Based on the form of energy converted into electrical energy, the power plants are classified as

1) Steam Power Plants

2) Diesel Power Plants
3) Gas Power Plants
4) Hydro-electric Power Plants
5) Nuclear Power Plants

A Steam Power Plant converts the chemical energy of the fossil fuels(coal, oil, gas) or fossil
fuels (Uranium, Thorium) into electrical energy. Steam Power Plant basically works on
Rankine cycle. Steam is produced in the boiler by utilizing the heat of fuel combustion thus
steam is expanded through the steam turbines. The Steam turbine drives the generator which
converts mechanical energy of the turbine into electrical energy.
The Modern Steam Power Plant Mainly Divided Into Four Circuits.
1) CoalAsh Circuit.
2)Air And Gas Circuit.
3) Feed Water And Steam Flow Circuit.
4) Cooling Water Circuit.

Coal and Ash Circuit

It comprises of coal handling equipment and ash handling equipment. Coal is supplied to the
boiler from the storage point by coal handling equipment and Steam is generated in the
boiler. Ash resulting from the combustion of coal is removed to the ash storage yard through
ash handling equipment.

Air And Gas Circuit

Air is blown to the combustion chamber by induced draught fan or forced draught fan or
both. The dust present in the air is removed by dust catching device or precipitator. The
Induced Draught (ID) fan helps in sucking the exhaust gases and exhausting them through the
chimney into the atmosphere. The heat in the exhaust gases is partly extracted by passing(i)
through the Economiser to preheat the water and then(ii) through the Air Preheater for
heating up the incoming air.
Feed Water and Steam Flow Circuit

T he high pressure steam produced in the boiler is used to operate the turbine. The
exhaust steam is condensed in the condenser. The condensate is heated in the feed
heaters using steam trapped from different points of turbine and finally the condensate is
pumped into the boiler. During this process a part of steam and water is lost by passing
through different components and this is compensated by supplying additional feed water.
This feed water should be purified before supply to prevent scaling of the tubes of the
boiler.

The exhaust steam entering the condensed is cooled by circulating the cooling water. The
cooling water supply to the condenser helps in maintaining a low pressure in it. The cooling
water may be taken from any source like river, lake or alternatively, same water may be cooled
and circulated again
 — Fuel and coal handling equipment

— Factors affecting the Selection of Equipment

— 1. Plant Fuel Rate

— 2. Plant Location in respect of Fuel Shipping

— 3. Storage area Available

— These aspects become important in view of the high operating costs (50 -60% for the
fuel purchase and handling)

— Fuel and coal handling equipment

1. Transportation by sea or river

— 2. Transportation by rail

— 3. Transportation by ropeways

— 4. Transportation by road, and

— 5. Transportation of coal by pipe line

Advantages of Transport by Pipeline

i. Simplicity in installation and increased safety in operation

ii. More economical when large volumes need to be transported over long
distances

iii. Continuous operation and not affected by climate and weather

iv. High degree of reliability

v. loss due to theft and pilferage eliminated

vi. Man power requirement is low

Requirement of Good Coal Handling Plant

— 1. Should operate with minimum maintenance.
— 2. Should be reliable
 — 3. Simple in design and to operate
— 4. Require minimum of operatives
— 5. Should be able to deliver requisite quantity of coal at destination during peak
demand
— 6. There should be minimum wear in running the equipment due to abrasive action of
the coal particles

Advantages o f Mechanical Handling:

 Higher Reliability

 Less Labour required

 Economical f o r m e d i u m and Large capacity plants

 Operation is Easy and Smooth

 Can be easily started and economically adjusted as per need

 M i n i m i z e d l a b o u r and hence easier management and c o n t r o l o f t h e p l a n t

 Reduced health hazards as less l a b o u r involved

 Losses i n t r a n s p o r t – m i n i m i z e d .

Disadvantages o f Mechanical H a n d l i n g :

Stages of coal handling equipment process

Coal Delivery - Unloading – Preparation- Transfer- Out door Storage - Covered Storage - In-
plant Handling - Weighing and Measuring - Furnace Firing
Coal delivery

The coal from supply points is delivered by ships or boats to power stations situated near to
sea or river whereas coal is supplied by rail or trucks to the power stations which are situated
away from sea or river.

