ENERGY EFFICIENCY &

TECHNOLOGIES
IN POWER PLANTS

ASH HANDLING SYSTEM

28 – 29 July, 2003

MACAWBER BEEKAY PVT. LTD.

 INDIAN COAL

• Generally high ash content.

• Larger amounts of ash to
be handled.
• Inconsistent Quality.
 CHALLENGES OF ASH HANDLING

• Indian coal presents high ash content

generally which tends to be inconsistent.
Design of the system has to adequately
cover anticipated variations and be capable
of handling the worst scenario.
• System has to be environmentally friendly.
• System has to be reliable with least
maintenance problems.
• System has to be energy efficient.
 TRADITIONAL TECHNOLOGY
To dispose off large amount of ash efficiently

(i) HYDRO-SLUICING:
• Water impounded bottom ash hoppers with jet
pump systems followed by lean phase slurry pump
system upto ash dyke.
• Dry type Bottom Ash Hopper with submerged
scraper chain conveyor system followed by lean
phase slurry pumps system upto ash dyke.
• Flushing Apparatus for Fly Ash

(ii) PNEUMATIC HANDLING:

• Negative pressure type
• Lean Phase
 TRADITIONAL TECHNOLOGY

NEGATIVE PRESSURE (VACUUM) type operate essentially by Lean

Phase fluidising method. There is a material handling valve below each
hopper to segregate the hopper from transport line. The water operated
hydrovector or mechanical vacuum pump mounted on the top of the silo
exhaust air from the transport line and the resultant rise in vacuum
operates high vacuum switch. Solenoid valve is energised and material
handling and associated branch segregating valves are opened. Ash in the
hoppers is fed into the vacuum lines and is conveyed to a fabric filter which
separates the ash from the air. The ash is discharged into the storage silo
and air is drawn through the vacuum pump via a line filter and exhausted to
atmosphere. This system operates on the lean phase principle with a high
air to ash ratio and high conveying velocities.
 TRADITIONAL TECHNOLOGY

LEAN PHASE SYSTEMS rely on fluidisation of the material in the

air stream to achieve conveying of material. The material particles
are carried by a high velocity air stream. The required velocity is
dependent mainly upon the size and density of the material
particles. In Lean Phase system, the velocity is in the range of 15
m/sec to 30 m/sec. and in Medium Phase, it is in the range of 10-20
m/sec. The material/air ratio in the lean phase is in the range of
10:1 and in medium phase, the range is 20:1.
 PRESENT TRENDS
IN
FLY ASH REMOVAL
IN
THERMAL POWER PLANT

MACAWBER BEEKAY PVT. LTD.

 Dense Phase Pneumatic Pressure Conveying System

The Dense Phase Pneumatic Pressure Conveying Systems

uses low volume, medium pressure air stream and relies on
a continuously expanding volume of air pushing cohesive
slugs of material along the pipe. This system uses a
transfer vessel/pump tank to feed the material into the
conveying line. It is a batch system with plugs of material
separated by cushions of air. Average conveying velocities
are low between 2 to 5 m/sec. The material air ratio is in the
range of 20 - 100 to 1.

MACAWBER BEEKAY PVT. LTD.

 Dense Phase Pneumatic
Pressure Conveying System

• Using positive pressure they generally utilise a blow

tank to collect the material before being transferred
into the pipeline in batches.
• With dense phase systems, a controlled use of both
air pressure and volume pushes the batch of material
from the blow tank and into the pipeline in a plug flow
form.

MACAWBER BEEKAY PVT. LTD.

 Typical Operation Cycle

Level
Probe Vent
Valve

Blow
Valve

Air supply
1 2 3 4
System at rest Vessel filling Vessel full System conveying

MACAWBER BEEKAY PVT. LTD.

