The layout of the steam power plant consists of

four main circuits. They are as follows.

1. Coal and ash circuit
2. Air and flue gas circuit
3. Water and steam circuit
4. Cooling water circuit.
Characteristics of steam power plant:
1. It produces high efficiency.
2. It reduces water requirement.
3. It is highly reliable and available.
Advantages of steam power plants:
1. The power production does not depend on the
nature mercy.
2. Initial investment is low.
3. The power plant can be located near load center.
So, the transmission cost and losses are
considerably reduced.
4. The time requirement for construction and
commissioning of thermal power plant require less
period of time.
Disadvantages of steam power plants:
1. As compared with hydro-electric power plant,
life and efficiency are less.
2. Transportation of fuel is a major problem in this
type of power plant.
3. Power generation cost is considerably high
when compared to hydro-electric plant.
4. Air pollution is a major problem inviting
additional investment.
5. It cannot be used as a peak load plant.
6. The coal (fuel) needed may be exhausted by
gradual use.
BOILERS
• A boiler is a closed vessel in which the steam is
generated from water by applying heat.
• A boiler or steam generator is used where a
source of steam is needed.
• A boiler includes a firebox or furnace to burn
the fuel and generate heat.
• The generated heat is transferred to water to
make steam.
Classification of Boilers
1. According to the flow of water and hot gases
(i) Fire tube boiler:
• hot gas is passed through tubes and the water
is circulated around tubes
Examples: Cochran boiler, Lancashire boiler and
Locomotive boiler.
(ii) Water tube boiler:
• water is circulated through a large number of
tubes and the hot gases pass around tubes
Examples: Babcock and Wilcox boiler and Stirling
boiler.
2. According to the axis of the shell
(i) Vertical boilers:
• A vertical boiler is a type of fire-tube or water-tube
boiler where the boiler barrel main axis is oriented
vertically.
Eg: Vertical boilers are used in steam-powered vehicles and
other mobile machines. including early steam
locomotives.
(ii) Horizontal boilers:
• A horizontal boiler is a type of fire-tube or water-tube
boiler where the boiler barrel main axis is oriented
horizontally.
Eg: Lancashire boiler and Locomotive boiler.
(iii) Inclined boilers:
• the boiler barrel main axis is inclined to the horizontal
axis.
3. According to location or position of the furnace
(i) Internally fired boilers:
• In internally fired boilers, the furnace forms an
integral part of the boilers structure in which fuel is
burnt inside the boilers.
Examples: Simple vertical boiler, Cochran boiler and
Lancashire boiler.
(ii) Externally fired boilers:
• Externally fired boilers have a separate furnace
built outside the boiler shell and usually below it.
So, the fuel is burnt outside the boiler.
Examples: Babcock and Wilcox boiler and locomotive
boiler.
4. According to the method of water circulation
(i) Natural circulation boilers:
• The heating of water makes to reduce the density
of water and the circulation of water is due to
thermosyphon action. So, the quantity of steam is
low.
Examples: Babcock and Wilcox boiler and Lancashire
boiler.
(ii) Forced circulation boilers:
• In this type, water is used to make the circulation in
the boiler. So, the steam capacity is more.
Examples: Velox boiler, LaMont boiler and Benson
boiler.
5. According to the application or boiler mobility
(i) Stationary boilers:
• A stationary boiler is installed permanently on a
land installation and it is not used during the
movement. These boilers are mainly used to
generate power and steam production.
Examples: Babcock and Wilcox boiler and Lancashire
boiler.
(ii) Mobile boilers:
• Mobile boilers are used while moving from one
place to another place. They are used as marine
boilers for ocean cargo and passenger ships.
Examples: Locomotive boiler and marine boiler.
6. According to steam pressure
(i) Low pressure boilers:
• Boilers producing the steam at the pressure range from 3.5 bar to 10
bar are called low pressure boilers. They are typically used for heating
applications.
Examples: Cochran and Cornish boilers.
(ii) Medium pressure boilers:
• Boilers producing the steam at the pressure range from 10 bar to 25
bar are called
medium pressure boilers.
Examples: Lancashire boiler and locomotive boiler.
(lii) High pressure boilers:
• A boiler which generates steam at pressure greater than 25 bar and
temperature of 500°C producing steam more than 250tons per hour is
called high-pressure boilers.
Examples: Babcock and Wilcox boilers.
