
the plant.
The fue gas can alternatiely be discharged through natural draught cooling
towers "N&'T%, if the power plant is implemented with N&'T. Such installations
are being common in (urope. )oweer, there is no such installations present in
*ndia until now.
This paper analyses di+erent factors associated with fue gas discharge through
N&'T, key adantages, the concerns to be addressed for adapting the same etc
with a case study pertaining to a typical for *ndian coal based pro,ect.
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*ntro
The exhaust gas (flue gas) from fossil fuel fired power plants is a potential pollutant which
causes degradation of ambient air quality if not discharged properly. It is normally vented out
to a safe height so as to limit the ground level concentration (G!) of toxic gases within
allowable limits as per "ational ambient air quality norms. The G! depend on a number of
factors li#e height of venting arrangement$ flue gas analysis$ flue gas velocity$ temperature
and density of flue gas$ prevailing wind velocity$ relative humidity of air etc. The conveyance
of flue gas from boiler to a safe height in the atmosphere can be done through a dedicated
flue gas stac# or using the natural draft cooling tower in the power plant.
In India$ the flue gas discharge to atmosphere is normally done through a flue gas stac#. The
existing environmental regulation by !entral %ollution !ontrol &oard (!%!&) on flue gas
discharge from a power plant insist for a fixed height for the flue gas stac# based on the
capacity of power plant$ besides meeting the G! of toxic gases as per ambient air quality
norms.
'any of the recently commissioned power plants in (urope have used the natural draft
cooling tower for venting out the flue gas from boiler ( instead of using a dedicated flue gas
stac# ). The flue gas discharge pipe is centrally paced inside the ")!T which was originally
designed for cooling the circulating condenser cooling water. This arrangement is reported to
be meeting the G! norms with better uniform dispersion of flue gas in the atmosphere.
*owever the ")!Ts used for flue gas discharge has lesser height compared to dedicated
flue gas stac# used for discharging same quantity of flue gas. There are few niche
advantages associated in using ")!Ts for flue gas discharge li#e the benefit of lower
construction time and ris#$ lesser capital cost$ space reduction etc.