A heating plant, also called a physical plant, or steam plant, generates

thermal energy The term "thermal energy" is often used ambiguously in physics and engineering. It can denote several different physical concepts, including: * Internal energy: The energy contained within a body of matter or radiation, excluding the potential en ...

in the form of

steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

for use in

district heating District heating (also known as heat networks) is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heater, space heating and w ...

applications. Unlike

combined heat and power Cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) is the use of a heat engine or power station to electricity generation, generate electricity and useful heat at the same time. Cogeneration is a more efficient use of fuel or heat, because otherwise ...

installations which produce thermal energy as a by-product of

electricity generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For electric utility, utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its Electricity delivery, delivery (Electric power transm ...

, heating plants are dedicated to generating heat for use in various processes. Heating plants are commonly used at hospital or university campuses, military bases, office tower complexes, and public housing complexes. The plant will generate steam which is distributed to each building where it is used to make domestic hot water for human consumption, heating hot water in the case of hydronic heating systems, air conditioning through the use of absorption refrigeration units, air heating in HVAC units, humidification, industrial laundry systems, or sterilization at hospitals. The steam may be sold to each customer and billed through the use of a steam flow meter. They feature boilers, either water tube or fire tube, which generate steam for various uses and demands. The plant also hosts all of the boiler auxiliaries such as water treatment equipment, air handling, fuel handling, controls, instrument air, and various other plant systems which support the production of steam. The heating plant can use different fuels: *

Natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

Heating oil Heating oil is any petroleum product or other oil used for heating; it is a fuel oil. Most commonly, it refers to low viscosity grades of fuel oil used for furnaces or boilers for home heating and in other buildings. Home heating oil is often ...

Biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...

Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

Refuse Waste are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor economic value. A waste product may beco ...

References

{{engineering-stub Boilers Residential heating

See also

References