Afro - Asian International Conference on Science, Engineering & Technology

AAICSET-2015
ISBN: 9-780993-909238

Energy Audit of Pump in Thermal Power Plant

(Paper ID: Bharuch2k15C0152)

Gheewala Ruturaj D.

Niraj K. Shah

Dinkar M. Jethva

Mech. Engg. Dept. Institute of

Technology

Mech.Engg. Dept, Institute of

Technology

Executive Engineer

NIRMA University

NIRMA University

Sr. Energy Auditor & Manager

Ahmedabad, India
ruturaj9491@gmail.com

Ahmedabad, India
niraj.shah@nirmauni.ac.in

Wanakbori Thermal Power Station

dinkar.jet@gmail.com

Abstract: One unit of electricity saved equals 3 units of electricity

generated in recent power plant scenario. The Energy saved is equal
to energy generated. Thermal power plant also falls under the
intensive consumer category like railways, metal industries, and port
trust etc. Thus according to energy act it is important to analyze the
consumption pattern of the power plant and implement ideas to boost
efficiency. The auxiliary power consumption in thermal power plant
adds a major role in enhancing the efficiency of power plant. For a
Thermal power plant of 210 MW capacity the Auxiliary Power
Consumption (APC) is estimated to be 8-12% of total generation.
Reducing APC not only reduces energy intensity but also increases
revenues because of energy export. APC reduction steps includes
various practices like proper maintenance, maintaining proper draft,
supplying more air, coating of pump and blades of fans, installing
energy efficient drives, reduction of stages in condensate extraction
pump etc. through planned Energy Audits. This Reduction in APC
will eventually lead to monetary savings. The auxiliary power
consumption is mostly in Boiler feed pump(2.45%), Condensate
extraction pump (0.22%), Induced draft fans (1.11%), Forced draft
fans (0.21%), Primary Air Fan (0.93%), Mills (0.66%)[1]. Thus
major areas of concern are Pumps and Fans. The present work
consists of energy audit of nine numbers of boiler feed pump, six
numbers of condensate extraction pump and nine numbers of cooling
water pump. Ultrasonic flow meter, power analyzer and pressure
gauges are used to know flow rate of fluid, power consumption and
net head. Performance of pump is evaluated comparing efficiency
and specific power consumption with design data. Based on this
parameters lower performing pumps are found. Using proper energy
saving strategies pump efficiencies can be improved to 80% which
saves amount in lacs to crores and payback period is from months to
years depending up on amount of energy saving and cost of remedial
actions required.
Keywords: Energy Audit, Boiler feed pump, Condensate extraction
pump, Cooling water pump, Auxiliary power consumption.

2009 was 96 kWh in rural areas and 288 kWh was in urban
areas for those with access to electricity in comparison to the
worldwide per capita annual average of 2,600 kWh and 6,200
kWh in the European Union[6]. Electric energy consumption
in agriculture is highest (18%) in India. The per capita
electricity consumption is lower compared to many countries
despite cheaper electricity tariff in India[7].
High demand for electricity, especially in the developing
countries are raising power generation technologies. At the
same time the discussion about causes of global warming has
focused on emissions originating from power generation and
on CO2 reduction technologies such as:
Alternative primary energy sources
Capture and storage of CO2
Increased efficiency for converting primary energy
content into electricity
Focusing on the third point, relatively little attention has been
paid to the efficiency of auxiliary processes in thermal power
plants, which account for about 5-8% of the gross generation
capacity. Out of the total installed capacity the 87.55% is
constituted by the Non-Renewable Plants of which around
60%(134.39GW) is constituted by Coal and Lignite based
Thermal Power Plant. Of these 8.4%(11340MW) of energy is
consumed by the Power Plant equipments as Auxiliary
Power.[8] So it is the at most need to reduce this auxiliary
power consumption through planned procedures. Examples of
auxiliary processes in thermal power plants:
Conveying and preparing the fuel
Moving the necessary air into the furnace
Moving the flue gases from the furnace
Returning the condensed water back to the steam
generator
Maintaining the necessary cooling effect in the
condenser
Operating various emission cleaning processes.
A majority of these processes are run by centrifugal pumps,
fans and compressors driven by large electrical motors.[9]
Objective of present work is to compare the performance of
Boiler Feed Pump(BFP), Condensate Extraction Pump(CEP)
and Cooling Water Pump(CWP) with design and explore
energy saving strategies.

