A power plant burns 1000 kg of coal each hour and produces 500 kW of power. Calculate the overall thermal efficiency if each kg of coal produces 6 MJ of energy.

The overall thermal efficiency is 30%.

Explanation:

Given;

Output power = 500 kWh

input energy per kg of coal = 6 MJ = 6 x 10⁶ J = 1.66667 kWh

1000 kg of coal will produce 1000 x 1.66667 kWh = 1666.67 kWh

Thus, total input power = 1666.67 kWh

Overall thermal efficiency = Total output power/Total input Power

Overall thermal efficiency = (500/1666.67) * 100

Overall thermal efficiency = 0.29999 * 100

Overall thermal efficiency = 30%

Therefore, the overall thermal efficiency is 30%.