POWER STATION ENGINEERING

Lecture: Thermal Power Plant - Coal Handling

Prof. Swagat Das
School of Electrical Engineering
 COAL
• Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or
veins called coal beds or coal seams.
• Coal is composed primarily of carbon, along with variable quantities of other elements, chiefly hydrogen,
sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
• Coal is a fossil fuel that forms when dead plant matter is converted into peat, which in turn is converted into
lignite, then sub-bituminous coal, after that bituminous coal, and lastly anthracite.
• Coal is extracted from the ground by coal mining. Since 1983, the world's top coal producer has been China. In
2015 China produced 3.747 billion tonnes of coal – 48% of 7.861 billion tonnes world coal production. In 2015
other large producers were United States (813 million tonnes), India (678), European Union (539) and Australia
(503).
 TYPES OF COAL - FORMATION

2018 Coal Mining data by

Global Energy Stats. (in Mt)
 TYPES OF COAL - CALORIFIC VALUE
Types of coal Moisture content Carbon content Calorific value
Peat 60-90% 5-10% 2,600 kcal/kg
Lignite 30-50% 20-40% 4,000kcal/kg
Bituminous 10-20% 60-80% 5,800 to 8,000 kcal/kg
Anthracite 5-10% 90% 8,000kcal/kg

• The ash content in bituminous is 6-10%

• Semi-bituminous has properties in between those of bituminous and anthracite coal and is widely used in
power plants.
• Indian thermal power plants use bituminous/ Sub bituminous coal with gross calorific value ranging in between
3000 kcal to 5000 kcal.
• Further to clarify, each and every coal based thermal power plant in India is designed to burn a specific range of
coal. Mostly coal of GCV in between 3000 to 3500 which is abundantly available in Indian mines. However in
view to reduce the menace of high ash produced out of ash enriched Indian coal, Indian thermal plants use
blended coal.
COAL HANDLING PLANT
 FUNCTIONS OF CHP
• The function of coal handling plant is automatic feeding of coal to the boiler furnace.
• A thermal power plant burns enormous amounts of coal.
• A 200 MW plant may require around 2000 tons of coal daily.
• Coal is weighed and led to hopper and then it is fed to the grate through some form of stoker mechanism which
are overfeed stoker or underfeed stoker depending on whether the coal entry is above or below the air entry.

The coal input to the boiler of the power plant passes through three different phases before combustion in the
boiler.
ü Receiving, storing, and transporting the coal to the boiler. This is bulk storage and bulk handling
ü Preparing the coal for firing or pulverizing. This is what is special in a coal fired power plant, especially large
thermal power plants
ü Burning the coal in the combustion process to release the energy in the fuel

• CHP is divided into 3 sections:

ü Uploading plant: wagon tipper
ü Conveying plant: for conveying coal from unloading to the coal yard or directly to the bunkers
ü Crushing plant: for crushing the coal to the required size
SCHEMATIC OF CHP
 UPLOADING, CONVEYING & CRUSHING PLANT
Uploading plant:
ü Coal is brought to power station through rail wagons; 6-8 shunted wagons
ü Each wagon adjusted on the tipper platform in proper position
ü The tipper tilts the wagon and unloads the coal into the hopper
ü Then from hopper coal is fed to conveyer belt A and B by means of electrically vibrating feeders
Conveying plant:
ü Consisits of belt conveyors 1A, 1B, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
ü Belt no. 4 can be rotated in either direction while all others have one direction only
ü Vibrating screens & Crushers
ü The crushed coal from crusher and small size coals from screens fall on conveyer belt 4
ü Direct bunkering coal on belt no. 5
ü Stocking coal falls on belt no. 3, leads to Coal yard for stocking
ü Tippers control the feeding of coal to bunkers
ü Magnetic separators are present to remove any magnetic material such as bolts, iron scrap, etc which may
be in the coal
Crushing plant:
ü Screens are provided to reduce the load on the crusher
ü Coal size >19mm are crushed in the crusher
 PULVERISING PLANT
Pulverising plant:
In modern thermal power plant, coal is pulverised, i.e., ground to dust like size and carried to the furnace in a
stream of hot air. Pulverising is a means of exposing a large surface area to the action of oxygen and consequently
helping combustion.

Pulverising mills are further classified as:

1. Contact mill
2. Ball mill
3. Impact mill