(iv) Supercritical boilers:
• Supercritical boilers are water tube boilers. Most of the large numbers
of steam generating plants are designed for working in the range of
125 atm and 510°C to 300 atm and 660°C.
LAMONT BOILER
• This boiler works on the basis of forced
circulation and the circulation is maintained by a
centrifugal pump.
• This centrifugal pump is driven by a steam
turbine using the steam coming from boiler.
Working:
• The feed water passes through the economizer to the
drum from which it is drawn to the circulation pump.
• The pump delivers the feed water to the tube
evaporating section.
• The circulating water is about 8 to 10 times the steam
evaporated in the boiler.
• The steam in the drum is a mixture of steam and water.
• The steam is drawn through a convection superheater.
• The superheated steam is supplied to the prime mover
through the steam outlet.
• The working pressure of LaMont boiler I sabout 170 bar
and capacity up to 50,000 kg of steam per hour at 5000 C
temperature.
Advantages:
1. It is forced circulation boiler.
2. It works under high pressure.
Disadvantages:
1. The salt and sediment are deposited on the
inner surfaces of water.
2. It has danger of overheating of tubes.
BENSON BOILER
• In the LaMont boiler, the main difficulty
experienced is the formation and attachment of
bubble on the inner surfaces of heating tubes.
• The attached bubbles to tube surfaces reduce
the heat flow and the steam generation as it
offers high thermal resistance than water film.
• This difficulty is overcome in Benson boiler.
• This is the first type of drumless boiler.
• The entire process takes place in a single tube. It
is also called once-through boiler.
Working:
• In Benson boilers, complete heating, steam generation
and superheating are done in a single tube.
• The feed water after circulation flows through
economiser tubes and it also flows through the radiant
parallel tube section to evaporate partly.
• The remaining water in the radiant evaporator is
evaporated into steam in the convection evaporator by
hot gases.
• The saturated steam available from the evaporator is
passed through the convection superheater where the
steam is superheated.
• Finally, the superheated steam is supplied to the steam
turbine through the steam outlet.
• The capacity of Benson boiler is about 750 tons/h.
Salient features:
1. It can be erected comparatively in a smaller floor area.
2. As there are no drums, the total weight of Benson boiler
is 20% less than other boilers.
3. It can be started quickly.
4. Circulating pump and down comers are dispensed.
5. The furnace walls of the boiler can be more efficiently
protected by using smaller diameter and close pitched
tubes.
6. Easy transportation is possible.
7. It can be operated most economically by varying the
temperature and pressure at partial loads and overloads.
8. It has only 4% of blow down losses.
9. No special starting arrangement superheater is required.
LOEFFLER BOILER
• The major problem experienced in LaMont boiler is
the deposition of salt and sediment on the inner
surfaces of water tubes.
• To rectify this problem, the forced circulation is
used.
• This boiler can carry higher salt concentrations than
any other types.
• The principle operation in evaporating the feed
water is done by using the superheated steam
available in the superheater fluid.
• Hot gases from the furnace are being primarily
used for superheating purposes. The steam is used
as a heat-absorbing medium.
Working:
• The high pressure feed pump draws water through the
economizer and it is delivered to the evaporating drum.
• The steam circulating pump draws saturated steam from the
drum.
• Then it is passed through radiant and convective superheaters.
• One-third of superheated steam is passed from the convection
and radiant superheaters to the turbine.
• The remaining two-third is passed through the water in the
evaporating drum to evaporate the feed water.
Advantages of the boiler:
1. It can handle high salt concentrations ratio than any other type
of high-pressure boiler.
2. It is more compact.
3. Easy transportation is possible.
4. The capacity is 100 tons/h and the operating pressure is
l4Obar.
VELOX BOILER
• This boiler makes use of pressurized
combustion. This boiler can generate a pressure
of about 84 kg/cm2 .
Working:
• The feed water after passing through the economizer is
pumped by a water-circulating to the tube evaporating
section.
• The gas turbine drives the axial flow compressor which raises
the incoming air from atmosphere pressure to furnace
pressure.
• The combustion gases after heating the water and steam flow
through the gas turbine to atmosphere.
• The steam separated in steam separating section flows to the
superheater and then it passes through the steam turbine.

