Let’s all talk about this boiler system diagram

Here’s another diagram; please take a look and see if this system diagram looks good. However, there is one issue: where is the cooling tower in this diagram?

I also don’t think it’s quite right. Could it be that the cyclone separator and the drum are combined together? In our factory, the boiler consists of a combustion chamber, a steam drum, a cyclone separator, flues, and so on. Steam at 9.8 MPa is generated as a by-product; after being used in steam turbines to generate electricity, steam at 3.8 MPa and 1.3 MPa is primarily extracted. The gas turbine first burns oil, and then switches to water gas produced by gasification to generate electricity and produce steam as a by-product.

This post was last edited by Standing in the East on 2009-6-28 at 19:13. First, let’s explain the difference between gas turbines and steam turbines: the former relies on the exhaust gases generated by fuel combustion to push the blades, while steam turbines use steam to drive the blades. For example, at the rear of a fighter jet, the part that emits flames is the gas turbine. I thought the image wouldn’t be displayed, but there’s nothing wrong with the image sequence; it’s just simple. Fuel (coal) enters the combustion chamber where it burns, producing hot smoke that then enters the gas turbine to generate power and drive the generator to produce electricity. The smoke then goes through devices such as dust collectors before being released into the atmosphere through chimneys. As for the steam produced by the boiler, it enters the turbine to generate power and produce electricity

Friend on the second floor, your diagram is also correct. In power plants, circulating cooling water systems can be either open-type or closed-type; this diagram shows an open-type system. In such a system, cool water at normal temperature is drawn from rivers, used to cool the condensate water, and then the hot water is discharged directly back into the river. This method can only be used in areas with abundant water resources, near rivers

Hmm, I understand a bit more from the explanation upstairs. It means that in the second diagram it’s an open system, so there’s no cooling tower; if it were a closed system, then there would be a cooling tower. I’m not sure if this understanding is correct. Also, in the first diagram, are gas turbines and steam turbines used together? Which image shows that the boiler generates some steam for the steam turbine, while the flue gases produced are fed into the gas turbine? Does this fall under cogeneration? It doesn’t seem so, does it?

This is a new type of fluidized bed: a pressurized fluidized bed combined cycle.

The image posted by the original poster shows combined steam and gas power generation technology; such systems are more efficient than those based on steam power generation alone. Both gas turbines and steam turbines can drive generators simultaneously to produce electricity.

Typical gas-steam combined cycle

In IGCC, the boiler ahead is a gasifier, such as a SHELL furnace

Gas turbines can burn off any unburned substances in the flue gases, thereby improving the combustion efficiency of coal!

”I also don’t think it’s quite right. Could it be that the cyclone separator and the drum are combined? “There’s nothing wrong with that; the cyclone separator can be located inside the furnace – it’s an internal circulation boiler.” There is no problem with the system diagram above.

I’ve learned a lot; I’ve never seen these two processes before, but it’s understandable

This is a typical flowchart of an IGCC system. The combustion chamber shown in the diagram is actually a gasification furnace that converts coal into gas (primarily containing hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane, etc.). This gas is fed into a gas turbine to generate electricity. The exhaust gases after performing work are heated using a economizer to warm the water, and after dust removal, they are released into the atmosphere through the chimney. The combustion chamber functions similarly to a boiler as well; since the reaction temperature is around 1400 degrees (although this may vary depending on the process used), it can be used to heat water and produce steam, which is then used in a turbine to generate electricity. It’s easier to understand this process by dividing it into two parts: one part involves considering the combustion chamber as a gasification furnace that produces gas, along with a gas turbine for power generation; the other part involves considering the combustion chamber as a boiler, along with a turbine-generator set.

As for the second diagram, it shows a typical process flow for a thermal power plant. Regarding your point about the absence of a cooling tower, well, this power plant is built by a river – the river itself serves as a natural cooling tower! So what’s the need for an additional cooling tower?