A General-Purpose Procedure for the Calculation of the Optimum Gas Velocity in Gas Exhaust Ducts of Stacks at Thermal Power Stations

The regulations on stack designs at thermal power stations (TPS) has been analyzed. It is demonstrated that the applicable guidelines do not consider all the actual problems encountered in designing stacks for TPSs, such as optimization of the stack construction cost and its effective operation. The stack cost depends on its height and diameter, which, at a given connected capacity, are affected by the gas velocity in the stack channel. At present, the effective stack design procedures do not contain the notion of this economically feasible, cost-effective index, and the stack diameter is selected based on the engineering-and-cost estimation calculation procedures, which have not been approved as mandatory standards. These procedures are supported by the planning-and-distribution model of the country’s economic development. The article announces a universal method developed by the authors for calculating the optimal flue gas velocity for any model of economic development irrespective of the trend in prices and expenditures for the production of goods and services. To calculate the optimal flue gas velocity, one should only input initial data valid at the present stage. The calculated results of the price factors' effect on the optimal flue gas velocity for single-flue and multiple-flue stacks are presented. Verification of the procedure against the initial data as of 1975 yields acceptable results.