Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 11251137

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Thermodynamic performance analysis of a novel electricity-heating

cogeneration system (EHCS) based on absorption heat pump applied
in the coal-fired power plant
Hongsheng Zhang, Zhenlin Li, Hongbin Zhao
College of Machinery and Transportation Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Beijing Key Laboratory of Process Fluid Filtration and Separation, China

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 7 June 2015
Accepted 28 August 2015
Available online 14 September 2015
Keywords:
Cogeneration system
Absorption heat pump
Waste heat recovery
Evaluation indicator
Exergy analysis

a b s t r a c t
A novel electricity-heating cogeneration system (EHCS) which is equipped with an absorption heat pump
(AHP) system to recover waste heat from exhaust steam of the steam turbines in coal-fired thermal
power plants is proposed to reduce heating energy consumption and improve the utilization of the fossil
fuels in existing CHP (Combined Heat and Power) systems. According to the first and second thermodynamic law, the changes of the performance evaluation indicators are analyzed, and exergy analyses for
key components of the system are carried out as well as changes of exergy indexes focusing on
135 MW direct air cooling units before and after modification. Compared with the conventional heating
system, the output power increases by about 3.58 MW, gross coal consumption rate and total exergy loss
respectively reduces by 11.50 g/kW h and 4.649 MW, while the total thermal and exergy efficiency
increases by 1.26% and 1.45% in the EHCS when the heating load is 99,918 kJ at 75% THA condition.
Meanwhile, the decrement of total exergy loss and increment of total exergy efficiency increase with
the increasing of the heating load. The scheme cannot only bring great economic benefits but also save
fossil resources, which has a promising market application potential.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
With continuously increasing of energy source shortage and
environmental pollution caused by the increase of fossil energy
consumption, the renewable energy is expected to be alternatives
to fossil energy [1]. As a result, renewable energy has been paid
high attention and rapidly developed to solve the problems created
by fossil fuels, including solar, biomass energy, wind, etc. [2,3].
However, some problems have not been solved and hinder the further application of the new energy source at present, such as technical problems and higher cost [4,5]. The share of the renewable
energy in the energy consumption will be still significantly small
[6]. Therefore, the most considerable energy source is those saved
through energy saving transformation technologies to improve the
energy conversion efficiency, which has been highly valued in
recent years [7,8].

Corresponding author at: College of Machinery and Transportation Engineering,

China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China.
E-mail addresses: zhangguotang@aliyun.com (H. Zhang), zhenlinli@263.net
(Z. Li), hbzhao@cup.edu.cn (H. Zhao).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2015.08.075
0196-8904/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Simultaneously, a large number of waste heat that is not

directly utilized in the conventional thermodynamic processes
due to the lower temperature is dissipated in the word every year
[9,10]. However, with the help of some technical means, this part
of waste heat can be recycled, such as organic Rankine cycle, electrical turbo-compounding, supercritical Rankine cycles, heat pump
system and so on [1113]. In recent years, waste heat recovery has
been paid more and more attention and studied in many
researches. The waste heat recovery has become an important
way to reduce fuel consumption, which cannot only improve
energy efficiency but also reduce pollution to the environment
[14,15].
Cogeneration that produces electricity and heat at the same
time is an efficient energy utilization system to save energy source,
which has been recognized and developed in the word [1618].
Additionally, cogeneration cannot only make energy be used more
fully, but also reduce pollution to the environment by reducing
emissions, which is beneficial to the sustainable development of
the society [19]. The thermal efficiency of the cogeneration central
heating system can increase by 50% compared with the decentralized heating system. The cogeneration central heating will become
the main heating manner in China due to higher energy utilization

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H. Zhang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 11251137

Nomenclature
W
Abbreviation
CHP
Combined Heat and Power
AHP
absorption heat pump
EHCS
electricity-heating cogeneration system
THA
turbine heat acceptance
COP
coefficient of performance
LP FWHs low-pressure feedwater heaters
HP FWHs high-pressure feedwater heaters
HPT
high pressure turbine
IPT
intermediate pressure turbine
LPT
low pressure turbine
ST
Steam turbine
HPH
high pressure heater
LPH
low pressure heater
DH
deaerator
RS
regenerative system
ACS
air cooling system
Variables
P
G
h
q

s
c

t
a, b, c

ah
ah0

k
B
bf
Qnet,ar
Ex

power (MW)
mass flow rate (kg/s)
steam specific enthalpy (kJ/kg)
heat released by per kg extracted steam (kJ/kg)
enthalpy increment of per kg feed water (kJ/kg)
heat released by per kg drain (kJ/kg)
water specific enthalpy (kJ/kg)
mass concentration of lithium bromide
efficiency
energy (kW)
the ratio of heat for heating to total heat in cogeneration
the ratio of coal consumption for heating to total coal
consumption in cogeneration
heating correction factor
standard coal consumption (kg/s)
coal consumption rate (g/kW h)
net calorific value of standard coal (kJ/kg)
exergy (kW)

efficiency [20]. With the 17% annual growth rate of the central
heating areas, the heating load is also increasing rapidly, especially
for large and medium-sized cities in northern China [21]. In
response to this problem, the only way is to enlarge the existing
heating capacity of the heating system. On the other hand, it is
noteworthy that the waste heat from the exhausted steam of
steam turbines includes more than half of the input energy of
the whole power plant [22]. This part of the waste heat is usually
emitted into the atmosphere through the condenser, which causes
huge amounts of energy loss, low energy utilization efficiency, and
pollution damage to the environment. There is a large potential to
improve energy utilization efficiency to reduce energy resource
consumption in the existing CHP systems [23]. Therefore, it is the
best measure to utilize the recovered energy from the exhausted
steam to enlarge heating capacity of the existing heating network
and reduce pollutant emission. The absorption heat pump system
is usually used to recover exhausted heat in the industry [24,25].
In order to explore the new waste heat recovery technologies by
absorption heat pumps, a series of researches have been implemented in recent years. Garimella [26] simulated an absorption
heat pump system with ammonia water as working medium that
was applied to waste heat recovery of a gas stream to generate

work (kJ)

Subscripts
j
extraction stage J of the turbine
ls
live steam
rhs
reheated steam
crhs
cold reheated steam
fw
feed water
cw
condenser water
z
total
bl
boiler
h
heating
b
generated power
p
the heating system with AHP
c
the conventional heating system
in
inlet
out
outlet
sh
shaft power
es
exhaust steam
ext
extraction
fwh
feed-water heater
dra
drainage
gen
generator
eva
evaporator
abs
absorber
con
condenser
dhs
driving heat source
r
refrigerant
ss
strong solution
ws
weak solution
hcw
heating condensate water
lths
low temperature heat source
sp
solution pump
hhes
heating heater extraction steam
bw
backwater
sw
supplied water
ex
exergy

chilled and hot water. The simulation result shows that 2.26 MW
of waste heat recovered can generate 1.28 MW of cooling capacity
with the temperature 7 C. At the same time, another stream was
heated from 43 to 54 C with the heating capacity of 3.57 MW.
The saving of $1.2 million one year can be obtained. Sun et al.
[27] presented a new waste heat recovery scheme from exhaust
steam of steam turbines by the ejector heater and AHP in the
CHP system. The research shows that the extracted steam flow rate
can be reduced by 41.4%, and heating capacity can be increased by
66.7% when circulating water flow rate has no change. Additionally, the heating cost is lower than before. Bakhtiari [28] utilized
AHP system to recover the exhausted heat from the bleaching
effluent to produce hot water used by heat consumer in a Kraft
pulping process, and evaluated the integrated system by a new
methodology, namely, the simple payback time and net present
value. The result shows the payback time is respectively 2.7 and
1.7 years corresponding to two cases when the steam price is 63
$/MW h. Ammar et al. [29] examined a scenario to utilize a large
quantity of waste heat recovered by hybrid absorption heat pumps
from a paper mill in a British coastal region to supply for the desalination process. The performance and economics are analyzed and
make a comparison with the scheme that the waste heat is directly