Advantages:
1. High combustion rates are possible.
2. It can be quickly started.
3. It is more compact in size and it ensures greater flexibility.
4. Excess air requirement is less.
SUPERCRITICAL BOILERS
• A supercritical steam generator is a type of boiler
which is operated at supercritical pressure and it is
frequently used in the production of electric power.
• Mainly, supercritical boilers are water tube boilers.
• Most of the large numbers of steam generating
plants are designed for working in the range of 125
atm and 510°C to 300 atm and 660°C.
• The power plant which is operated above the
critical pressure and temperature condition is
called supercritical power plant.
• These types of boilers are basically classified into
sub-critical and super-critical boilers. The sub-
critical boiler consists of the following devices.
1. Economiser
2. Evaporator
3. Superheater

• In case of super critical boilers, it requires only

economizer and superheater. Types of supercritical
boilers:
(i) Drum type boiler
(ii) Once-through boiler.
Advantages of super critical boilers:
1. It produces high thermal efficiency.
2. Heat transfer rate is high.
3. The erosion and corrosion are minimized.
4. More stable pressure level is maintained.
5. It is easy to operate.
6. It can be used as peak load boilers.
7. It has more adaptable load fluctuations.
Drum Type Boiler
• A steam drum is a standard part of a water-tube
boiler.
• It is a reservoir of water or steam at the top end
of water tubes.
• The drum stores the steam generated in water
tubes and it acts as a phase-separator for the
steam or water mixture.
• Based on the principle of densities difference
between hot and cold water, the steam is stored
at the top and the water is stored at the bottom
of a steam drum.
Once-through Boiler
• The word once-through boiler itself means that if the water is
fed to the boiler, it will be fully converted into dry or
superheated steam without any water content present in it.
• Once- through boilers differ from drum type boiler in the
following ways.
(i) Evaporator system
(ii) Low load circulation system
(iii) Separator.
• The excess flow over the once-through flow is separated in a
separator.
• The circulation system recirculates back to the boiler directly.
• The separator separates the steam and water during the
circulation process itself.
• It runs dry in once-through flow mode.
• Generally, once- through boilers are small in size compared to
drum type boilers.
Advantages of once-through boilers:
(i) It is more suitable for sliding pressure
operation.
(ii) Steam temperature can be easily maintained
for a wide load range.
(iii) It conserves the fuel resources.
(iv) It needs only shorter start up time.
(v) It improves the efficiency of the boiler.
FLUIDIZED BED COMBUSTION (FBC)
• Fluidization is a method of mixing fuel and air in a specific
proportion, for obtaining complete combustion.
• A fluidized bed is defined as the bed of solid particles
behaving as a fluid.
• It operates on the principal that when an evenly distributed
air is passed upward through a finely divided bed of solid
particles at low velocity, the particles remain undisturbed.
• If the velocity of air flow is steadily increased, a stage is
reached when the individual particles are suspended in the
air stream.
• If the air velocity is further increased, the bed becomes highly
turbulent and rapid mixing of particles occur which appear
like formation of bubbles in a boiling liquid and the process of
combustion as a result is known as fluidized bed combustion.
• The velocity at which the individual particles are suspended
in the air stream is known as fluidization velocity.
FLUIDIZED BED COMBUSTION (FBC) BOILERS
Advantages of fluidized bed combustion system:
I. It can use solid, liquid or gaseous fuel or mix as well as
domestic and industrial waste.
2. Solid mixing is rapid. So, high heat transfer rates can be
obtained from the surface immersed in bed and more
effective use of tube surface owing to its immersion within
the bed. It can lead to saving of 75% of power for tubes.
3. Combustion temperature can be actually controlled and it can
be low enough to minimise the volatisation of ash
constituents such as alkali materials because the temperature
is well below the melting point of most gas-borne solid
particles.
4. It is simple in arrangement, small in size of the plant and
reduced corrosion or erosion of gas turbine blades.
5. Higher sulphur content coals can be used due to the presence
of SO2 by the combustion of sulphur.
6. High ash containing coal can be efficiently burnt in FBC.
Types of fluidized bed boilers:
The fluidized bed boilers are of two types.
1. Bubbling fluidized bed boilers (BFB)
2. Circulating fluidized bed boilers (CFB)

Bubbling Fluidized Bed Boilers

• In this boiler, the crushed coal (about 6-20 mm) is injected
into the fluidized bed of limestone just above air distribution
grid which is located at the bottom of the bed.
