Question

Steam enters the condenser of a steam power plant at 20kPa and a quality of 95% with a mass flow rate of 20,000kg/h. It is to be cooled by water from a nearby river by circulating water through the tubes within the condenser. To prevent thermal pollution, the river water is not allowed to experience a temperature rise above 10◦C. If the steam is to leave the condenser as saturated liquid at 20kPa, determine the mass rate of the cooling water required.

Answer 1

Answer:

The mass rate of the cooling water required is: $1'072988.5\frac{kg}{h}$

Explanation:

First, write the energy balance for the condensator: The energy that enters to the equipment is the same that goes out from it; consider that there is no heat transfer to the surroundings and kinetic and potential energy changes are despreciable.

${m_{w}}*{h_{w}}^{in}+m_s{h_{s}}^{in}=m_w{h_{w}}^{out}+m_s{h_{s}}^{out}$

Where w refers to the cooling water and s to the steam flow. Reorganizing,

$m_w({h_{w}}^{out}-{h_{w}}^{in})=m_s({h_{s}}^{in}-{h_{s}}^{out})\\m_w=\frac{m_s({h_{s}}^{in}-{h_{s}}^{out})}{({h_{w}}^{out}-{h_{w}}^{in})}$

Write the difference of enthalpy for water as Cp (Tout-Tin):

$m_w=\frac{m_s({h_{s}}^{in}-{h_{s}}^{out})}{C_{pw}({T_{w}}^{out}-{T_{w}}^{in})}$

This equation will let us to calculate the mass rate required. Now, let's get the enthalpy and Cp data. The enthalpies can be read from the steam tables (I attach the tables I used). According to that, ${h_{s}}^{out}=251.40\frac{kJ}{kg}$ and ${h_{s}}^{in}$ can be calculated as:

${h_{s}}^{in}={h_{f}}+x{h_{fg}}=251.40+0.95*2358.3=2491.8\frac{kJ}{kg}$.

The Cp of water at 25ºC (which is the expected average temperature for water) is: 4.176 $\frac{kJ}{kgK}$. If the average temperature is actually different, it won't mean a considerable mistake. Also we know that ${T_{w}}^{out}-{T_{w}}^{in}\leq 10$, so let's work with the limit case, which is ${T_{w}}^{out}-{T_{w}}^{in}=10$ to calculate the minimum cooling water mass rate required (A higher one will give a lower temperature difference as a result). Finally, replace data:

$m_w=\frac{20000\frac{kg}{h}(2491.8-251.40)\frac{kJ}{kg} }{4.176\frac{kJ}{kgK} (10C)}=1'072988.5\frac{kg}{h}$

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