I. INTRODUCTION
The electricity sector in India had an installed capacity of
254.049 GW as of end September 2014[2]. India became the
world's third largest producer of electricity in the year 2013
with 4.8% global share in electricity generation surpassing
Japan and Russia [3]. Non Renewable Power Plants constitute
87.55% of the installed capacity, and Renewable Power Plants
constitute the remaining 12.45% of total installed Capacity
[4]. As of March 2013, the per capita total electricity
consumption in India was 917.2 kWh[5]. The per capita
average annual domestic electricity consumption in India in
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Afro - Asian International Conference on Science, Engineering & Technology

AAICSET-2015
ISBN: 9-780993-909238

II. BASICS OF PUMP

than any other equipments. About 27% of energy is consumed

to run the electric motors used to run the pumps. Thus
pumping system is of prime importance to reduce energy
consumption.

Pumping is a process of moving liquid from one point to

another by addition of kinetic and potential energy to it. The
energy will help the liquid to do work such as flow through
pipe or rise to a higher head level. Pumps come in different
sizes for a variety of applications. Pumps can be classified
according to the basic operating principle as dynamic or
displacement pumps. Dynamic pumps are of two type
centrifugal and special effect pumps. Displacement pumps are
of two type rotary and reciprocating pumps. Different pump
designs can be used, but the centrifugal pump is mostly used
because they are most economical followed by rotary and
reciprocating pumps. Positive displacement pumps are more
efficient than centrifugal pumps, but the maintenance cost is
increased.

B) Test Procedure
Energy audit of pumps can be done by knowing specific
power consumption and pump efficiency. To determine these
quantities input parameters are flow rate, net head and power
consumption.
Following steps were followed for calculating different
parameters.
i.
Flow measurement
The measurement were taken by using Ultrasonic Flow
Measurement method. First the diameter of the pipe was
measured. Then two probe sender and receiver were attached
on the pipe line on the either side of pipe. Then readings were
taken at interval of 10 mins.
ii.
Head measurement
The measurement were taken using installed pressure gauges.
The suction head was measured from the inlet pressure gauge
of the pump. The discharge head was measured from the outlet
pressure gauge of the pump. Then difference was taken and
total head was estimated.
iii.
Power measurement
The power consumption by each pump were taken using
installed power analyzer in plant.

A) Pump Operating Point

When a pump is installed the operating point is the where the
pump curve and system point intersect. In Centrifugal pump
the increasing system resistance will reduce flow and then to
zero.

C) Pump Performance Assessment

Fig. 1.

Pump Operating Curve[10]

Generally an oversized pump is installed by adding safety

margins to the calculated system curve so that large pump is
selected. This will cause the pump to work at excessive flow
rate or in throttled condition which will increase the energy
use and reduce pump life.
III. ENERGY AUDIT
The objective of energy auditing is to find out the different
ways to reduce the energy consumption in different fields
without affecting the output.
An Energy Audit can be classified into the following two
types:
i) Preliminary Audit
ii) Detailed Audit
Preliminary Audit finds out all information about plant and
identify the major energy consumption areas in the plant by
using energy meters. In Detailed Audit different energy
auditing techniques are used and methods to reduce energy
consumption are suggested.

i.

Hydraulic Power
Hydraulic power of a pump is gives by:
Ph(kW)= QX (hd-hs) XX g/1000
Q= Volume Flow rate (m3/s)
=Density of fluid(kg/m3)
g= Acceleration due to gravity (m/s2)
(hd-hs)= Total Head in meters
ii. Motor Input Power
Input Power can be calculated using Power Analyzer.
iii. Pump Shaft Power
It is calculated by multiplying the motor input power by motor
efficiency.
Ps= Pm X motor
motor=Synchronous speedXRated SpeedX100/
Synchronous Speed
iv. Pump Efficiency
It is calculated by dividing the hydraulic power by pump shaft
power.
pump= Ph/Ps[11]
v.

