5
Single-Flash Steam Power Plants 91

Table 5.2 Typical turbine element materials [10].

Component Material

Piping ASTM A106, Gr B; ASTM A335, Gr P11 or P22

H.P. casings ASTM A356, Gr 1, 6, 9, or 10
L.P. casings ASTM A285 or A515
Valve bodies ASTM A216 or A217
Fasteners ASTM A193 and A194
Rotors ASTM A470
Blades AISI 403
Nozzle blades AISI 403
Bands AISI 405

unless they are removed they will increase the overall pressure in the condenser and
lower the turbine power output. Steam jet ejectors with aftercondensers, SE/C (in
Fig. 5.6), and/or vacuum pumps are used for this purpose.
The cooling water is usually obtained from a cooling tower that recirculates a por-
tion of the condensed steam after it has been cooled by partial evaporation in the pres-
ence of a moving air stream (items CT and CWP in Fig. 5.6). This means that
geothermal flash-steam plants do not need a significant supply of cooling water, a
major advantage in areas that are arid. A small amount of fresh water is needed, how-
ever, to provide for replacement of tower blowdown.

5.4 Thermodynamics of the conversion process

The analysis presented here is based on fundamental thermodynamic principles, namely
the principle of energy conservation (i.e., the First Law of thermodynamics) and the
principle of mass conservation. An exposition of the subject may be found in any stan-
dard text such as those by Moran and Shapiro [11] and Çengel and Boles [12], to men-
tion only two. The general equation of the First Law is given in Sect. 10.2.

5.4.1 Temperature-entropy process diagram

The processes undergone by the geofluid are best viewed in a thermodynamic state
diagram in which the fluid temperature is plotted on the ordinate and the fluid specific
entropy is plotted on the abscissa. A temperature-entropy diagram for the single-flash
plant is shown in Fig. 5.9.

5.4.2 Flashing process

The sequence of processes begins with geofluid under pressure at state 1, close to the
saturation curve. The flashing process is modeled as one at constant enthalpy, i.e., an
isenthalpic process, because it occurs steadily, spontaneously, essentially adiabatically,
and with no work involvement. We also neglect any change in the kinetic or potential
energy of the fluid as it undergoes the flash. Thus we may write
h1 5 h 2 ð5:6Þ
This was discussed in Sect. 4.2.3 when we examined the flow of a geofluid from the
reservoir to the wellhead.