Power plant energy conservation thumb rules

Specific heat of oil varies between 0.22 kcal/kg to 0.28 kcal/kg.
Loss of even one drop of oil at every second can cost over 4000 litres a year.
Centrifugal pumps are not recommended for high viscosity fluid, as the efficiency drops and power consumption of the pump increases as the viscosity of the fluid increases.
Generally, in India, coal of Grades C (GCV: 4940 kcal/kg to 5600 kcal/kg), D (GCV: 4200 kcal/kg to 4940 kcal/kg) and E (GCV: 3360 kcal/kg to 4200 kcal/kg) are used for all type of Boilers.
In Fuel combustion forming CO instead of CO2, leads to the loss of 5654 kcal/kg of heat.
Evaporation ratio for different Boilers;
Biomass fired Boilers: 2 to 3
Coal fired Boilers: 4 to 7
Oil fired Boilers: 13.5 to 14.5
Gas fired Boilers: 11 to 13
It is estimated that 3 mm of soot deposition on pressure parts leads to increase in fuel consumption by 2.5%.
For every 20 deg C rise in combustion air temperature increases boiler efficiency 1%
For every 22 deg C rise in flue gas temperature reduces boiler efficiency by 1%
5% reduction in excess air increases boiler efficiency by 1%
For every 6 deg C rise in feed water temperature reduces fuel consumption by 1%
Radiation and convection heat losses in the boilers is more than 5% on GCV, if the Boilers are operated at the load less than 25% of its MCR.
Boilers optimum efficiency occurs at the load 65 to 85% of its MCR.
There should be falling slope of around 125 mm at every 30 meters for all steam lines
There should be a drain line at every 40 meter for all type of steam lines.
An uncovered flange is equivalent to leaving 0.6-meter pipe line unlagged.
A leakage steam always blows out continuously in blue stream
A flash steam floats out intermittently in whitish cloud stream.
A 3 mm diameter hole on a pipe line carrying 7 Kg/cm2 steam would waste around 3.3 M3 of oil per year.
Stem leakage from 3 mm hole at pressure 7 Kg/cm2 leads to total loss of steam 193 MT in year.
Stem leakage from 6 mm hole at pressure 7 Kg/cm2 leads to total loss of steam 768 MT in year.
Air is a very good insulator, air is 1500 to 3000 times more resistant to heat transfer than steel.
A 0.25 mm thk of air film resists as much as heat transfer as a wall of copper of thickness 400 mm
For every 6 Deg C rise in feed water temperature can cause fuel saving by 1%.
1 cm of brick wall thickness is equivalent to 5 to 8 cm of refractory.
For every 4 Deg C rise in air temperature for air compressors, compressors power consumption increases by 1%.
For every 250 mmwc pressure drop in suction filters due to choked filters, compressors power consumption increases by 2%.
For every 5.5 Deg C rise in inlet air temperature to the second stage results in a 2% increase in the specific power consumption.
A reduction in the delivery pressure by 1 bar in a compressor would reduce the power consumption by 6-10%
Acceptable pressure drop in industrial compressed air lines is 0.5 bar for distribution lines and 0.3 bar for distribution lines.
Pneumatic tools consume about 20 times more power than motor driven tools.
Pneumatic transport consumes more energy about 8 times than mechanical transport
For centrifugal fans, Varying speed by 10% decreases or increases the air delivery by 10%
For centrifugal fans, reducing the speed by 10% decreases the static pressure by 19% and increase in speed by 10% increases the static pressure by 21%.
For centrifugal fans, reducing the speed by 10% decreases the power requirement by 27% and increase in the speed by 10% increases the power requirement by 33%.
A 1 Deg C increase in cooling water temperature may increase A/C compressors power consumption by 2.7%.
A 1 Drg C drop in cooling water temperature can give a heat rate savings of 5 kcal/kwh in a Thermal power plant.
For every 10 Deg C increase in motor operating temperature over recommended peak, the motor life is estimated to be halved.
1 mm scale built up on heat exchanger tubes can result into increase in power consumption by 40%.
In a steam Turbine,1 kPa drop in vacuum leads to 1% power loss.
Blowdown heat recovery can save ~1–2% fuel.
1% rise in O₂ in flue gas can cause 1% drop in efficiency.
1% reduction in Hydrogen (H2% in fuel can lead to the increase in boiler efficiency by 1.2% approximately.
Boiler efficiency will increase by 0.1% approximately at every 4% increase in O2% in fuel.
Unbalanced voltage supply can increase motor power supply by 3%
Heat recovery from Boiler blow down water can save fuel consumption by 0.5 to 2%