A) Energy Audit Of Pump

Specific Energy Consumption(SEC)

SEC= Pm/Q

D) Result And Discussion

Pumping system is of most important to a power plant

operations. In industries such as petrochemical and power
plants, pumps supports production process and runs longer
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Afro - Asian International Conference on Science, Engineering & Technology

AAICSET-2015
ISBN: 9-780993-909238

Performance evaluation of nine numbers of BFP, six numbers

of CEP and nine numbers of CWP was carried out in three
units of thermal power plant which is shown in table no. 4.1.
Table. 1.

Performance Evaluation of all Pumps

S.N

Pumps

Flowrate
(m3/s)

Head
(mWC)

Moter
(kW)

Efficiency
(%)

BFP-4A

0.0853

1725.7

3010

58

0.83

BFP-4B

0.0853

1587.2

2880

57.88

0.88

BFP-4C

0.0853

1593.2

2670

58.27

0.84

BFP-5A

0.1096

1645.9

3022

67.41

0.77

BFP-5B

0.1069

1782.41

3216

69.51

0.82

BFP-5C

0.1086

1798.81

2890

75.08

0.74

BFP-6A

0.0973

1535

2750

64.33

0.79

BFP-6B

0.1027

1559

2850

65.71

0.77

BFP-6C

0.1001

1590

2680

70.44

0.74

10

CW-4a

3.7167

22

1166

76.52

0.09

11

CW-4b

3.8194

22.5

1170

81.06

0.09

12

CW-4c

2.7778

29

1190

77.35

0.12

13

CW-5a

3.4917

21.6

1133

73.72

0.09

14

CW-5b

3.1806

21.1

1144

64.01

0.1

15

CW-5c

3.1389

21

1290

59.08

0.11

16

CW-6a

4.0639

21.6

1273

76.1

0.09

17

CW-6b

2.9722

21.1

1144

61.91

0.11

18

CW-6c

3.1389

23.5

1282

62.79

0.11

19

CEP-4A

0.1528

201

480

73.22

0.87

20

CEP-4B

0.1611

192.2

510

73.15

0.84

21

CEP-5A

0.1472

202

470

74.18

0.89

22

CEP-5B

0.1514

193

475

68.76

0.87

23

CEP-6A

0.1500

215.4

453

83.62

0.84

Pumps

Efficiency

Remark

Problem

0.97

BFP-4A

58

1,5,6

1.Low flow rate

BFP-4B

57.88

6,11,12

2.Noise

BFP-4C

58.27

15

3.Cavitation

BFP-5A

67.41

5,6

4.Shaft Deflection

BFP-5B

69.51

5,6

5.Throttling

24

CEP-6B

0.1333

221.2

467

68.22

SEC

Variation of efficiencies and specific power consumption for

various Condensate Extraction Pump.

Fig. 4.

Variation of efficiencies and specific power consumption for

various Cooling Water Pump.

Setting the base line at 80% Efficiency and 0.75 kW/m3/hr

SEC. We can check the performance of each pumps. From the
figures the pumps which are having higher SEC have low
Efficiencies. It can be seen from fig 3, 4 and 5 that very few
pumps are performing as per design conditions otherwise all
pumps performance is not meeting design conditions.
Few pumps efficiencies are very low and specific power
consumption is very high. Such pumps need immediate
corrective actions to improve their performance.
Table. 2.

E) Summary
The Efficiency of all 9 BFP, 9 CWP and 6 CEP are
summarized in following Fig 2 ,Fig 3 and Fig 4 respectively.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

Variation of efficiencies and specific power consumption for various

Boiler feed pumps.

