Question

A boiler of a thermoelectric power plant produces 1540.8 m3/h of saturated steam at 900 kPa. Determine the mass flow rate of steam produced (kg/s).

Answer 1

Nomenclature:

Q is the steam flow rate.

M is the mass flow rate

v is the specific volume of steam

 

Step 1

Let's convert the steam flow rate into cubic meters per second.

 

\( Q = \rm 1540.8\,m^3/h \times \frac{1}{3600} = 0.428\ m^3/s \\ \) 

Step 2

According to the thermodynamic tables for water, saturated steam at 900 kPa has a specific volume of 0.2149 cubic meters per kilogram.

 

Step 3

\( M = \dfrac{Q}{v} = \rm \dfrac{0.428\,m^3/s}{0.2149\,m^3/kg} = \boxed{\rm 1.99\,kg/s} \ \)

The mass flow rate of saturated steam is about 1.99 kg/s.