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The efficiency of a conventional steam–electric power plant, defined as energy produced by the plant divided by the heating value of the fuel consumed by it, is typically 33 to 48%, limited as all heat engines are by the laws of thermodynamics (See: Carnot cycle). The rest of the energy must leave the plant in the form of heat.
Steam turbine CHP plants that use the heating system as the steam condenser for the steam turbine; Nuclear power plants, similar to other steam turbine power plants, can be fitted with extractions in the turbines to bleed partially expanded steam to a heating system. With a heating system temperature of 95 °C it is possible to extract about 10 ...
Fuels such as natural gas or oil can also be burnt directly in gas turbines (internal combustion), skipping the steam generation step. These plants can be of the open cycle or the more efficient combined cycle type. The majority of the world's thermal power stations are driven by steam turbines, gas turbines, or a combination of the two.
The turbine's hot exhaust powers a steam power plant (operating by the Rankine cycle). This is a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant. These achieve a best-of-class real (see below) thermal efficiency of around 64% in base-load operation. In contrast, a single cycle steam power plant is limited to efficiencies from 35 to 42%.
In the energy-rich Persian Gulf region, the steam from the HRSG is used for desalination plants. [1] Universities are ideal candidates for HRSG applications. They can use a gas turbine to produce high-reliability electricity for campus use. The HRSG can recover the heat from the gas turbine to produce steam/hot water for district heating or ...
Construction of a first reference plant, the Yaomeng power plant in China, commenced in 2001. On 3 June 2014, the Australian government's research organization CSIRO announced that they had generated 'supercritical steam' at a pressure of 23.5 MPa (3,410 psi) and 570 °C (1,060 °F) in what it claims is a world record for solar thermal energy. [5]
In contrast to a "subcritical boiler", a supercritical steam generator operates at such a high pressure (over 3,200 psi or 22.06 MPa) that actual boiling ceases to occur, the boiler has no liquid water - steam separation. There is no generation of steam bubbles within the water, because the pressure is above the critical pressure at which steam ...
Diagram of a typical steam-cycle coal power plant (proceeding from left to right) Main article: Coal-fired power station Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel on the planet, and widely used as the source of energy in thermal power stations and is a relatively cheap fuel.