Steam turbines are at the heart of coal-fired power plants. As shown in the simplified schematic of a pulverized coal plant in Figure 3, a steam electric power plant consists of a number of basic components. Coal is crushed and fed into a boiler where it is burned to heat water into steam. The steam is injected under pressure into a turbine which turns a generator (where essentially a
magnet turns in a coil of wire causing electrons to flow thus creating an electric current). Steam returning from the turbine is then cooled in a condenser, and the water is fed back by a feedwater pump to the boiler to continue the process. The expansion of water into steam vapor (and condensation back into liquid water) in this manner is called a Rankine Cycle,11 and is the basis for most electric power generation in the United States.