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H. Zhang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 11251137

1
29

30

39

32

Steam Drum
Heat Exchanger

HPT

Superheater

IPT

LPT

38

Reheater

Heat
Consumer

31

Generator
37

33

22

23

34

21

18

20

7
35

36

Air Cooling
Condenser

Absorption Heat Pump

8

19
Condensate
Pump
6#Low
Pressure
Heater

5#Low
Pressure

4#Low
Pressure

Heater

Heater

3#
Deaerator

11 12

10

13

Feed Water
Pump

14

2#High
Pressure
Heater

1#High
Pressure
Heater

16

17

15

Economizer
28
6#Hydrophobic

27
5#Hydrophobic

26
4#Hydrophobic

25
2#Hydrophobic

24
1#Hydrophobic

Fig. 1. Flow chart of the novel EHCS with AHP system for recovering waste heat.

provided for the desalination process. The research shows that the
payback periods of the two cases are both less than ten years. Qu
et al. [30] put forward a new approach that an absorption heat
pump is employed to recover the waste heat that is usually emitted
into the atmosphere from exhausted flue gas of a natural gas-fired
boiler. They introduced three configurations of the new system and
studied the performance and economics. The result shows that the
new concept could improve the boiler efficiency by 510% by
recovering waste heat.
As above introduced, the advantages of the utilization of
absorption heat pump to recover waste heat have been proved
by many researches and the further researches are continuing in
this field [3133]. According to references [26,27], an integrated
heating system that couples an absorption heat pump system with
a thermal power plant is designed according to actual situation of
the power plant in the paper. The paper, focusing on a 135 MW
direct air cooling unit, will analyze the change laws of the performance evaluation and exergy indexes of the system before and
after modification under different loads and heating loads according to the thermodynamic first and second law. Meanwhile, a comparative method is adopted to discuss the difference between the
two heating systems, namely the conventional heating system
and integrated system with the AHP system. Moreover, the paper
also quantitatively reveals output power increment, gross coal consumption rate decrement, exergy loss decrement under different
loads and heating loads as well as the increment of total thermal
and exergy efficiency after the modification. In addition, the paper
also analyzes the influence of the heating load and load on gross
coal consumption rate decrement, total thermal and exergy efficiency improvement at different design and actual operating
conditions.
2. System description of EHCS with AHP
The flow sheet of a 135 MW coal-fired power plant with absorption heat pump that recovers waste heat from the steam turbine is
shown in Fig. 1. In order to improve the temperature of the feed
water into the boiler and reduce steam flow discharged into the
condenser to improve the cycle thermal efficiency, the regenerative system is adopted. The regenerative system consists of two
HP FWHs (High-pressure feedwater heaters), three LP FWHs

(Low-pressure feedwater heaters) and a deaerator. The temperature and pressure of the main steam are 535 C and 13.24 MPa.
The temperature of the main feed water which finally enters into
the boiler is 243.4 C.
As is shown in Fig. 1, the driving heat source of the AHP (stream
No. 32) and heat source of the heater for heating network (stream
No. 30) both come from the steam of extraction stage 5, and low
temperature heat source (stream No. 34) comes from exhaust
steam of the turbine. The hydrophobic of driving and low temperature heat source (stream Nos. 33 and 35) enters into the air cooling condenser for further condensation and then returns into the
boiler. The hydrophobic of heater for heating network (stream
No. 31) is led to 4# low-pressure heater and then eventually
returns into the boiler. The backwater from heat consumer (stream
No. 37) is firstly heated by AHP system whose a part of releasing
heat comes from waste heat (changed into stream No. 38), and
then continues to be heated by the heat exchanger for heating network (changed into stream No. 39), instead of being heated only by
the heater. The application of AHP system can save a portion of the
high-parameter steam that should have been extracted to heat
backwater from heat consumer. Therefore, these steam can return
to the cylinder to generate additional power, which improves the
unit operating performance.
Fig. 2 where the numbers in parentheses correspond to the
numbers in Fig. 1 shows the flow sheet of the heating system with
AHP. As Fig. 2 shows, waste heat of exhaust steam from LPT
releases heat to heat backwater in the evaporator where the
exhaust steam develops into the saturated or supercooled water.
The backwater from heat consumer is firstly heated from 55 C to
75 C by absorber and condenser, and then heated to 85 C by heat
exchanger for the heating network, followed by providing for heat
consumer. The first kind of absorption heat pump using water and
lithium bromide as the working pairs that is also called heat
increasing type heat pump is chosen in the EHCS [34].
3. Performance models and evaluation indicators
The low-grade exhaust steam extracted from LPT partially takes
the place of high-grade steam that should have been extracted to
heat the backwater from heat consumer in the integrated system,
which can make this part of high-grade steam return to the

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H. Zhang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 11251137

41
Supplied Water

(38)

(31)

Condenser

Generator

(32)

(33)

Heat Exchanger

(30)

48

Qgen

Qcond

47

42

(39)

SHE
Throttle
49

43

44

50

(34)

Evaporator

46

Solution
valve

Qeva

Solution Pump

Heat
Consumer

Absorber

45

(35)
40

Qabs
(37) Backwater
Fig. 2. Flow sheet of the heating system with AHP.

cylinder to generate additional power. In building mathematical

model, calculation is based on the assumptions as following:
(a) The state parameters (namely pressure and temperature) of
each steam stream node have no change before and after the
modification in the system.
(b) Any system performance change is attributed to the mass
flow rate change, which leads to the change of output power
and heating load.
(c) The pressure drop and heat loss in every equipment and
pipeline is neglected.
(d) The power consumed by the pumps in the system is
neglected.
(e) The system operates under the steady state.
Based on the assumptions above, it can achieve the quantitative
analysis on the superiority of the integrated system (EHCS) by a
comparison method. The parameters of main design points in the
integrated system (EHCS) are exhibited in Table 1.
3.1. Performance model of regenerative system
The feedwater heaters are generally divided into two types,
namely, open heaters and closed heaters. For open heaters, the feature is that extracted steam that is used to heat feedwater is
allowed to mix with feedwater and mixture leaves the heater at
the same temperature. For closed heaters, extracted steam and
feedwater are kept separate in the process of heat exchange. The
schematic diagram of two kinds of feedwater heaters is shown in
Fig. 3.
As to the open heater shown in Fig. 3a, the energy balance equation is as follows:

sj tj  tj1

qj hj  t j1
cj tsj1  tj1

1
2
3

As to the closed heater shown in Fig. 3b, the energy balance equation is as follows:

