Steam electric power plants

Electric power generation using biomass as a fuel is economic in situations where the cost of the fuel is competitive with that of fossil fuels. The cost of a commercially available biomass steam—electric power plant is about 1500/kW for a wood-fired facility. If wood can be obtained at a cost of 2.00/GJ ( 2.10 X 10 /Btu), the total cost of power for base-load operation would be about 0.05/kWh. If wood or agricultural wastes are available at... 

The steam electric power generation industry is defined as those establishments primarily engaged in the steam generation of electrical energy for distribution and sale. Those establishments produce electricity primarily from a process utilizing fossil-type fuel (coal, oil, or gas) or nuclear fuel in conjunction with a thermal cycle employing the steam-water system as the thermodynamic medium. The industry does not include steam electric power plants in industrial, commercial, or other facilities. The industry in the United States falls under two Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Codes SIC 4911 and SIC 4931. 

In a steam electric power plant, cooling water is utilized to absorb heat that is liberated from the steam when it is condensed to water in the condensers. The cooling water is withdrawn from a water source, passed through the system, and returned directly to the water source. Shock (intermittent) chlorination is employed in many cases to minimize the biofouling of heat transfer surfaces. Continuous chlorination is used only in special situations. Based on 308 data, approximately 65% of the existing steam electric power plants have once-through cooling water systems. 

Steam electric power plants using oil or coal as a fuel produce ash as a waste product of combustion. The total ash product is a combination of bottom ash and fly ash. Because the ash... 

The following is a summary of all priority pollutants detected in any of the waste streams from steam electric power plants ... 

Waste Heat Management of Steam-Electric Power Plants Moy, H. C. 

Methods for Rejecting Waste Heat from Steam-Electric Power Plants (Including Natural and Mechanical Draft Evaporative Cooling Towers, and Dry Cooling Towers)... 

Tn 1970, 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide emitted from steam electric-power plants. Without control measures these emissions will increase to 40 million tons by 1980. With typical SO2 concentrations in stack gas currently in the range of 1000-2000 ppm, target levels for future control legislation correspond to 50-150 ppm SO2 in the stack, and there are not sufficient low sulfur fuels to meet these standards. To fill the gap between projected supplies of low sulfur fuels and our nation s energy requirements, an economical, high efficiency process to remove SO2 from the fiue gases of power plants is required. Such a process must also recover SO2 in a form which can be readily handled and sold, in recognition of the quantities involved. Furthermore such a process must be compatible with the many constraints public utilities face in its installation and operation. 

These are briefly reviewed, followed by summary economics for the production from wood of electricity, steam, and cogenerated products intermediate-Btu gas (IBG) and substitute natural gas (SNG) methanol ammonia fuel oil and pyrolytic oil and char. Several processing steps in these conversion schemes are conceptual or are at early stages of development by DOE, EPRI, GRI, and others (an exception would be wood steam/electric power plants, which are commercially used by the electric utility and wood products industries). Consequently, the economics presented here may generally tend to be optimistic. Additional details of the analyses can be found in Kohan and Barkhordar(1) Jones, Kohan and Semrau(2J and Kohan and Dickenson( 3). ... 

A-3 Miller, A.J., et al., "Use of Steam-Electric Power Plants to Provide Thermal Energy to Urban Areas," ORNL-HUD-14,... 

Nuclear steam-electric power plants. Costs of 1000-MWe nuclear power plants, estimated by Starr (1987), are plant investment (PI) 1700- 3000 M, fuel cost/year 32 M, O M cost/year 42 M, delivery cost/year 37 M. 

In 1970 about 78% of the sulfur oxides were emitted from these sources. Steam electric power plants were the major stationary sources and they contributed 57% of the total sulfur oxide emissions. In total, coal combustion accounted for about 65% of the total sulfur oxide emissions. For nitrogen oxides, gasoline combustion in motor vehicles accounted for 34% of the total emissions in 1970, while coal, fuel oil, and natural gas combustion in stationary sources accounted for 44% of the total. 

Steam Electric Power Plant Hydraulic Systems... 

Steam Electric Power Plant Synthesis Processes... 

Mansour, M. N., Nass, D. W., Brown, J., and Jantzen, T. M., 1991, Integrated NO, Reduction Plan to Meet SCAQMD Requirements for Steam Electric Power Plants, Proceedings of the American Power Conference, Chicago, IL, April 29-May 1, pp. 964-970. 

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