Working:
• The air from air fan flows upwards through the grid from the
air plenum into the bed where the combustion of coal occurs.
• The combustion products leaving from the combustion
chamber is having a large number of carbon particles and it is
collected in a cyclone separator and it is again fed back to the
bed.
Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) Boilers
• The circulating fluidized bed boiler is divided into two
sections.
• The first section consists of the following elements.
1. Furnace or fast-fluidized bed
2. Cyclone separator
3. Solid recycle device, and
4. External heat exchanger.
• The second section is the back-pass. Here, the remaining
heat from the flue gas is absorbed by
1. Reheater
2. Superheater
3. Econorniser
4. Air preheater.
Advantages of CFB boilers:
1. It produces high combustion efficiency (about 99%).
2. The most attractive features of CFB boilers are fuel flexibility.
3. Efficient sulphur removal can be achieved.
4. The fuel handling and feed system are very simple.
5. It produces low NO emission (50-l50ppni).
6. The availability records of CFB boilers are very impressive.
7. Furnace cross section is very small.
8. It produces high fluidizing gas velocity.
9. Heat release rate is high.
10. Sulphur capture efficiency is maximum (depending on the
combustor temperature).
Disadvantages:
1. Erosion of particles is high.
2. Reactor wall erosion is more.
3. Material immersing is not possible.
Pressurized Fluidized Bed Boiler
Pressurized Circulating Fluidized Bed Combustor
Advantages of pressurized circulating fluidized bed
combustor over pressurized bubbling ed bed
combustor:
1. The exhaust gas temperature from this boiler is high and
this gas is used in the gas turbine.
2. NOx emission is less.
3. it does not require a bed material handling system.
4. Corrosion and erosion are less.
5. Space requirement is less.
6. It is simple and more reliable system.
7. High velocity and heat release rate per unit area can be
obtained.
8. The response is quick to load change.
9. It uses more readily available limestone.
10. It is easy to inspect and maintain.
STEAM TURBINES
• Steam turbine is a device which is used to
convert the kinetic energy of steam into
mechanical energy.
• In this, the enthalpy of steam is first converted
into kinetic energy in nozzle or blade passage.
• The high velocity steam impinges on curved
blades and its direction of flow is changed.
• It causes a change in momentum and thus, the
force developed drives the turbine shaft.
Impulse Turbine
• In impulse turbine, the steam at high pressure and
temperature with low velocity is expanded through
nozzles where the pressure reduces and the
velocity increases.
• The high velocity jet of steam which is obtained
from the nozzle impinges on blades fixed on a rotor
(disc).
• The blades change the direction of steam flow
without changing its pressure.
• It causes the change in momentum and the force
developed due to this drives the turbine rotor.
• Here, the nozzles are stationary and they are fitted
in a casing.
Reaction Turbine
• in reaction turbines, the steam expands both in
fixed and moving blades continuously as the
steam passes over them.
• As it expands, there is some increase in steam
velocity thereby resulting the reaction force.
• The pressure drop occurs gradually .and
continuously over both moving and fixed
blades.
Advantages of Steam Turbines
(i) It requires less space.
(ii) The absence of various links such as piston, piston rod, cross head etc.
makes the mechanism simple.
(iii) It is quiet and smooth in operation.
(iv) Its over-load capacity is large.
(v) It can be designed for much greater capacities as compared to steam
engine.
(vi) The internal lubrication is not required in steam turbines. So, it
reduces the cost of lubrication.
(vii) in the steam turbine, the steam consumption does not increase with
increase in
year of service.
(viii) In steam turbine, the power is generated at uniform rate. Therefore,
the flywheel is not needed.
(ix) It can be designed for much higher speed and greater range of speed.
(x) The thermodynamic efficiency of steam turbine is higher.
CONDENSERS
• Condenser is a closed vessel in which steam is
condensed by abstracting the heat and where
the pressure is maintained below atmospheric
pressure.
• The main purpose of a steam condenser in
turbine is to maintain a low back pressure on
the exhaust side of the steam turbine so that
the efficiency of the steam power plant can be
considerably increased.
Types of Condenser
Depending on the position of condensate extraction pump,
the flow of condensate and arrangement of tubes in the
condensers it may be classified as follows.
1. Based on the contact shell and tube fluid
(1) Surface condenser
(2) Jet condenser.