Akshar Publication 2015

Pump Problems

BFP-5C

75.08

15,6

6.Leakage

BFP-6A

64.33

8,14

7.Valve

BFP-6B

65.71

8.Internal Rotation

BFP-6C

70.44

15,6

9.Impeller Size

CW-4a

76.52

14

10.Friction

CW-4b

81.06

11.Bearing

CW-4c

77.35

12.Low Discharge

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Afro - Asian International Conference on Science, Engineering & Technology

AAICSET-2015
ISBN: 9-780993-909238

efficiency. This is mainly because of poor maintenance, the

actual parameters like head, flow rate, power consumption is
widely different than that of the design characterises. So in
order to improve the performance the pump should runs near
to its best efficiency point. After estimating the effiencies of
pumps to be improved to 80% around 2 crore kWhr units of
energy can be saved.

CW-5a

73.72

13

13.High Resistance

CW-5b

64.01

12

14.Seal leakage

CW-5c

59.08

15,7,11,6

15.Intermettant use

CW-6a

76.1

14

CW-6b

61.91

1,3

CW-6c

62.79

15,7,12

CEP-4A

73.22

6,12

CEP-4B

73.15

6,10

CEP-5A

74.18

13

CEP-5B

68.76

3,5,8

CEP-6A

83.62

[3]
[4]

CEP-6B

68.22

12,4,11,2

[5]

Table. 3.

REFERENCES
[1]

[2]

Remedial Actions to be taken

[6]

Problem

Remedial Action

1.Low flow rate

Pump Oversized, Use Proper pump

[8]

Overhauling
Shaft Alignment, Maintaining inlet and
outlet pressure

[9]

2. Noise
3.Cavitation
4.Shaft Deflection

[7]

Less use of By-pass line

5.Throttling

[10]

Use VFD

6.Leakage

Check Leakage

[11]

7. Valve

Replace/Repair

[12]

8.Internal Rotation

Use adequate NPSH

9.Impeller Size

[13]

Calibrate size

10.Friction

Coating

11.Bearing

Replace/Repair

12.Low Discharge

Check Leakage

13.High Resistance

Overhauling

14.Seal leakage

Control of CO2 emission through enhancing energy efficiency of

auxiliary power equipment in thermal power plant,Electrical Power and
Energy Systems 62 (2014) 744752.
Executive Summary Power Sector September 2014. Retrieved 7
November 2014.
Statistical Review of world energy. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
Monthly All India Installed Generation Capacity Report. Retrieved 23
May 2014.
Growth of Electricity Sector in India from 1947-2013. Central
Electricity Authority, Ministry of Power, Government of India. July
2013. Retrieved 20 February 2014
World Energy Outlook 2011: Energy for All_. International Energy
Agency. October 2011.
Tariff & duty of electricity supply in India. CEA, Govt. of India. March
2014. Retrieved Aug 12, 2014..
CEA. Growth of electricity sector in India from 1947 to 2013; 2013.
Website:<http://www.cea.nic.in>.
Thomas Schmager, Pasi Mannisto, Per Wikstrom "Reduction of Life
Cycle Cost byOperational Excellence", Power Generation Asia, Paper
ID:149, (2007)
Guideline of Bureau of Energy Efficiency.Ch-"Pump and Pumping
System" (2013).
A Source Book for Industry ,Second Edition Improving Pumping
System Performance.(2006).
Anand Prakash Singh, Anit Kumar and Pradeep Kumar, APC Projects
in Tg & Bop Areas APC Project- OPJSTPP (4x 250MW) National
Seminar on Thermal Power Plant Performance Management.-(2014).
Elements of Mechanical Engineering by K.P.Roy and Prof.S.K Hajra
Chaudhary, Media Promoters and Publishers Pvt.Ltd.

Replace/Repair

15.Intermettant use

VFD

Table 2 and Table 3 shows common problem related to pumps

and remedial actions to rectify problems.
F) Energy Efficient Strategies
Following are few energy saving strategies[12,13]
i. Flow Control System
ii. Impeller Trimming
iii. Energy Efficient Coating
iv. By-Pass System
v. Energy Efficient Pump
vi. Variable Frequency Drive
IV. CONCLUSION
Present operating efficiencies of the all the pumps is found to
be mostly around 50-70% which is lower than the desired
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