COAL HANDLING PLANT :

The purpose of coal handling plant in a thermal plant is to process raw coal & insure against the irregular supply of coal which is dependent on many players in supply chain. The function of a CHP is to receive, process, store ,feed the Coalbunkers consistently over the entire life of the Power plant. Coal is received from mines in the form of lumps, the sizes varying from 100mm to 350mm, in two types of wagons through Rail. BOBR meaning Bogie Open Bottom Rapid discharge & BOXN meaning Bogie Open High Sided Side discharge Wagon . BOBR wagons are unloaded in Track Hoppers & BOXN Wagons areunloaded by Wagon tipplers. Coal is then supplied to the crusher house through Roller screens or Vibrating feeders to sieve the coal before feeding to the crusher. 20% of the coal that is received is already <20mm size so this is separated & only larger lumps are fed to the Crusher.

The crusher breaks the lumps to sizes<20mm which is the input size tothe coal Pulverizers . The crushed coal is fed to the conveyors in the crusher house through belt feeders. Coal is either directly fed to the coal bunkers or to the Stacker/Reclaimers for stocking when the bunkers are full. The stacking is done to insulate the plant against the erratic supply of coal. CERC allows stocking of 1 months stock of coal for Pit head plants. In case of non receipt of wagons the coal from the stock pile is reclaimed through the Stacker/ Reclaimers & fed to the coal Bunkers . To increase redundancy certain Plants also have Emergency reclaim . Hoppers near the Crushed coal Stock pile where the dozers are used to feed coal to the bunkers when the Reclaimers breakdown. Coal is conveyed by means of conveyor Belts in the coal handling plant.

FLOW DIAGRAM OF CHP :

LAYOUT OF CHP :

Equipments in CHP :
Wagon Tippler, Side Arm Charger Track Hopper Stacker Re-claimer Paddle Feeder Apron Feeder Hydraulics for S/R, WT, SAC, PF Crusher LT Switchgear PLC System VVVF Drives Locomotive & Pay loaders

Weigh Bridge (In-motion Pit-less):

Purpose : To weigh the coal wagons on receipt before unloading into the Track
Hopper.

Types of Wagons:

Typical GA of Wagon Tippler:

Wagon tippler & Side arm charger:

Wagon tippler:

Purpose:
To dump coal from BOXN wagons into the underground hopper from where it is transported to the Crusher House.Typical unloading cycle for wagons is approx 3 min i.e. 20 wagons can be unloaded from the Wagon Tippler.

Apron Conveyor/Feeder:

Purpose: To reduce direct impact on the conveyor below the Wagon tippler.

Side Elevation of Track Hopper:

Sectional elevation of Track Hopper:

Track Hopper:

Purpose: For unloading Coal from BOBR(Bogie open Bottom Rapid discharge)
Wagons to Hoppers underneath; This system is preferred to the Wagon tippler as the evacuation time is less (2 Hrs compared to 5 Hrs for Wagon tippler); A rake of 58 Wagons could be unloaded in 3 placements in a250m TH within 2 1/2 Hrs

Paddle Feeder:

Purpose: To scoop the raw coal from the table below the Track hopper to the
respective conveyor; generally two feeders are provided on each side within a Track hopper ; when not in use they are parked on either side.

Paddle Feeder:

Grizzly Feeder/Vibrating Screen:

Roller Screen:

Purpose: Sieving the coal to reduce unnecessary loading on the Crusher; By

sieving, the smaller particles (<20mm) are directly fed bypassing the crusher.

Ring Granulator:

Purpose : To crush Raw coal (size 350mm) to < 20mm size which is stored in
coal bunkers to be fed to Coal Pulverizers.

Belt Feeder:

Purpose:Generally used for feeding the coal from the crusher to the conveyors;
these are used to increase the redundancy/flexibility of the conveying system.

Stacker/Re-claimer:

Purpose: To stack the coal after filling the bunkers for future use & reclaim the
coal when the coal supply is irregular .

Typical Conveyor Belting System:

Purpose: To convey Coal continuously between the Transfer Points & ultimately
to the coal storage silos.

Typical Conveyor gallery:

Purpose: For providing weather proof housing & maintenance space for the
conveyor belting .

Conveyor Belt:

Conveyor Pulley:

Conveyor Idlers:

Removal/Detection of Metal Particles:

ILMS : Inline Magnetic Separator Remove tramp iron & other magnetic Materials. Metal detector: Detect non magnetic metal pieces & heavy iron pieces .

Dust Suppression:

As the coal Handling plant is prone to fugitive dust it is mandatory to install dust suppression systems in the CHP . Spraying system: sprinklers are used in the stockpile area to suppress the dust ; the mechanism is simple; fine atomic particles of water are sprayed on the stock pile & this acts as a blanket . DFDS: dry fog dust suppression system: this is used typically at transfer points & hoppers; The water is sprayed in conjunction with compressed air & these particles adhere to the dust & settle down. Dust Extraction system: This is used in Bunker silos where the coal is fed from conveyors & falls from a height; The unsettled dust is sucked through fans installed on the roof through bag filters or cyclonic separators & the heavier dust particles are fed back to the bunkers.

Dust Extraction System:

Coal Trivia:

Coal provided the energy which fueled the Industrial Revolution of the 19th Century and also launched the electric era in the 20th Century. Coal provides 26.5% of global primary energy needs and generates 41.5% of the world's electricity. Total Global Hard Coal Production - 5845Mt (2008e) . Primary source of energy for India; accounts for 55% of Energy need . Hard coal reserves of India 246 bn Tonnes & proven reserves of 92 bn tonnes; third largest producer of coal . Commercial coal Mining in India started in 1774 in Raniganj coal field by M/S Sumner & Heatly of East India Company. Indian Coal production - 490 Mt .

Grades of coal: