Course syllabus

MEN120 Heat and power systems engineering

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Important information

As teachers we want to provide a course of highest possible educational quality. However, the safety of our students and colleges are always the highest priority. As a consequence of the current situation caused by the COVID-19 virus some changes to the structure of the course has been made in relation to previous years. We continuously follow the restrictions and recommendations given by Swedish authorities as well as the Chalmers central organization. This means that sudden decisions regarding further changes might take place both prior to and after the course has started. The changes made are listed as part of the course PM and the list is updated continuously. As soon as the course starts information regarding eventual changes will be sent out to those students registered to the course.

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Course-PM

Humanity is facing a tremendous challenge in limiting climate changes caused by the anthropogenic use of fossil energy sources. Most of the world’s leaders have agreed that something must be done. As an example, the European Union has decided to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from the member countries with 20% until the 2020 and after that another 35% until 2030. In addition, the European Council supports a proposal suggesting a reduction of emitted greenhouse gases with 100% until the year of 2050. However, despite these environmental goals formulated by the EU and other international constellations, the United Nations presented in 2018 that the 2 degree target will not be reached unless something drastic happens. Already today we can read about occurring consequences of the ongoing climate change such as a rising sea level and extreme weather occurring more often than ever.

To mitigate climate change, and to work towards a more sustainable society, actions are needed across all sectors e.g. including agriculture, industry and transportation. The focus for this course is on thermal heat and power production plants. Even though the share of renewable power production has increased, the fossil-based power plants are, both globally and from a European perspective, still responsible for the main share of power production. The high share of intermittent sources has, however, caused changes in operational patterns of thermal power plants. Thermal power plants originally designed for base load power generation will now need to act as top load plants. As top load plants they have to ramp up and down to follow the demand (Figure 1). Combined cycle thermal power plants might even need to start-up and shut down on daily basis or several times over the course of a week, even if they were conceived for base load generation. Therefore, flexible and transient operation is becoming of increasing importance in thermal power generation. Such a transient operation will have a huge influence on the performance of the plant affecting efficiency as well as emissions.

Figure 1. Example of load variation for a coal fired power plant connected to a power grid with a large share of intermittent power generation. To the left, variations in maximum continuous rating (MCR) as a function of time during 24 hours. To the right, MCR as a function of time during one week.

Switching from coal to biogenic and waste derived fuels are one of the proposed ways to reduce CO₂ emissions from power generation and industrial furnaces. Due to the different composition between coal and these other fuels, it is, however, not only a question of switching fuel, but also how to handle the problems that arise. One such problem is the high temperature corrosion (HTC) which is a problem that affects the heat transfer surfaces in a boiler. HTC is caused mainly by alkali-based salts that easily are deposited on heat transfer surfaces and are also corrosive. Compounds that contain alkali metals and chlorine are among the most aggressive agents, which is why HTC is primarily a problem for power plants that are fired with bio- and waste-fuels rather than coal.

A second alternative to significantly reduce CO₂ emissions is to apply carbon capture where the CO₂ is separated from the flue gas and later used or stored to prevent it to be emitted to the atmosphere. An interesting alternative is to combine combustion of biogenic fuels and carbon capture which has the potential to reduce the atmospheric CO₂ concentration. The capture part can be performed in different ways but always comes with an extra energy requirement reducing the efficiency and increasing the investment and operational cost compared to not applying carbon capture.

Figure 2. View of Nordjyllandsværket a Danish coal fired power plant. (source: Vattenfall)	Figure 3. The waste fired Lillesjö CHP plant in Uddevalla, Sweden. (source: Uddevalla Energi)

It is a tremendous effort that is required in the heat and power production sector to be able to adopt to the new situation it is facing and at the same time keep emissions like SO_X, NO_X and particulates below emission limits during a transition phase towards zero emission control systems, that is, systems that are not yet commercially adopted. The plant design is important in order to find solutions. In this course the design opportunities of modern power plants will be discussed as well as the potential of modernizing older power plants. This is done by looking into the design of coal, natural gas and waste or biomass based combined heat and power plants. Their similarities and differences will be discussed from a thermodynamic point of view. Theoretical knowledge gained will then be applied in a project work, consisting of simulations of these different power plants (Figure 4). When building different models, the students will be able to see how the performance of a power plant changes by, for example, adding a carbon capture unit or switching fuel from coal to biomass. Combined with the theoretical background given during lectures the student will also understand why the power plant behaves in a certain way and be able to evaluate different thermal power plants with respect to overall performance, regional energy system and emission regulations.

Figure 4. Example of a model built using Ebsilon Professional, the software used for power plant simulations in this course.

Course administration

MEN120 Heat and power systems engineering (7.5 hp) is given in lp1 by the division of Energy Technology at the department of Space, Earth and Environment. Klas Andersson is the examiner of the course and teaching assistants are also deeply involved in the course, in particular the case study work. The TAs are Dan, Chahat, Guillermo, Gulnara, Isabel and Xiaoyun. Lecture notes and other relevant material will be distributed via the course homepage in Canvas. The course page is also used as the platform for hand-ins.

