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Calculating Heat Rate

Calculating heat rate requires determining fuel flow, fuel heating value, and power output. The engineering units used for these values must be compatible, such as both in mass or volume basis, and may require converting using fuel density. The source of the fuel heating value is important to identify, which is ideally from an on-site gas chromatograph but can also come from a fuel supplier via sampling. The data sources for fuel flow and power output depend on whether calculating the heat rate for a single unit or entire facility. Accuracy of the calculated heat rate depends on the instrumentation and sources of information used.

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Udhayakumar Venkataraman
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527 views

Calculating Heat Rate

Calculating heat rate requires determining fuel flow, fuel heating value, and power output. The engineering units used for these values must be compatible, such as both in mass or volume basis, and may require converting using fuel density. The source of the fuel heating value is important to identify, which is ideally from an on-site gas chromatograph but can also come from a fuel supplier via sampling. The data sources for fuel flow and power output depend on whether calculating the heat rate for a single unit or entire facility. Accuracy of the calculated heat rate depends on the instrumentation and sources of information used.

Uploaded by

Udhayakumar Venkataraman
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Calculating Heat Rate: Q&A

Even with todays fuel prices dropping the way they are, calculating
and monitoring your heat rate is important. Changes in heat rate
can indicate problems with your unit problems may include
instrument calibration drift, gas path fouling or foreign object
damage (FOD). Although, in most cases, performance losses due to
FOD are noticeable without getting out the calculator.
There are only three numbers that go into the heat rate calculation,
so it should be simple, right? But, when you look at those three
numbers a little closer, several questions can come up.
First, the calculation:
Heat Rate = Fuel Flow * Fuel Heating Value / Power Output
The first question is: What are the engineering units on these
values?
In the US, Heat Rate is most often shown in Btu/kWh (India
as Kcal/KWh). Fuel Flow can be in a number of different units, the
most common being KPPH (thousands of pounds per hour), PPS
(pounds per second) or SCFM (standard cubic feet per minute)
(India as Standard Cubic meter SCM). Fuel Heating Value might be
provided in Btu/SCF or Btu/lb (India as Kcal/SM3). Power Output is
nearly always in either kW or MW.

For places outside the US, Heat Rate is most often shown in
kJ/kWh (India as Kcal/KWh).

Fuel Flow might be reported in m3/hr (standard cubic meters per


hour) or kg/hr. Fuel Heating Value may be in GJ/kg, or GJ/m3. Power
Output is still in either kW or MW.
As long as your fuel flow rate and fuel heating value are in
compatible units (both mass basis or both volume basis), your units
should cancel out. If not, you will need to know the density of your
fuel (kg/m3) in order to convert them to a common basis. To
calculate the density of the fuel, youll need to know the constituent
analysis: for natural gas, this would mean the volume percent of
Methane, Ethane, Propane, Hexane, etc. Note: Industry standards,
such as ASME PTC-22, provide guidance on converting the
constituent analysis to a density (as well as calculating the heating
value).
The next question is: Where does the fuel heating value come
from? The best answer for this question is to have your own gas
chromatograph or heating value lab on site. A more common
source of fuel heating value and constituent analysis is your fuel
supplier. If the supplier cannot provide you the detail you need for
the time frame you need, or if there are mixing stations between
their reporting station and your unit, you may need to take your
own fuel samples and send them to a laboratory for analysis. Youll
need to determine the source of your fuel heating value prior to
calculating heat rate, just in case you do need to take your own
samples. Samples need to be taken at an approved location (free
from moisture or other heavy particles that are filtered out prior to
combustion in the unit), and must be transported in an approved

container (an approved pressurized cylinder for natural gas) to an


appropriate lab.
Once you have your fuel heating value source, the sources for the
other two values must be found as well, but luckily, these two are
normally easier to identify. There are normally two choices for
fuel and power output: At the unit, or at the plant boundary (i.e.
the billing meters). The heat rate you need to determine will define
which meters to use.
For a gas turbine unit heat rate, youll want to record the fuel
flow to the gas turbine at the meter closest to the unit and the
power output from the power meter on the gas turbine generator
again, at the meter closest to the unit
For an overall plant or facility heat rate, youll probably want to
use the billing meters for both gas and electricity and this should
therefore be a net heat rate for the facility (after all auxiliary and
house loads have been accounted for).
There is still the question of uncertainty, or: How accurate do I
know my calculated heat rate? For an ASME PTC level test,
facility heat rate should be known with an error band of less than
1.5% (including corrections to reference conditions). When doing
spot checks for heat rate using permanently installed
instrumentation and a fuel suppler reported heating value, the
uncertainty may be much higher it all depends on the sources of
your information.

I hope this helps you on the way to calculating and trending your
own heat rates. Please contact me if you need any help in
determining the best data sources to use or in setting up
worksheets for unit conversions and fuel density
calculations. I also have add-ins for Excel which can automate a
lot of the calculations for you (see below for more information).

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