# Coal to electricity



## Meadow (Jan 14, 2011)

Came across a neat presentation showing the basics of how a coal fired power plant turns coal into electricity. Its as simple as its complex. (If you make a free account you can down load the power point but it will work just fine in full screen mode). 




http://www.slideshare.net/swapnilsharma12/generation-of-electricity-from-coal-parul


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## papaotis (Jun 8, 2013)

thanks AT, but saw it in person years ago. worked in the only 'suspended' boiler in the midwest.


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## Meadow (Jan 14, 2011)

Also this:

http://www.slideshare.net/sagnikchoudhury/training-report-on-mejia-thermal-power-station


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## Meadow (Jan 14, 2011)

papaotis said:


> thanks AT, but saw it in person years ago. worked in the only 'suspended' boiler in the midwest.



"suspended" :001_huh::laughing:


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## papaotis (Jun 8, 2013)

the entire boiler 'hung' from the framework of the structure. the bottom was a water 'seal', a trough all the way around the bottom. if i rember right it had something to do with the expansion. this was also force fed coal dust. dirty damn place! lots of leaks in the system. also IIRR it was 16 stories tall!


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

papaotis said:


> the entire boiler 'hung' from the framework of the structure. the bottom was a water 'seal', a trough all the way around the bottom. if i rember right it had something to do with the expansion. this was also force fed coal dust. dirty damn place! lots of leaks in the system. also IIRR it was 16 stories tall!



Any pics of that or a link ? Sounds like something to see.


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## papaotis (Jun 8, 2013)

that was many years ago, mech. the plant is in clinton, Ia. i believe it is part of the Alliant energy grid now.


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## Meadow (Jan 14, 2011)

papaotis said:


> the entire boiler 'hung' from the framework of the structure. the bottom was a water 'seal', a trough all the way around the bottom. if i rember right it had something to do with the expansion. this was also force fed coal dust. dirty damn place! lots of leaks in the system. also IIRR it was 16 stories tall!



Sounds impressive. Did the fire travel all those 16 stories?


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## papaotis (Jun 8, 2013)

dont quite recollect, but i think most of it. remember loking inside during a shut down and to tubes were as far as i could see! there were feed chutes at several levels. and a conveyor belt that you rode up and down( sure they cant use that anymore!)


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## Meadow (Jan 14, 2011)

papaotis said:


> dont quite recollect, but i think most of it. remember loking inside during a shut down and to tubes were as far as i could see! there were feed chutes at several levels. and a conveyor belt that you rode up and down( sure they cant use that anymore!)



Man someone needs to post pics of that! :laughing:


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## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

obama is closing down all the coal fired plants. Once they buy up all the worthless land that used to produce the coal for the plants,for pennies on the dollar, then it will suddenly be a good idea again. Welcome to the new world order , it only gets better and better.


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## dawgs (Dec 1, 2007)

We have worked at power plants that burn coal, fuel oil, wood chip, trash, and gas. The gas and and wood chip are the cleanest to work at. The trash plant is the nastiest. Large large rats.


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

dawgs said:


> We have worked at power plants that burn coal, fuel oil, wood chip, trash, and gas. The gas and and wood chip are the cleanest to work at. The trash plant is the nastiest. Large large rats.




Can you use them for target practice? Could be a silver lining.


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## EM1 (Oct 25, 2014)

My first job at 19 was in a coal fired plant. You don't really know how to make electricity from coal until you need 3 days off before you can blow your nose and it doesn't come out black.


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## 99cents (Aug 20, 2012)

macmikeman said:


> obama is closing down all the coal fired plants. Once they buy up all the worthless land that used to produce the coal for the plants,for pennies on the dollar, then it will suddenly be a good idea again. Welcome to the new world order , it only gets better and better.


Same here. We have lots of low grade coal that isn't good for anything else we we burned it to create power. Then we elected granolas into government and they forced them to switch to natural gas. Dumb.


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## dawgs (Dec 1, 2007)

Mech Diver said:


> Can you use them for target practice? Could be a silver lining.


That could be fun.


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

dawgs said:


> That could be fun.



Shooting rats in a junk yard after hours was how I developed my eye as a kid. Box of .22s and I was good for hours.


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## EM1 (Oct 25, 2014)

Still have some of these "Manlifts" in service in Md. 










Saw a guy fall asleep on one, he woke up in the pit at the bottom. Luckily the safety switch worked and tripped the belt drive motor.