Contact details                           
Klas Andersson                               klon@chalmers.se      
Dan Gall                                         dan.gall@chalmers.se

Isabel Cañete Vela                         canete@chalmers.se   
Chahat Mandviwala                     chahat@chalmers.se
Guillermo Martinez Castilla        castilla@chalmers.se 
Xiaoyun Li                                           xiaoyun.li@chalmers.se
Gulnara Shavalieva                       gulnara.shavalieva@chalmers.se       

Course purpose

The purpose of this course is to give students a good insight into power plant engineering. The course focuses on production of heat and electric power in thermal power plants. Students will also get an overview on how such plants fit into the energy system, including aspects on distribution of heat and electricity as well as principles of the electricity market. After completing the course, students will be able to perform a thorough analysis of the efficiency and environmental performance of a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant. In addition, students will be able to use a state-of-the-art process simulation tool to evaluate the performance of thermal power plants.

Schedule

For schedule see the schedule document for details.

Course literature

The course literature include material handed out during the lectures and the Case study project description.

Course structure

There are three parts of the course, lectures, problem solving sessions and the case study which is a group exercise. The lectures comprises theory and engineering knowledge looking on design aspects of thermal power plants using solid and gaseous fuels as feed stock; renewable and fossil. The main components of steam and combined cycle power plants are presented in lectures and further studied based on hand calculations during the problem-solving sessions. Lectures and problem-solving sessions will give the student a theoretical understanding of the differences between different power plant configurations from a thermodynamic point of view as well as with respect to emissions and an energy system perspective. Lectures are given according to the provided schedule with the different topics specified. The problem-solving sessions will also follow given schedule and reflect on what has been discussed during recent lectures. It is not mandatory, but the students are highly recommended to look at the provided example problems relevant for a given session on forehand. Klas is responsible for lectures and Guillermo and Isabel for the problem-solving sessions. Due to the current situation the plan for both lectures and problem-solving sessions are now planned to be give online. Instructions for how to attend these will be available for admitted students on the course page.

The third part, the case study, is performed by the students in groups of 2. The case study includes modeling of thermal heat and power plants using a commercial software (EBSILON®Professional), which is a state-of-the-art process modelling tool. The simulation tool makes it possible to compare different designs and concepts for thermal power generation. In this way the students have a possibility to further evaluate and analyze what has been discussed during lectures and problem-solving sessions gaining a deeper understanding of the theory and how it links to the design of an actual power plant. The simulated plant will be inspired by real actual power plants. There are several hours scheduled for the students to work with the case study with teachers available for supervision. The case study will be supervised mainly by Chahat, Dan, Guillermo, Gulnara, Isabel and Xiaoyun who will be present during these sessions. The students are expected to also work with the case study outside of these computer-sessions and the software will be available in several computer rooms at Chalmers. The case study project runs throughout the course and consist one introduction exercise and modeling of plants designed for coal, municipal solid waste and natural gas. Each part will have its own individual hand-ins and also be summarized in an oral presentation and discussion session towards the end of the course. As a consequence of the restriction and recommendations regarding social distancing it will not be possible to give all the scheduled computer sessions in with all students and teachers in the computer rooms. Instead it will be possible to carry out these sessions remotely with online live supervision by the teachers. If possible, following regulations and recommendations, part of these sessions will be given in the actual classrooms. Further instructions will be given once the course starts.

Lecture material, example problems, case study instructions etcetera will be available to download from the Canvas home page. All hand ins will also be submitted via Canvas. General information from the teachers to all students will be provided via Canvas and e-mail. Individual communication between teachers and students, e.g. a student having a question regarding a modelling problem, should however be done via e-mail.

Changes made since the last occasion

Some changes have been made with respect to the course structure allowing the course also to be taken online. The changes include the following;

• Lectures and problem-solving sessions are given online.
• The cases study report has been divided into individual hand ins for each power plant type instead of having one hand in covering them all.
• The computer room sessions have been adopted so that they can be attended both online and, if possible, also attended in the actual computer rooms.
• There will be no field trip to the Lillesjö heat and power plant as part of the course this year.

Learning objectives and syllabus

At the end of this course, students should be able to analyse and evaluate new heat and power plants. After completing the course, students will be aware of the technological options and environmental problems and opportunities associated with these options. The main generic skills developed within this course include the ability to apply thermodynamics to thermal processes for heat and electric power generation and to analyze opportunities for investment in a new CHP plant in an existing energy system. Specific learning outcomes are:

• To know the main technological options for generation of heat and electric power, including both existing technologies as well as new technologies in the development stage
• To be able to perform thermodynamic analysis of thermal power plants in different design modes
• To be able to analyze the environmental impact from different types of power plants and to know which cleaning technologies to apply
• To be able to use a state-of-the-art process simulation tool in order to establish the process flowsheet schematic of a CHP plant and to determine the performance of the plant.

Study plan (Links to an external site.)

Examination form

To pass the course (grade 3) the student must; participate and give a presentation at the seminar at the end of the course, have all case study reports approved and score at least 12 out of 24 points on the written exam. The written exam also provides the opportunity to get grade 4 or 5 with a score of at least 16 or 20 points respectively. Once all compulsory parts are approved the student will be given the same grade on the course as he or she got on the written exam. The written exam is consisting of one theory and one calculation section with the total point divided equally between the two sections. Examples of previous exams will be provided during the course. Steam and air properties tables will be handed out during the written exam if needed. In addition, Mollier chart and calculator with cleared memory are allowed aids during the written exam.