Table 1
Parameters of main design points.
Atmospheric pressure (MPa)
Atmospheric temperature (C)
Boiler efficiency
Mechanical efficiency
Generator efficiency
Pipeline efficiency
Low calorific value of coal (kJ/kg)
Performance coefficient of heat pump ()
Backwater temperature (C)
Outlet temperature of heat pump (C)
Outlet temperature of heat exchanger (C)

0.093
4
0.9232
0.98
0.99
0.97
20,930
1.8
55
75
85

sj tj  tj1

qj hj  t sj
cj tsj1  tsj

5
6

The steam mass flow rate of each extraction stage can be obtained
according to energy-efficiency distribution matrix equation as
follows:

32

q1
6c
6 1
6
6 c3
6
6s
6 4
6
4 s5

s6

q2

c3
s4
s5
s6

6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
4

q3

s4 q 4
s5 c5 q5
s6 c6 c6 q6

3
G1
76 G 7
76 2 7
76 7
76 G3 7
76 7
76 G 7
76 4 7
76 7
54 G5 5
G6

s1

32

Gfw

76 Gfw 7
76
7
76
7
76 Gfw 7
76
7
76 G 7
76 fw 7
76
7
54 Gfw 5

s2
s3
s4
s5
s6

Gfw

where j refers to the extraction stage number; Gj refers to the

extracted steam mass flow rate of the stage j, kg/s; Gfw refers to
mass flow rate of main feed water, kg/s.

H. Zhang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 11251137

hj

hj
t j 1

tj

Solution pump is used to increase the strong solution pressure

that flows out of the absorber and driven by electricity. According
to energy balance, the following equations can be obtained:

t j 1

tj

t s ( j +1)
(a) Open heater

t s ( j +1)

Psp Gws h46  h45 =gsp

Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of two kinds of feedwater heaters.

Gws h47  h46 Gss h48  h49

3.2. Performance model of AHP heating cycle
The heating system mainly includes generator, condenser,
evaporator, absorber, solution pump, SHE (solution heat exchanger), throttle, solution valve, the heat exchanger for the heating
network. These components performance models are expressed
as following:
Generator (stream number: 47 ? 41, 48) and (32 ? 33):
The LiBrH2O solution absorbs heat energy from the steam
extracted as driving heat source in the generator. According to
energy and quality balance, the following equations can be
obtained:

Q gen Gdhs h32  h33

Gdhs h32  h33 Gr h41 Gss h48  Gws h47

Gws Gss Gr

10

Gws a Gss b Gr c

11

Condenser (stream number: 41 ? 42) and (40 ? 38):

The backwater absorbs heat energy from the steam generated
by the generator in the condenser. According to energy and quality
balance, the following equations can be obtained:

Q cond Gr h41  h42

12

Gr h41  h42 Ghcw h38  h40

13

Throttle (stream number: 42 ? 43):

The throttle is used to reduce the pressure and control mass
flow rate of the working medium that enters into the evaporator.
There is no heat exchange in the throttling process so that it can
be regarded as adiabatic throttling process. According to energy
balance, the following equations can be obtained:

14

Evaporator (stream number: 43 ? 44) and (34 ? 35):

Exhausted steam from the steam turbine releases heat energy
to working medium to provide heating energy for heat consumer
in the evaporator. According to energy and quality balance, the following equations can be obtained:

Q ev a Gr h44  h43

15

Gr h44  h43 Glths h34  h35

16

Absorber (stream number: 44, 50 ? 45) and (37 ? 40):

The low-pressure steam from the evaporator is absorbed by the
strong solution in the absorber, which releases heat to backwater
from heat consumer. According to energy and quality balance,
the following equations can be obtained:

Q abs Gr h44 Gss h50  Gws h45

17

Gr h44 Gss h50  Gws h45 Ghcw h40  h37

18

Gr Gss Gws

19

Gr c Gss b Gws a

20

Solution pump (stream number: 45 ? 46):

21

SHX (stream number: 46 ? 47) and (48 ? 49):

SHX (Solution heat exchanger) is used to preheat the strong
solution flowing out of the solution pump, which can improve
the thermal efficiency of the heating system. According to energy
balance, the following equations can be obtained:

ts j

(b) Closed heater

h42 h43

1129

22

Solution valve (stream number: 49 ? 50):

The solution valve is used to reduce the pressure and control
mass flow rate of the strong solution that enters into the absorber.
There is no heat exchange in the throttling process so that it can be
regarded as adiabatic throttling process. According to energy balance, the following equations can be obtained:

h49 h50

23

Heat exchanger (stream number: 38 ? 39) and (30 ? 31):

The heating circulating water is further heated in the heat
exchanger. According to energy balance, the following equations
can be obtained:

Ghcw h39  h38 Ghhes h30  h31

24

Heat consumer (stream number: 39 ? 37):

The heating circulating water releases heat energy to the heat
consumer. According to energy balance, the following equations
can be obtained:

Q consumer Ghcw h39  h37

25

Calculation of COP
Coefficient of Performance (COP) [35] is an important parameter of AHP system. It is the ratio of heating capacity to heat input
into the AHP system. Its computation formula is as following:

COP

Q abs Q cond Q gen Q ev a

Q

1 ev a
Q gen
Q gen
Q gen

26

where Qabs refers to releasing heat in the absorber, kJ; Qcond refers to
releasing heat in the condenser, kJ; Qgen refers to driving heat added
into the generator, kJ; Qeva refers to low-temperature heat added
into the evaporator, kJ. These variables have been exhibited in
Fig. 2. The single-effect absorption heat pump system with working
pairs H2OLiBr generally operates at a COP of 1.651.85 [36]. The
COP of hot water single-effect absorption heat pumps is in the
ranges of 1.51.8 when the temperature of driving heat source is
90130 C, the temperature of low-grade heat source is 1540 C
and the temperature of heat output source is 3555 C [37]. Abrahamsson et al. [38] carried out a simulation for the absorption heat
pump system with working pairs H2OLiBr and the value for COP is
1.80 when the temperature of driving heat source is 139 C. Obviously, the value for COP varies with the change of temperatures
and pressures of related parameters, such as driving heat source,
low-temperature heat source and so on. For example, the COP can
be adjusted by changing the turbine backpressure to adjust the
temperature of low-temperature heat source in the integrated system. The COP can be controlled through adjusting these parameters
and the AHP system operates under the steady state in a certain
period. Therefore, the value for COP is chosen as 1.8 in the paper.
3.3. Performance evaluation indicators of the system
Output power, gross coal consumption rate, total exergy loss,
total thermal and exergy efficiency have always been considered

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H. Zhang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 11251137

as important performance evaluation indicators in a coal-fired

power plant. Through comparing these performance indicators
before and after modification, the changes and benefits can be
obtained in the integrated system with the AHP that recovers
waste heat from the exhaust steam, which can intuitively exhibit
the superiority of combining the AHP with the coal-fired power
plant.