2. Based on the type of cooling
(1) Water cooled condenser
(2) Air cooled condenser.
3. Based on the type of flow
(1) Down flow condenser
(2) Central flow condenser
(3) Evaporation condenser.
• In case of surface condensers, there is no direct
contact between exhaust steam and cooling water.
• The condensate can be reused in the boiler, in such
condensers, even impure water is used for cooling
purposes.
• So, the cooling water flows inside the tubes and the
steam condense flows outside the tubes of the
surface condenser.
• The efficiency of the steam power plant can be
increased by using this type of condenser.
• In jet condensers the exhaust steam and cooling
water come in direct contact with each other.
• The temperature of cooling water and the
condensate is same when leaving the condensers.
Down Flow Condenser
Central Flow Condenser
Evaporation Condenser
Advantages:
1. High vacuum (about 73.5 cm of Hg) can be
obtained in the surface condenser. It increases the
thermal efficiency of the plant.
2. The condensate can be used as boiler feed water.
3. Cooling water of even poor quality can be used
because the cooling water does not come in direct
contact with steam.
Disadvantages:
1. The surface condenser is bulky and therefore, it
requires more space.
2. The capital cost is more.
3. The maintenance cost and running cost of this
condenser are high.
STEAM RATE
• It is the capacity of a steam plant expressed in terms of
steam rate or Specific Steam Consumption (SSC).
• It is defined as the rate of steam flow (kg/h) required
for producing unit output (1kW).
HEAT RATE
• Heat rate of a power plant is defined as the heat input
needed to produce one unit of power output.
• It indicates the amount of fuel required to generate
one unit of electricity.
SUBSYSTEMS OF THERMAL POWER PLANTS
a. Fuel handling system
b. Ash handling system
c. Cooling towers
d. Draught system
e. Feed system.
FUEL HANDLING
SYSTEM
Coal Preparation process:
• The coal preparation process includes sizing,
removal of rock originating from mine roof,
removal of ash forming and sulphur bearing
minerals, drying to remove excessive surface
moisture and blending of different coals to
achieve the desired physical and chemical
properties.
Coal Cleaning Equipment
1. Removal of dirt:
• It is done by passing the coal into the primary
screen to separate the large coal above 8 cm in size
from the small coal.
• Then, the large coal is cleaned by hand and the
small size (less than 8 cm size) is cleaned by
washing.
2. Coal drying:
• It is essential before the coal transportation takes
place.
(i) Steam drying
(ii) Oil dehydration
(iii) Fuel gas drying.
3. Coal sizing:
• Uniformity of the coal size is essential for better
utilization of coal.
4. Sulphur removal:
• The use of coal containing more than 2.5% of
sulphur is restricted due to fouling and
corrosion action. Normally, the sulphur may
occur in any of the following forms.
(i) Pyretic contains 50 to 80%
(ii) Organic contains up to 40%.
5. Washing:
The washing is done by the following ways.
(i) Water jigs
(ii) Concentrating table
(iii) Hydro-cyclone
(iv) Heavy medium.
(i) Water jigs:
• It is the oldest method for cleaning the coal and
jig is operated by means of the stratification
process which takes place as fluid pulsates
through a bed of coal particles.
• The particles with specific gravity higher than
predetermined sizes are continuously removed
from the bed and they are carried by bucket
elevators.
(ii) Concentrating table:
• This method is widely used for cleaning the fine
coal.
• It consists of a flat, wooden deck and tapered
riffles.
• It reciprocates horizontally and the feed
particles spread out across the surface and they
become arranged.
(iii) Hydro-cyclone:
• The hydro-cyclone consists of cylindrical section
or conical section.
• The feed slurry flow is in tangential direction
under the pressure into the cylindrical section
and then it moves into the conical section.
• The high-density particles move downward and
it is discharged from the cyclone apex.
• The low-specific gravity particles (coal) are
carried out in the cyclone overflow
iv) Heavy medium:
• It is used to clean the coal in heavy medium
vessels and heavy medium cyclones.
• The heavy medium vessels are used to clean the
course coal.
• The raw coal is continuously introduced at one
end of the vessel and the high specific gravity
materials are removed as refuse,
• The low gravity particles float on the surface
and they are discharged from the vessel.
Advantages of coal preparation:
1. It improves coal quality.
2. Reduced transportation of waste is eliminated.
3. Reduced pulveriser operation and maintenance
cost are less.