 THE OPERATIONAL PRINCIPLE
The systems normally have dual operatability either through the timer
or level probe which is installed in the collecting hopper.
As soon as the ash level reaches a fixed level in the collecting hopper,
the level probe senses its presence, it allows the system to initiate a
conveying cycle. The inlet valve opens to allow the ash to gravitate into
the conveying vessel, till it closes automatically. On closure of the
valve, the conveying vessel gets pressurized and the material
resistance helps pressure build up which conveys the material through
pipe in the destination silo. When conveying is complete which is
sensed by the control system, air supply to the system is stopped and
system is ready for the next cycle.
The total system is made automatic by use of level probes in
destination silo(s) to control the transfer of material. Flexibility in the
system allows to opt from single transfer of material from one point
collection to single reception hopper or a multipoint collection. The
system is flexible enough and programmable and automatically
operated through a PLC based Central Control Panel.

MACAWBER BEEKAY PVT. LTD.

 INFLUENCE OF VELOCITY ON EROSION

MACAWBER BEEKAY PVT. LTD.

INFLUENCE OF VELOCITY ON THE EROSIVE WEAR OF PIPE BENDS

MACAWBER BEEKAY PVT. LTD.

 Relationship between Minimum Conveying Air Velocity and Phase
Density at which Product is conveyed

MACAWBER BEEKAY PVT. LTD.

 CONVEYING CAPABILITY

Dense phase conveying is considered to be dense

phase if the product is predominantly conveyed in a
non-suspension mode of flow.

One of the major causes of pneumatic conveying

systems not achieving their specified duty is a change in
the product specification or the problem of off-spec
materials. To a large extent this is the responsibility of
the user. There is no escape from the fact that changes
in material characteristics which affect the flowability of
the product will affect conveying performance. The
most common deviations from specification are changes
in the size distribution and moisture content of the
material.

MACAWBER BEEKAY PVT. LTD.

 ADVANTAGES
i) Commercial utilisation of ash in :
– Cement additives.
– Brick plants.
– Road making, etc.
ii) Saving of water – a precious commodity.
iii) Energy Efficient
iv) High reliability
v) Long Plant Life
vi) Least maintenance
vii) Environment concern:
– In a period, when environmental protection and awareness
is a major industrial and social concern, Dense Phase
pneumatic conveying, by totally enclosed handling system,
is particularly amenable to the environment.
– All conventional problems of spillage, dust, contamination
and storage are efficiently and successfully eradicated.
– Plant housekeeping is greatly improved.

MACAWBER BEEKAY PVT. LTD.

 COMPRESSOR – LOAD/UNLOAD BASIS

The compressor works on load / no-load

basis in a Dense Phase System. Dense
Phase follows Batch Conveying System.
Whenever conveying is in progress, there
is a requirement of compressed air which
is fed by conveying air compressor
through air receiver. When there is no
material available in the hopper and
conveying does not take place,
compressor switches over to no-load
condition, thus saving power.

MACAWBER BEEKAY PVT. LTD.

 COMPATIBILITY

The Dense Phase Pneumatic Conveying

system is flexible enough and compatible with
all size and type of boilers.
– Whether Boiler is from 3 MW to 600 MW,
– Water tube or Fire tube,
– CFB, PFB, Stoker fired,
– Coal, Coke, Lignite, Rice Husk, Bagasse,
Multi fuel or Co-generation type.

MACAWBER BEEKAY PVT. LTD.

 In the typical Thermal Power Plant, Dense Phase offers
solutions for:
•Conveying of fly ash from Economiser, Air Heater and ESP
collecting hoppers to intermediate silo(s) or directly to main silo.
•Conveying of bed ash from collecting hoppers to intermediate
silo(s)/BA Silos.
•Conveying of ash from intermediate silo(s) to main silo installed
outside the boundary of the plant for truck/bulker loading ensuring
elimination of truck/bulker movement within the premises of power
plant area.
•Long distance conveying of fly ash from the power plant silo(s) to the
fly ash user premises, where the manufacturing facilities are
installed, adjacent to that particular power plant.
•Fly ash recycling system for injection of fly ash into boiler furnace.
•Handling the lime stone powder, sand dry gypsum, etc.
•Handling of dry / wet coal and coal mill rejects.

MACAWBER BEEKAY PVT. LTD.