where Bz refers to total standard coal consumption mass rate in

cogeneration, kg/s; Qnet,ar refers to low calorific value of standard
coal, kJ/kg; hcrhs, hfw refers to specific enthalpy of cold reheated
steam, main feed water, kJ/kg, respectively; gbl refers to the boiler
efficiency, %.
The standard coal consumption mass rate that generates power
in cogeneration is expressed as following:

Bb 1  ah0  Bz kg=s

3.3.1. Increment of output power

Pgy Gls  hls  h1 Gls  G1  h1  h2 =1000:0

27

where ah0 refers to the ratio of standard coal consumption providing heating to total standard coal consumption in cogeneration. Its
computation formula is:

28

ah0

Pzy Grhs  hrhs  h3 Grhs  G3  h3  h4

Grhs  G3  G4  h4  h5 =1000:0
Pdy Gzp  hzp  h6 Gzp  G6  h6  hds =1000:0

29

P Pgy Pzy Pdy  gg

30

where Pgy, Pzy, Pdy, P respectively refers to output power of high,

intermediate, low pressure cylinder and the total output power,
MW; Gls refers to mass flow rate of the main steam, kg/s; Grhs refers
to mass flow rate of the reheated steam, kg/s; Gzp refers to
exhausted steam mass flow rate from the intermediate pressure
cylinder, kg/s; G1, G3, G4, G6 respectively refers to extracted steam
mass flow rate from the first, third, fourth and sixth stage, kg/s;
hls refers to specific enthalpy of the main steam, kJ/kg; hrhs refers
to specific enthalpy of the reheated steam, kJ/kg; hzp refers to
exhausted steam specific enthalpy from intermediate-pressure
cylinder, kJ/kg; hds refers to exhausted steam specific enthalpy from
low-pressure cylinder, kJ/kg; h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 respectively refers
to extracted steam specific enthalpy from the first to sixth stage,
kJ/kg; gg refers to the generator efficiency, %.
When AHP system is adopted to recover waste heat for heating,
the steam flow rate entering into LPT will increase, which causes a
part of steam that should have been extracted for heating to return
to the cylinder to generate additional power. The increment of output power can be expressed as follows:

DP jPp  Pc j

31

where Pp and Pc respectively refers to the output power of the system with and without the AHP system, MW.
3.3.2. The reduced gross coal consumption rate
Gross coal consumption rate is the consumption mass of the
standard coal that produces per kW h power in coal-fired power
plants. The total standard coal consumption mass rate in the
cogeneration is expressed as follows:

Bz Gls  hls  hfw Grhs  hrhs  hcrhs =gbl  Q net;ar

33

32

ah

34

1 kah

where k that is related to the units refers to a constant. The appropriate k value for 50 and 200 MW unit is respectively 0.274 and
0.258 obtained by a test. The appropriate k value for 135 MW unit
is approximately 0.251 [39]; ah is defined as heating ratio, namely,
the ratio of heat consumption by heat consumer to total heat consumption in cogeneration. Its computation formula is as following:

ah Q h =Q z

35

where Qh, Qz respectively refers to heating load and total heat consumption in cogeneration, kW;

Q z Gls  hls  hfw Grhs  hrhs  hcrhs =gbl

36

The gross coal consumption rate can be calculated by the formula

below:

bf

3600  Bb
g=kW h
P

37

Therefore, the decrement of gross coal consumption rate is calculated as follows:



Dbf bf ;p  bf ;c  g=kW h

38

where bf,c and bf,p respectively refers to gross coal consumption rate
before and after modification.
3.4. Exergy analysis model of the system
The exergy balance equation for an open system can be
described as following [40,41]:

RExin RExQ RExout W RExloss

39

where Exin and Exout respectively refers to the exergy that flows into
and out of the system with the working medium; ExQ refers to the
exergy contained in heat exchange, which is positive (or negative)

Table 2
Computation formulas of exergy analysis for main components.
Components

Irreversibility

Exergy efficiency

HPT

Exls  Ex1  Ex2  Excrs  W sh;HP

IPT

Exrs  Ex3  Ex4  Exes,IPT  Exext,heater  Exext,HT  Wsh,IP

W sh;HP
Exls  Ex1 - Ex2  Excrs

LPT

Exes,IPT  Ex6  Exes,LPT  Wsh,LP

Feed-water heaters

RExin,fwh  RExout,fwh

Boiler

++++++

Condenser

RExin,con  RExout,con + ExQ,con

Heater

RExin,heater  RExout,heater

AHP

RExin,AHP  RExout,AHP

W sh;IP
Exrs  Ex3  Ex4  Ex5  Exes;IPT  Exext;heater  Exext;HT
W sh;LP
Exes;IPT  Ex6  Exes;LPT
Exout;fwh  Exin;fwh
Exin;ext Exin;dra  Exout;dra
Exls  Exfw Exrs  Excrs
Exin;boiler
Exout;con
RExin;con
Exout;sw  Exin;sw
Exext;heater  Exdra;heater
Exout;bw  Exin;bw
Exext;HT Exext;LT  ExHT;dra  ExLT;dra

Smoke exhaust loss, chemistry factor loss, machinery factor loss, heat dissipation loss, boiler ash loss, combustion loss, heat transfer loss.

1131

H. Zhang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 11251137

Table 3
Stream data at 75% THA load when the heating load is 99,918 kJ.
Stream no.

Flow rate
(kg/s)

Pressure
(Mpa)

Temperature (C)

Specific enthalpy
(kJ/kg)

Specific entropy
(kJ/(kg K))

Specific exergy
(kJ/kg)

Total exergy
(kW)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39

87.72
83.85
75.81
75.81
40.08(28.71)
37.83(27.54)
25.19(27.54)
60.58(34.47)
60.58(34.47)
60.58(34.47)
60.58(34.47)
73.63
73.63
87.72
87.72
87.72
87.72
3.87
8.04
2.18
2.89
3.41(2.87)
2.26(1.17)
3.87
11.91
2.89
6.29(5.76)
8.55(6.93)
27.25(0.00)
13.05(39.16)
13.05(39.16)
14.20(0.00)
14.20(0.00)
12.63(0.00)
12.63(0.00)
26.83(0.00)
793.00(0.00)
793.00
793.00

11.030
1.947
1.947
1.753
0.164
0.015
0.015
0.015
1.874
1.794
1.739
1.724
1.654
1.440
11.804
11.804
11.804
2.690
1.947
0.533
0.323
0.169
0.059
2.607
0.667
0.307
0.161
0.056
0.169(0.00)
0.169
0.079
0.169(0.00)
0.080(0.00)
0.015(0.00)
0.015(0.00)
0.026(0.00)
2.000(0.00)
1.740(2.00)
1.440

535.00
312.70
312.70
535.00
234.50
54.00
54.00
54.00
57.00
81.00
114.27(130.38)
110.50
133.30
152.30
155.00
206.50
227.10
352.40
312.70
370.60
307.20
234.50
135.90
226.20
163.00
134.30
113.50
84.00
234.50(0.00)
234.50
93.00
234.50(0.00)
80.00(0.00)
54.00(0.00)
54.00(0.00)
65.87(0.00)
55.00(0.00)
75.00(55.00)
85.00

