There are several stages in the coal handling process at a power plant: 1) Coal is delivered by rail, road, or ship and unloaded. 2) The coal may then be prepared through processes like crushing or grinding. 3) The coal is transferred to storage areas using conveyor belts or other equipment. 4) Coal is stored in piles or bunkers until needed. 5) In-plant equipment then moves the coal to furnaces where 6) weighing and measuring ensures the proper amount is fed to boilers for 7) furnace firing to generate power.

1. BY
HIREN PATEL
MBA-POWER MANAGEMENT

2. COAL HANDLING STAGES
1. Coal delivery
2. Unloading
3. Preparation
4. Transfer
5. Storage
6. In plant Handling
7. Weighing and
Measuring
8. Furnace Firing

3. COAL DELIVERY
 From the supply point the coal may be
delivered to the power station through
1. Rail – Goods Train
2. Road – Dumper Trucks
3. Sea – Ships and pipelines
 Ropeways are also used if mines are
near.

4. UNLOADING
 The type of coal unloading equipment used in the
plant depends upon the type of out-plant handling
mode as road, rail or ship.
 The unloading equipment normally used is given
below:
i. Portable conveyors
ii. Coal towers – unload rail wagons
iii. Unloading bridges – beams to unloads cargo from ship
iv. Self unloading boats

5. PREPARATION
 If the coal when delivered is in the form
of lumps, the coal preparation may be
carried out by:
i. Breakers
ii. Crushers
iii. Coal accelerators - fractures the coal
iv. Dryers
v. Magnetic separators
vi. Coal Grinders or Coal Pulverizer

6. TRANSFER
 ‘Transfer’ means the handling of coal
between the unloading point and the
final storage point from where it is
discharged to the fire equipment.
 The following equipment may be used
for transfer of coal:
1. Belt conveyors
2. Screw conveyors
3. Vee bucket elevators and conveyors
4. Pivoted bucket conveyor

7. TRANSFER Cont…
5. Grab bucket conveyors
6. Flight conveyors or chain type conveyors(
or scrapers) – heavy weight and moisture
and dust contain coal
7. Skip hoists
8. Mass flow conveyors
9. Chutes, hoppers

8. STORAGE OF COAL
 The following points should be considered:
 There should be no standing water near the storage area.
 Well-drainage ditches should be installed.
 Storage area should be solid and not loose or porous.
 Piles should be built up in successive layers and as far as
possible compact.
 Conical piling should be avoided.
 handling cost is minimum.
 At storage site fire fighting equipment is mandatory.
 ‘Live Storage’ is a covered storage provided in plants,
sufficient to meet one day requirement of the boiler.
Bunkers made of steel or reinforced concrete are used to
store the coal; from here the coal is transferred to the
boiler grates.

9. INPLANT HANDLING
 It may refer to any one of the following:
i. Coal handling between the final storage and the firing
equipment.
ii. A conveyors system to feed coal from any bunker
section to any firing unit and to move coal from one
bunker section to another.
iii. Inplant handling may mean no more than chutes to
direct flow into individual firing units and gates or
valves to control the flow.

10. WEIGHING AND
MEASURING
 For weighing and measuring the coal at
different stages the following equipment
is used:
i. Weigh bridge
ii. Belt scale
iii. Automatic scale – sensors and measuring
instrumentation

11. FURNACE FIRING
 The two most commonly used method
for the burning of coal are
1. Stoker firing
2. Pulverized fuel firing

12. BIBLIOGRAPHY
 www.google.com
 Text book of Power Plant engineering by R.K.Rajput
 www.astralloy.com
 http://www.indiamart.com/shubhamcorporation/coal.html
 http://indianpowersector.com/power-station/thermal-power-plant/
 http://chanda.nic.in/htmldocs/coal.html

13. THANK YOU!