Abstract
This work presents a case study of thermodynamic performance of a condenser used in a 210 MW thermal power station at Mejia in West Bengal, India. The analysis involves an improvement of actual overall heat transfer coefficient by varying tube materials and fouling resistance. Exergy Destruction Factor (EDF) is introduced to quantify the percentage of exergy loss from the condenser wall. From this study, it is revealed that the second law performance of the condenser increases with the increase in thermal conductivity of the tube materials, decreases with the increase in fouling resistance and decreases with the increase in condenser pressure at the turbine outlet. The actual overall heat transfer coefficient can be increased up to 6% by selecting better conducting tube materials. While the EDF decreases with the increase in cooling water temperature rise and increases with the increase in cooling water inlet temperature, EDF is found to decrease with the increased cooling water mass flow rate.