In this article, I will share the advantages of superheated steam.
First of all, what is superheated steam?
Superheated steam is steam that is thermally charged and dried by passing it through a superheater.
When steam is produced, it’s usually saturated. For the steam to be effective, we have no choice but to dry it up by superheating it.
Wet steam will cause corrosion of the distribution lines and the steam turbine blades.
Anyways, it depends on the point of application.
If the steam is going to be used to operate machines then it will end up corroding them and it won’t operate them with higher efficiency because it won’t be of the needed quality.
A superheater is used to heat the saturated steam before it’s passed to the point of application.
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There are more benefits that I want to share when it comes to using super-heated steam.
These are the advantages of superheated steam;
1. Superheated steam increase capacity to work.
The superheated steam increases the capacity to work and this leads to economical consumption of the steam.
Let’s talk about something to do with the steam turbines and engines that are used in steam power plants.
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Superheating the steam increases the amount of heat energy it contains.
By increasing the heat contact of the steam, a small volume of super-heated steam will be used to perform huge work because of the energy it contains compared to saturated steam.
The superheated steam has more thermal energy that will do more work than the same volume of steam that is not superheated.
This means that the consumption of the steam in the power plant will be less thus saving water and fuel.
2. Superheating the steam increases the overall efficiency of the power plant.
In power plants, we all do everything we can to ensure that energy generation efficiency increases to get the best output.
Superheating the stream increases the overall efficiency of the power plant because of the thermal energy that is increased thus improving the quality of the super-heated steam.
When steam is produced at its best quality, the other work in the power plant becomes easier.
Especially if the whole power plant depends on the steam produced from the boiler to perform most of the processes in the power plant.
Quality steam means that the prime movers in the power plant will be driven effectively thus producing higher output.
Superheated steam will have a higher amount of energy thus when use at any point of application it going to perform at its best thus increasing the efficiency of the operations.
Poor quality steam will drag the power plant processes and this will end up resulting in losses since the output will be lower than the input.
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3. Superheating the steam reduces corrosion.
When steam is produced from the boiler it will contain some moisture content in it.
This moisture content is not good for the metallic parts of the boiler and the components like the steam turbine or any other unit that will use the steam.
Moisture content will accelerate rusting of the metallic part in the boiler, the steam distribution lines and even the steam turbine blades.
And that is why it’s necessary to dry up the steam by superheating it before it’s fed to the point of application.
Superheating the steam dries it up completely and this will reduce corrosion thus increasing the useful life of the components that use steam in the power plant.
Lastly…
These are the advantages of using superheated steam. It’s essential for this process to happen if you want to increase the efficiency of the power plant.
Superheating the steam improves its quality, brings about the economical use of the steam in the power plant and saves you from frequent maintenance of units.
With all these benefits, you will have no choice but to install a superheater if you want to rip them off.
Thanks for reading, if you have any additional points that you would like me to add to this article, just let me know in the comment section.
See you in my next article.
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