 Comparison of Dense Phase over Vacuum
Extraction System
S. No. VACCUM/ LEAN DENSE PHASE
1 Storage of ash in hopper for 8-12 hours Removal of ash as soon as collected
causing bridging, ratholing, choking, - Hopper used for storage only during
compacting etc. ferms clinker emergency as dense phase system disposes
(occidisation) sometimes which is virtually ash continuously.
impossible to cover.

-Hopper heater required.

- Fludising system required.
- Failure due to above
- Large Collection of ash can cause
boiler shut down.
-Few hundred tonnes of ash may get
collected which can not be dumped
on the floor.
- Ash build up causes ESP electrode
shorting resulting in ESP failure and root
being speeded against environmental
moment.
 Comparison of Dense Phase over Vacuum
Extraction System
S. VACCUM/ LEAN DENSE PHASE
No.

2. Intake valves have metal to metal seal which Inflatable rubber to metal relating more
generally leaks. reliable and less prone to leakage.

3. Location of silos has to be very close to ESPs. No. distance restriction in dense phase
Due to limitation of distance in vaccum system. system silo can be conveniently located
resulting in
- Cleanner boiler areas.
- Economic silo designs.
- Silos can even be located outside plant
area to avoid nuisance of truck
movements in plant area which also is a
security hazard.

4. Bends of 3D or less resulting drastic increase in
bend failure rate imposing stringent limitations
on plant lay out in order to reduce number of
bends.
-Each bend adds to equivalent length of pipe
resulting in limitation on layout.
-Additional equivalent length affects capacity of
conveying.
Easier bends in Dense Phase System
No limitation on lay out or number of
bends since conveying achieved through
pressure.
No. of bends does not impact capacity –
flexibility in layout.
 Comparison of Dense Phase over Vacuum
Extraction System
S. No. VACCUM/ LEAN DENSE PHASE

5. Any leakage in joint or due to loose bolts / Any leakage visually detectable for
gaskets is very difficult to locate / detect. immediate correction maintaining high
-Leakage results in drop in performance efficiency and capacity.
-Performance and capacity thereby more
evacuation, time and power consumption.

6. Vaccum / lean phase generally has one or two
main pipes to silo or extraction equipment. If
any problem occurs it can lead to stoppage of
system or even boiler shut down.
In Dense Phase a number of pipes
being there grouping can be done in
such a way that only a few hoppers are
affected increasing substantially
reliability of the system.

7. Main Header is in use all the time during
removal cycle typically 3 to 6 hours resulting
in heavy pipe wear.
Pipe in effective use 3 to 6 hours.
Ash is conveyed in batches as a long
slug say of 40 mtrs at an average
velocity of 7 m / Sec. Assuming number
of cycles per shift typically as 240, any
pipe section will be under effective use
for 40/7 x 240 = 1371 secs or 23
minutes.
Effective usage of pipe 7 to 14 times
less resulting in much longer life.
 Comparison of Dense Phase over Vacuum
Extraction System
S. No. VACCUM/ LEAN DENSE PHASE

8. Due to high velocities and lean phase ash / air

In Dense Phase nominal quantities of air
separation is inefficient (2 to 4 stages of is used thus a small bag filter at the silo
cleaning is normally required from pollution top cleans air to satisfy most stringent
control point of view. ) norms.
Due to much lower velocities rate of
High velocities result in high wear rates of wear of equivalent system is much
associated equipment and system. lower.

9. Conveying air move through the
equipment generating vaccum.
Due to high velocities lean air / ash
separation’s is not efficient.
Possibility of failure of cleaning devices like
rupturing filter bag etc. resulting in passage of
ash through vaccum generator.
Maintenance problems of vaccum generator.
This does not apply to Dense Phase
Pneumatic System since conveying
medium is compressed air.
Compressors can be installed in an
enclosed room in a suitable far off
location where proper ventilation and
filtration can be done.