3453.26
3054.90
3054.90
3547.94
2941.43
2552.90
2552.90
209.34
240.18
340.53
480.59(549.03)
464.63
561.40
642.76
660.72
885.65
978.84
3128.42
3054.90
3210.30
3083.74
2941.25
2751.97
972.43
688.63
564.77
476.19
351.74
2941.25(0.00)
2941.25
389.59
2941.25(0.00)
334.97(0.00)
2552.90(0.00)
209.34(0.00)
275.74(0.00)
231.93(0.00)
315.35(231.93)
357.03

6.6565
6.8332
6.8332
7.5945
7.7431
8.0106
8.0106
0.7038
0.7924
1.0861
1.4642(1.6371)
1.4228
1.6680
1.8642
1.8799
2.3757
2.5659
6.8124
6.8332
7.6720
7.6944
7.7290
7.7973
2.5751
1.9727
1.6799
1.4571
1.1227
7.7290(0.00)
7.7290
1.2273
7.7290(0.00)
1.0754(0.00)
8.0106(0.00)
0.7038(0.00)
0.9044(0.00)
0.7670(0.00)
1.0154(0.7670)
1.1334

1661.70
1215.78
1215.78
1503.91
857.41
396.87
396.87
19.94
24.80
48.24
86.53(108.42)
81.70
112.47
141.03
154.79
246.25
288.25
1294.88
1215.77
1145.42
1012.83
861.03
653.35
279.36
157.71
112.66
84.03
49.61
861.03(0.00)
861.03
59.31
861.03(0.00)
45.57(0.00)
396.87(0.00)
19.94(0.00)
32.37(0.00)
23.85(0.00)
40.91 (23.85)
50.89

145768.1
101946.2
92166.1
114009.1
34369.1(24620.8)
15012.4(10931.1)
9998.9(10931.1)
1208.0(687.5)
1502.6(855.1)
2922.3(1663.0)
5241.8(3737.8)
6015.6
8281.6
12371.6
13578.9
21601.8
25285.8
5010.2
9780.1
2493.8
2923.4
2934.8(2472.5)
1475.4(765.9)
1080.9
1878.9
325.2
529.0(483.8)
424.3(343.8)
23464.6(0.0)
11238.8(33716.3)
774.1(2322.4)
12225.8(0.0)
647.1(0.0)
5013.5(0.0)
251.9(0.0)
868.4(0.0)
18914.2(0.0)
32443.4(18914.2)
40354.9

when the system absorbs heat (or releases heat); W refers to output
power; Exloss refers to exergy loss caused by irreversible process.
Exergy analysis is an effective method to evaluate system irreversibility [42,43]. The exergy loss and efficiency computation formulas of the main components of the system are listed in Table 2.
3.5. Efficiency of the whole system
According to Ref. [44], total thermal (or exergy) efficiency is the
ratio of energy (or exergy) output to energy (or exergy) input into
the whole system. Its computation formula is:

ggex

P  1000:0 Q h ExQh
Q z Exz

Table 4
Main performance indicators at different loads before and after modification when
the heating load is 99,918 kJ.
Comparison items

Operating
conditions

Heating modes
Original
system

After system
modification

Difference

Gross coal
consumption rate
(g/kW h)

33.18%THA
50%THA
66.67%THA
75%THA
100%THA

276.33
285.29
286.66
288.93
294.24

255.6
268.97
274.12
277.43
285.50

20.73
16.32
12.54
11.50
8.74

Power output (MW)

33.18%THA
50%THA
66.67%THA
75%THA
100%THA

34.99
54.92
76.35
86.46
118.48

37.82
58.25
79.88
90.04
122.11

2.83
3.33
3.53
3.58
3.63

Total thermal
efficiency (%)

50%THA
66.67%THA
75%THA
100%THA

79.51
69.64
67.53
60.44

81.42
71.09
68.79
61.59

1.91
1.45
1.26
1.15

40

where Qz and Exz respectively refers to the total energy and exergy
input into the system, kW; g and gex respectively refers to the total
thermal and exergy efficiency,%; ExQh refers to the exergy of heating
load, kW.
4. Results and discussion
In order to comprehensively display the system performance
variation before and after modification, the study has been implemented for the main indicators according to first and second thermodynamic law. The results calculated by the program have been
compared with design parameters under the design conditions of
the original system. The error between both values is less than

2%, which verifies the correctness of the program. Moreover, the

calculations and comparisons of the two heating modes are both
carried out based on the verification above. Therefore, performance
indicators change laws of the integrated system with different
loads has been analyzed for different heating loads in the paper.
The stream data at the 75% THA condition are listed in Table 3 in

1132

H. Zhang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 11251137

310

130
120

Pe=100% THA
Pe=75% THA
Pe=66.67% THA

110

290

Generated power (MW)

Coal consumption rate g/(kWh)

300

280

270

260

Q=69174 kW
Q=99918 kW
Q=115290 kW

250

100

Pe=50% THA
Pe=33.18% THA

90
80
70
60
50
40

240
33.18%THA

50%THA

66.67%THA

75%THA

100%THA

Q=38430kJ
Q=53802kJ
Q=69174kJ
Q=84546kJ
Q=99918kJ
Q=115290kJ

Coal consumption rate decrement (g/(kWh)

15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
90

100

110

Q=53802

Q=69174

Q=84546

Q=99918

Q=115290

Heating load (kJ)

Fig. 4. Gross coal consumption rate comparison between original and integrated
system.

16

30
Q=38430

Load (%)

120

130

Fig. 6. Output power comparison between original and integrated system.

Fig. 5 compared with the conventional heating system. As exhibited in the figure, when the heating load is constant, the decrement
of gross coal consumption rate decreases with increasing load. For
instance, when the heating load is Q = 84,546 kW, the decrement of
gross coal consumption rate decreases from 13.43 to 10.36 g/kW h
with the load increasing from 88.48 to 124.60 MW. When the load
is constant, the decrement of gross coal consumption rate shows
an increasing trend with the heating load increasing. For instance,
the decrement of gross coal consumption rate increases from 9.63
to 11.17 g/kW h with the heating load increasing from 53,802 to
99,918 kW when the load is 124.32 MW. The reason is that the
increasing of heating load leads to the increase of waste heat
recovered by AHP system, which makes the effect of waste heat
recovery more obvious. The results show that there is a consistency
with those change laws of the design conditions in Fig. 4.

Load (MW)
Fig. 5. Decrement change of gross coal consumption rate with the load difference.

which values in parentheses are corresponding values of the original system.

