Neyveli Lignite Corporation

Mr.K.Alagar – Chief General Manager (Mine 1A, Mine planning and BHD)
Mr.Hariharan – Chief Manager – Geology
Mr.Sivaprasad – Chief Manager – Geology – Lab Incharge
Mr.P.Rjarathinam – Additional chief Manager – Geology
Mr.Manoharan – DCGM – CARD
Mr.S.Venkataraman – Addl.Chief manager / Sci – CARD
Mr.Chinnamani – Addl.Chief manager / Soil – CARD

 Lignite popularly known as Brown Coal is tan brown in colour, light to handle
and brittle in nature.
 Lignite occurs 60 – 70 m below, Lignite is taken to the surface using bucket
wheeled excavator

Lignite mines of NLC and their capacity

Mine Capacity
MINE I      10.5 MT / A
MINE I A        3 MT / A
MINE II      10.5 MT / A

Production of Lignite by NLC

Million tonnes
Mine / Year 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11
Mine 1 9.04 9.15 8.30
Mine 1A 3.05 2.71 2.71
Mine 2 9.11 10.44 11.71
Total 21.20 22.30 22.72

Properties of lignite excavated in NLC

Ash content – 3-12%
Moisture content – 45 – 55%
Fixed carbon content – 18 – 22%
Volatile – 24 – 28%
Gross calorific value – 2400 – 2900 k.cal / kg
Bulk density – 1.1 – 1.5 grams / cc
  The dimension of lignite face is around 6m high and 40m width
 Sampling sheets are placed on the face and samples are collected
 The collected samples undergo coning and quartering
 Unlike other ores like iron ore etc the grades will not vary with heap, the grade
of lignite remains the same over large area

Sampling:
Sampling of lignite is done in 6 different places
1. In the cutting face as soon as the lignite is extracted sampling is done
2. In the bunker (Lignite sample is taken from the heaps)
3. Reclaimer in the thermal power
4. Stack yard
5. Conveyor inside the thermal power plant
6. Boiler (pulverised sample of lignite is taken)

Sampling equipments
 Sampling is done using manual methods
 Riffle divider is used to divide the sample after the usage of mortar

Production of mines as reported

Average production per day of the NLC mines
 Mine 1 – 25,000 – 30,000 tonnes
 Mine 2 – 40,000 – 50,000 tonnes
 Mine 1A – 6000 – 7000 tonnes

Number of samples collected per day

Mine 1A – 20 samples
Mine 1 – 10 samples
Mine 2 – 15 samples
 The lignite from mine 2 is send to private power plant, so usage of sampling
and sample preparation equipments is more in mine 2
 The lignite from mine1 and mine 1A are used by internal thermal power plants
Sample preparation
 During the sample excavation using bucket excavator the sample is cut,
Since the density of lignite is just 1.1 – 1.5 grams / cc it can be crushed using
hand equipments and there is no requirement of crushing equipments like jaw
crusher, cone crusher etc
 The lignite sample is crushed using mortar and then it is passed through the
sample divider and sample below 200 mesh are collected
 Initial moisture of the ore is measured
 Then the ore is dried using drying oven for about 45 min to 1 hour
 Then the ore is passed through the muffle electric furnace under a standard
temperature of 800’c
 Oven is used to dry the ore and test the moisture content
 The ore is passed through muffle electric furnace to check the ash content

Process flow in thermal power plant

 The ore from the conveyor is crushed using roller mills
 After pulverising at uniform temperature the ore is passed through the flue
gas media
 The moisture content of the ore is reduced from 50% to 18 – 20%
 The 18% moisture content lignite is consumed by the boilers for electricity
generation

Equipments deployed in NLC

Equipments Make Specs Price
Riffle sample divider Indian - -
Pulveriser Imported 150kg / hour 3 lakhs
Muffle furnace Indian 800"c -
CARD – Centre for applied research and development
Centre for Applied Research and Development (CARD) is the In-house Research
and Development Centre of Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited

There are eight divisons in CARD

 Lignite analysis
 Environmental
 Water analysis
 Microbiological
 Clay and paint
 Soil mechanics – Soil is tested as per IS 2720 standards
 Petrographic

Lignite analysis division:

 Sample preparation equipments are used in lignite analysis division
 Sample testing standards for lignite are same as coal
 Sample preparation and testing of lignite is done as per IS 1350 and 1355
 The various tests undertaken in lignite analysis division includes proximate,
ultimate and chemical test
 Express test like moisture, ash content test are done in internal lab which is
located within the mine
 The weight of a sample received from mine is around 5kg which is reduced to
0.5 kg after pulverising
 The feed rate of pilveriser is 125kg / hr
 Pulveriser reduces the size of the lignite 120 microns
 The sample size is reduced using coning and quartering method in the mine
Statewise distribution of lignite:

State Proved Indicated Inferred Grand Total

Puducherry 0 405.61 11 416.61
Tamil Nadu 3735.23 22900.05 6257.64 32892.92
Rajasthan 1166.96 2148.72 1519.61 4835.29
Gujarat 1243.65 318.7 1159.7 2722.05
Jammu & Kashmir 0 20.25 7.3 27.55
Others 0 0.93 10.51 11.44
Total 6145.84 25794.26 8965.76 40905.86

Life of equipments:
 The average life of sample preparation equipments like jaw crusher,
pulveriser is 10-15 years depending upon the maintenance
 Pulveriser used in CARD was purchased in 2002

Equipments required by NLC

They need FLSmidth to suggest them with a single equipment
1.To collect samples automatically from the conveyor
2. Provide information about the weight of the flow of lignite in the conveyor
( weight 0 meter)
3.Automatic online analyser which can display ash content, moisture content and
gross calorific value

Specifications
 They want to install this equipment in mine1A, which has the production of
about 6000 – 7000 tonnes per day
 The speed of the conveyor is 5m / sec
 Conveyor is 1800 mm wide (Belt width)
 They want to install this equipment and test in mine 1A on successful
completion they would purchase the same equipment for mine 2 and mine 1
 They also want FLSmidth to suggest online analyser equipments that can be
fitted with mobile trucks