Detecting moving fires on coal conveyors
To comply with certain elements of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, a number of utilities operating coal fired power plants have switched to low-rank bituminous and semi-bituminous coals as an alternative to other fuels like natural gas. Power plants firing and handling this variety of coal may be extremely prone to fires nd explosions as the coal is conveyed from storage on to the boilers due to a phenomenon known as spontaneous combustion. The American Society of Testing for Materials ranks coals by their tendency to oxidize. The lower the coal`s rank, the greater its tendency to absorb oxygen and, consequently, the greater its tendency to spontaneously combust. This unique property creates a new type of fire and explosion hazard not previously experienced by many coal-fired plants. Fires involving coal crushers, storage silos, conveyors, bunkers and pulverizer mills generally occur as a result of two ignition sources: spontaneous combustion (self-heating) of coal and frictional heating of the coal`s conveyance system.
- OSTI ID:
- 113289
- Journal Information:
- Power Engineering (Barrington), Vol. 99, Issue 9; Other Information: PBD: Sep 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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