The main system performance indicators are exhibited in
Table 4 before and after modification. The reduced gross coal consumption rate, increment of output power and thermal efficiency
that will be analyzed more detailedly in the later are the benefit
brought into the system when the AHP system is used to partially
replace the heater for heating network.
4.1. Indicator benefit analysis
4.1.1. The reduced gross coal consumption rate
Fig. 4 shows the gross coal consumption rate change with the
load under different heating loads in the two operating modes.
Compared to the conventional heating mode, the standard gross
coal consumption rate of the heating system with AHP system
decreases significantly. When the load is 75% THA and the heating
load is 99,918 kW, the standard gross coal consumption rate
decreases from 288.93 to 277.43 g/kW h, which saves 11.50 g/
kW h. Furthermore, the decrement is more significant at lower
loads, which can reduce fuel consumption of the thermal power
plant. Therefore, the integrated system can bring significant performance improvement, increasing the benefit of the thermal power
plant.
The decrement change of gross coal consumption rate with the
load and heating load at actual operating conditions is shown in

4.1.2. Increment of output power

As shown in Fig. 6 and Table 4, the output power significantly
improves when AHP system is used to partially replace the heater
for the heating network. Compared with the conventional CHP system, output power increases 1.384.13 MW when the heating load
increases from 38,430 kJ to 115,290 kJ at the 75% THA condition,
which displays an increasing trend with the heating load increasing. The reason is that a part of steam that should have been
extracted for heating returns to the turbine to continue to do work
due to AHP system for waste heat recovery. Additionally, the increment of output power increase with the load increasing when the
heating load is constant.
4.1.3. Increment of total thermal efficiency
The total thermal efficiencies of the original and integrated system are shown in Fig. 7 under different loads and heating loads. It
can be seen from Fig. 7a that the total thermal efficiencies of the
conventional heating system are 79.51%, 69.64%, 67.53%, 60.44%,
while that of the integrated system are 81.42%, 71.09%, 68.79%,
61.59% at corresponding conditions when the heating load is
99,918 kJ, which shows that the change degree of increased total
thermal efficiency is about 1.911.15% from 50% to 100% THA load.
When the heating load is constant, the increments show a decreasing trend with the increase of the load. When the load is constant,
however, the increments of the total thermal efficiency increase
with the increasing of the heating load. The change laws are exhibited in Fig. 7b more intuitively, which is obtained under actual
operating conditions.

1133

H. Zhang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 11251137

Q=115290 kJ
Q=99918 kJ
Q=84546 kJ

Total thermal efficiency (%)

85
80

Q=69174 kJ
Q=53802 kJ
Q=38430 kJ

75
70
65
60
55
50
45

50

60

70

80

90

Total thermal efficiency increment (%)

90

Q=38430kJ
Q=53802KJ
Q=69174kJ
Q=84546kJ
Q=99918kJ
Q=115290kJ

1.6

1.4

1.2

1.0

0.8
90

100

Load (%)

100

110

120

130

Load (MW)

(a) Change of total thermal efficiency

with the load difference

(b) Increment change of total thermal

efficiency with the load difference

Fig. 7. Total thermal efficiency comparison between original and integrated system.

Table 5
Exergy analysis results of main facilities under 75% THA load.
Item
ST

HPT
IPT
LPT

R
RS

1#HPH
2#HPH
3#DH
4#LPH
5#LPH
6#LPH

R
Boiler

R
ACS
AHP
Heater
Whole plant

Exergy loss (MW)

Exergy loss rate (%)

Exergy efficiency (%)

4.151(4.151)
2.787(2.828)
2.003(2.756)
8.941(9.735)

46.43(42.64)
31.17(29.05)
22.4(28.31)
100.0(100.0)

2.09(2.13)
1.40(1.45)
1.01(1.42)
4.50(5.00)

89.30(89.30)
94.17(94.09)
84.52(84.58)
91.02(90.68)

0.245(0.245)
0.959(0.959)
0.283(0.283)
0.332(0.332)
0.239(0.411)
0.098(0.160)
2.156(2.390)

11.36(10.25)
44.48(40.13)
13.13(11.84)
15.40(13.89)
11.09(17.20)
4.54(6.69)
100.0(100.0)

0.12(0.13)
0.48(0.49)
0.14(0.15)
0.17(0.17)
0.12(0.21)
0.05(0.08)
1.08(1.23)

93.76(93.76)
89.32(89.32)
93.53(93.53)
87.21(87.21)
89.67(84.93)
89.18(89.86)
97.08(89.41)

3.246(3.246)
0.518(0.518)
2.236(2.236)
1.966(1.966)
0.782(0.782)
108.085(108.085)
39.687(39.687)
156.520(156.520)
21.539(20.451)
0.000(2.811)
9.953(2.553)
199.109(194.460)

2.07(2.07)
0.33(0.33)
1.43(1.43)
1.26(1.26)
0.50(0.50)
69.05(69.05)
25.36(25.36)
100.0(100.0)
100(100.0)
0.00(100.00)
100.0(100.0)

1.63(1.67)
0.26(0.27)
1.12(1.15)
0.99(1.01)
0.39(0.40)
54.28(55.58)
19.93(20.41)
78.60(80.49)
10.82(10.52)
0.00(1.45)
5.00(1.31)
100.0(100.0)

48.81(48.81)
3.09(5.58)
0.00(82.8)
68.29(75.60)
38.41(39.86)

Smoke exhaust, chemistry factor, machinery factor, heat dissipation, boiler ash, combustion, heat transfer.

4.2. Exergy analysis of the system

4.2.1. Exergy analysis at a specific condition
In order to fully evaluate the utilization of effective energy in
the integrated system, the detailed exergy analysis on the main
facilities has been implemented at the 75% THA load when the
heating load is 99,918 kW. The components causing exergy loss
mainly include the boiler, steam turbine, heater, AHP and air cooling system. The exergy analysis results are listed in Table 5 where
values in parentheses are corresponding that of the integrated system with AHP system. The values in left column of exergy loss rate
item are the ratio of facilities exergy loss to subsystem exergy loss
and the values in right column are the ratio of facilities exergy loss
to exergy loss of the whole system, which will be detailedly analyzed in the later.
The distribution of exergy loss and exergy loss rate for main
equipments of the original and integrated systems is shown in

Fig. 8 and Table 5. As can be seen from the figure and Table, the
total exergy loss of the two heating modes is 199.109 and
194.460 MW, and the total exergy efficiency is 38.41% and
39.86%, respectively, which shows that the exergy loss decreases
by 4.649 MW and exergy efficiency increases by 1.45% or so. Meanwhile, the combustion and heat transfer exergy loss that is relatively large is respectively 108.085 and 39.687 MW. The exergy
loss and exergy loss rate of the feed-water heaters in the regenerative system is quite little comparatively in which the maximum is
respectively less than 1.0 MW and 0.5%. Moreover, the exergy loss
and exergy loss rate of AHP system is respectively 2.811 MW and
1.45%, which is quite little in the integrated system.
The distribution of exergy loss and exergy loss rate for every
subsystem of the original and integrated system is exhibited in
Fig. 9. The largest exergy loss of the two heating systems is the boiler. Its exergy loss and exergy efficiency is both 156.520 MW and
48.81%, and exergy loss rate is 78.60% and 80.49%, respectively.