4. Boiler performance is improved.
5. Sulphur removal is easier.
6. Ash handling is easy.
Coal Blending or Mixing
• The parameters of coal such as heating value, moisture,
sulphur content, ash and composition vary from region to
region. So, the mixing of coal is very important.
There are three types of blending as follows.
1. Bed blending
2. Belt blending
3. Automatic blending
• In the bed blending, the bulk material is layered in long
narrow piles to form the layer cake with 100 to 400
layers.
• In belt blending, the coal is reclaimed from several piles
at once via belt feeders.
• In automatic blending, the desired coals and blend ratios
are fixed by the operator and mixing is done
automatically.
Coal Desulphurization
• The chemical separation of sulphur from the coal is known as
coal desulphurization.
• The method used is chemical TRW Meyers process.
Working of TRW Meyers process:
1. First the coal is crushed and it is sent to a mixing tank.
2. It is mixed with a Fe2 (SO4)3 (Ferric sulphate) solution.
3. The resulting slurry is heated to 100-130°C.
4. This coal solution is pumped to a filter.
5. It is neutralized by the addition of coal.
6. In the extractor, coal is mixed with warm acetone and water
which dissolves the elemental sulphur left in the coal.
7. Next, the acetone water and coal slurry go to a filter where the
acetone is removed.
8. This filtered acetone is evaporated and it leaves as elements of
sulphur.
9. The sulphur is removed and the acetone is condensed. Then, it is
sent back to the extractor.
Coal Handling Systems
• Coal handling is the very important factor in the
power plant. The coal handling classified into the
following two methods.
1. Outplant handling of coal
2. Inplant handling of coal.
1. Outplant handling of coal:
• The outplant handling of coal is done by the
following ways.
(i) Transportation by sea or river
(ii) Transportation by ropes
(iii) Transportation by rail
(iv) Transportation by road
(v) Transportation of coal slurry by pipeline
Merits of out plant coal handling:
(1) It is highly reliable.
(2) It needs less labour.
(3) It is economical for medium and large capacity
power plants.
(4) It ensures easy and smooth operation.
(5) It is flexible economically based on the need.
(6) The starting of the power plant is easy.
(7) The minimum number of labour is required.
(8) The transportation losses are minimum.
2. Inplant handling of coal:
• An inplant handling system feeds the coal from
covered storage to the firing equipment.
• In case of mechanical stoker firing, only Chutes are
required to feed the coal from storage bunker to
the firing units.
• Gates and valves are provided in this system to
control the flow according to the load of the plant.
• The pulverized fuel firing system requires a number
of equipment for inplant handling such as chutes,
pulverized mills, feeders, weighing equipment, etc.
• Inplant handling also uses the same equipment as
used during transfer of coal such as belt conveyer,
screw conveyors, bucket elevators etc.
•
Coal Transfer Equipment
The coal transfer is done by the following systems.
1. Belt conveyor
2. Screw conveyor
3. Bucket elevator
4. Grab bucket elevator
5. Flight conveyor
6. Skip hoists.
(i) Belt conveyor:
• Belt conveyor is more suitable for transporting large quantities
of coal. It consists endless belt moving over a pair of end drums
(pulleys) and it is supported by a series of rollers. The belt is
made of rubber or canvas. The load carrying capacity of the belt
may from 50 to 100 tons/h and the average speed of belt
conveyors is 6Om to 100 m per minute.
(ii) Bucket elevator:
• Bucket elevator is used for lifting coal vertically. It consists of
buckets fixed to a chain. The chain moves over two wheels. The
coal is carried by buckets at the bottom and it is discharged at
the top.
(iii) Screw conveyers:
• It consists of an endless helicoids screw fitted to a shaft. The one
end of the shaft is connected to the driving mechanism and the
other end is connected to the bearing. The screw while rotating
in a trough transfers the coal from feeding end to the discharge
end. The rotational speed of the screw varies from 75 to 125
rpm.
(iv) Flight conveyor:
• It is used for transferring the coal when filling the
number of storage bins situated under the conveyor. It
consists of one or two stands of chain to which the
steel scraper or flights are attached.
(v) Grab bucket conveyor:
• It is used to transfer the coal from one point to another point.
The coal lifted by grab buckets is transferred to an overhead
bunker. The grab conveyor can be used with a crane or tower. A
2 to 3 m3 bucket over a distance of 6 m transfers nearly 100 tons
of coal per hour.