The transportation of coal by trucks is used if the railway facilities are not available

unloading

The type of equipment to be used for unloading the coal received at the power station
depends on how coal is received at the power station. If coal delivered by trucks, there is no
need of unloading device as the trucks may dump the coal to the outdoor storage. Coal is
easily handled if the lift trucks with scoop are used. In case the coal is brought by railways
wagons, ships or boats, the unloading may be done by car shakes, rotary car dumpers,
cranes, grab buckets and coal accelerators. car dumpers although costly are quite efficient
for unloading closed wagons.

preparation

When the coal delivered is in the form of big lumps and it is not of proper size, the
preparation (sizing) of coal can be achieved by crushers, breakers, sizers, driers and
magnetic separators.
After preparation coal is transferred to the dead storage by means of the following systems.

— 1. Belt conveyors

— 2. Screw conveyors

— 3. Bucket elevators

— 4. Grab bucket elevator

— 5. Flight conveyor

Belt conveyers

i. Average Belt Speed: 60 – 100 m / minute

ii. Load Carrying Capacity of Belt: 50 – 100 t / h

iii. Distance Covered (Typical): 400 m

iv. Inclination of Drive: 20deg.

Note: Used in Medium and Large Power Plants

It consist of an endless belt moving over a pair of end roller and drum. At some distance a
supporting roller is provided at the centre. The belt is made up of rubber or canvas. It is
suitable to transfer coal at large distances. It is used in medium and large power plants. The
initial cost of the system is not high and power consumption is low. The inclination at which
coal can be successfully elevated is about 20. The average speed of the belt conveyers is
200-300 r.p.m.
Advantages

1. Most economical method of coal transport in medium and large capacity plants
2. Smooth and clean operation
3. Minimum repair and maintenanace cost
4. Able to discharge large quantity of coal quickly and continuously
5. Minimum power consumption
6. The rate of coal transferred can be easily varied by just varying the belt speed
Dis advantages

Not suitable for greater height and shorter distances

Limited inclination (about 20), at which, coal can be transferred

Bucket Conveyor/elevators
Bucket Conveyor/elevators move bulk material vertically much like the conveyor belt.
Buckets are attached to a rotating belt and fill with the material at the bottom of the elevator
then move it to a designated point. When the bucket reaches this point, it discharges the
contents, returns to the start point, and begins the process again. Buckets prevent spillage
with their upright position design.

Advantages

1. Less power is required for operating the equipment

2. Coal can be discharged at elevated places
3. Less floor area is required
Screw conveyer

Screw conveyers consist of an endless helicoids screw fitted to a shaft

The driving mechanism is connected to one end of the shaft and the other end f the shaft is
supported inn an enclosed ball bearing

While rotating in a trough/ casing screw transfer coal from one end to the other end

Diameter-15-60 cm,speed-70-120 rpm, maximum capacity- 125 tonnes/ hour

Advantages of screw conveyer

Screw conveyer is suitable for the coal transfer between small distances

Screw conveyer requires minimum space

Initial cost of screw conveyer is low

Simple and compact

Disadvantages

Power consumption is very high

Wear and tear is very high

Life of a screw conveyer is considerably short as compared to belt conveyer.

Advantages

1. Less running cost

2. It can be used in locations where other conveyers cannot be used
Disadvantages

High initial cost

Use of grab bucket conveyer for transferring the coal is justified only when other
arrangements cannot be used
Dust collectors are grouped into two types

1.Mechanical Dust Collectors

i) Wet type dust collectors

ii) Dry type dust collectors

Gravitational separators

Cyclone separators

2. Electrical Dust Collectors

i) Rod type

ii) Plate type

3. Enlarging the duct cross sectional area to slow down the gas gives the heavier
particles a chance to settle out.

4. When a gas makes a sharp change in flow direction, the heavier particles tend to
keep going in the original direction and so settle out.

