09.24.2012 | By Bernard H. Schonbach, PE
Because Powder River Basin (PRB) coal is smaller, more friable, and contains more fine particulates than bituminous coal, controlling the fugitive dust generated as PRB coal moves from bunker to burner tip is problematic. The challenge for material-handling systems at power plants that have switched coals is to minimize this dust and capture it cost-effectively and without compromising safety....
03.01.2008 | Douglas J. Smith, IEng, Contributing Editor
In recent years, Sargent & Lundy has evaluated many potential sites for new coal-fueled generation. Some of the sites studied were lands adjacent to existing power plants (brownfield sites); others were undeveloped greenfield sites. The numerous...
An optimal coal pile design takes into account the site-specific (and often conflicting) needs of a new power plant early in its design — rather than using whatever land is available after the plant layout has been finalized. Determining site...
01.01.2008 | Dr. Robert Peltier, PE
Production from Wyoming Powder River Basin (PRB) coal mines ended last year with a increase of only about 1.1%, reflecting a record 451.3 million tons, according to the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration. Production of PRB coal...
01.01.2008 | Dr. Robert Peltier, PE
Use of Powder River Basin (PRB) coal for power generation set another record in 2007. In fact, PRB coal now accounts for about 40% of all the coal fired in the U.S. to produce electricity. Yet we have barely dented the estimated 800 billion tons of the...
11.01.2007 | Douglas J. Smith, IEng, Contributing Editor
Like many older coal-fired plants, Westar Energy’s Jeffrey Energy Center (JEC) was built with traditional, pneumatic flyash-handling and removal systems. Such systems collect flyash in hoppers attached to the bottom of a unit’s electrostatic...
11.01.2007 | Edward B. Douberly (edouberly@ufpeg.com) is the founder and president of Utility FPE Group Inc., a consultancy offering fire protection engineering an
All conveyor systems are at risk of fire caused by the ignition of transported materials or equipment failure. But the propensity of Powder River Basin (PRB) coal to self-ignite introduces an exceptional hazard requiring special fire prevention and automatic...
09.01.2007 | Kennedy Maize
Every step forward in underground U.S. mine safety in the 20th and 21st centuries has been on the backs of mangled and dead coal miners. That grisly observation is unassailable. Following the August tragedy at the Crandall Canyon mine in Utah that killed six...
09.01.2007 | Douglas J. Smith, IEng
Lansing Board of Water & Light (LBW&L), which has generated electricity since 1892 and steam since 1919 in mid-Michigan, primarily serves the city of Lansing’s business district and all state government buildings in the downtown area. But one of...
09.01.2007 | Douglas J. Smith, IEng
Every day, while driving to his job at PacifiCorp Energy’s Dave Johnston plant near Glenrock, Wyoming, Cole Harris used to wonder as he neared the station how opaque Unit 3’s stack emissions would look. Until a few years ago, Unit 3 (Figure 3) had...
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