(vi) Skip hoist:
• Skip hoist consists of a vertical or inclined hoist way
bucket or a car guided by a frame and cable for hoisting
the bucket.
Combustion Equipment for Burning Coal
• Coal may be fed into the furnace for combustion
in lump pieces (or) in the powder form.
• Combustion of coal may occur in the following
furnaces.
1. Fuel bed furnaces (coarse particles) or hand
fired furnace
2. Fluidized bed furnaces (crushed small particles)
3. Cyclone furnaces (crushed particles)
4. Pulverized coal furnaces (fine particles).
(a) Fuel bed furnace:
• It is used for burning coarse particles.
• A grate is used at bottom of the furnace to hold a
bed of coal.
• In fuel bed furnaces, there are two ways of feeding
the coal into the grate.
a) Over feeding
b) Under feeding
• In overfeeding system, the fresh coal is fed on top
surface of the bed section.
• In underfeeding system, the fresh coal is fed from
bottom surface of the bed section by a screw
conveyor. The zones are just reverse of overfeeding
system.
(b) Fluidized bed furnace:
• The fluidized bed furnaces are used for burning
fine particles. It is classified into two
a) Atmospheric fluidized bed combustor
b) Pressurized fluidized bed combustor
( c) Cyclone furnace:
• The cyclone furnaces are used for firing crushed
coal particles.
• The cyclone is a water cooled horizontal cylinder
located outside the main boiler furnace in which
the crushed coal is fed and fired at high rate of heat
release. The crushed coal is fed into the cyclone
along the primary air which is about 20% of
combustion or secondary air.
• The coal-air mixture enters tangentially and it
produces a centrifugal motion in coal particles
• The secondary air enters tangentially at the top of
cyclone at 80-120 m/s and it produces further the
centrifugal motion in the coal mixture.
(d) Pulverised coal furnace:
• Depending on the condition of ash coming out
from the furnace bottom, pulverized coal
furnaces are classified in to two types. They are
as follows.
a) Dry-bottom furnace
b) Wet-bottom or slag furnace.
(a) Dry-bottom furnace:
(b) Wet-bottom furnace:
PULVERISER
• A pulveriser or grinder is a mechanical device
for grinding many different types of materials.
• Pulveriser mill is used to pulverize the coal for
combustion in the steam-generating furnaces of
fossil fuel power plants.
• Coal is pulverized to increase its surface
exposure and complete combustion.
Types of pulverising mills
(i) Ball Mill
(ii) Hammer or Impact Mill
(iii) Bowl Mill:
(iv) Ball and Race Mill
PULVERISED COAL FIRING
The pulverized coal firing is done by two systems.
1. Direct system or Unit system.
2. Central or Bin system.
Direct System or Unit System
Central System
Pulverised coal handling plant
ASH HANDLING
• Ash handling is a major problem due to the
following difficulties in the handling and disposal:
> It is hot when comes out of the boiler furnaces.
> It is abrasive and wears out the conveyors,,
containers and other handling equipment.
> It produces dust nuisance.
> It produces poisonous gases.
> It has corrosive action.
> It forms clinkers by fusing together in lumps
> It is dusty hence irritating and annoying to handle.
The following methods are used for removing the
ash.
I. Vacuum extraction plant
2. Hydraulic system
3. Mechanical conveyor
4. Steam jet system
5. Pneumatic system.
Vacuum Extraction Plant
Hydraulic System
Mechanical System
Pneumatic System
DUST COLLECTOR
• To avoid the atmosphere pollution the fly ash
must be removed from the gaseous products
before they leave the chimney.
• The removal of dust and cinders from the flue
gas is effected by commercial dust collectors
which are installed between the boiler outlet
and chimney
Mechanical Dust Collectors
(a) Gravitational separators:

• By increasing the cross-sectional area of duct, the velocity

of gases is reduced and causes heavier particles to fall
down [Figure (a)].
• The heavy dust particles fall down when the direction of
the flow of flue gases is changed [Figure (b)].
• baffles are provided to separate the heavier particles
[Figure (c)].
(b) Cyclone separator:
• It uses a downward flowing vortex for dust gases along the inner
walls.
(c) Packed type scrubber:
(d) Spray type wet collector:
(e) ElectroStatic Precipitator (ESP):