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DUST MANAGEMENT AT COAL HANDLING PLANT OF A
THERMAL POWER PLANT
Ankush Kumar, Sumit Chakraborty, Ankit Kumar , Saad Parvez & Dr. Marouf Wani
Section 6. Unloader. The above model also shows the reclaimer. Large amount of dust is generated and in
region of dust generation. order to prevent dust, moisture addition is most
efficient technique as water is very powerful binding
solvent. Directly adding moisture to coal prevents
dust from becoming airborne. Here diverging nozzles
are used for moisture addition. Diverging nozzle will
allow optimum proportionate of water to be added
with coal. Since it is necessary to know exactly what
amount of water to be added as too much water will
cause mud and make coal heavier, on the other hand,
too little water will be ineffective in dust control.
STAGE 2
Here (reclaimer stage) coal is unloaded from wagon
Fig. 2. Sections of typical coal handling plant Tripler to be reclaimed. The area where reclaiming is
The coal transported through Wagon Tripler goes to done is quite large and hence water addition will be
storage where coal stacker is formed. Large amount futile. Also wind play devastating role in increasing
of dust is generated during all these processes. dust. Thus wind is the major
Hence, different stages where dust generation takes factor as storage area
place is studied, analyzed and best possible design is very large. So we concentrate on blocking wind
proposals are made in order to minimize dust and speed in order to prevent dust to become airborne.
water wastage. We propose a design solution notably Since dust generation is directly proportional to wind
at five different stages of a typical Coal Handling speed as shown in diagram, so we can provide
Plant in a sequential manner which is discussed in windshield net or windbreak forest in order to reduce
subsequent section. dust generation.
IV. DESIGN PROPOSALS FOR DUST STAGE 3
CONTROL AT FIVE DIFFERENT STAGES OF Reclaimer piles up the coal at a large storage area and
A TYPICAL CHP OF A THERMAL POWER forms a stacker or coal pile. While doing this, large
PLANT (V= WIND SPEED) amount of dust is generated. Also coal stacker is a
constant source of airborne dust particles. Therefore
it is necessary to suppress dust generation. At this
stage surface compaction method is used to suppress
dust using 6-12% water solution of very good
binding substance which binds the coal dust and
prevent it from becoming airborne. Moisture addition
is done at this stage using well designed spray which
allows controlled flow of solution over coal pile in
order to properly suppress dust without affecting the
quality of coal.
STAGE 4
This stage is major area of concern because dust
Fig 3. Design proposals for preventing and particle size is as low as 1-10 microns. Therefore this
suppressing dust at CHP using efficient methods. stage requires a suitable, innovative and efficient
The above figure clearly depicts the design proposal technique of dust suppression. Since moisture
for preventing and suppressing dust at CHP using addition is futile exercise, therefore we develop wet
efficient methods and implementing cutting edge dust collector which can reduce dust concentration as
technology. The given design proposal targets five low as 1% in the concerned area. Dust collector is
different stages where dust generation is quite large. very elegant device which discharges dust in
We discuss each stage individually and analyze what concentrated form reducing water consumption. Even
measure or method should be implemented in order for suppressing 1mm thick dust layer, we require
to reduce dust. large amount of water, but dust collector with
STAGE 1 minimum use of water, suppresses large amount of
At this stage, coal transported from coal mines is dust. The following section discusses design of wet
brought at CHP using Wagon Tripler and unloaded to centrifugal dust collector with automatic discharge
for suppressing dust at this stage. Here processed coal centrifuge through it. Centrifugal action separates
is transferred from coal stack through conveyor to dust from fresh air and fresh air is allowed to escape
relay section, hence large amount of dust is generated from other end of dust collector.
which can be suppressed using dust collector. The dust collector has a small tank full of water
STAGE 5 which has two valves. These two springs loaded
Last stage is unloading of coal from relay section and valves are operated to allow passage of concentrated
transfer to the boiler section. At this stage, usual dust and automatic filling of fresh water using
method of moisture addition is sufficient since small sensors. These sensors sense the concentration level
amount of dust generates which can easily be of dust in the container and when it goes beyond
suppress using proper amount of moisture addition. 90%, it opens the discharge valve. This remains open
At this stage also, diverging nozzles of optimum until total discharge of concentrated dust occurs from
diameter are used for proper water spray. the tank. At the same time, it opens inlet valve to
V. DESIGN OF A WET CENTRIFUGAL DUST allow fresh water to fill up.
COLLECTOR The dust collector uses automatic discharge
technique and hence save time for manual operations
for discharging and refilling. Also discharge is
recycled in order to have minimum water wastage.
This centrifugal dust collector is very efficient and
requires minimum amount of water since it
discharges dust in concentrated form. Taking a
typical case of a NTPC plant which uses 4.4 cubic
meter per megawatt per hour, assuming power
production of 1000MW, total water consumption will
be 4400 million cubic meter water. This is huge
Fig. 4 CATIA model of a Wet Centrifugal dust amount of water which is utilized at such plant. But
collector. with the above mentioned techniques, if implemented
Centrifugal collectors use cyclonic action to separate properly can save large amount of water and hence
dust particles from the gas stream. In a typical reduce chances of acute water shortage.
cyclone, the dust gas stream enters at an angle and is VI. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
spun rapidly. The centrifugal force created by the A wet centrifugal dust collector with automatic
circular flow throws the dust particles toward the discharge can reduce airborne dust particles and
wall of the cyclone. After striking the wall, these minimize water wastage. Also other methods of dust
particles fall into a hopper located underneath. collection reduce dust and water wastage as discussed
The most common types of centrifugal or inertial earlier. This has great impact not only at workplace
collectors in use today are: but also in environment. Proper implementation of
1) Single-cyclone separators dust suppression and prevention methods reduces
2) Cyclone Multiple-separators health hazards of workers, employees and people
3) Secondary Air Flow Separators residing nearby. Since current situation demands eco-
This section discusses the design of a typical wet friendly methods of dust suppression without much
centrifugal dust collector which uses scrubbing effect water wastage, above mentioned ergonomic designs
of water to suppress dust. Water is very good binding are noteworthy.
substance for dust and therefore it is used as REFERENCES
1. Air pollution control at thermal power plant, case
scrubbing element. This device applies the principle
study-2005, Overseas Environmental
of film formation over the dust layer and confines
Corporation, Japan.
dust particles leaving fresh air to escape. The CATIA
2. NTPC case study-2006, water management,
model of a dust collector shown in the figure 4,
Badarpur.
discusses its simple design, in which radically inward
fans, produce very high suction pressure powered by
2hp motor is used. The power rating of motor varies
as per requirement. This device uses the principle of
dynamic precipitation technique in which very high
suction pressure suck the dusty air and allow to