Technology Projects > Energy & Fresh Water > Activities

Establishment of waste heat recovery plant at Tuticorin Thermal Power Station

Objective:
Establishment of waste heat recovery plant in 2 modules of each 1 MLD capacity at Tuticorin Thermal Power Station

Progress:

  • Tender document was floated in NIC on 20.09.2018 after all suggestions given by TEC and IEMs were incorporated.
  • The site visit to vendors was arranged on 09.10.2018 and they were shown the different options of LTTD plant site locations in TTPS.
  • Pre-bid meeting with potential vendors held on 30th Oct 2018 in NIOT, where the options shown to bidders during their site visit were discussed and the final options were agreed upon by all the vendors.
  • Based on the pre-bid meeting decisions, the tender document was modified and sent to TEC, IEMs, IFD of MoES and an expert member appointed by MoES. Subsequently a meeting was held on 01.02.2019 at NIOT and MoES (through VCF) with them, where the tender terms like payment schedule, criteria for accepting the plant, Defect Liability Period(DLP) clause were discussed. The suggestions will be incorporated in the tender document and will be uploaded shortly after their approval.

Future plan:

  • Revised tender will be uploaded in NIC upon approval. Tender evaluation and procurement process will be undertaken.

Establishment of 1 lakh litres per day LTTD plant powered by OTEC at Kavaratti Island.

Objectives:

  • Establishment of an OTEC powered desalination plant of 100 m3/day capacity at Kavaratti in U.T. Lakshadweep

Progress:

  • A detailed EIA report was submitted to LCZMA for clearance and subsequently a meeting with LCZMA was held on 29th Sep 2018.
  • The committee recommended simulation to be carried out and hence a simulation was carried out in CORMIX for predicting the dispersion and dilution of discharged cold water.
  • Foundation stone for OTEC powered desalination plant was laid by Hon’ble minister for MoES Dr. Harsh Vardhan at Kavaratti on 22nd Oct 2018.
  • Administrative order has now been issued.

Future plan:
Detailed engineering and drawing preparation for different plant components, tendering & procurement process.


To install a floating wave powered device to power loads or to meet the lighting requirements of coastal areas or remote locations

Objectives:
Performance trials of navigational buoy off Ennore port.
Progress:

  • The wave powered navigational buoy was in continuous operation during August- November 2018 near the navigational channel of Kamarajar Port in Chennai.
  • Measured oceanographic parameters like wind and current speed and direction were hourly transmitted to port authorities through GSM communication by in-house developed data-logger system.
  • Both unidirectional impulse (UDI) and bidirectional impulse (BDI) turbine were tested in open sea trial of wave powered navigational buoy for their performance evaluation.

Future plan:

  • As part of efforts for transfer of technology to industry, two more such buoys are being planned to be deployed in other two ports in India. Procedures through NRDC are underway.

Theoretical and experimental studies on components like heat exchangers, demisters for desalination and energy conversion

Objective:
Experimental studies on heat exchangers and demisters at OTEC – Desalination laboratory in NIOT Campus.

Progress:
Experiments were carried out in the laboratory for the assessment of various components of Open cycle OTEC and LTTD system.
Due to high pressure losses and leakages the open cycle OTEC turbine underperformed and hence the pipelines and individual components are being studied in detail.
Efforts are on to eliminate undesired pressure drops in the laboratory setup. Also quantification of losses in turbine-generator assembly and generator characterization is under progress.

Future plan:

  • Carrying out experiments for evaluating performances of various components of OTEC and LTTD cycles.

Development of turbines for harnessing energy from OTEC/Wave energy/Ocean currents which could be stand-alone units or used to power LTTD plants or small loads

a)  OTEC turbines
Objectives:
Development of a turbine for open cycle of the OTEC-Desalination laboratory

Progress:
Tests were conducted on a small ultra-low pressure steam turbine for open cycle OTEC-Desalination Laboratory to quantify frictional losses as a function of turbine speed.
A separate study was undertaken to numerically quantify the effect of back pressure on the open cycle OTEC turbine performance.

Future plan:
The turbine with the revised design will be fabricated and tested in the laboratory

b)  Current turbines
Objectives:
Development of ocean current turbines

 Progress:
In this joint collaboration with University of Edinburgh, NIOT is carrying out CFD studies to estimate performance of an axial flow marine hydrokinetic turbine under different operating conditions.

  • NIOT participated in a video conference meeting held on 5 Nov 2018 at University of Edinburgh to discuss the progress of the project.

Future plan:
Detailed CFD study of axial flow ocean current turbine.

c)  Wave energy turbines
Objectives:
Development of turbine for a floating wave powered device.

Progress:
Design of a 5kW bidirectional turbine has been completed in collaboration with IIT- Madras.
Both unidirectional impulse (UDI) and bidirectional impulse (BDI) turbine of matching damping characteristic of UDI were tested during the open sea trial of wave powered navigational buoy