Performance of an air-cooled steam condenser for a waste-to-energy plant over its whole operating range

In this work the behaviour of an air-cooled steam condenser (ACSC), installed in a waste-to-energy heat recovery plant, has been analysed under various environmental conditions. The analysis has been carried out by using a mathematical model developed by the authors. For an ACSC, the bottom heat sink is represented by the environmental air, hence the fluctuations of the environmental air temperature undoubtedly affect the performance of the device. Because of the constancy of the temperature on the condensing steam side, the mathematical model is based on the direct application of LMTD (log-mean temperature difference) method. It provides the relation between the air temperature and the volumetric air flow rate, and the main cycle operating parameters. An analysis of the on-site electrical demand has been also performed, which shows that a net benefit is achievable by increasing the air-cooled steam condenser units from six to eight.

Research highlights
► Performance of ACSC are strongly affected by environmental conditions.
► A mathematical model was developed for predicting performance of ACSC.
► The relation between the air temperature and the maximum heat rate was achieved.