100

80

0%
5%
2.08%
1.4%
1.01%
0.12%
0.48%
0.14%
0.17%
0.12%
0.05%
1.63%
0.26%
1.12%
0.99%
0.39%

40

60

20.41%

10.52%

1.45%
1.31%
2.13%
1.45%
1.42%
0.13%
0.49%
0.15%
0.17%
0.21%
0.08%
1.67%
0.27%
1.15%
1.01%
0.4%

40

20.451
2.811

0.782

2.236

1.966

3.246

0.518

0.411

PT
IP
T
LP
T
1#
HP
2# H
H
PH
3#
D
4# H
LP
5# H
LP
sm 6# H
ok LP
ch e e H
em xh
m istr aus
t
ac y
hi fa
he nery ctor
at
f
di act
ss or
ip
a
bo tion
il
co er a
m sh
b
he ust
at ion
tra
ns
fe
r
AC
S
AH
P
H
ea
ter

0.160

0.332

0.959

0.283

2.756

0.245

2.828

4.151

9.953
0.00

0.782

2.236

1.966

3.246

0.518

0.098

0.332

0.239

0.959

20

PT
IP
T
LP
1# T
HP
2# H
H
PH
3#
D
4# H
LP
5# H
LP
sm 6# H
ok LP
ch e e H
e m xh
m istr aus
t
ac y
hi fa
he nery ctor
at
fa
di ct
ss or
ip
a
bo tion
ile
co r a
m sh
b
he ust
at ion
tra
ns
fe
r
AC
S
AH
P
H
ea
ter

0.283

2.003

0.245

4.151

2.787

20

2.553

10.82%

HPT
IPT
LPT
1#HPH
2#HPH
3#DH
4#LPH
5#LPH
6#LPH
smoke exhaust
chemistry factor
55.58%
machinery factor
heat dissipation
boiler ash
combustion
heat transfer
ACS
AHP
Heater

39.687

60

2.13%
1.45%
1.42%
0.13%
0.49%
0.15%
0.17%
0.21%
0.08%
1.67%
0.27%
1.15%
1.01%
0.40%
55.58%
20.41%
10.52%
1.45%
1.31%

21.539

Exergy loss (MW)

80

19.93%

Exergy loss (MW)

100

HPT
IPT
LPT
1#HPH
2#HPH
3#DH
4#LPH
5#LPH
6#LPH
smoke exhaust
chemistry factor
machinery factor
54.28%
heat dissipation
boiler ash
combustion
heat transfer
ACS
AHP
Heater

39.687

2.09%
1.40%
1.01%
0.12%
0.48%
0.14%
0.17%
0.12%
0.05%
1.63%
0.26%
1.12%
0.99%
0.39%
54.28%
19.93%
10.82%
0.00%
5.00%

108.085

H. Zhang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 11251137

108.085

1134

(a) Exergy loss of the facilities of conventional heating system

(b) Exergy loss of the facilities of heating system with AHP

Fig. 8. Exergy analysis comparison of the facilities at 75% THA.

boiler

ACS

AHP

156.520

20

20

Heater

(a) Subsystem exergy analysis of conventional heating system

20.451

2.390

9.735

25

9.953

0.00

21.539

8.941

2.156
RS

50

5.58

ST

3.09

0.00

25

40

ST

RS

boiler

ACS

2.553

50

75

60

72.58

40

100

48.81

75

60

80

1.23%

AHP

Heater

(b) Subsystem exergy analysis of heating system with AHP

Fig. 9. Exergy analysis comparison of every subsystem.

110
100
90
25.36%

70

smoke exhaust
chemistry factor
machinery factor
heat dissipation
25.36%
boiler ash
combustion
heat transfer

108.085

2.07%
0.33%
2.07%
1.43%
0.33%
1.43%
1.26%
1.26%
0.50%0.5%

60
50

39.687

40
30

0.782

1.966

2.236

10

0.518

3.246

20

fe
r
at
t
he

m
bu
co

Fig. 10. Exergy analysis of the boiler.

ra
ns

sti
on

sh
ra
ile
bo

he
at
d

iss
ip

at
io

ct
or
fa
ry

ac
hi
ne
m

ch

em

ist
ry

ee
xh

au
s

fa
ct
or

ok

Exergy loss (MW)

69.05%

69.06%

80

sm

The exergy loss and exergy loss rate of the steam turbine system is
respectively 8.941 MW and 4.50%, and that of the heater for heating network is 9.953 MW and 5.00% in the conventional heating
system, which shows that exergy losses of the two subsystems
are substantially equal. Nevertheless, the exergy loss of the two
subsystems is respectively 9.735 MW and 2.553 MW with exergy
loss rate 5.00% and 1.31% in the integrated system with AHP system, which shows that exergy losses of the two subsystems are
very different. Compared with the conventional heating system,
the exergy losses of some subsystems have a slight increase including steam turbine system, regenerative system and AHP system,
but the exergy loss of air cooling system and heat exchanger
respectively reduces by 1.088 and 7.400 MW, which leads the total
exergy loss of the integrated system to decrease by 4.649 MW and
the total exergy efficiency to increase by 1.45%. Therefore, the
energy utilization efficiency can be improved by adopting the
scheme.
Fig. 10 shows the detailed distribution of exergy loss and exergy
loss rate for the boiler system. We can see that the combustion
exergy loss and exergy loss rate is respectively 108.085 MW and
69.05% in the boiler system, which is the largest exergy loss factor.

Exergy efficiency (%)

1.08%

68.29

4.49%
1.08%

100

125

100

1.45%
5.00% 1.31%

2.811

4.50%

80

ST
RS
boiler
ACS
AHP
Heater

75.60

0%
5%

Exergy efficiency (%)

156.520

0.00%

5.00%

10.52%

28.14

10.82%

10.82%

48.81

Exergy loss (MW)

78.60%

80.49%

82.80

125

150

89.41

78.61%

ST
RS
boiler
ACS
AHP
Heater

90.68

91.02

97.08

150

Exergy loss
Exergy efficiency

100

Exergy loss (MW)

Exergy loss
Exergy efficiency

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H. Zhang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 11251137

22.4%

2.756

2.828

2.003

92

88

84.52

84.58

84

96

89.30

88

42.64%

1
80

80

HPT

IPT

84

Exergy efficiency (%)

92

2.787
3.575

100

HPT
IPT
LPT

Exergy efficiency (%)

89.30

Exergy loss (MW)

96

Exergy loss
Exergy efficiency

28.31%

28.31

29.05

94.09

46.43%

42.64%

HPT
IPT
LPT

94.17

4.151
4.988

46.43%

100

4.151

22.40%

Exergy loss
Exergy efficiency

31.17%

Exergy loss (MW)

LPT

HPT

(a) Turbine exergy analysis of conventional heating system

IPT

LPT

(b) Turbine exergy analysis of heating system with AHP

Fig. 11. Exergy analysis comparison of the steam turbine.

15.40%

44.48%
4.54%

44.48%

1#HPH
2#HPH
11.09%
3#DH
4#LPH
5#LPH
6#LPH

4.55%

11.36%

1.0

100

13.89%
11.84%

17.2%
17.20%

6.69%

40.13%

95

10.25%

0.8

(a) Feedwater heating system exergy analysis

of conventional heating system

0.2

75

70
PH
5#
L

PH
4#
L

H
D
3#

PH

0.0
2#

H
LP
6#

5#

LP

H
LP
4#

H
D
3#

2#

PH

70
PH

0.0

80

PH

75

0.4

0.2

85

1#

80

Exergy loss (MW)

0.4

90
0.6

Exergy efficiency (%)

85

Exergy efficiency (%)

0.6

95

10.25%

90

1#

100

40.13%

11.36%

Exergy loss (MW)

1#HPH
2#HPH
3#DH
4#LPH
5#LPH
6.69% 6#LPH

PH

11.09%

0.8

Exergy loss
Exergy efficiency

13.13%

6#
L

1.0

11.84%

15.4%

Exergy loss
Exergy efficiency

(b) Feedwater heating system exergy analysis

of heating system with AHP

Fig. 12. Exergy analysis comparison of regenerative system.

