• As discussed in Chapter 2 regenerative feedwater heaters are always

used in steam power plants to improve the cycle efficiency. They raise
the temperature of the feedwater before it enters the economizer.
Both open and closed type heaters are used. In small industrial
plants, only one open feedwater heater may be used. But m large
industrial and utility plants, five to seven closed heaters and one open
heater are used. The open heater acts as a deaerator,
Closed Feedwater Heater
• Closed feedwater heaters are shell-and-tube heat exchangers. They are
basically small condensers which operate at higher pressures than the main
condenser because bled steam is condensed on the shell side, whereas the
feedwater. acting like circulating cooling water in the condenser, is heated
on the tube side.
• It was shown in Chapter 2 that the temperature rise in each heater and
economizer is equal for maximum cycle efficiency. Thus the heaters receive
bled steam from the turbine at pressures determined roughly by equal
temperature rise from the condenser to the boiler saturation temperature.
They are classified as low pressure (LP) and high pressure (HP) heaters
depending upon their locations in the cycle. The LP heaters are usually
located between the condensate pump and the deaerator, which is
followed by the boiler feed pump (BFP). The HP heaters are located
between the BFP and the economizer.
• When bled steam entering a feedwater heater is superheated, as in a
HP heater, the heater includes a de-superheating zone where steam is
cooled to its saturation temperature. It is followed by a condensing
zone where the steam is condensed to a saturated liquid rejecting the
latent heat of condensation, This liquid, called heater drain, is then
cooled below its saturation temperature in a sub cooling zone or a
drain cooling zone before the drain is cascaded backward or pumped
forward.
• Figure §.13 shows the schematic diagram and the temperature
profiles of a three-zone closed feedwater heater. There are, however,
two-zone heaters that include a de-superheating and a condensing
zone or a condensing and a sub cooling zone. There are also single-
zone heaters that include only a condensing zone. A drain-cooling
zone, instead of being a part of the shell, may be located outside it. It
is then called a drain cooler