Title: Techno-economic evaluation of revamping of coal-fired power plants in India

Authors: Animesh Dutta, Shantanu Dutta, Prabir Basu

Addresses: Energy Field of Study, Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand. ' StFX Business Administration Department, St. Francis Xavier University, P.O. Box 5000, Nicholson Hall, Antigonish, NS B2G 2W5, Canada ' Dalhousie University, P.O. Box 1000, Halifax, NS B3J 2X4, Canada

Abstract: A techno-economic feasibility study has been conducted to investigate the revamping of two 32 MWe Pulverised-Coal (PC) boilers with a number of firing options. The options investigated were: (1) conventional PC revamping, (2) replacement with a new PC boiler, (3) PC to Circulating Fluidised Bed (CFB) revamping, (4) replacement with a new CFB boiler, and (5) Bubbling Fluidised Bed (BFB) revamping. The study reveals that: (i) CFB revamping of the boilers is technically feasible and economically viable; (ii) Performance improvement of the plant is significant in terms of such indices as plant load factor, forced outage and auxiliary oil consumption; (iii) Significant improvement in emissions performance due to the reduction in emissions of NOx and fly ash is projected; (iv) CFB revamping option gives the highest return on investment compared to alternatives. Finally, to demonstrate the technical soundness and viability of the special design used in this revamping, a subscale CFB boiler has been designed and built at another power plant.

Keywords: energy industry; revamping; coal fired power plants; capital cost; financial analysis; technological options; circulating fluidised bed; CFB; pulverised coal fired; emission; techno-economic feasibility; India; bubbling fluidised bed; BFB; boilers; performance improvement; plant load factor; forced outage; auxiliary oil consumption; energy finance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGEI.2006.009722

International Journal of Global Energy Issues, 2006 Vol.26 No.1/2, pp.6 - 42

Published online: 08 May 2006 *

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