10. Due to inverse relation between distance and Distance is not a limitation in a dense
conveying capacity, in some cases two stage phase pneumatic conveying system
system is essential for longer distances. single stage conveying possible in most
case.
 Comparison of Dense Phase over Vacuum
Extraction System
S. No. VACCUM/ LEAN DENSE PHASE

11. If high pressure water exhausts (hydro vector)
is used. It requires large capacity / high
pressure pumps, whether ash is being stored
dry or disposed off as wet slurry.
Water is required when disposing off
slurry and not when collecting dry.
Water pumps required for making slurry
are of lower capacity and head thus
saving power.

12. Ash gets carried over from the system passing No such problem in Dense Phase due to
through water exhauster causing wear in its inherent design.
nozzles, throat etc.
Water quantities being enormous gets
recirculated eroding pumps, valves, nozzles of
exhausts etc. resulting in higher maintenance
cost.
Due to the wear and tear of nozzles and loss of
pressure of pumps system design capacity
drops significantly.

13. Residual ash gets carried over in case of No such problem due to inherent
mechanical vaccum pump resulting in rapid design.
wear. It may require sophisticated sensor for
checking ash particles in the air stream.
 Comparison of Dense Phase over Vacuum
Extraction System
S. No. VACCUM/ LEAN DENSE PHASE

14. Vaccum designed for wet disposal circulating Dense Phase requires small
water needs huge pump houses, storage compressor room and pump house.
sumps, settling tanks etc. – wasting valuable
space – high civil costs.

15. Due to high pipe line velocity high wear and Negligible wear rate due to very low
tear of pipelines. Wear rate increases with conveying velocities.
power of 2.65 on the ratio of increase in
velocity normally 10-50 times.

16. Summary
High Maintenance Prone. Low maintenance.
High maintenance costs. Low maintenance cost
High power consumption Low power consumption
High maintenance down time Neglible down time.
Prone to choking of hopper. System advantages.
PROJECT DETAILS
 PSEB, GGSSTPP, Ropar
World’s single longest conveying distance
of 1.6 kms for fly ash handling.
Technology – Dense Phase Pneumatic
conveying.
Installed capacity – 6 x 40 tons per hour
Client – PSEB, Ropar (Punjab)
Units – 6x210 MW
Application – utilisation of ash by cement
manufacturers namely ACC & GACL @
2000 - 2500 tones per day.

MACAWBER BEEKAY PVT. LTD.

 PSEB, GGSSTPP, Ropar
The system comprises of two stages -

PRIMARY : To collect fly ash as generated from ESP area Denseveyor Ash Vessels designed ad provided with a
patented dome valve, and to transport fly ash in dense phase in the form of a slug at low velocities through Mild Steel
pipe work to either of the two Intermediate Silos by means of Dump Valve type Diverter/Terminal Box. To cater for
independent operation, the primary stage is provided with 6 Nos. air compressors to provide conveying air to the
system, with 4 Nos. working and 2 Nos. standby. The fly ash is conveyed at the rate of about 30 TPH o ver a
conveying distance of about 400 Meters.
A) Number of Conveying Line in each boiler : 2 Nos.
B) Conveying rate of each line : 30 TPH
C) Conveying Distance : 400 Meters
D) No. of compressors for six boilers : 6 Nos. (4W+2S)
E) Denseveyor ash vessel size provided below each ESP Hopper : 500 Litres

SECONDARY : To continuously transport their fly ash from intermediate storage silos through K-Pump to main
storage silos. The K-Pump are continuous pumping system catering for high transfer rates over long distances. The
K-Pump assembly also has Dome Valves. For the secondary system each of the intermediate silos is equipped with
4 sets of independent conveying air compressors with 2 working and 2 standby and system operates at a conveying
rate of 40 TPH per stream over distance of about 1600 Meters.
A) Conveying rate of each line/K-Pump : 40 TPH
B) Conveying Distance : 1550 Meters
C) No. of compressors for both the silos : 8 Nos. (4 W + 4 S)

MACAWBER BEEKAY PVT. LTD.

Punjab State Electricity Board, Ropar

☺
 Punjab State Electricity Board, Ropar
FOR TENDER PURPOSE ONLY

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