The heat transfer factor is the second with exergy loss 39.687 MW
and exergy loss rate 25.36% approximately. The exergy loss rate of
other factors is less than 3.0% including machinery factor, smoke
exhaust, heat dissipation, chemistry factor, and boiler ash. Therefore, it is an effective way to reduce exergy loss of the heat transfer
and combustion factor to reduce exergy loss of the boiler system.
The distribution of exergy loss and efficiency for three cylinders
of the steam turbine system is exhibited in Fig. 11. As can be seen
from the figure, the exergy loss and efficiency of the low-pressure
cylinder is minimum, and the exergy efficiency of the
intermediate-pressure cylinder is maximum in the two heating
systems. Compared with the conventional heating system, there
is almost no change on the exergy loss of high and intermediate
pressure cylinders, but the exergy loss of the low-pressure cylinder
increases by 0.753 MW in the integrated system with AHP system.
The reason is that a part of high-parameter steam that should have
been extracted for heating returns to the low-pressure cylinder to
continue to do work, which increases exergy loss of the lowpressure cylinder due to friction when the steam flows through
the moving and static blades, throttle, etc.

Fig. 12 shows exergy loss and efficiency of the feed-water heaters in the regenerative system in two heating systems. Thereinto,
exergy loss and exergy loss rate of 2#HPH is largest, and exergy
losses of other heaters are comparative between each other. Compared with the conventional heating mode, the exergy loss of
1#HPH, 2#HPH, 3#DH, 4#LPH has no change, but the exergy loss
of 5#LPH and 6#LPH increases by 0.172 and 0.062 MW in the heating system with AHP, respectively. The increasement is considerably slight. The reason is that a part of high-parameter steam
that should have been extracted for heating returns to the air cooling system to increase the mass flow rate of the condensate water,
which leads to the increasing of the extraction steam mass flow
rate and the exergy loss of 5#LPH and 6#LPH.

4.2.2. Exergy loss and exergy efficiency under different loads and
heating loads
In order to comprehensively evaluate the performance of the
integrated system, exergy analysis has been carried out at various
loads and heating loads. On the basis of data under different design

1136

H. Zhang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 11251137

Table 6
Comparison of total exergy loss and efficiency of the systems before and after the
modification at different conditions when the heating load is 99,918 kJ.

Total exergy loss decrement (MW)

Q=69174 kJ
Q=84546 kJ
Q=99918 kJ
Q=115290 kJ

Comparison
items

Operating
conditions

Heating modes
Original
system

After system
modification

Difference

Total exergy
loss (MW)

33.18%THA
50%THA
66.67%THA
75%THA
100%THA

90.522
135.649
184.779
199.109
265.272

87.718
131.632
180.257
194.460
260.279

2.804
4.017
4.522
4.649
4.993

Total exergy
efficiency (%)

33.18%THA
50%THA
66.67%THA
75%THA
100%THA

39.71
38.51
38.05
38.41
38.27

41.74
40.28
39.60
39.86
39.46

2.03
1.77
1.55
1.45
1.19

Q=38430
Q=53802

1
30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Load (%)
Fig. 13. Decrement change of total exergy loss with load and heating load
difference.

and actual conditions of the thermal power plant, change laws of

total exergy loss and efficiency of the system have been obtained.
Fig. 13 shows decrement change of the total exergy loss of the
heating system with AHP with the load difference at different heating loads compared with the conventional heating system at
design conditions. As can be seen from the figure, when the heating
load is constant, the total exergy loss decrement shows an increasing trend with increasing load. When the heating load is
Q = 99,918 kW, for example, the total exergy loss decrement
increases from 2.804 to 4.993 MW with the load increasing from
33.18% to 100% THA. When the load is constant, the total exergy
loss decrement increases with the heating load increasing. For
example, the total exergy loss decrement increases from 1.799 to
5.336 MW with the heating load increasing from 38,430 to
115,290 kW when the load is 75% THA. The reason is that the
increasing of heating load leads to the increase of waste heat
recovered by AHP system to reduce the exergy loss of the heating
system, which makes the effect of waste heat recovery more
obvious.
The increment change of total exergy efficiency of the heating
system with AHP is exhibited in Fig. 14 and Table 6 at different

loads and heating loads compared with the conventional heating

system. It can be seen from Fig. 14a that increment of total exergy
efficiency improves significantly. Compared with the conventional
CHP system, total exergy efficiency increases 0.551.66% when the
heating load increases from 38,430 kJ to 115,290 kJ at the 75% THA
condition, which shows an increasing trend with the increase of
the heating load when the load is constant. The reason is that
increasing heating load leads to the increase of waste heat recovered by the AHP system to make energy utilization more efficient.
When the heating load is constant, however, the increments show
a decreasing trend with increasing load. The change laws are
exhibited in Fig. 14b more intuitively, which is obtained under
actual operating conditions. As a result, the use of AHP system
applied in the coal-fired power plant can lead to significant
improvement, increasing the total exergy efficiency of the whole
thermal power plant.
5. Conclusions
In this study, a novel EHCS has been presented, and its thermodynamic performance has been obtained at the specific condition
and variable conditions according to first and second thermodynamic law. The results show that the performance can be greatly
improved when the AHP system is used to recover waste heat
from exhaust steam of the steam turbines. Compared with the
conventional heating system, it can be seen that the gross coal

1.75

Pe=33.18% THA
Pe=50% THA
Pe=66.67% THA
Pe=75% THA
Pe=100% THA

2.25
2.00
1.75

Total exergy efficiency increment (%)

Total exergy efficiency increasement (%)

2.50

1.50
1.25
1.00
0.75

Q=38430kJ
Q=53802kJ
Q=69174kJ
Q=84546kJ
Q=99918kJ
Q=115290kJ

1.50

1.25

1.00

0.50

0.75
0.25
30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

90000

100000 110000 120000

Heating load (kJ)

(a) Increment change of total exergy

efficiency with heating load difference

90

100

110

120

Load (MW)

(b) Increment change of total exergy

efficiency with the load difference

Fig. 14. Increment change of total exergy efficiency with load and heating load difference.

130

H. Zhang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 105 (2015) 11251137

consumption rate and exergy loss of the integrated system respectively decreases by 8.7420.73 g/kW h and 2.424.62 MW or so
when the heating load is 99,918 kW. Meanwhile, the output power
increment increases with increasing load. The total thermal and
exergy efficiencies of the EHCS respectively increase by 1.15
1.91% and 1.192.03% when the heating load is 99,918 kW. Therefore, the technology cannot only increase the heating capacity of
the existing heat source but also save energy and reduce fossil fuel
consumption, which is of great significance to a thermal power
plant.
Acknowledgment
The Project Supported by National Natural Science Foundation
of China No. 51274224.
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