Coal Handling Plant

e‐Learning Series                                                                                        Damodar Valley Corporation
 Introduction
Coal Handling Plant
‰ The purpose of the Coal handling plant in a thermal power plant is to
Process raw coal & insure against the irregular supply of coal which is
dependent on many players in the Supply chain
‰ The function of a CHP is to receive, process, store ,feed the Coal
bunkers consistently over the entire life of the Power plant.
‰ Coal is received from mines in the form of lumps, the sizes varying
from 100mm to 350mm, in two types of wagons through Rail; BOBR
meaning Bogie Open Bottom Rapid discharge & BOXN meaning Bogie
Open High Sided Side discharge Wagon
‰ BOBR wagons are unloaded in Track Hoppers & BOXN Wagons are
unloaded by Wagon tipplers.
‰ Coal is then supplied to the crusher house through Roller screens or
Vibrating feeders to sieve the coal before feeding to the crusher; 20%
of the coal that is received is already <20mm size so this is separated &
only larger lumps are fed to the Crusher
‰ The crusher breaks the lumps to sizes<20mm which is the input size to
the coal Pulverizers
 Introduction
Coal Handling Plant
‰ The crushed coal is fed to the conveyors in the crusher house through
Belt feeders; Coal is either directly fed to the coal bunkers or to the
Stacker/Reclaimers for stocking when the bunkers are full;
‰ The stacking is done to insulate the plant against the erratic supply of
coal;
‰ CERC allows stocking of 1 ½ months stock of coal for Pit head plants
‰ In case of non receipt of wagons the coal from the stock pile is
reclaimed through the Stacker/ Reclaimers & fed to the coal Bunkers
‰ To increase redundancy certain Plants also have Emergency reclaim
Hoppers near the Crushed coal Stock pile where the dozers are used to
feed coal to the bunkers when the Reclaimers breakdown.
‰ Coal is conveyed by means of conveyor Belts in the coal handling
plant
Typical Coal Flow Diagram - CHP
Coal Handling Plant
 Typical Layout of a CHP
Coal Handling Plant
Crusher House S&T Control Room

TRACK HOPPER

PH
STOCKYARD

DS Pump House

STOCKYARD
CHP Control Room

STOCKYARD

STOCKYARD

MCCRoom
CHP
CHP Pump House
 Key Equipments in CHP
Coal Handling Plant

™ Wagon Tippler, Side Arm Charger

™ Track Hopper
™ Stacker Re-claimer
™ Paddle Feeder
™ Apron Feeder
™ Hydraulics for S/R, WT, SAC, PF
™ Crusher
™ LT Switchgear
™ PLC System
™ VVVF Drives
™ Locomotive & Pay loaders
 Weigh Bridge (In-motion Pit-less)
Coal Handling Plant

Purpose : To weigh the coal wagons on receipt before

unloading into the Track Hopper
 Types of Wagons
Coal Handling Plant

BOXN wagons unloaded

BOBR wagons unloaded
through Wagon Tipplers
through Track Hoppers
Typical GA of Wagon Tippler
Coal Handling Plant
 Wagon tippler & Side arm charger
Coal Handling Plant

WT  Dust Suppression system
Control 
Room

Side Arm 
Charger
Coal Discharge direction

Wagon Tippler
 Wagon tippler
Coal Handling Plant

Purpose:
To dump coal from BOXN wagons into the underground hopper from where it is
transported to the Crusher House.
Typical unloading cycle for wagons is approx 3 min i.e. 20 wagons can be
unloaded from the Wagon Tippler
 Apron Conveyor/Feeder
Coal Handling Plant

Purpose: to reduce direct impact on the conveyor below the Wagon 
tippler 
Apron Conveyor/Feeder
Coal Handling Plant
Side Elevation of Track Hopper
Coal Handling Plant 
Sectional elevation of Track Hopper
Coal Handling Plant 
 Track Hopper
Coal Handling Plant

Purpose: For unloading Coal from BOBR(Bogie open Bottom Rapid discharge)
Wagons to Hoppers underneath; This system is preferred to the Wagon tippler as
the evacuation time is less (2 ½ Hrs compared to 5 Hrs for Wagon tippler); A rake
of 58 Wagons could be unloaded in 3 placements in a250m TH within 2 1/2 Hrs
 Paddle Feeder
Coal Handling Plant

Track Hopper

Coal Tray

Curved Paddle Blades
Table
Cable reeling drum
Wheels for movement  Impact Idlers
of the Paddle feeder Impact Idlers Cable reeling drum

Purpose: to scoop the raw coal from the table below the Track hopper to the
respective conveyor; generally two feeders are provided on each side within a
Track hopper ; when not in use they are parked on either side;
 Paddle Feeder
Coal Handling Plant
Curved 
Blades

