Material Handling for Coal-fired Power Plants will be the Hot Topic on both Thursday April 15 and Friday April 16, 2010 at 10 a.m. CDT
Material handling, once a rather mundane issue, has over the years become a critical component of the efficient operation of a modern coal-fired power plant. Power plants once handling basically coal and ash are now faced with handling all types of liquids and solids to meet air and water quality requirements. The modern power plant must now deal with the transportation, loading/unloading, storage, sizing, blending, and injection of fuels including coal and various biomass products into the boiler, as well as lime, limestone, gypsum and various others liquids such as ammonia or sulfuric acid and solids such as the various forms of activated carbon into the boiler and air pollution control equipment. Many of these materials utilize very different material handling equipment and have their own unique set of problems related to their transportation and use. With coal switching and coal blending frequently being used to take advantage of reduced fuel costs and to reduce air emissions, the pulverizer, conveyor and injection equipment must be capable of handling a wide range of coals with varying physical characteristics, moisture levels and ash properties. And getting the materials to the proper place in the plant in the proper configuration is only part of the problem. The plant also needs to collect, condition, transport and stockpile or load the waste products from the combustion process and air and water pollution control systems. Add to this mix the need to improve plant efficiency by reducing energy used for these material handling systems and issues such as shortages of water, zero effluent discharge regulations and the need to eliminate ash pond, and the material handling issue becomes critical to the efficient operation of the plant.
The following speakers will address the various material handling systems and equipment available for all of the materials used in a coal-fired power plant; the advantages or disadvantages of each; their operating experience with the equipment; potential problems to avoid during design and operation and new technology available to improve performance while reducing energy consumed and maintenance requirements.
Presenters on Thursday April 15th are:
Jack Hilbert, Principal Consultant at Pneumatic Conveying Consultants Inc., will discuss the issues related to current practices for the injection of dry sorbents for the mitigation of mercury, SO2 and SO3 in flue gas from fossil and biomass-fired steam generators. These challenges require attention beyond the normal pneumatic conveying issues of capacity, distance, pipe size and the resultant energy requirements to meet the system parameters. Issues, which are relative to specific sorbents such as temperature, moisture, and particle size and other issues common to most all of the DSI systems such as equal distribution to multiple injection points, large variation in rate turndowns, etc., also present challenges to the system designer. His presentation will identify many of those challenges, explain the nature of the problem and offer potential solutions and recommendations.
Charles Alack, President of Semi-Bulk Systems, Inc., will discuss limestone supply options and limestone slurry process technology for FGD projects focusing on the VACUCAM(R) Ejector Mixer modular processes for limestone handling and dispersion used for FGD. The process handles large volumes of pulverized limestone powders and very efficiently produces 30 percent+ limestone slurry to meet any scrubber demands. The process requires minimal real estate, operator attention and maintenance. He will also discuss their experience with systems recently installed at Minnesota Power, Southern Power Crist and at Ameren's Sioux. Processes are also available for dry handling and dry/liquid mixing of ingredients used for heavy metal scrubbing.
Jerry VanDerWerff, National Sales Manager for Sorb-N-Ject technology at Nol-Tec Systems, will discuss the selection and application of pneumatic conveying methods and design considerations of pneumatic conveying of dry sorbents to mitigate pollutants in the power industry. Dense phase and dilute phase pneumatic conveying allow flexibility in handling these dry sorbents. Pneumatics can also be used to fluidize dry sorbents to promote flow from silos and hoppers.
James Fisher of Clyde Bergemann Delta Ducon
Presenters on Friday April 16th are:
Gerald Huiras, President and CEO of FLSmidth Pfister, Inc., will discuss their experience in handling and metering coal, biofuels, and lime in power plants for the past twenty years. His presentation will outline their experience with designing, operating, and implementing complete solutions using coal together with alternative fuels, specifically biosolids, to meet permitted limits as well as burner and firing chamber requirements.
Daniel E. (Dan) Charhut, Vice-President Sales & Technology, and Kevin McDonough, Director of Sales Americas at United Conveyor Corporation, will introduce multiple technical options to convert wet ash handling systems to dry ash handling systems, eliminating the need for ash ponds. Bottom Ash and Fly Ash systems will be discussed. The presentation will include criteria for selection of the appropriate conversion technology relative to unique power plant conditions.
Dr. Desmond Smith, Ph.D., Vice-President of BRUKS Rockwood Inc. West Coast Office, will discuss the rationale behind biomass handling system designs. The presentation will include North American case studies with focus on the source, timing, quality, size, moisture, contaminants, storage characteristics, energy content and suitability to end use of the biomass material.
To register for the "Hot Topic Hour" on April 15 and April 16, 2010 at 10 a.m. CDT (Chicago time), click on: http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/brochures/FGDnetoppbroch/Default1.htm