Impacts of Open Stockpile on Fugitive dust emissions

Diminishing dust levels at a bulk storage material handling operation is a requirement driven by a combination of environmental, operational, employee and community expectations.

Within an operation, dust adversely affects employee health, visibility and adds a variety of maintenance challenges. Externally, the irritation caused by fugitive dust can have a major impact on communities in the vicinity of the stockpile.

The best possible solution to overcome these dust issues is to cover the open stockpiles. Hindustan Alcox designs long span dome structure and vaults that cover stockpiles, prevent runoff, contains dust and spare landscapes. Your operations, employees and landscapes are protected against fugitive dust.

Hindustan Alcox offers a practical solution that saves both time and money. Our Assembly process ensures a fast, safe and easy installation of these dome structures. With expert guidance, our structures are installed with all safety measures. The benefits of covering stockpiles as compared to open stockpiles are as follows:-

·                     Minimum dust emission in the stockpile

·                     No air pollution

·                     Elimination of caking problems in stockpiles

·                     Elimination of rainfall and moisture problem

Stocking of product in covered storage system not only minimizes the above various problems, but also improves plant efficiency and maintains quality of the product.

About Hindustan Alcox Limited

With over 30 years of experience, Hindustan Alcox Limited is the leading dome structure manufacturer. Design and functionality are hallmarks of Hindustan Alcox. Regardless of climate or geography, we solve dust problems with endless design options. Our mission is to provide solutions for coal storing industries all around the world.

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Impact of Open Coal Stockpiles

Majority of the coal stockpiles inside the Indian power plant are open type built with various kinds of stackers and reclaimers. This type of open storage poses both environmental and functional loss. There are several problems being faced with the present type of open stockpile system.

Functionality loss-

1) Combustion of Coal – Spontaneous coal combustion in open storage is one of the major concerns in the thermal power plant. The spontaneous combustion of coal in the open stockpile results in the degradation of the coal and causes changes in the physical and chemical properties of the coal.

2) Loss of GCV – Coal loses the gross calorific value when stored in the open. This increases the amount of energy required per unit

.

3) Loss of Coal – 2.4% of coal goes to waste due to erosion by wind and percolation of the coal during rainfall.

Environmental loss-

1) Fugitive dust nuisance from the stockpile due to the wind – Due to the fugitive dust emission from the stockpile, dust particles will be carried by wind and causes pollution. This would pollute the plant area and could cause damage to the other utilities like cooling towers, switch yard etc in the power plant.

2) Ground Water Contamination – Percolation of the coal particles with the rain water contaminates the ground water.

In view of the problems faced in the open type stockpile, there are many alternative methods of storing the coal but Coal Storage Sheds are the best possible solution to address the issues listed above. Coal Storage sheds is highly specialized and comes with following advantages. The cost of structure is 30-40% lower as compared to other conventional structures. This structure installation does not impact the productivity of the plant. Since this structure uses circular sections that coal dust accumulation is kept minimal on the members.

About Hindustan Alcox Limited

With over 30 years of experience in it, we at Hindustan Alcox Limited are the leading Coal storage shed manufacturer in India. We provide practical solutions to these above challenges, in most efficient and cost reducing ways and satisfy our clients with the best available solutions in storage and handling of any type of bulk storage.

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Gasification of Coal

Gasification of coal is a high temperature process which is developed to produce a fuel gas with minimal of liquid and solids. Coal Gasification take place in a gasifier, generally in a high temperature vessel where oxygen and steam directly contracted with the coal causing a series of chemical reactions to occur that convert the feed to syngas and ash. Syngas is composed primarily of the colourless highly flammable gases carbon monoxide (CO) and Hydrogen (H2).  Coal Gasification is considered as a partial oxidation process.

Applications of Coal Gasification:-

¨ One of the most abundant energy sources

¨ Can be used to produce ultra-clean fuel

¨ Leading source of electricity today

¨ Chemical Production (Methanol, ammonia, acetic acid etc)

¨ Hydrogen made from coal or other solid fuels can be used to refine oil, or to make products such as ammonia and fertilizer (urea).

¨ By product of burning (ash or slag) can be used for concrete and roadways

Gasification is attractive for its simple but brutal operation. Higher efficiency, cleaner output and more control over products can only help the economics. As other sensor technologies are introduced gasification could be a leading refining technique for a wide range of raw materials from trash to cultivated biomass and on to coal. Gasification might not be elegant – but the process enjoys the leading spot for going to commercial scale in today’s market for synthetic fuel process. Particularly in clean generation of electricity from coal, gasification may make an increasingly important part of the world’s energy and industrial markets.

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Keys To Proper Coal Storage

Coal storage and handling is a common challenge faced in Thermal Power and Captive thermal power plants. In order to ensure safe and efficient coal storage, special attention shall be given to the following guidelines: 

Simple Step for Coal Storage:

• Coal storage shed is the finest possible solution in recent times for coal storage as it protects the coal from rainfall and spontaneous combustion thereby maintains the Gross calorific Value hence improving the plant efficiency.

• Another step in preventing spontaneous combustion is to take preventive measures. The coal stockpile should comply with principles of Proper stockpile management; packing it in horizontal layers, followed by levelling and dozing at continuous intervals.

• Sealing stockpiles is another effective way to prevent these kinds of coal storage problems and ensure that they comply with the demanding regulatory requirements.

• When the coal is not being used, it should be observed for rising temperature and gas levels. With routine observations, you can ensure the temperature of your stockpile remains around 50 degrees Fahrenheit and well below 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Crucial measures are required to assure proper maintenance of the coal stockpile in order to run an efficient, environmentally-friendly coal plant. Improper Coal Storage can reduce the coal quality significantly primarily due to loss of gross calorific value and material loss.

The prime objective of coal storage is to reduce loss by preventing spontaneous combustion and minimizing coal loss. Spontaneous combustion occurs in coal piles when low-temperature oxidation slowly heats up the material to a volatile point. Spontaneous combustion can cause:

•          The decrease in Calorific Value

•          Fire, if the temperature exceeds the critical value

•          The decrease in Carbon and Hydrogen content and an increase of Oxygen %

ABOUT HINDUSTAN ALCOX

Over the last three Decades, Hindustan Alcox is an industry leader in manufacturing coal storage sheds. We identify and eliminate unnecessary energy losses from the processes by providing the best choice for covering coal under storage shed.

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