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## joebanana (Dec 21, 2010)

Yeah.....I spent 2 years on this one. The article doesn't mention the double shifts for the last year of the project. People were dropping like flies in the summer from heat related issues. I was one of the last sparkies on the job running (literally) miles of the 3/0 ground grid. Ran a ditch witch for a month straight. 
http://www.powermag.com/mountainview-power-plant-redlands-california/?pagenum=4


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## papaotis (Jun 8, 2013)

em1, thats exactly it! oh the memories!:laughing:


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## dawgs (Dec 1, 2007)

joebanana said:


> Yeah.....I spent 2 years on this one. The article doesn't mention the double shifts for the last year of the project. People were dropping like flies in the summer from heat related issues. I was one of the last sparkies on the job running (literally) miles of the 3/0 ground grid. Ran a ditch witch for a month straight. http://www.powermag.com/mountainview-power-plant-redlands-california/?pagenum=4


How many megawatt output?


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## Switched (Dec 23, 2012)

EM1 said:


> Still have some of these "Manlifts" in service in Md.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I've ridden a few of these "elevators" at some grain facilities.... They are fun! Safety takes all the excitement out of life!:laughing:


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## joebanana (Dec 21, 2010)

dawgs said:


> how many megawatt output?


1,054mw


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## dawgs (Dec 1, 2007)

joebanana said:


> 1,054mw


1358 MW natural gas is the biggest I've been to.


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## joebanana (Dec 21, 2010)

Switched said:


> I've ridden a few of these "elevators" at some grain facilities.... They are fun! Safety takes all the excitement out of life!:laughing:


Rode one at the 20 mule team borax plant in Long Beach. Timing is everything when getting off one. I would hate to go over the top.


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## joebanana (Dec 21, 2010)

dawgs said:


> 1358 MW natural gas is the biggest I've been to.


One heluva fun project. Made some big bucks scrapping out the temp power.


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## Meadow (Jan 14, 2011)

joebanana said:


> 1,054mw



1 genny or several?


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## EC2253 (Mar 7, 2008)

papaotis said:


> that was many years ago, mech. the plant is in clinton, Ia. i believe it is part of the Alliant energy grid now.


I worked in one on the other side of the state years ago. There were open face relays on the walls in the control room constantly clicking on and off. A huge pile of coal outside that was smoking. A guy told me all the pressure and heat in the pile would start it on fire once in a while.


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## joebanana (Dec 21, 2010)

AcidTrip said:


> 1 genny or several?


4 HRSG's, 2 steamers.


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## Meadow (Jan 14, 2011)

joebanana said:


> 4 HRSG's, 2 steamers.



Manual sync?


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## joebanana (Dec 21, 2010)

AcidTrip said:


> Manual sync?


To be honest, I didn't spend any time in the control room, and wasn't on the start up crew, but I'd imagine someone has to eyeball the syncro-scope, and slam them in manually.


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## EM1 (Oct 25, 2014)

I've worked in plants as old as 1940's, and they have all had at 
sync check relays in gen. Brkr. closing circuit. Lots of money to risk on manual synchronization.


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## just the cowboy (Sep 4, 2013)

*Wood chip one*



AcidTrip said:


> Sounds impressive. Did the fire travel all those 16 stories?


I was in a 16 story boiler house that burnt wood chips. They would start with the larger pieces at the top and as they burnt down they fell to the next story, and so forth down to fine ash at bottom. There were boiler tubes at each floor. The coal may work the same way rake the grate fall down to next size grate.


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## EM1 (Oct 25, 2014)

Every coal plant I've worked in used pulverizers to grind it as fine as talcum powder. It was then blown into the boiler by primary air fans, and ignited about a third of the way up.


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## Rock knocker (Mar 8, 2016)

papaotis said:


> worked in the only 'suspended' boiler in the midwest.


Think you may have heard wrong. Top hung boilers are the standard, and all utility sized coal boilers built anywhere in the world in the last several decades was by far most likely a top hung boiler.

A bottom supported boiler one or two hundred feet high becomes almost an impossibility when the steel starts growing with the fire at a rate of about 3/4" per hundred degrees. You are going to start pinching the tubes due to linear compression parallel to the wall.


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## Meadow (Jan 14, 2011)

So how dot hey hang a 100,000 pound boiler?


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## EM1 (Oct 25, 2014)

Great big F'n springs, and 100,000 lbs. wouldn't make a pimple on a real boilers a$$.


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## Meadow (Jan 14, 2011)

Springs? Pics or it doesnt happen lol. :jester:


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## Rock knocker (Mar 8, 2016)

AcidTrip said:


> So how dot hey hang a 100,000 pound boiler?


The steam drum is u-bolted to the structural iron. No need for springs and the like unless fancy siesmic support is needed. The rigidly hung water walls can then grow into the ash hopper assembly


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