5. Impingement baffles have more effect on the solid particles than the gas, helping
them to settle.

i) Wet type dust collectors:

Wet types called scrubbers operate with water sprays to wash dust from the air. Large
quantities of wash water are needed for central station gas washing that this system is
 seldom is used. It also produces a waste water that may require chemical neutralization
before it can be discharged into the central bodies of water.

ii) Dry type dust collectors:

These are commonly used dust collectors

a) Gravitational Separators: These collectors act by slowing down gas flow so that
particles remain in a chamber long enough to settle in the bottom. They are not very
suitable because of large chamber volume needed.
b) Cyclone separators : The cyclone is a separating chamber where in high-speed gas
rotation is generated for the purpose of centrifuging the particles from the carrying
gases. There is an outer downward flowing vortex which turns into an inward
flowing vortex. Involute inlets and sufficient velocity head pressures are used to
produce the vortices.The factors which affect the performance are gas volume,
particles loading, inlet velocity, temperature, diameter- to- height ratio of cyclone
and dust characteristics.

ADVANTAGES:

Rugged in construction

Maintenance costs are relatively low

Efficiency increases with increase in load

Easy to remove bigger size particles

DISADVANTAGES:

Requires more power than other collectors

Incapable to remove dust and ash particles which remain in suspension with still air

Less flexible

High pressure loss

Requires considerable head room and must placed outside the boiler room

The main elements of an electrostatic precipitator are:

Source of high voltage

Ionizing and collecting electrodes

Dust removal mechanism

Shell to house the elements

The precipitator has two sets of electrodes, insulated from each other, that maintain an
electrostatic field between them at high voltage
The field ionizes dust particles that pass through it, attracting them to the electrode of
opposite charge.

The high voltage system maintains the negative potential of 30,000 to 60,000 volts with the
collecting electrodes grounded.

Accumulated dust falls of the electrode when it is rapped mechanically

Wet type of unit removes dust by a water film flowing down on the inner side of the
collecting electrode.

These units have collection efficiency around 90%

ADVANTAGES:

Can effectively remove very small particles like smoke, mist and fly-ash

Easy operation

Draught loss is quite less

Most effective for high dust loaded gas

Maintenance charges are minimum

The dust collected in dry form and can be removed either dry or wet

DISADVANTAGES:

Space requirement is more

Need to protect the collector from sparking

Running charges are high

Capital cost of equipment is high

Coal Delivery - Unloading – Preparation- Transfer- Out door Storage - Covered Storage - In-
plant Handling - Weighing and Measuring - Furnace Firing

Coal delivery

The coal from supply points is delivered by ships or boats to power stations situated near to
sea or river whereas coal is supplied by rail or trucks to the power stations which are situated
away from sea or river.

The transportation of coal by trucks is used if the railway facilities are not available

unloading

The type of equipment to be used for unloading the coal received at the power station
depends on how coal is received at the power station. If coal delivered by trucks, there is no
need of unloading device as the trucks may dump the coal to the outdoor storage. Coal is
easily handled if the lift trucks with scoop are used. In case the coal is brought by railways
wagons, ships or boats, the unloading may be done by car shakes, rotary car dumpers,
cranes, grab buckets and coal accelerators. car dumpers although costly are quite efficient
for unloading closed wagons.
preparation

When the coal delivered is in the form of big lumps and it is not of proper size, the
preparation (sizing) of coal can be achieved by crushers, breakers, sizers, driers and
magnetic separators.

Transfer

After preparation coal is transferred to the dead storage by means of the following systems.

— 1. Belt conveyors

— 2. Screw conveyors

— 3. Bucket elevators

— 4. Grab bucket elevator

— 5. Flight conveyor

Out door storage/covered storage - the coal is stored in bunkers and shades

Inplant handling- Inplant handling system deals with feeding of coal from live storage to the
furnace. It includes various equipment for transfer of coal like belt conveyor, screw conveyor
etc. and the equipment needed to weight the quality of coal for feed.

Weighing and Measuring – Devices such as Belt Weighers, Weigh Feeders, Load Cells,
Volumetric Feeders, etc. used to measure coal.

Furnance Firing- At last the coal is provided to the furnance for firing by means of coal
handling devices.