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Powder and Bulk Engineering, September 1995

Case history

Compact
conveyor
bend; for
magnesium
oxide require
IjffI~elbow
room

ECO Energy Company's Eddystone generating plant operates

two generating units, providing
t h e P h i l a d e l p h i a a r e a w i t h 300
megawatts of power. The plant receives
2- to 3-inch chunks of bituminous coal
by railcar from western Pennsylvania. A
rotary railcar unloader inverts each railcar, dumping the coal into a hopper. A
belt conveyor then moves the coal to a
hammermill that reduces the coal to
about !4 inch. Another belt conveyor
moves the coal to a stacker that places the
coal in storage piles or to coal bunkers
that are refilled daily.

Before combustion, pulverizers reduce

the coal to a specified minimum of 70
percent smaller than 200 mesh. The coal
is then tangentially fired into two furnaces of a supercritical high-pressure
boiler. To meet EPA emissions standards,
a magnesium-oxide-based regenerative

scrubbing process removes sulfur dioxide from the plant's exhaust. The scrubbing process must operate whenever the
generating plant is operating to keep sulfur dioxide emissions below mandated
levels.

For the scrubbing process, the plant receives bulk truckloads of magnesium
oxide and pneumatically conveys it to
large concrete storage silos. A pneumatic
conveyor operating at about 9 psi then
moves the magnesium oxide powder to a
screw conveyor, which empties the powder to a premixing tank containing rotary
paddle wheels and water-spray nozzles.
This tank overflows into a slaking tank
that creates a magnesium oxide slurry.

Pumps move the slurry to he sprayed

into absorber towers, where it absorbs

When standard stainless steel

conveying elbows frequently
wore out, a coal-firedpowergenerating facility installed
compact, durable elbows.

A compact pneumatic conveying elbow handles magnesium oxide at h e top of

a power-generatingplant's silo.

Powder and Bulk Engineering, September 11995

sulfur and other pollutants, resulting in a

magnesium sulfite slurry. This slurry is
dried to less than 5 percent moisture
using a centrifuge and rotary kiln. The
dried material is pneumatically conveyed to a silo, and trucks move the
material to a regeneration plant that calcines the magnesium oxide off for reuse
at the generating plant. The sulfur dioxide is liberated from the mixture and
mixed with water to become usable sulfuric acid.

Standard conveyingelbows require

frequent, arduous replacement
At the Eddystone facility, standard Type
316L stainless steel pipe elbows frequently wore out, creating costly problems. The elbows were components of a
3-inch line that relieves conveying system pressure by venting a rotary airlock
at the silos base and returning excess
magnesium oxide approximately 90 feet
up to the silo tops. This vent-return line
operates at 9 psi, and leaks were occurring approximately every 4 to 6 months
at the backs of both the bottom and top
elbows.

When leaks occurred, a cloud of magnesium oxide dust was released both inside
and outside the plant, which created
cleanup expense and EPA regulatory
concerns. When a leak occurred in an
elbow at a silo top, repairs were made by
building scaffolding between the silo top
and the worn elbow, replacing the elbow,
then removing the scaffolding. After
setup, it took approximately 1 hour to remove four bolts on either side of the
elbows flange and replace the elbow.
But it took a week to set everything up,
said PECO engineer Gavin Heckler.

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Heckler estimates that each repair cost

approximately $4,000 in labor alone.
Due to safety concerns, OSHA wanted a
fixed platform built at the tops of the silos
if frequent repairs were expected.

Plantconsiders elbow options

The facility considered installing elbows
constructed of a more abrasion-resistant
alloy. Another consideration was redesigning the system to incorporate

A pneumaticconveyingelbow that relies on deflectionrather than impact (righij

tukes up much lessspace than a studadcurved elbow (leftl.

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Powder and Bulk Engineering, September 1995

long-radius elbows. However, the facility determined that continuing to replace

worn elbows would be less expensive
than these options.Then Heckler considered elbows of a different design.

Compactelbows cushion material

flow through deflection
The elbows, called Smart Elbows, rely
on deflection rather than impact to
change material flow direction, which
eliminates the impact-related problems
associated with other conveying elbow
designs. The compact elbows fit in tight
spaces. At system startup, a gently rotating ball of suspended material forms in
the elbows vortice chamber. As the
main flow of material enters the bend,
the material is deflected through the desired change of direction without impact, friction, or wear to the elbows
interior surfaces. The elbows are available in 45- or 90-degree configurations
from materials such as aluminum, cast
iron, or carbon steel. The facility installed one of the elbows for a test.

New elbows operate without

wearing out
After 6 months, the elbow hadnt leaked
and still appeared to be in original condition. The tighter radius fit well into the
system. Its almost a dead 90 degrees,
which is one of its advantages, Heckler
said. But it fits flange-to-flange into a
standard short-radiusbend. So we didnt
have to modify the piping; we just unbolted the old one and bolted the new
one in.

When standard stainless steel

conveying elbows wore out at a
power-generatingfacility, a cloud of
magnesium oxide was released into
the air. Compact elbows dont leak,
eliminating the dust.

Because of good test results the plant replaced the standard stainless steel elbows
with six 3-inch carbon steel Smart Elbows, providing the advantage of flange
rather than weldment installation. The
old elbows lasted only about 4 months
when the magnesium oxide scrubbing
process ran at full capacity, 24 hours per
day. Under similar conditions, Heckler
said, The new elbows have been installed for over 2 years and are still functioning fine. Weve installed them in a
second silo vent system.
PBE

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HammerTek, Landisville, PA

717/898-7665

2.
co

#350

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1 Powder and Bulk Engineering
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I
612/866- 1939 (fax)

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