Cable reeling Drum
Idlers

Table

Conveyor
Grizzly Feeder/Vibrating Screen
Coal Handling Plant

Vibrating Screen
 Roller Screen
Coal Handling Plant

Purpose: Sieving the coal to reduce unnecessary loading on the Crusher; By 
sieving, the smaller particles (<20mm) are directly fed bypassing the crusher; 
 Roller Screen
Boiler Tube Failures

Coal <20 mm size is collected in 
this hopper & fed on the  Drive 
crushed coal conveyor after the  Coal >20mm is now fed to  motors for 
crusher; typically 20‐25% of  crusher ; typically 75‐80% of  the Rollers
ROM is collected in this hopper the coal received goes to the 
crusher
 Ring Granulator
Coal Handling Plant

Purpose : To crush Raw coal (size 350mm) to  < 20mm size which is stored in 
coal bunkers to be fed to Coal Pulverizers. 
Ring Granulator
Coal Handling Plant
 Belt Feeder
Boiler Tube Failures
Drive Pulley

Generally used for feeding the coal from the crusher to the conveyors; these 
are used to increase the redundancy/flexibility of the conveying system. 
 Stacker/Re-claimer
Coal Handling Plant

Purpose: To stack the coal after filling the bunkers for future use &
reclaim the coal when the coal supply is irregular
 Bucket Wheel Stacker/Re-claimer
Coal Handling Plant

Bucket wheel  Operators  Counter 

for  Cabin Weight
reclamation

Carriage

Rail
Conveyor 
Belt
 Typical Conveyor Belting System
Coal Handling Plant

Purpose: To convey Coal continuously between the Transfer Points &

ultimately to the coal storage silos.
 Typical Conveyor gallery
Coal Handling Plant

Purpose: For providing weather proof housing & maintenance space for the conveyor
belting
Conveyor Belt
Boiler Tube Failures

Conveyor

Idlers
Conveyor Pulley
Boiler Tube Failures

These are the drivers of 
the conveyor Belts; the 
prime mover is a motor 
Rubber Lining attached through Fluid 
coupling so that the 
starting current of the 
motor is restricted;

Pulley

Plummer Block

Drive Shaft
 Conveyor Idlers
Coal Handling Plant

Impact idlers; they reduce 
the impact on the conveyor 
belts thereby increasing 
longevity; generally used 
on the tables of the paddle 
feeders in Track Hoppers or 
under the coal chutes.

Normal conveyor Idlers ; they are 
the supporting rollers for the 
conveyor belt on which the coal 
laden conveyor belt glides.
 Removal/Detection of Metal Particles
Coal Handling Plant

ÆILMS : Inline Magnetic Separator
3Remove tramp iron & other magnetic 
materials 

ÆMetal detector
3Detect non magnetic metal pieces & 
heavy iron pieces 
 PAY LOADER
Coal Handling Plant

Purpose : to stack coal in the stockpile area to be reclaimed by the Stacker/Re‐claimer 
 Dust Suppression
Coal Handling Plant

• As the coal Handling plant is prone to fugitive dust it is mandatory to 
install dust suppression systems in the CHP
• Spraying system: sprinklers are used in the stockpile area to  suppress 
the dust ; the mechanism is simple; fine atomic particles of water are 
sprayed on the stock pile & this acts as a blanket 
• DFDS: dry fog dust suppression system: this is used typically at transfer 
points & hoppers; The  water is sprayed in conjunction with compressed 
air & these particles adhere to the dust & settle down 
• Dust Extraction system: This is used in Bunker silos where the coal is fed 
from conveyors & falls from a height; The unsettled dust is sucked 
through fans installed on the roof through bag filters or cyclonic  
separators & the  heavier dust particles are fed back to the bunkers                     
Dust Extraction System
Coal Handling Plant
 Coal Trivia
Coal Handling Plant

• Coal provided the energy which fueled the Industrial Revolution

of the 19th Century and also launched the electric era in the
20th Century
• Coal provides 26.5% of global primary energy needs and
generates 41.5% of the world's electricity
• Total Global Hard Coal Production - 5845Mt (2008e)
• Primary source of energy for India; accounts for 55% of Energy
need
• Hard coal reserves of India 246 bn Tonnes & proven reserves of
92 bn tonnes; third largest producer of coal
• Commercial coal Mining in India started in 1774 in Raniganj
coal field by M/S Sumner & Heatly of East India Company
• Indian Coal production - 490 Mt
Grades of coal
Coal Handling Plant
 Coal Handling Plant

Thank You